SUCCESSFUL CAREER

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 36, 12 February 1936, Page 15

SUCCESSFUL CAREER

1 REFRESHER STILL WINNING

NOW NINE YEARS OF AGE

: .Turf fame is short and glorious for some horses; for others fame comes only as the result of a long career; there are yet a few who combine the passing and the sustained. Kefresher has been privileged to share in all phases. There was the. eclat of his three- and four-year-old seasons, then a lapse of mediocrity, and now a burst into prominence again in his tenth year. Refresher may not be of the mettle of the real champions, but he has earned a place on the scroll of the exceptional, and his deeds will be often ' recalled in the years to come. He has appropriately a name that might have suggested he was not meant to grace the records for a merely ephemeral space. Early In the present term Refresher, ranking as a nine-year-old, must.have . appealed to the majority as a gelding who had passed his days of successful venturing after the prizes^of the Turf. And so it did seem when over a third of the season had gone and the best he could do was to fill the minor places at provincial meetings. But unexpectedly he led home the field in the Douglas Handicap, six furlongs, at Stratford on New Year's Day; and, as if to demonstrate in no uncertain style that he was not to be classed with the back-numbers, he stepped out again four events later in the Malone Memorial Handicap, nine furlongs, that same afternoon and also won it easily, thus capturing the "double" event of the day. He ran third to Friesland and Lucidus over six furlongs on the final day of that meeting; then, freshened up anew, he came out at New Plymouth last week to win the open short-distance events, over six and seven furlongs respectively, on the two days of the Taranaki Autumn Meeting. The uniqueness of his feat needs no elaboration. The result of his recent successes has naturally lifted Refresher high up in the scale again, but'his winning days may even yet not be passed, for he is obviously in very fit order at present and he has previously shown that he can carry fair weights. Even if sprint company becomes too difficult for him with the imposts he has earned, he has still the middle distances to, exploit, and there might possibly also prove to be some jumping ability in him, ■though one does not recollect that he has yet been tried in a hurdling role. REFRESHER'S LONG CAREER. In view of the ageing gelding's recent performances it may be of interest to take a short glance over his past career. He began racing as a late two-year-old, but in the single appearance he made that term he was un-. placed. It was at a Franklin Meet-' ing. The next season, which was to prove a very successful one, he raced, nine, times and was five times a winner. His first victory was in the Sylvia Park Handicap at a Pakuranga Hunt Meeting, and he followed it up by winning the Hobson Handicap at the' A.R.C. Spring Meeting, another good race at Takapuna, and a sprint double at Whangarei. .In. his fourth season he was a better stake-winner —indeed-that has been his best term as a money-spinner to date — but he won only three races in eighteen starts, his earnings being considerably augmented by six seconds and two thirds. His wins were the Flying Handicap at the A.R.C. Spring Meeting, when he beat such horses as Prince Val, Nancy-Lee, Otairi, Silvermine, Great Charter,: and Mei'vette* 'and the two open sprints at the.Waikato Autumn' Meeting. He several times missed narrowly in the best company. . At five years old he failed to win a race, though he was five times placed, including a third in the A.R.C. Railway Handicap, and at the close Qf that season he was acquired on two years' lease, later extended to' eight years, by Mr. F. Calvert, of New Ply-, mouth. He made a good start for Mr. Calvert by winning the Stratford. Handicap at the Taranaki Hunt Meeting, and a little later he successfully went ten furlongs in the Waverley Cup. At his next start he was again a winner over 1} miles in the Waikato Cup, and before the close of the term he had won* four more races—the Stratford Malone Memorial Handicap, 9 furlongs, the same sprint double at New Plymouth as he took last week, and the Opunake St. Patrick's Handicap. 6 furlongs, the last three in line. ' During the next two seasons he had only occasional wins, but he suffered a breakdown —or at least had to be let up for fear of a breakdown—two years ago. Last year, after a twelve months' spell, he won three sprints, . but the class he beat was poor. He has been mixing his distances again this season, and prior to entering on his excellent recent run of successes lie was narrowly beaten by Silk Sox in the "Waverley Cup, a race he won three years earlier. HIS RECORD IN DETAIL. His recqrd of starts, wins, and earnings to date is as follows:— ' . ' , StIIKGS, Starts. Wins. £ ■ At 2 years ] — ~ At 3 years ' ....... ,!> ■> ™'2 At 4 years IS 3 - llOjj At 5 years n — " £30 ■ Ate years' 20 . 7 800 At T years 0 1 . Iga At 8 years ~ H » **2 At 9 years ; 11 ■' »-■' Totals .01 21! £«U5 . Besides his numerous successes, Refresher has been in the minor places 33 times, so that he has a more than ordinarily good percentage of times in the money. Refresher was a purchase from one o£ the early Trentham yearling sales. He was bred by Mrs. M. A. Perry at Hastings in 1926, and at the 1928 saleshe was acquired by Mr. G. C. Glenn, of Hawera, for 300gs. Like others of Mr. Glenn's horses, he was trained by J. T. Jamieson, After three seasons' racing, during which, with stakewinnings amounting to £2410, he easily recouped his owner's outlay, he was transferred on lease to Mr. Calvert, who handed him to R. Barlow to train at New Plymouth. Mr. Calvert still races him and Barlow is his trainer. . Refresher is a bay gelding by Tea Tray, and his dam is the Demosthenes —Rangiao mare Hula Girl, who previously had thrown- Tea Bell and Mori to the same sire. Tea Bell, who was raced by Messrs. J, C. and P. S. Gleeson, for whom Jamieson also trained, was a very successful juvenile, her wins including the t A.R.C. Musket. Stakes and four events at Takapuna; she afterwards went to Victoria, where she won. among other races the Werribee and' Sandown Park Plates. Mori was of no account, nor was Hula Girl's only other offspring, Poi Girl, to CockHula Girl, the dam of Refresher, was raced herself only as a two-year-' old, and her best efforts were a couple of seconds, and a third to Gloaming. She went to the stud the next year. She was' a full-sister to Bitholia and Kamehameha, both useful performers, and a half-sister to Elocution, a successful race mare who subsequently left Gay Sonnet at the stud. The family traces back to the Gratis mare Princess, one of the first thoroughbreds imported into New Zealand, and it has survived since the late forties of last century to be still a force at the present day. The family during its ninety years in New Zealand has produced horses such as Ada (C.J.C. Derby). Danebury (G.N. Derby), Adamant (Dun'edin Cup), , Opera (C.J.C. Derby), Tambourini (New Zealand and Wellington Cups), etc., as well as a host of successful performers in less select company.

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