ALL DOUBTS GONE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 4, 5 July 1939, Page 15

ALL DOUBTS GONE

SURVOY SEASON'S BEST

There' were doubts after the Great Northern Steeplechase last month whether Survoy or Power Chief was the better steeplechaser. Those doubts were removed mr the Wellington Steeplechase yesterday, when the pair met on equal.terms and .Survoy was again the winner. Survoy must now be accepted as' the best cross-country performer of the year, and he now looks to have a splendid chance of completing; the... jumphig triple crown with the Grand National Steeplechase next month.-; ..•"■■•■ "-■■•: '

Survpy's Wellington Steeplechase victory w : as- clear., -cut. '/■'. In the Great Northern .he only narrowly . defeated Power Chief when receiving" 61b. but yesterday, lie. was -decisively successful 'with''a grand''display of superior stamina, on. heavy ground. Six pounds did not" accurately measure their El]erslie. ( difference. Double that difference,-, and, Sui-yby would undoubtedly still have, beaten Power Chief. It •vyilJ-.-iiow, be interesting to see how they &rerespectivelyweighted for the Grand-National.

With' first arid second places repeated, -Great. Northern form has never before worked out so accurately in the Wellington Steeplechase. Only three other jiprses, in a history of 55 years, havjs?wbn the Wellington Steeplechase a month after success at Ellerslie. They were Kiatere in 1905, Coalition in 1921, and: Beau. Cavalier in 1927, and the last" "JSair also went on to win the Grand National. Aurora Borealis just missed the. treble in 1930, being narrowly beaten by Mangani at Trentbam, and Capitol, 'Valpeen. and Billy Boy have won the Great Northern and Wellington Steeplechase in different years. Surtyby' Is '^winning "uMer] lighter weights than those.glaQts-of ; the pastcameav- but one winders h/owJ-amcn. weight it" would have' r6s.uir_e4:.tQ-,stop ; , hum yesterday. -vvJ .-?.

Survoy won the Wellington^ Steeples mudh aslhe did the.Great/Northern. A Ei Ellis allowed h;im to.{settle down where? he desired OTfr.;^ §^t;:^I x miles, and it was vnot-till the- com-mencement-of t ne -&na^ let bin- know that-therb.were rquite a number'of horses front to-be caujht before-they got round, to that, point: alato^lSdeed . at'rths^ stage,, Survoy was last except fornßiotous and John Chari«% ' who were; beginning tOOver that final round Survoy demonstrated, what stamina means. Hejtead^ ily. closed pri the: leaders. W at ttie halt-mile he had only Gold Wren All IriSiTeMle, and Power Chief aheaclof Mm and the intervals between them SSe ?S* closing. All Irish Clule were: beaten immediately after the lump at .the halfrmile, and at the seSnd last fence^Suryoy was nearly im with Power Chief and only four or five lengths from Gold Wren Survey?irt? lower; Chief 1 came, by the short Ste to the last fence, while Gold W?en; apparently tiring, ran out wid£ and Survoy passed Power Chief.bemmmi thoueb ha made several mistakes, he SPa?to3S looked like takmg a fall. His worst jump was probably at the^ doubles in front of the stands the final time when he had to struggle to Set ove? the second fence and dropped back to third last. Towards the close, when the others were tiring, his fencing was better. -If he is not spectacular he is clever, like so many^ other small "horses who have taken to the game In the past. There is no reason why h£ should be troubled to negotiate the National country next month. Now-only seven years old, Survoy is quite young as steeplechasers go. The■■■• seven-year-olds, however, have the-best record in Wellington Steeplechases -on the Trentham course, as, sincCtke change to that venue in 1906, no fewet. than 11 horses of the age have won the. race. The other such victors have been Rongoa, Te Arai, Nedra, Master Strowan, Beau Cavalier, Pouri. MSflgani* Billy Boy, Valpeen, and SanSurvoy's stout breeding was referred to recently when he won the Great Northern. He was bred by the Messrs. J and J. Patterson, of Auckland, who own his sire, Surveyor, and he was bought as-a yearling-by Mr. L. G. Harris, of Eureka, Waikato> who passed him on before he had raced to Mivß. HTTawnserid, also of Eureka. After winning with Him, Mr. Townsend sold him-to his present owners, Messrs. S. I-MWUayand J. M. Smith, of Auckland. and^He has been trained for these SortOTen.since his saleby E. J. Elhs atWashdyke.- He has raced.only .six Hates ; over country in all for three wins in'the role, and his record to date IS ten: wins and eight minor^plac ings-jio 62 starts for £3070 m stakes, of which. £2575 has been earned in his present 'colours. He was not first raced till he was' four years old. TWO CREDITABLE EFFORTS. Power Chief, like the winner, was well handled by A. E. Lord, and he failed-only because he-met a horse who was., too. good for him. On the first round he was at the rear, but he moved up ahead of Survoy at the beginning of the last round. He was asked.to make no exhausting moves, and; if 3s ; doubtful if any rider could have got "more out of him. His jumping was better than his victor's, but he did not have the same source of stamina at the end to draw upon. i Gold Wren was the real jumper of the piece. His fencing was as neari perfection as has ever been witnessed at Trentham. His style is smooth and effortless, and he was altogether too much for All Irish, another fine jumper, in this department. It was All

Irish and he who set the pace, and he did not begin to wilt till only two fences were still to be crossed, though he was slowly coming back to Power Chief and Survoy all through the final round. He was hanging from the second last fence, but kept going for a creditable third. *

Only Chile among the others completed the course. This horse was third most of the way till he tired inside the last half-mile.

The pace settled the top weights. All Irish lasted till over the third last fence, but then stopped and was pulled up after the next jump. Court Yard, who had a life at the first fence that took some of the sting out of him, dropped out along the hack the last time and was pulled up just before All Irish when tailed right off; John Charles got as far as the last six furlongs but his rider then deemed it advisable to ask him no more. The first to retire was Riotous, who moved up after a round, to a handy position but was in distress" a little further on. and was not persevered with after passing the mile, pulling up before the sod wall. <

The only actual casualty was Slayer, who raced with his stablemate Chile for nearly two miles, dashed up past the leaders going into the back the last time, and then blundered. at the sod wall just after taking charge. Had he stood up he might have made the finish more interesting, for he appeared to be going well at the time he made the mistake. His jumping previously had been good.