HANDICAP PUZZLE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 19, 23 January 1937, Page 22

HANDICAP PUZZLE

BRUNHILD REAPS HARVEST On handicaps there has rarely appeared a bigger certainty than Brunhild was in the Nursery Handicap, and the astounding part about her success was that she was allowed to go out only third favourite on both machines. It was almost a foregone conclusion on paper that she must win, and probably she should have scored more easily than she did. Brunhild had the initial disadvantage of the outside marble, but so brilliantly did she begin that she was clear in front at once and she was always there, making the running for Greenwich, Top Row, and Relative. She did not come right over to the fence till well into the straight, and while she was doing so Relative had to be checked. At the beginning of the last furlong she began to loaf, and when Relative challenged she was immediately in danger, but, ridden hard, she gathered up speed again and held her rival at bay by three parts of a has been a most consistent filly for in her nine starts to date she 'has won three times, been second

three times, third twice, and fourth once. Her previous wins were at Ricearton at the Cup Meeting,, and her placings have included a third in the Great Northern Foal Stakes and a second in the Wellington Stakes. Yet in yesterday's race she was asked to carry only 31b above the minimum, and moreover allowed to receive substantial weight from such minor winners as Top Row and Geira! There was admittedly the problem of a 9.7 maximum handicap under the conditions and Francis Drake to be weighted on that mark; but few will agree that the best solution of the dilemma was found and fewer still that Brunhild should have been handicapped below minor handicap winners such as Top Row an ßrunhfld was the third Trentham I winner during the day. She is a well--1 grown filly by Siegfried from the Demosthenes—Queen Kora mare Speechless, a winer as a juvenile herself and the dam previously of Ralphyllis._ At last year's sales she was passed in at 100 guineas, but the Trentham trainer S. J. Reid later bought her privately and then disposed of her to Mr. C. Ryan, of Tawa Flat, who was anxious to enter the ranks of racing owners. She is proving a very useful _ first purchase, and a price of 1000 guineas has already been refused for her. Relative met her check when apparently making a dash for an opening on the inner of the winner below the false rail and which had closed before she could reach it. Then she came out and challenged, but Brunhild had her measure over the concluding portion. This well-bred filly is the last of Eulogy's progeny and she is likely to develop into good class with experier>The Crooner was well back most of the way, but he finished on for the other place dividend two and a half lengths off. Mulatto, behind Relative early, was a handy fourth also running on. Top Row, as might be expected, was unable to concede the weight to better-performed horses, and there was no logical reason for his favouritism. Greenwich also stopped, and five furlongs may be her limit this season. An inquiry was held after the race into the trouble to Relative. The finding was that any interference that occurred was caused through the strong gale that was blowing, and that P. Atkins, the rider of Relative, admitted himself that he was blown on to the rails. The case was one in which the committee did not see any reason for placing the blame on the riders, and therefore no action was deemed necessary.