BEAULIVRE AND FOAL STAKES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 150, 22 December 1938, Page 13

BEAULIVRE AND FOAL STAKES

TRENTHAM'S HOPES FOR HOLIDAY MEETINGS

(By "Rangatira")

In the two years prior to last year the premier prize of the holidays, the ■ valuable stake attached to the Auckland Cup, was won for Trentham by that fine mare Cuddle; and in the year of Cuddle's first Ellerslie success anotheo Trentham horse, Essex, was winner of the Queen's Plate and Great Northern Derby. Last year neither Shy nor Peerless was a winner at the meeting, though Peerless was third in the Great Northern Foal Stakes and second in the Royal Stakes at her two starts on the trip. ARCTIC KING'S CHANCE. Arctic King, winner of the New Zealand Cup last month, is Trentham's Auckland Cup hope. On weight he is very well treated with 8.10, but there are some factors that may tell against him in this race. These factors include the reverse way of going, his one previous race at Ellerslie having resulted in a failure, though it was while he was still a young horse four years ago;, the fact that there is no false rail at Ellerslie, the route by which this gelding has won nearly all his\ important successes; and the change of riders owing to the mishap to his customary pilot, S. Wilson, who has handled him in nearly all his wins. Arctic King moreover may not be quite as well as he was just before the^New Zealand Cup because of the fall he suffered three weeks ago, when he injured a knee, which v/as still puffy when he left to go north. His form at Te Rapa on Saturday was also not inspiring, especially as he does not often go poor races, when right. His stamina.will stand him in good stead if there is a way through near the finish on-Monday, but meanwhile his prospects do not appear so bright as they were prior to his success on his favourite Riccarton course. Actual precedent is not against Arctic King's completing the big Cup double. Seven horses have already won both the, New Zealand and the Auckland Cups in the one year. They have been Welcome Jack (1882), St. Hippo (1892), Warstep (1914), Scion. (1922), Rapier (1927), Fast Passage (1932), and Cuddle (1935). The better Trentham prospect at Ellerslie on Monday looks to be the two-year-old Beaulivre in the Great Northern Foal Stakes. The Beau Pere colt has done particularly well during the seven .weeks since he was so unluckily beaten in the C.J.C. Welcome | Stakes. Without going at top, he has recently accomplished every task he has been set in: the most creditable style and he has always given the impression that, if once allowed his head, he would burn up the course for speed. One will not know just what he can do.> till.. ;the.~ race itself, .as that is the way H. A". Telford trains his two-year-, olds* ' • . " . . • - •' Beauliyre Jias won twice and' been narrowly beaten once in his three starts to date. No one who saw "the Welcome Stakes at Riccarton could ever believe other than that he was a certainty of certainties' beaten. P. Atkins was smothering his brilliance all the way till that last challenge came, and even then he was ousted only in -the last stride. Despite the fact that "the colt was shin-sore at Riccarton, it would not have been a race if he had been allowed to use the extreme brilliance that he.had displayed in the . Wellesley Stakes at Trentham " a fortnight . previously.Atkins is unlikely to take the same risks a second time on Monday. . i It is eleven years since a horse from Trentham won the Great Northern Foal Stakes. That horse was Staghunter, trained for Mr. E. L. Riddiford by J. Gage .Williams. Two horses who later came to .Trentham have won the Foal Stakes subsequent to 1927, . but Gesture at the time was with Mrs. A. W. McDonald at Awapuni and Princess Doreen was with T. L. "Wilson, also at Awapuni. Actually. Staghunter's is the only success Trentham has yet had in the valuable northern two-year-old classicTAKING ON DEFAULTER. Peerless's trip to Ellerslie will be for the Derby only. It seems a big thing to expect her to match Defaulter, but it has always been the view of her owner, Mr. R. J. Murphy, and of her trainer, T. R. George, that no' race is won till it is over. The Beau Pere filly' is up to classic standard —she showed that in the way she finished on for third behind Defaulter and Beaupartir in the New Zealand Derby and then outstayed Homily in the New Zealand Oaks —and she is as likely as any of the others in this year's Great Northern Derby field to bring about the downfall of Defaulter should the unexpected happen. Meanwhile Peerless is to run in the Manawatu Cup on Saturday, and her connections are very optimistic about her chance of success in that race. It really matters little that no three-year-old has yet \vpn the Manawatu Cup, for, very few/of Peerless's quality have ever raced at. Awapuni at Christmas, as the good horses of the age. are .. then at Ellerslie. Peerless is improving, every y/eek. She has let down into a more solid filly than seemed likely early in the season, and she is a young stayer in the makings who might well follow in the footsteps of Cuddle, whose colours she is carrying. The major portion Of the Trentham representation at Christmas will be at the Manawatu Meeting. On Saturday thecentre has no fewer than 25 horses among the acceptors, and there are two or three others "who may come in on the later days. T. R. George, the Dominion's leading trainer in recent years, has a large team of eleven 'for the first; day, and Aluhga will be an addition on the second day. Besides Peerless, he has Galteemore in the Manawatu Cup, and though the filly will be the stable elect Galteemore is not without a chance, particularly now that it is fairly certain that the track will be easy. The Martarma gelding is well seasoned and he, finishes ori at the end of li miles in a way that suggests he should not find 1£ miles beyond his range. DUNGARVAN IMPROVING. The stable's other candidates for open events on Saturday are Dungarvan and Roaming. Dungarvan has done better during the last month than at any stage since his resumption, and it would not surprise to find him coming back before long to something like his old form. If he runs as expected at • Awapuni he«will be sent on to Marton, where he will contest the sprint the first day and probably the open handicap on the second day. Roaming has been disappointing since he ran promisingly at Masterton first up this season, but it might bear remembering that he won both the races he contested at Awapuni last. Christmas. Alunga, who comes in on Monday, is working freely and he too has previously shown a liking for Awapuni, where he won last Christmas. " The best of George's hacks and maidens may be Trebor, Drachma, and Daregain, who are all due for an early success. Lustral looks fit after his brief gpell, and he too is capable of making « bid for a prize in the highweight

Trentham stables are usually quite well represented at Ellerslie during tiie Christmas and New Year holidays, but the number was ! reduced to two last year, Peerless and Shy, and there will again be only two candidates from the centre for the opening day in the north this year, Arctic King and Beaulivre, with Peerless going up later for the Great Northern Derby on New Year's Day. Trentham horses, however, will be in strong force at Manawatu and Wairarapa during the carnival, with one. or two others at Marton, Waipukurau, and Hawke's Bay.

class. The two-year-old Beau Vite, who has not fulfilled earlier hopes, is on the upgrade now after several setbacks, and he might strike a stake before the holidays are through. Back in August he was considered the most promising youngster at the centre, and perhaps after all, as one might suspect from his breeding (he is from the Peter Jackson-Game Carrington-Wotan family), what he. has required is more time. The most successful stable at Trentham this season has been H. A. Telford's, and its representatives at Awapuni will be Royal Star 11, Debham, Accomplice, Sigurd, Globe Trotter, and Telamon. Royal Star II and Accomplice may be the likeliest of these. The English horse in particular is on the improve all the time, and, though he is not much mentioned in connection with the open sprint at Awapuni on Saturday, he is not without a chance of upsetting the best of them. The maiden Telamon should go near losing h)s novice certificate during the holidays, and the two-year-old Globe Trotter, though awarded his full portion of weight, is a sensible colt capable of succeeding again before long. _ ■ . . J. W. Lowe has Sunee back in Cup company because of some good work this gelding has lately been doing, but it remains to be seen if his course of hurdling has made him more reliable. Good Sun, engaged in the nine furlongs, stays on well enough to win races in open class, and it may be worth remembering that he scored an attractive success in the North Island Hack Plate at Awapuni last March; when the going was very fast. The other two members of Lowe's team are Punarua and Yours Truly, who are each in forward fettle, though Yours Truly does not hold his condition too well with much racing. H B. Lorigan will have only two of his team at Awapuni on Saturday^Siegmund and Wedding Eve. Siegmund. will be having his first race from the stable in the Manawatu Cup..ln the past this has been his best time of. the season, and last year he won a race on^each of the three days at Awapuni. Riccarton in November he ran his best race for the term in the w.f.a. Canterbury Cup, which was his most recent outing. In appearance he looks hale and hearty,/so we might stage a return to form at: any time now. The two-year-old Wedding Eve had a couple of races in October, being slow away the first time- and then running wide, the next time;.-but in her work prior to those races she gave some promise of becoming useful with experience. Two other Trentham horses for Awapuni are A. Goodman's pair, Sunbeam and Bronzeshar. Sunbeam is capable of winning ■ races', but he has proved himself an unreliable sort. At Otaki early this month he looked unlucky when finishing, through for second to Whetuma, and very little improvement on.that form would find him back on the winners' list. Bronzeshar, a wellmade : two-year-old filly by Bulandshar out of a half-sister to Rona Bay's dam, has more than once shown the possession of galloping ability, and though the first, day's, field at Awapuni may be a bit big for a green horse -this filly might gain sufficient with the experience, to play a part in the decisions at Wairarapa. It is rare for Trentham to,have a winner air the Waipukurau Meeting, but T. JR. George is sending the three-year-old Lady Baron there on Monday in charge of the former horseman, M. Reardon. Lady Baron has gone promisingly in her races this season, in one of them finishing second to War Cloud at Masterton, and the nine, furlongs Waipukurau track, with its undulations, should suit her, as she can come on from behind. > She is in the maiden event-and the hack five on Monday, and she will probably start in both. When questioned' on this point this morning the trainer facetiously remarked that he would not mind having to put up a penalty second start.