TEN HORSES CLOSELY ASSESSED

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 132, 1 December 1938, Page 13

TEN HORSES CLOSELY ASSESSED

PADISHAH SURPRISING NUMBER ONE IN LIST

(By "Rangatira.")

It was not surprising to find that the Auckland handicapper, Mr. F. J. MeManemin, was unable, %o take his top | horse above the obligatory nine-stone j mark. The levelling trend that has j been in such marked evidence during | the past couple of years in open events ' has made it increasingly difficult to distinguish between the merits of the better horses and their, various performances. A mere 61b covers the , first ten horses handicapped in this I year's Auckland Cup, whereas in each of the previous two years that margin ' separated the first three horses. When the better horses are so graded down to a near level, it is always an open question as to what horse shall be set actually on top. Mr. McManemin ' has chosen Padishah, and to leave no doubt about his opinion as to who should be top he has given this horse i 21b more than the next on the list, Willie Win. PADISHAH'S MARK. There will be various opinions" about whether Padishah was the logical top-, weight, but it is of interest here to consider the reasons that may have placed him there. In the AucJdanfl Cup last year he was given only -7.0, and, carrying 7%k and sent out eighth favourite, he came home well to finish fifth. But in that .race The Buzzer, carrying 7.6, was the winner, and inthe only two-mile race in the Dominion since, the New Zealand' Cup a month ago, The Buzzer once again demonstrated rather clearly for form students that he is on deeds a better two-nailer than Padishah. However, this still does not tell why Padishah should be on top. In his subsequent efforts at Ellerslie m last year he again came home brilliantly from the rear of his fields to be fourth in the AJR.C Handicap, 15 miles, and third In the Grandstand Handicap, U ■miles, and those efforts undoubtedly greatly impressed the Auckland handicapper, who has not been privileged to - see him in action since. In the interim Padishah lias won the Wellington Cup and C.J.C. Metropolitan, both over H miles, and also the Grand National Hurdles. „ . , , . If one adds the fact that Padishah is a half-brother by Chief Ruler to Cuddle, dual winner of the Auckland Cup, and then notes that Chief Ruler. has sired two Auckland Cup winners in Admiral Drake and .Gold Trail, one has the combination of factors, that has probably induced.Mr. -McManernin to -rive Padishah pride of-place; One may believe that Padishah is a much'better Morse at 1£ miles than-at two, miles, afld his record certainly seems to bear ■■■-oiit this view, but the Auckland, ~han.- . dicapper is! not prepared •to - alkrwr. so . m«ch tilttJehasagaih $eeri himnested, """at 'two'miles., "" " :^'^■■':-^y:lsThe treatment of Padishah will be better' observed" from -ja toMsideratioja of the-weights that he and certain ' otfeer-horses 'carried, in the Sfew; Zealand' CupYas' compared with -what «icy iiave received in the Auckland Oup. j . The comparison is as .follows: —•.. . | ' ;" ; ' N.Z.";; ■.Auck. ■! ■.' '-. >:■ .: :■ -.Cup.' .'Cup.' ,:Diff...; Argentic . 9jO 8.11 —3 ••.-; - Willie Win ..;. 8,12 v 8.12 .^ ■ 0 gadishali .-'»:'** |f %l Wotan ...... 8-5 o-^» — *. i • The Buzzer ... 8.3 ; 8.11 +8 ,! Arctic King -. 8;1 8.10 +? Padishah •• has gone iap exactly the; ■. same weight as The . Buzzer in. the-i Auckland Cup, as ..compared with'thew: New Zealand Cup ' weights. Yet •at Riccarton The Buzzer finished about 'six lengths ahead of Padishah- • At.' " 6lb -worse terms The Buzzer (8.11) was. only third-iix the,CXC. Metropolitan won by- Padishah <B^>, but. once. again i Padishah was showing his liking for, i a imle-and a,half, and th^ better line to the Auckland Cap would appear to -have been the.New Zealand Cup r&> suit * '- Padishah has always'been seen at his best on big, roomy courses, par-1 ticularly Riccarton.: The turning "-EH •- lerslie course did mot altogether suit, him last year, for, though he finished, resolutely, he could not retrieve his leeway in the straight, which does not offer the scope.lor/a run from the rear,: := bs the Riccarton, and Tr.entham straights do. " .-- :..-.'/ . '■*> -. ■ '■' ■, . '■■ ';; "HORSES FOR COURSES." If the rule of horses :for courses be' considered, The Buzzer gains - ..even; more at the expense-of Padishah: The; Buzzer has started; only twice .at Ellerslie and he then won the Auckland Cup. Granted that he has not' succeeded since, he. was generally^c- i counted unlucky in the only ojner two-mile race in the Dominion,', the . New Zealand Cup last month. On his form in the last Auckland Cup alone he should have to concede weight to Padishah, the more especially as he is a young horse capable, of further; improvement, while Padishah.. is now past the time when any betterment could be expected in him. The New . Zealand Cup .result .should further have shown that, on any known form at two miles, Padishah is now incapable of giving.weight to The Buzzer and beating him- . , If The Buzzer is well weighted in the Auckland Cup, what' must the . average racegoer think about Arctic King, who is required to meet The Buzzer and Padishah at only lib worse than New Zealand Cup difference? ■This is an almost complete scorning of the New Zealand Cup result—and if the New Zealand Cup is not taken as the latest and best line to twomile ability one can only remain wondering how. "an Auckland Cup handicap should be framed. Arctic King, barring Wotan; whose ' case will be discussed later,'looks the best handicapped horse in the Auckland Cup. Mr. McManemin is, apparently not prepared to allow the Rabbi, gelding full credit for his New Zealand Cup win, at his first time out over two miles. If any confirmation is required about Arctic King's ability to stay, one has only to remember back as far as the Great Autumn Handicap at Easter, when the gelding also came through from,the rear along the inner. ._. , - The truth about Arctic King's New Zealand Cup .win is that he was not at all lucky to succeed that day. The Buzzer's supporters might believe that they were unlucky, but this is not the view of Arctic King's connectionsArctic King had a worse run over the last furlong than The, Buzzer had as he was on the rail, when Milford pushed The Buzzer over. The Buzzer's rider could still use his whip,at the close, but Arctic King had to get there without such help. Not only this, but Arctic King came from,further bacK than The Buzzer did. -■'-'. If the record of Arctic-King is care-' fully scrutinised it will be seen that he has rarely won any of his races by a substantial margin, Indeed, his owner-trainer, W. J. Wood, stated only on Tuesday that the one race that the gelding had ever won easily was the Masterton Handicap in October. In all; other races, even as a hack, his , margins were usually a head or a neck, and occasionally half or three-parts of a length. Both Wood and. his regular pilot (S: Wilson) will tell you that- Arctic King judges the distance he. has to cover, gets there in good time, and then simply stays there. That is what he did in the New Zealand Cup, without the usual assistance irom his rider, because of the squeeze

The release of the weights for the Auckland Gup and the Railway Handicap, the principal events at the Auckland Racing Club's Summer Meeting, is' a reminder that the Christmas and New Year racing carnival is less than a month ahead- With the first acceptance not due forj a fortnight, there will be ample time for the handicaps to be analysed and digested. The features, of the Cup assessment are the low top scale that has been used, the apparent scorning of the form displayed in the New Zealand Cup, and the high relative appraisement of the northern form. ,

c r for room with The Buzzer's hanging : .. I over towards him. ; ' In the New Zealand Cup Arctic p King's connections expected a few! c pounds more, than they received. For lS the Auckland Cup the one horse theyl thought might be on top of them in s the weights was Wild Chase, s The only occasion on Which Arctic; o King has raced the reverse way was c in the Mitchelson Cup, when he was :- a four-year-old, and rah below form, c He is now such a generous galloper s in a race, however, that there is ho h reason to fear that he might be n troubled to go the reverse way; but one, thing he will .miss at Ellerslie is a false rail in the straight,- for .that n is the route he has always preferred at Trentham arid Riccarton... .•; n '/LENIENCE WITH WOTAN. o The real surprise in the weights, o even more than Arctic King, Padie shah, and/The Buzzer, is the mark on t. which the- Melbourne Cup-winner Wotan has been placed. If Wotan had registered a further failure at Feilding last Saturday, one would-still t have expected Mm #o have his: New »-, Zealand Cup • weight. ' But, -hotwith--0 standing Ms Feilding success, he has c been dropped to 8.3. Mr. McManeP ffiin is evidently satisfied that Wotan I. will never return to the form he -- showed in winning,, -the. Melbourne a Cup. Last year he dropped him to •, 8.8, and this year he has dropped him i-a further 51b. V : ;,- - . >. Wotan failed in the Auckland" Cup a 'lost. year, but he is. a horse with a a highly sensitive constitution, and he a was not ready to show his best so r soon after his return from, contesting his second Melbourne . Cup! He has y been taken along more gradually this: s year, without any Australian trip, ;t and. without the riderless Argentic in V the field at Riccarton last month, he a might well have woii the Metropoli-: 3 tan Handicap. His rider on that day 1 believes the horse was a gbo& thing £ beaten. He failed to finish on as [ expected In the New Zealand Cup, but " subsequent events have shownr that he " might have been a lot harder:if he „ had had even a single preparatory j race in him the previous fortnight or f SO. " ■ ..■•■■."■•.•.■■' :>■• 1 Wotan's assessment will worry most other stables with ideas on the Aucks land Cup. This horse has -star to j succeed the reverse way round, but * after all he has won ' only, five, races r and has had few opportunities on s right-handed going. He takes his c own time about things in races and he; s is the type that does not generally 0 mind what way races are run, so long V as he can come along the outer from r behind in the closing section. His >. finish at .Feilding-■ last ■ Saturday- was c reminiscent of his best efforts, and. a -horse who holds the Australian-and; 3 New Zealand record time for two 1 miles is.lucky to escape with-/sUGh an '■■ apparently lenient poundage,as-he, has 2 been given in the Auckland • Cup. ■ , a The rest of the ■field.requires -little 1 present' commeat Willie Vfm had to ; -be up near Padishah. Oh New,Zea-: 7 : land Cup foran,, let; alone his sec.onn. •■in the Melbourne Gup, he •;could,:.weii | ! -have been required to give a jjpund or i two to Padishah; but CJ..CT .Metro- - ■ tjolitan racing, when Padishah \o.oj , \ i^&st and Wfflie Win <9,0); ; ••■i fourth, lias been „ . allowed ..to ; . hoist, Fadisfaah ahead of him. Willie Win, has the same weight, ne had m the '■ New Zealand Cup and 21b more than <!ne was awarded in the last Auckland. : Cup: bet there was-no Cuddle, or bu-, -•i ver Bang to start . off the- Auckland• = i welgats tffais year: ■;' ■ . '.."■ '.-..-I -T ; r» &3d: Tide's; 8-11 Is surprising, as t- he has failed again: on , a trip .to t Victoria and he was given only 8.6 last t; year, when his iform as a likely ; stayer s: was' tnore .current.-; -■- -. '"- ;,-•' +V , Q ,i The Aiickland representation in tne , ifield is rated more highly than,.was r' aniScipatedVfor very few of themAhave ii shaped" like stayers. Malagigi,. who con- ; tested and failed in the New Zealand Z- Cup, --is set on the same, mark* 7.10. j The horse he beat in the Mitchelson ) + !Cup, Mazir r/ is now required to meet *! Mm on :W> 'worse terms in the Auck-, -land Gain, and oficcmrse through /Mazir; t; the other recent northern form - has^ i: been assessed. Malagigi hasjracpd: only s' in the south since he won the rMitcheV.1 t son Cap, so that one cannot know how , * i 'he, would ..-measure with the horses m 1 |i his own territory again..Through.Mala- ' -gigi, horses like Mazir and RQundJJp,.. iach -wiOi^-8. Valamito, 7.lltand others cannot fee held to be- altogether well, c' handicapped: tor the 'Auckland >up. SiTwo years ago Mazir. was fourth meithe race under 7.11. /- [". n^ - One Aucklander who : cannot com-. - ■ plain about his treatment is Knight of *! Australia, with 7.6. Twelve months -i ago this horse was second carrying 7.5, r only lib less than The Buzzer. He goes s up only lib this year, while The. s Buzzer has gone.up 191b-and Argentic, c who was third .last year, remains on 5 the same mark, 8.11. The nine : year^old c Argentic has done enough lately to r! be due for some weight, off his back; I- on the, other hand Knight of Austraha 1 nearly brought off a win at Ellerslie; ' last Saturday. x . '. + , , ;„.,,! No risk has been taken ■ with Wild. Chase, who was not entered for: the J I recent New Zealand Cup tout was,.sec- - } ond in the New Zealand Cup last year, i Twelve months ago Wild Chase failed ] * in the Auckland Cup under 8.11. . He a is given the same mark this year,.just = as Argentic has been. Trench' Fight, b who did not contest the New Zealand 1 Cup, is also given the identical weight, » 8.8. There is. stability of handicapping i about these assessments. 1 Quadroon, on 8.4, has none the best - of the deal, though he was due for - more than he was awarded (7.1Q). in -the New Zealand Cup, as he won' the Wellington Handicap subsequent to his. c being weighted at Riccarton, where he 2 did not accept However, it does seem - strange to find Quadroon, who is close- : ly related maternally to Wotan, re-j x> quired to concede weight at two miles j " to the Melbourne Cup winner and.two--1 mile record holder. Quadroon's weight; 1: is. the same exactly as-he carried: at 7 Trentham, which was his last outi' ms- __> ' ' ' :