TAKAPUNA CUP WIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 23, 28 January 1936, Page 6

TAKAPUNA CUP WIN

GAY ROSE'S LUCK TURNS

(Special from "Early Bird.")

AUCKLAND, January 27.

The attendance on the opening day of the Takapuna fixture, at Ellerslie last Saturday, was not up to that of the same day twelve months previously, and it was only in the last two races that the totalisator decrease was overcome to show a satisfactory rise. The prospects for Wednesday's programme are much brighter, and the heavy rain last Saturday night will keep the turf in nice order again.

Gay Eose scored her most important success to date when she landed the Takapuna Cup, for it not only required speed and stamina to secure the prize, but courage of a high order was necessary and she produced it. Gay Eose has been an unlucky performer, but with a stronger horseman in the saddle on this occasion she proved herself capable of winning for her owner-trainer-breeder, Mr. A. E. Lennard, who has kept the mare going in a commendable sporting manner. The Takapuna Cup victress is one of the few Gay Shields who have won over ten furlongs, and it is possible that she may go further. MAZIR'S MISFORTUNE. It is very likely that Mazir, favourite for the Takatmna Cup, would have gone close to #inning the event had not a change of riders been found necessary. Wiggins was to have taken the mount, but he was indisposed and the apprentice E. E. Walsh was substituted. Now Mazir is by no means an easy horse to ride, being rather sluggish, so that when he set put two furlongs from home to give the leaders half a dozen lengths' start, his task was not a light one. He finally finished third, beaten less than two lengths, so that he did not do so badly after all. With a stronger rider he might have won. . Lagoon ran a good fourth in the Takapuna Cup, although she was never actually holding a winning chance. She got away well, but was sent back at the half-mile post by Kelly, who appears to take some controlling in a race, and at the home turn she was just in front of the rearguard, so that she must be credited with going a good race and is a prosl pect for a middle-distance handicap on the provincial circuit this autumn. In Mungatoon, Lagoon, and Mungacre, the Te Aroha owner-trainer P. A. Swney has a very useful team, to which will have to be added the two-year-old filly Golden Sheila, whose grandam is Lady Marie, who produced Cray Sheila, Gay Blonde,* Gay Shiek, and Gay Brunette. It has often been stated that there are some horses who cannot race well on right-handed courses; this applies in several instances to Auckland gallopers, who race in a district where more than half the tracks are .righthanded. For instance, Bellkyrian, a very speedy hack and winner of quite a few races, has consistently failed at Ellerslie. She showed plenty of pace last Saturday to lead to the distance, where she began to bore out badly, despite which she finished right up in tfie bunch, being fifth and only a length away from the winner, Mungacre. Gay Marigold earlier in her career won all her races at Te Eapa and the old Takapuna' courses, both left-handed, and. her continued failures at Ellerslie may represent .more than a mere lapse of form, although she went in improved style in the Takapuna Cup. BIG JUVENILE FIELD. One of the biggest fields seen out at Ellerslie in a two-year-old race for some time was that produced last Saturday and it furnished a wonderful finish. ' Rulette, the winner, outstayed Surella in the last couple of strides, and Gay Streak was overhauling the pair of them on the post. The favourite, Inver, performed disappointingly, for he never seemed to be going right, although he was running on in fourth place at the post. N Tin Lap ran out of hacks as a result of winning the Wynyard Plate on Sat>urday, and though she will now have to do her future racing in the open ranks she should not be difficult to place on the country circuit, for she appeals as likely to do well in sprint and handicap company that falls a bit below the best standard. It is remarkable how these hack plate contests at Takapuna Meetings prove so popular and, serve also to provide really stirring finishes. Last week's contest was one of the best in the whole series. These are the last hack contests under the old provision of qualification, Which kept a horse eligible for hack races until £500 had been won.

Torch, performed smartly to win the Trial Stakes so easily last week; and it would seem as if he will have to be taken into account when he lines up with the better-class hack sprinters. He is a five-year-old by Illumination from Lupinella and is trained by A. Cook at Te Awamutu. The field that Torch defeated was probably poor, but some of them will improve. One was a fine big mare, also a five-year-old, Mainland, by Lucullus from Greylands, carrying the colours of the same sportsman as used to race that good horse Pegaway. It is not often that a protest is lodged these,, days, and that lodged by the owner of King Tut against L'AJlegro for interference in the straight last Saturday, in the Highweight contest, was not sustained. At the half-mile King Tut appeared to get into some trouble and lost a bit of ground, and after L'Allegro passed the false rail (again in use last week) he gradually bore over to the rails and so hampered King Tut, who was making his run at the time. The actual interference might not have altered the result, although it could not be denied that the second horse did not meet with any luck in the running.