SEQUENCE BROKEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 46, 24 February 1937, Page 15

SEQUENCE BROKEN

STABLE MONOPOLY

DAVIS'S TWO-YEAR-OLDS

Though anyone making a study of the weights- might have been rather surprised to find Geira so.much belter supported for the two-year-old race at Woodville on Monday ' than Smoke Screen was,' there : was other reason to account for the general preference shown towards the filly, particularly the fact that the local stable had already captured the three juvenile events on the course this season and was; attempting to make it a full book of four. Last autumn also F. W. Davis had. won the two nursery events at the Woodville Meeting, which meant an unbroken line of five.such victories prior to-Monday. ; - The obstacle set by the handicap, however, was more than the stable could surmount. ' Geira was afforded a'wonderful Opportunity of continuing the sequence when she was let away to a fly, but she wilted under the attack of Smoke Screen and -was thoroughly trounced.' There is a :stone difference ■between these two youngsters, and it is Geira that would need the stone her way. '■'. -'■■■ '■■'.■■■ •■ It is interesting to note the sequence the stable had secured prior to Geira's defeat. Last autumn Davis won with Birthday Party oh the first day.' and with Mandamus on the second day. The stable had no representatives at the Dapnevirke • Meeting held on : the track late hi' April. . Last December the winner was Geira on each day; and on'the .first day of the meeting, last Weekend1 the' winner was Courtcraft. Smoke-Screen .stepped.in to break, the line of wins: on-Monday. ',; ~,: :;,;iONLIx:*TVE IN./ALL". . .' .. When Courtcraft scored on Saturday there was. some discussion about the number, of juveniles the stable - has produced this season. Some had the number ■'; jjs "high, as rime.' A check over, the record;/discloses apparently only .five-;you'ngsters in all, though one was under the impression there might be::more.; The quintet, in the order of their appearance, are Aiwai, Francis Drake, Geira; Relative, and: Courtcraft. All except Relative have been winners, and Relative .has-been-three times second and once third in five starts. ; Most notable> among the. five on performances, to date. is. of. course, ..the Chief Ruler—Tame. Duck colt Francis Drake, full-brother to Admiral Drake. Francis Drake was narrowly beaten by Greenwich? at''Marton at'his first start, then.\yoh.the A..R.C. Welcome Stakes, the W:R.C: Wellesley Stakes,, and the C.J.C.:-Welcome Stakes. .At his fifth start he was; as now appears clear, unluckily defeated .by Royal Chief in. the G.N. Foal": Stakes at. Ellerslie, arid >in two subsequent outings he, won - the A.R.C.. -Royal: Stakes and the Welling' ton Stakes. ■ : His. easiest victory" of all cameiii his' last race, which is the definite mark of "continued irnproverherit. At the end of the season Francis Drake will, .undoubtedly be on top as leading stake-winner, among the two-Xear-Qlds. , To oust1 him from this honour Royal: Chief would require not only to win at Trentham next month and then both classics at Riccarton.but would still depend on the Woodville colt's failing to add another. ■ pound: to his season's .earnings, over Trentham and-Easter..,- ;■;•;■•' .':'•*/•■..-:''-l •.''',' Francis'Drake-AViH do his Easter rac; ljjg'ae Ellerslie,-s6\hxf will hot again be m eeting - 'his Foal. '.Stakes.'. victor, ori whpm, f in any.case, he had liis revenge in the Royal Stakes. Francis Drake JS T engaged..in:.both -the . -A.RC.--.aiid C.J.C.-vChampagne--rStakes.'' but-the former race is'to be his mission; His high-class slablemate Cqurtcraft is not entered at Ellerslie but is'in both the G;J.C, ..qlassics, the Champagne Stakes and: thejChallenge Stakgs, and-it may P0 that;Courtcraft is the horse -'whom the,stable'will be sending.to Riccarton at .Easter:-, -. •..-.-.■.■■■■. :■■• ■':.•' ■ ■•:: Gourtcraft, though his -record has been-built,, up so far on only "the single start--he-had last Saturday, is unquestionably even now the second youngster in the stable, on performance; and the discerning, have probably'already see'rT'in Hini "the' stable's No. 1 star of the future. On*., appearance he is a classier, colt .altogether than Francis Drake. Indeed; he is one of the most classy colts that has been stepped out in the. T Dominion for several years, if not for';all time.. He promises to let down into a. grand colt for whom no aspiration . could be too high, and he may.be ;.the-horse- in due course; to carry on most strongly the male line of 'S,tf- Simon- 'through Limond.' It is possible ; that .not. .a .great deal more will" be : asked from him this, season. . i' STATR. OF THE FJLELIES. Aiwai, who is.raced under lease by I Davis, himself," 'is/ the star of the three ■fillies.in,the team".this season;'and she. has ...the. substance to. develop Jrito a solid• racing rri'are of useful-handicap, class. This/daughter of Chief Ruler was-the- favourite- for the Wanganui Debutant Stakes early in the season and missed'; a place/-but at her next start she.wo^i the Avondale. .Stakes .and. shortly; afterwards' scored in .the Roseneath Handicap at Trenthami At. Ellerslie'at'Christmas she-went under td^The Crooner, but after then missing in one start at Trentham last month sne r!was a'double winner at Wanganui, in; cbmpariy admittedly: but carrying 9.9 on .the second, occasion. According Jo" the handicappers, the Aransio Jifly .vGeira is superior to Aiwai, but how they can quite reconcile this opinion .with a tabulation of the records. of ..the two fillies is difficult to know.: Geira has had several starts, but her only wins have been her two. successes at Woodville. ■ in December, the second time under 8.11 and' beating Wildflower. (8.6)1. Subsequently she carried 9.1 , into second place'behind Haughty Winner on thefirst day at Trentham .last month, and it was that effort that perhaps sealed her fatel'Looking at-them generally, the^rerformances of Aiwai seem a great deal better than those of Geira. Yet in the Te Aroha list, for- instance, Geira is set on 9.7 and Aiwai on 9.3. ' Geira is the makings of a easeful sprinting 'filly,-for she has a lot of early speed,'but-it Js doubtful- if she is anything out of the ordinary order. Under the weights that are being allotted her, the better policy might be to set-her. aside»till next season. Aiwai could apparently .be better placed to win^races during the remainder of the season tb,'an Geira/ and Relative perhaps, better" than either of them. ■Relative,- who is the last offspring of that- famous brood mare .Eulogy,.,is. a full-sister to Le Grand. She is a goodlooking daughter of Posterity, and shell as probably teen unlucky not to have opened her winning account before now • At. her first outing she beat everything except her stablemate Geira, the pait.. carrying level weights, and her subsequent outings have included, seconds to Dragon Moth and Brunhild. Success should come her way during the next month or so. Such is the Davis team of juveniles that has been.tproduced . during the present season. There are two likely Derby colts among them, and maybe Courtcraft will be sent on a- mission to Australia -next spring. The only other stable that could compare with iZb Woodville establishment this term is' Chokebore Lodge, whose represen-tatives-have included Haughty Winner Night Dress, Counterblast, Card Player Lazybones, and Mulatto, and which.may still shelter one whoJs better than- anything that has yet been produced. :