SECOND-DAY FEATURES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 59, 11 March 1937, Page 13

SECOND-DAY FEATURES

WELLINGTON RACES

FRANCIS DRAKE ENGAGED,

The Wellington Racing Club's Autumn Meeting, which extended over three days last year, incorporating the extra day's racing the club has been utilising the last few years and which was used this season at the spring fixture, has reverted to two days this year, and the concluding day will be staged on Saturday. From the point of view of the club Saturday is the more important day, as it draws the halfholiday crowd, and the programme contains several further feature events, in particular the North Island Challenge Stakes, the Autumn Handicap, and the Champion Hack Cup. The final day of the Autumn Meeting gives the staying horses their better opportunity. The Autumn Handicap and the Champion Hack Cup are both run over a mile and three furlongs, and the tv/0-year-olds have their first opportunity at seven furlongs in the Challenge Stakes. CHALLENGE STAKES.

The North Island Challenge Stakes does not generally draw a very large field, but often the race is hotly contested, and this" year's' event. should again provide an excellent spectacle and probably a keen struggle for mastery. Silver Ring and Paper Slipper will represent the older brigade, and the two-year-olds will have worthy candidates in Francis Drake, Royal Chief, Haughty Winner, Smoke Screen, and The Crooner. These may be the only ones likely to go to the post, but they are amply sufficient to ensure a splendid contest. . At the payment there were a dozen horses left in, but Namakia, The Duel, Pantoon, and Lady Portland undoubtedly missed' the: forfeit through oversight. Namakia is now in Australia, and the other three are not at the meeting. The full field, with the weights that have been earned, not counting possible further penalties that might have been earned today by Royal Chief, Haughty Winner, Smoke Screen, or The Crooner, is as follows:—

NORTH ISLAND CHALLENGE STAKES,, £500 w.f.a with penalties; 7 furlongs. Silver Ring .". 10 1' Haughty Paper Siipjier .96- Winner 7 5 Namakia .... 812 The Crooner .612 The Duel .... SB' Smoke Screen .612 Francis Drake 712 Pantoon " 612 Royal Chief ..7 8 Relative 6 9 Lady Portland . 6 9

Horses in this list that have earned already the full 141b penalty are Silver Ring, Paper Slipper, and Francis Drake. Royal Chief's weight includes a 101b-penalty, and Haughty Winner's a 71b penalty. Silver Ring is a previous winner of the race three years ago, when,- as a four-year-old, he carried .9.10. including a iOlb" penalty. The following year, with the full penalty, he ,was defeated by the two-year-old Gay Sheik, without penalty but carrying 7£lb overweight. Last year, after winning the Thompson Handicap with record weight for the race, he was not required to take on the Challenge Stakes. This year he may make his third appearance in the event, but unless he should have made an unexpectedly forward showing in today's Thompson Handicap he is not likely to be in any great favour, for he looks in need of more racing. . . ' ... It may surprise some to learn that silver Ring has already earned sufficient stake-money this season to make him carry the full penalty. But he was still in form in the spring,'when he won three w.f.a. events in Sydney, including two at the A.J.C. Meeting. Paper Slipper,, particularly if he should have finished in the money today, will be a fancied Challenge aspirant. The stable won the race with the two-year-old Wild Chase last year, and Paper Slipper has evidently been preferred by his connections as the three-year-old hope this year. The stable is likely to have two runners on Saturday; with Haughty Winner to support Paper Slipper. Todays form will have assisted in offering a line on the pair. THE LIKELY FAVOUKITE.

The favourite for the Stakes, whatever the form today, will be the two-year-old Francis Drake. At his last start, in the Wellington Stakes, 5 furlongs, in January, the Chief Ruler colt carried the same impost and was a very easy winner. The impost included a full 141b penalty, and only fourth was Paper Slipper, with a 101b penalty.- Even allowing that Paper Slipper has improved since, it is hard to sec how there could be any different result as between this pair on Saturday for the extra distance will probably suit the two-year-old more than the three-year-old. On this reasoning the Chokebore stable may have to rely rather on Haughty Winner than on Paper Slipper. Francis Drake seems to stand right out among the two-year-olds. He showed in the Royal Stakes at Ellerslie at the New Year how much he is really the master of Royal Chief, who scored what was undoubtedly, a .surprise win over him in the Great Northern Foal Stakes a few days earlier. The penalty should not greatly : trouble Francis Drake, any more than it did in January. If there is a two-year-old in the field who might make a fight of it with him, outside of Haughty Winner, it is more likely to be Smoke Screen, of whom the best has possibly not yet been. seen. The full penalty has been successfully carried on numerous occasions since the -race was first instituted in 1899. The older horses to have done so have been Achilles, Gloaming (three times), Grand Knight, and Silver Link (a daughter of Achilles); three-year-old winners under the penalty have been Bronze, Autumnus, and Desert Gold; and two-year-old victors with full penalty comprise only Desert Gold and Gascony. The task that confronts Francis Drake is. thus no light one on paper; but not many two-year-olds had previously won the Wellington Stakes under'the full penalty, and so far the Woodyille colt has been an'outstanding juvenile during the current-season. OTHER MAIN ITEMS.

The Autumn Handicap, run over the popular .Trentham middle distance of eleven furlongs,-will see a number of horses in action who were not racing today. The fresh runners will be formidable opposition for the best of today's form. ' M ■ .

Among the likely fresh horses are Queen- of Song, Argentic, Sunee, Korero. Last 'Refrain, Tunneller, and possibly Hazoor, most of whom have disclosed recent form, or promise. The scale.of weights, with Silver Ring to start off the list, should not be excessively high, which will favour Argentic and Queen of Song, both, of whom are already. on the scene. Interesting competitors may also be the three-year-olds Wild Chase,'Martara, and Mandamus. Weight may exclude the winner of today's St. Leger Stakes, but the beaten horses in the classic, will have a chance to earn a good stake here, as Greek Shepherd did under 8.8 twelve months ago following his .rather unlucky defeat in the St; Leger. Today's classic result might make the weighting of these three-year-olds rather difficult, particularly if Wild Chase should have been beaten in the very heavy going.

■The Champion Hack Cup, with its trophy, has drawn the best card of hacks at the meeting, and a fair-sized field is almost certain. In the list is Cerne Abbas, who was one of today's St. Leger field. She is expected by southern track watchers to be a formidable claimant for the prize. Others of note in the race are Brazen King, Old Surrey, Catalogue, Maestro, Roaming, Terry,. Lucullus Lad, Lady Sieg-fried,-and Revival; but .generally the class is a shade disappointing, for quite a. number in the field could have very ■Sxis chance on form. The Buzzer