WHY PREFERENCE IS FOR ILIAD GELDING

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 108, 3 November 1937, Page 13

WHY PREFERENCE IS FOR ILIAD GELDING

(By "Rangatira.") Trentham horses have played a prominent part in many New Zealand Cups. The last winner from the centre was Cuddle, only two years ago; and on a firm track Might would have been nearer the front than fourth last year. There are three Trentham candidates in this year's Cup, every one of them trained to fitness point, and every one with admirers in their home quarters. In their order on the list they are Sunce 7.3, Boomerang 7.2, and

Might 7.1. It waa.interesting to take the opinion of various trainers and riders on tha Trentham tracks yesterday morning. There waa an unexpected consensus of opinion that Friesland would win the Cup. Among the local,horses,, the majority count was for Sunee, with Might also finding a quota of friends as a reasonable lightweight chance. Boomerang, perhaps fittest of them all. secured about the same percentage of votes as the Democrats did at the. last election. There was, of course, also a very general view that Cerne Abbas would go a (teat race, but few at Trentham are prepared to see her the winner. Rebel Lad had rather more support as the possible best of the South Island hand. There was a word as well for Linguist. . Another horse naihed by some was- Hazoor, who finished fourth in Steeton's Cup three years ago. Wellington sportsmen who make the trip to the Cup Meeting this year must find it very hard to pass over the claims of their own representatives. It will be very little easier to' sort out which one of the three. The evenness of the Cup issue could be no better demonstrated than by the problem the Trentham trio alone present.

PAST TRENTHAM WINNERS. The first of past Trentham-trained winners in the New Zealand Gup was the four-year-old Menelaus back In 1917, Menelaus was owned by Messrs. V. and E. Riddiford and, he was trained by J..-W. Lowe, who will be repre-; sented in this year's Cup.by Sunee. Menelaus was the stable's second string, as Johnny Walker,-also owned by the Messrs. Riddiford, was considered the better prospect over the two miles. They finished first and second, with only a head between them, Ashley Reed on Menelaus and Maurice McCarten on Johnny Walker. The now veteran trainer has always declared he wished the result had been the other way, though the pair; were of course bracketed on. the totalisator. Five years later.the Cup was again, won from the centre, oil that occa- % sion by Scion, owned by Mr. E. Riddiford. And again-it was the unexpected string. <* At that time T. F: Quinlivan was training .Mr. Riddiford's horses, and the stable had great hopes of winning the Cup with Royal Box. -■. • Very few gave Scion any chance whatever, as he had never been tried above nine furlongs. Royal Box was always one of the pre-post favourites and he was responsible for the bracket's going out second selection to Foo Chow on the day. Royal Box tan badly and the despised Scion beat Foo Chow by half .a length. ...Inck dentally it was Quinlivan's fifth training success in the New Zealand Cup. In 1928 Trentham once again furnished the winner in Oratrix, who was trained by H. B. Lorigan. . Lorigan was a trifle, unlucky to .miss a second Cup with Concentrate in Nightmarch s year, as Concentrate would probably have beaten the Night Raid horse if he had held his run a fraction longer. Oratrix and Concentrate were owned by Mr. R. J. Murphy, 'who secured a second New Zealand Cup wm through the agency of Cuddle, whom he had bought mr few months earlier ..and handed to T. R. George : to train., .- Cuddle was set on top of .the weights for this year's Cup, but the honour was declined at the first payment. George nevertheless has two other worthy representatives still in the field in the .half-brothers Might and Boomerang, .each racing in a different Interest. The stable likes both these horses, and frankly does not know which one to like best. George, while not committing himself, mentioned- tactfully before going south that he thinks Boomerang is sure to run an excellent' race. • . „ . If breeding be any criterion, then Boomerang and Might should be as likely two-milers as there are at pre-

sent in the Dominion. There is no better staying blood in the land than appears to be presented by the pedigree of the dam of these two horses, the imported mare Graciosa. Graciosa was by the' Triple Crown winner Gay Crusader out of the Cyllene mare Mistrella, and Mistrella's descendants have already included the Ascot Gold Cup winners Trimdon (twice) and Foxhunter, and the Oaks winners Beam and Light Brocade. Graciosa might be the Cinderella of the family; but in Might and Boomerang she has a couple of offspring who at least possess a proved modicum of stamina. THE BLOOD IS THERE. It has always been the view that this family would some day produce a winner of either the New Zealand or the Auckland Cup. Might has run in two New Zealand Cups for a third and a fourth, and he was recommended as first-choice on each occasion. Perhaps he has been unlucky, but that is a personal view. Now eight years old, Might has the hard part' to come back and win the Cup, and, though he is as well as ever he was before, one inclines to pass him by for his younger relative, who may also be if anything a little more stoutly bred on his sire's side tor stamina, Iliad being a son of Swynford, premier sire in 1923 and sire also of that great stallion Blandford^ who had a glorious if short reign of supremacy in England. Another point about Boomerang is that he is bred to the Bruce Lowe formula for getting good horses, and particularly stayers. This formula is not wholly theory, for it is based on empirical research and npwis found to be in accord with modern genetical tenets. The formula is that best results may be expected from returning to a sire the best blood in his dam. Iliad's dam, Pagan Sacrifice, was by Cyllene's son Cicero. Cyllene appears to be the blood to return, and Graciosa does so through her oWn dam, the Cyllene mare Mistrella. Boomerang is thus bred *i the rule for stayers, and everything he has done suggests that he will stay. If he races sensibly in Saturday's Cup he is likely to be found passing beaten horses in the last halfmile, as Might did to reach third place in Steeton's year.

Sunee, Trentham's third aspirant, is another very fit horse, and his veteran owner-trainer makes no secret of his hope. Sunee is probably.a better horse at seven years than he has ever been before. On his fine finishing efforts in his racing this season one might expect him to be harder to beat the further he has to go. But this reasoning has again and again led good Judges astray, and Sunee has still to satisfy that he is a true stayer, that is, a horse who can win beyond a mile and a half with the pace on from the start, as it is almost sure to be on Saturday. Two years ago Sunee ran in the New Zealand Cup and there was some confidence in him that year. But after a likely move at the half-mile he faded and could only plod into tenth place. If Sunee has'true stamina he should have stayed on better than that, for stamina is- «n inherited attribute and is not acquired.. Stamina might need brlngiiigout, but It should be fully evident at five years. Sunee's age two years ago. The Australian Suns take a long time to mature, and Sunee is only now at his zenith; but there must always remain that suspicion, about his actual stamina till deeds dispel the doubt. . On breeding and past performance therefore the view that will be taken here is to rate the chances of Trentham's thr*.a "hopes" in the reverse order to what the majority of those interrogated at the course have done. Boomerang appeals as the likeliest one, with Might still given a chance of staging a comeback, and Sunee relegated to the post of most doubtful.'