STAR ARTIST'S HANDICAP

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 121, 18 November 1936, Page 15

STAR ARTIST'S HANDICAP

Through the weights she has recently received at other meetings, Star Artist looks particularly well handicapped at 8.0 in the Cambridge Handicap at the Waikato Meeting on Saturday. On the last day of the recent C.J.C. Meeting she appeared on the list at 8.3, and in the weights issued yesterday for the Takapuna Meeting she has 8.5. Moreover, in the Takapuna weights Namakia starts off at 9.11, instead of at 9.13 as in the Te Rapa sprint on Saturday; and Impasto is asked to concede Star Artist only lib, instead of 91b, as at Te Rapa. Star Artist has been showing good form already this season, and at her fourth and most recent appearance she decisively won the first clay's sprint at Avondale last month, giving the impression that she is back at her very best. She was previously second in the Epsom Handicap at Ellerslie last month under 7.7, and then won the Avoca Handicap at Avondale (Dargaville Meeting) under 7.13, reduced to 7.8 by an apprentice allowance. Actually she has therefore gone up only lib at Te Rapa for that win, whereas Mangukaha, whom she beat easily into third place at Avondale, is sent up 31b. The fact that Mangukaha subsequently won at the Waikato Hunt should not be allowed to count betw.een the pair at their next meeting if it could possibly be avoided. It may be noted that the horses Star Artist defeated at Avondale included Triune (second), Mangukaha (third), and Tray Bit (fourth), all of whom have since won. Tray Bit spreadeagling her field on the second day of the Dargaville Meeting. Everything therefore seems to point to Star Artist's being one for the punters on Saturday, unless some fresh horse should come into the issue to spoil the opportunity.