LIKING FOR TRACK

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 19, 24 January 1939, Page 13

LIKING FOR TRACK

HAUGHTY WINNER'S DOUBLE

■ . * There was a thrilling finish to the Summer Handicap, the principal event of the final day, and until the numbers were hoisted it was a gafnble from most angles whether the verdict would go to Haughty Winner or Lady Montana. Once again on the deceiving Trentham line the horse on the outside had won the race, but only by half a head. Haughty Winner thus took the distinction of succeeding at his two starts at the meeting. He was also successful on the final day at Trentham last January, and as" a two-year-old he won a double at Trentham. He is thus a fine illustration of the rule of horses for courses, and his record is becom- ' ing similar to that of Round Up on the Ellerslie course. His only wins outside of Trentham have been the Champagne Stakes and Dunedin Guineas at Dunedin, and the Wardell Handicap at Wairarapa. WON ON MERITS. Haughty Winner won yesterday's race on the merits, for he had to come from further back than Lady Montana a^er being compelled to go oveir extra b -^und most of the way. When the u^d settled down he was eight positions from the front, and he was still sixth or seventh on reaching : the straight; but then he came with a resolute claim down the outside of. the leaders and he worried Lady Montana out of the honour by the narrowest oi margins. naughty Winner has returned to the i^xin that enabled him to be leading uiree-.year-old in the South Island early last season, when lie won the Dunedin Guineas. While at Trentham last January he was sold by-the'ilatenSir; Charles : Clifford- to! Mr. T. CdltiMn, of Wellington, for a price understood to have been in the vicinity of 300 guineas, but delivery was held over under.the terms of the sale till after the final, day of that meeting, when he won the Thorndon Handicap at his last start in his breeder's colours. . „. During the early spring of the.present season' the chestnut's preparation was checked by heel-bug; but he has struck form with a vengeance/ now with three wins and a second in his last four of six starts for the term. To date he has won eight races.and been placed twelve times in 31 starts for £2625 in stakes, and for Mr. Coltman his earnings now amount to £1120. In eight appearances on the Trentham course he has only once been out of a place, and his winnings there total no less than £1540. Now four years old, Haughty Winner is a gelded son of the Autumnus horse Winning Hit and the Bonny GlenLady Disdain mare Disdainful, the dam also of the useful Meprisant. He is not strictly a Stonyhurst product, as Disdainful, who is a full-sister to Contempt, the dam of Silver Scorn and Disdain, and also to Reproachful, the dam of.the New Zealand Cup winner Chide, was one of -Mr 4 G. Murray Aynsley's best breed, and was acquired by the late Sir Charles Clifford under an arrangement. The line, of course, is a branch of the famous Manto family. Lady Disdain, the grandam of. Haughty Winner, was dam not only of the full-sisters. Disdainful, Contempt, and Reproachful, but also of the Wellington Cup winner Bee and the-Can-terbury Cup winner Snub, so that it is seen what a successful branch of Manto this line has been. , GALLANT DEFEAT. Lady Montana made a gallant bid to register her second success at the meeting. Always well up, never further back than fourth, and pulling hard in the middle stages, she assumed charge from Corroboree just below the false rail, but after holding Haughty Winner at bay till just short of the post she succumbed in the last stride. Purely on form Haughty Winner should have beaten Lady Montana -at the weights. Haughty Winner won the first day's mile, with Lady Montana unplaced, and that result-looked as if it should/have set Haughty Winner on more than 21b worse terms with Lady Montana, despite the latter's success on the middle day. Lady Montana's apprentice rider, A. Midwood, again handled the mare to perfection, and it was no fault of his that she was finally so narrowly beaten. • ■'>-_' i The surprise of the race was Queen of Song?s brilliant finish into third place only half a length away. The mare was at the rear with Aussie Ra and Gay Son most of the way, but near the close she swept up along the middle of the track with something like the verve she could show when at her best. Her place dividend was naturally a good one, but it might have been larger on her Wellington Cup form. , . Wild Chase, finishing through from well back for fourth, was best of the others, and his consistent form at the seting suggested that if tracks had en a little easier he might have won : race. Perhaps his turn will come on lis return south. Gay Son, though running on fifth, was beaten by his weight. A 61b rise for his second on the middle day seemed rather severe on this three-year-old. as he was so definitely beaten by the weight he had in the Wellington Racing Club Handicap. Corroboree, after running wide going out of the straight and carrying out Trench Fight and Dictate, soon pulled his way to the front, but he compbunded when- they reached the straight. Trench Fight took up second place after the first quarter, but he, too, faded from the top of the straight. Dictate fell out of the fight at the half-mile. Homily was momentarily a prospect when she appeared in an opening just after turning for home, but she would not come by the inner route. Hunting Cat was in the middle of the field most of the way without improving, but Aussie Ra made up some ground over the closing position. The pace was on all the way without being a torrid rate. The full distance was done in 2min 4Jsec, which is a second outside Royal Chief's track record. The last mile took lmin 38| sec, and the final half-mile was traversed in 49|sec.