DEFAULTER AND AJAX

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 33, 9 February 1939, Page 17

DEFAULTER AND AJAX

SYDNEY CUP ENTRY

NUFFIELD ALSO ENGAGED

It is generally assumed that the racing of Defaulter in Sydney at Easter will be confined to w.f.a. events, but it is T>f interest to note that he has been accorded an entry for the Sydney Cup 2 miles, to be run on the second day of the A.J.C Autumn Meeting. Ajax and Nuffield, the two Australian champions of the season, have also been nominated for the Sydney Cup. The assessment of these three horses by the A.J.C. handicapper will attract more than ordinary interest, as they represent the best class that has raced in Australia and New .Zealand for several years and there is no possible clue yet to their relative merit. It may be assumed that they will be rated very close to weight-for-age difference in the Sydney Cup when the weights appear on March 13. . Ajax and Nuffield are also listed m the entries for the Doncaster Handicap, 1 mile, run on the opening day of the A.J.C. Autumn Meeting, .but Defaulter is not in this event. It might have been better, from a weight aspect, if Defaulter's connections had entered him for the Doncaster, as * then no direct indication would have been given that his party beheve that his strength lies in his staying ability. It is worth recording the fact that > Ajax and Nuffield have both been beaten over a distance of ground, Ajax in the two Derbies and' Nuffield in the Melbourne Cup, whereas Defaulter has never been beaten beyond six furlongs. The Defoe colt has now won four ; times at li miles, once at li miles, three times at 1 mile, and three times at 7 furlongs, (all as a two-year-old). Defaulter is due to leave for Sydney at the end of the month, and his first start in Australia will probably be in the Chipping Norton. Stakes, w.f.a., li miles, at the Warwick Farm Meeting on April 1, a week before the opening at Randwick. His owner, Mr. H. D. Greenwood, will be in Sydney to witness his racing there, and he ; will leave afterwards on a trip to England, where he will arrive m time to see the Derby run at Epsom early in June. . , , Other New Zealand horses nominated for the Sydney Cup are Sly Fox, Gay : Son, and Malagigi. The first pair have also been entered for the Doncaster Handicap, in which Stretto and DisQaThe connections 'of Disdain appar- . ently believe that this filly is more than,a sprinter, as she has been accorded a nomination for the Warwick iFarm Autumn Cup, 1J miles, to be run on April 1, in preference to the Liverpool Handicap, 6 furlongs, in which the stable has Stretto. As a half-sister by Robespierre to Silver Scorn, Disdain has breeding to suggest that she will stay. Silver Ring, from ■ the same branch of the famous Manto fimily as Disdain and Silver Scorn, was a case in point of an apparently brilliant sprinter and miler who matured into the best stayer of his day in Australia and New Zealand.