DEFAULTER'S TASK

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 71, 25 March 1938, Page 15

DEFAULTER'S TASK

'AWAPUNI CLASSIC

FEW FULL-PENALTY WINS

Another fine card will be presented for the final day's racing at Awapuni tomorrow, but the outstanding feature will be the contest.for the Manawatu Sires' Produce: Stakes, which often: assists in locating the champion two-year-old of the season. If Defaulter can succeed with the full penalty of 141b, he must' be acclaimed, even though there are good juveniles not in the field, as No. 1 youngster, at least till the final two-year-old classics are decided at Easter.; '/' . ■ . :

The ManawatuvSires' Produce Stakes, which was instituted in 1908, is 1 the only race of. its kind in the Dominion. It is different from other juvenile events in that only horses by sires who were nominated twelve months earlier were,entitled to be entered.when the actual race nominations were, taken last June. Te Horo, for instance; was not eligible for entry, as Heroic was not one of the nominated sires in 1936.

;The sire entry is made nearly two years before the race, while the offspring who may run are .only eight or nine months old. The entry for the sire costs the owner of the sire, or the other person (as, for example, the owner, of a likely foal) £3. If one of , the sire's progeny duly wins the nominator of /the sire takes £40 out of the stake. -Practically every leading sire of two-year-olds in the land is accorded an entry. Sires' produce races are common in America and also in England. -In Australia the Victoria Eacing Club has such a race at the Autumn Meetings, but. there is none in New South Wales. TEST OF STAMINA. The Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes has been run without a break since its, inauguration, and tomorrow's race will be the thirtieth in the line. It rs the only two-year-old race in the season decided over seven furlongs, though horses of the age can run in certain seven-furlong w.f.a. events, such as the North Island Challenge Stakes at Trentham and. the Challenge Stakes at Riccarton. The race is therefore one of the best tests of the season for indication of stamina. I Defaulter is likely to be sent out a firm favourite for this year's Stakes, but the record shows that he has the hard part yet toVdo'to win.s Only once in the whole.history of the race has a youngster of his sex carried the full penalty to victory, and that was Finmark in 1918; the Finland colt emerging the leading stake-winner among the juveniles of that season. Geldings until about fifteen, years ago were, allowed 31b,' but; no gelding ever .won with the full-penalty; • A number of filliesy however, have been successful with the full penalty, less the 31b filly ..allowance. They were all' Champions in their . year, whiqh of course they had to be to. earn the1 penalty. ■' There.7,/have been- five such winners,-namely, Tukia: (1923), Lady Cavendish (1925), Episode (1928), Gay Ballerina (1929), and : Gesture (1930). ,: .■■■■; :i.:;v'r:l -: ' ■• • .-. .Until 1925 the race'was decided over six furlongs only,- but it: has .remained seven furlongs since 1926. Episode and Gesture are therefore the solitary winners with full penalty at seven furr longs. Only five other horses have, so far essayed the feat at the longer distance. In 1926 Lysandef^ran second (to LimerickJ^andi Commendation: fourth. In 1927 Gascony'- was second 'to; ThawIn. 103.4 Mother Superior failed to finish in the money, and last year Francis Drake was last of the field of five to complete. This is'simply further evidence of the magnitude of the task that confronts the Defoe colt tomorrow. " ■ It is believed that Defaulter, particularly with the assistance .of L. J. Ellis; who has previously been successful in the race on Burnish and Custos',-is quality enough to win despite his penalty. It is also, believed that he is the best juvenile in the Dominion this season,-with the possible exception of Te Hero.:,winner of the Great Northern Foal Stakes, in which Defaulter was ndt a competitor. -'As stake-earner, with £1495 to his credit for five wins and a third in, nine starts, he is on top of the season's youngsters, as Te Hero's, four, wins and a second in five starts have netted only £1275. Should Defaulter" win again tomorrow he.will be recording his fifth victory in succession, and) he will practically assure'juvenile supremacy in stakeearnings for himself. • WITH LESSER PENALTIES. Last year Smoke Screen decisively won the Stakes from The Crooner and Haughty Winner under a 101b penalty. He has not .had full opportunity to do himself justice this season, owing to a series- of setbacks in his training, but on what has been seen of him he is now little if any inferior to Hoyal Chief: (today's: Awapuni Cup would have tested their respective merits), and he would undoubtedly be.a worthy foe for Courteraft, both.at their best. A number of good horses have won the race with-a 101b penalty. Notable among them have been Desert Gold and Limerick, a pair who the following season lifted themselves to rank with the best'horses in the history of the Australian and New -Zealand Turf. Desert Gold easily beat Nones ■ and others over, the then six f urlftngs in time that was a record to that date for the race. Limerick accounted lor what was probably the'best'field that has ever run in the classic, Lysander, Seatown, Commendation, and Hynanna finishing .next behind him in\time_that has only once been bettered, by High Comedy on a fast track in 1931, .when Golden Wings was mainly responsible for the figures. , , No horse is required to put up a 101b penalty this year, and only Iya* and Russian Ballet will have to saddle a 51b penalty. Ivar and Russian.Ballet have the brilliance'to, c.vend Defaulter, but on Challenge Stakes running the Defoe colt may be too stout in stamina for them both' over seven furlongs.' Ivar will give a clue as to whether the Beau Pere horses are likely to stay. They are expected to be good stayers, as Beau Pere is by Son- ■ in-Law. the best sire of stayers m recent times in England. .Russian Ballet is by .Nightmarcn, winner of the Melbourne Ind New Zealand Cups, from which stamina might beinferred, though so far it has .not been strikingly evident in this sires stock. There are two other Beau Pere younisters in tomorrow's field Cherry Plum and Sudan, the latter, entitled to the 51b maiden allowance. . Cherry Plum was recently stated by,his owner, Mr A Hummer, to have done particuliriy well since winning at Pahiatua, and he fs expected to give a good account of himself without he need/of a run in today's juvenile event. Cherry Plum may turn out one of the best of the Beau Peres as a three-year-old, as he has more size than the maionty of his sire's stock and is quality all over. Sudan has not raced quite up to her earlier promise, but she is nevertheless a good filly and as such will have to be respected with her weight concessions.