FORM OF TE HERO

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 8, 11 January 1939, Page 13

FORM OF TE HERO

MAY WIN AT TRENTHAM

(Special from "Early Bird.")

AUCKLAND, January 10,

Few horses from the Auckland district have been nominated for the Wellington .Meeting next week, and the northern representation is going to be the thinnest for years. Quite a number that might nave been expected to be going south figure in the nominations for Thames, which meeting clashes with the second and third days ,at Trentham.

Lady Fox, who has-been left in the Wellington Stakes, run on Thursday week, has also been entered for the juvenile races at Thames, and as the southern classic appears a bit rich for her it is possible 'that she will not go south- This filly, a half-sister to Gay Blonde, us on the up .grade and it should not be long before she breaks her maiden status.

After Te Hero's dashing finish in the Royal Stakes he will be in considerable demand if iris Wellington Stakes •engagement is continued. It will be, remembered that this son of Herd.ie: was very unlucky to :be v beaten, and it was the universal opinion that .he should have won. He retains all his speed and will taike beating next week. In the Royal Stakes Te .Hero carried a 31b penalty, -which it is declared :be should not have done, -and in a ,v£ry close finish this may have made ithe difference between winning and losing, although it was his slight waywardness that caused him to strike troublein the straight. He -will come downfrom 9.3 to 8.6 in the Trentham classic, and Beaulivre, who has to carry a 51b penalty, is down to 7.3, so that Te Hero now meets him on 51b better terms. Even though the five furlongs will suit Beaulivre,* it must be recognised that he will have a difficult task to turn the tables on Te Hero.

An interesting nomination for the mile and a quarter Goldfields Cup at, Thames next week is that of Whirling, and it is evidently intended to try him out over a middle distance. Prior to Ihe Auckland Meeting the big chestnut had been' working very well but his best effort was a third in the sprint on the final day, and he was something of a disappointment. He has been placed in the best company up to a mile, and there is no reason why he should not get the extra quarter of a mile, especially on a track like Thames, which does not call for real stamina.

A couple of seasons back Calcutta was eanybig everything before bhim both on the flat and over hurdles, and his record within a comparatively short period would not have shamed a horse like Defaulter, even if the class was only moderate. This gelding has iiad a couple of races on the flat of late weeks, and he has been entered ..for the brush hurdle races at Thames.- It wiß be interesting to see if he can regain his splendid form, for it was in these events at Thames that he last began his winning sequence. bit -was thought that Golden Sheila, [after having contested a mile and a mile and a quarter event at Ellerslie recehtly, would have in future been I reserved for races over a middle distance. However, she has been enteredfor the sprint on the opening day at; Thames in preference to the Goldfields Cup, but on the second day she figures in two races, the open six again and also the main handicap, which is run over nine furlongs.