SLOG, SLOG, SLOG!

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 134, 8 June 1935, Page 23

SLOG, SLOG, SLOG!

AND ROYAL LIMOND WON

(Special from "Early Bird.") AUCKLAND, This Day. Never has a winning riding fee been better earned than that placed to the credit ol the southern horseman D. O'Connor when he literally punched Royal Limond home in the Great Northern Steeplechase last Wednesday. It was just slog, slog, and slog all the way. It will be remembered that the question was asked previously as to whether O'Connor had the necessarj fitness to enable him to punch Royal Limond over the whole 25 fences. The question was answered when his mount won. For this display of unflagging energy and application, jockey Dan O'Connor, without his training fee, stands in credit £63 as his percentage for winning the Great Northern Steeplechase, so his trip has been well worth while. The race occupied Bmin 26 2-ssec,- and this works out at something over £7 per minute for the winning jockey. Easy money? Perhaps, but it meant weeks of hard work and the fee was earned before the race actually started. For every second of the race the hippo-meter—had there been such a thing attached to Royal Limond—would have been clocking up another 2s for O'Connor, or a bit more than that every time he breathed. NEW PAIR OF PANTS? There might have been times when the jockey had to hold his breath, at certain fences for instance, but still the meter would have kept on registering the 2s a second. Riding a sluggish horse over jumps is tremendously hard work, and one has seen riders panting at the end of a long race. Talking of pants, O'onnor will have to invest in a new pair of riding breeches, for he had to work so hard on Royal Limond that he wore the seat out of his. That will convey some idea of the severity of the Great Northern Steeplechase so far as Royal Limond and his jockey were concerned. -But after all was it not worth a new pair of breeches? Judging from accounts of Royal Limond's efforts in the south, before coming north to contest the big steeplechases up this way, a hectic discussion ensued between two well-known sporting writers about his prospects. Both were right, yet they were both confused when Royal Limond captured the richest plum of the jumping season in the North Island, the Great Northern Steeplechase, with its stake for the winning owner of £700. For the Limond gelding is a veritable slug at his fences. . The weakness in easing up a chain away from his fences, pointed out as having proved so fatal when he clashed with Riotous on the second day at Te Rapa was not so obvious at Ellerslie, but the gelding still had to be literally rushed at every one of the 25 obstacles, otherwise he would probably have stopped altogether. The two outings O'Connor and Royal Limond experienced at Wanganui, together with the. two efforts a week later at Te Rapa, enabled both horse and rider to understand- each other, although now that it-is all over, so far as the ob jective, the Great Northern Steeplechase, is concerned,.O'Connor must feel very elated, even if the horse's feelings have been hurt, as witness the flanks after Wednesday's race,, where the spurs had had to be used to drive nun at the fences. CHANCE OF A TREBLE. But- all's well that ends,. well, and the rich, prize has gone, south. After JllJerslieiperhaps-Royalljinorid will be allowed fo rest upbS the fruits of his labour, until serious business, in the shape of the Wellington and Grand National Steeplechases, looms up once more. Then more stickwork and more spurs to get Royal Limond to do the job, and tie may. even win the big treble, the three most important crosscountry events of the winter. It was noticeable at Ellerslie in the Great Northern that O'Connor did not repeat his mistake of riding the horse up thehillras was done the first day. Hence Royal Limond had some sting left in his final run, which he would 1 not have been able to pull out had he been exhausted by being pushed up 1 the hill. It was also obvious that O'Connor had been schooled by some- ! body well versed in the requirements of the Ellerslie hill, for once on top Royal Limond was taken to the outside of the course there, with satisfactory results. Some do say that is the best plan. In any case, it came off this . time. I Yes, Royal Limond was the best horse in the Great Northern Steeplechase, i and one always likes to see the best • horse win. The luck in the big event 1 seemed to be fairly evenly distributed except in the case of two runners, , Pahu and Valpeen. The latter was too i fit and pulled himself to pieces out in ' front; and Pahu bungled an easy fence . when going very well indeed. Pahu , is an unlucky fellow, but it's a long . road that has no turning. . . To indicate just what an exhaustive ' race the Great Northern was for jockey O'Connor, it was noticed that the rider had to take very short strides • on approaching the scales to weigh-in, , but he was far from collapsing, as '. any other rider not so fit would have been had they had to do what O'Connor did to bring Royal Limond in a winner. ■ ' • ■ • - .