ORO A GIFT HORSE

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 87, 9 October 1935, Page 8

ORO A GIFT HORSE

METROPOLITAN SENSATION

HIS VARIED PERFORMANCES

There .could be no more sensational sequel 1 any important racing event than a decision'to reverse the placirigs, and. this year's A.J.C. Metropolitan last Monday will on this account hold an interest for posterity that it would not; otherwise have gained. / For years to come, probably for all time,, the finish will be keenly discussed, with opinions taking the two diametrically opposite views as the years go by. One has 6nly to recall . the famous Derby in which the placings of Craganbur and Aboyeur were reversed to realise how the passing of years can fortify the arguments of the opposed factions, and particularly those who hold that the original result should have been allowed to stand.

, From the cabled accounts of" Moni day's Metropolitan it certainly does ! appear as if High Cross caused serious \ interference, and it seems also that ;the decision to place Oro first was] generally well approved. ' But when'; the race is reviewed later on it will probably be found that there are plenty to declare that Oro wouldsnot have won even without his check; and perhaps some- who. believe that Oro was not -seriously interfered with. The finish! -is':, said- to have been 'the most startling event ever "to have been witnessedi at.Handwlck. 0 PUBLIC PREFERRED ORO. Undoubtedly there were many more racegoers at Randwick on Monday anxious to' see Oro successful than there were partisans of High Cross, for Oro had always held a promin-. ent place in the betting, whereas few favoured the prospects of High Cross. The Synagogue-Oro double would have been much.more heavily laid than the Synagogue-High Cross; indeed High Cross's success would have caused jubilation in the ring, just as Strength's did in the year he beat Concentrate after Autopay had won ' the Epsom. Opinions on the finish' will, of course, be coloured for some time by this aspect of 4he case.

Oro, the winner on Monday, has been a horse of mixed performances,and he has been a costly item for his staunchest supporters. Time and again he has failed just when he had everyone confident that he was. on the commencement of a winning sequence. Even-, his breeder-owner, Mr. Hunter. .White, must finally,have grown tired of his ways, for a few months back he: gave him -to <iis trainer J. King for the, rest' of his • raning career. In the short space since he has won three substantialstakes. But-such has always' been theluck of they racing game. ■ As a two- and three-year-old pro gave great promise,! and for a time Mr.: White thought he had a Melbourne Cup winner at last among his horses. He was taken down.to Melbourne as a-.'three-year-old and actually started in the Cup, but he failed dismally, just as he had in the V.R.C. Derby liiree days previously.' The next year he again ran badly in the Cup, but on the last day of?the : meeting he ■ won the VJI.C. Handicap, 1?} miles,' beating the New Zealander Greenhorn. Twelve months ago he ran so poorly in the Hotham Handicap on the first day that he did not compete any further at the meeting. He is not in the Melbourne Cup this year, but he is in the Caulfield Cup, to be decided on Saturday week, and shouM he go south" lot -this race he woijld now be in some favour, although previously he had not ruled among the leading fancies. \ SECONDS TO PETER FAN. Oro won three races as a two-year-old, all at Randwick, and he was fifth in the AJ.C. Sires' Produce Stakes. The following season he failed to win a- race, but Ties "-'recorded several excellent performances. After running third to Bronze Hawk and Kuvera in the Rosehill Guineas, he beat everything except the great Peter Pan in the AJ.C. Derby; finishing ahead of Kuvera; and in. the autumn the result was identical 7in the A.J.C. St. Leger Stakes. As mentioned previously, his Victorian trip was a failure, but he was, other times in the money, on Sydney cqurses that season. ■

•• As a four-year-old he kept on promising with successes in less-import-ant events and then letting down his supporters in the bigger races. In that i season he won his first Rosehill Spring Handicap,'arid he recently • completed a sequence of three successes in this race, when he beat Sporting Blood last Saturday fortnight. Following his first Rosehill win he was in keen demand for. the Metropolitan, and though he; missed the big prize, which went toRegal Son, he did finish third, and then made^ispme atonement by scoring in i the^Wayerl^y* Handicap, 1J miles, on the} third'day.; Last year, after winning Wth^tKev'.Tattersall's and Rosehill Spring Handicaps, he ran ihgloriously at Randwick, but on the same course >ih;:November'>he won the valuable Duke 1 61>:Gloucester P.late, 1J miles, Thatvwas his« final J. success in. his breeder's jacket : \ I Orb was bred at Mr. Havilah I Stud, near Mudgee, New, South Wales, and..as .he' is still entire^ he may go back there after he,- has' finished racing. >,Mr. White' is a popular- A.J.C; cbmmitteeman, and . there must have ifbeen, regret -mingled with his plea-, 'sure.when Oro was awarded the Metro- [ politaii vefdict on Saturday,., for he ■ had-never, had his. own; colours car-ried'-to success, in" the race. 'He had also removed V-his own. colt Hadrian from the Derby prior to his completion of the' important early spring classic treble (Hobartville Stakes, Canterbury Guineas, and Rosehill ■ Guineas), a sequence •of successes that, had he known it was going to ; happen beforehand, would -probably have induced him to allow the.colt to-takeV his chance in-the Derby field.' ' > Oro is a handsome, six-year-old chesthorse by the Hurry Onihorse Roger de Busli, whom Mr. White imported from England along with Tippler, in 192^. Rogers de'Busli's best represent tative yet has, been Rogilla; winner of the Caulfield, Sydney,, and King's Cups, the others, excepting.Oro, being mainly- moderates. '.. v< .'■

Oro's dam is Sweet Alison (who does not appear to have been raced), by Havo.c (son of Nordenfeldt) from Sweet Alice, by imported Gang Forward (son of Stockwell) from imported Fairy Voice, by' See Saw. This is a branch of the Bruce Lowe No. 5 family, but one th,at has not. previously had particular-fJjucpess inl-.the Commonwealth,' : though'^,!Charles '■■ Stuart (A.J.C. AU-Aged Plate/ A:j.C. Champagne Stake's,-Moonee Valley Gup)i Alatus (Tattersall's Cup), and Britain (Rosehill ■;■'. Camellia Stakes, A.J.G.Waverley' Handicap, AJ.Q' Sxunmer Cup, and TattersaU's Cup), have comefrom it through* S^eet Emma, a halfsister to Sweet:Alison_. ■ In Elizabeth, a sister to Fainr.Voice's dam, was a winner; of. the. One: Thousand Guineas.:^On-his: 'breeding alone Oro is thus well»;enpugh :-.qualifled to winany race in the Commonwealth. ,