STEEPLES-HURDLES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 5, 6 July 1939, Page 13

STEEPLES-HURDLES

TRENTHAM DOUBLE

SURVOY MAY FACE TASK

The jumpers will be back on the main stage for the concluding day of the Wellington Racing Club's Winter Meeting on Saturday, with the Winter Hurdles and the July Steeples as the feature items. This is the day of this fixture that draws the largest attendance, and there should be a very big crowd on the course on Saturday, particularly if the weather is favourable. By this stage there is not much new blood to make an appearance, and so form followers may anticipate a profitable harvest if the index is true. Twelve months ago the outright favourites won only two events, but only a couple of the winners were surprises. Two years ago the favourites did more as expected, the both-way selections taking half the card, with only one real upset in the other four events. It is' a fairly general rule that it is safe to follow the running on the third day at Trentham in the winter. A STRENUOUS TEST. Most interest will, of course, centre in the Winter Hurdles, run over 2$ miles, and the most important race over the smaller fences run at Trentham during the season. This event is a very strenuous test, and often the true stayers in the field have the rest weil ] strung out at the close. This year's j race promises to be contested by a j double-figure field, for there are still sixteen horses in the event. It is only since 1925 that the Winter Hurdles has been fixed on the final day's card, with the Trentham Hurdles giving the open jumpers their opporj tunity over battens on the first day. ! Prior to 1925 the Winter Hurdles was [usually on the opening day's pro- ! gramme, the Wellington Steeplechase sometimes being on the same day and sometimes on the second day.

The last winner on the first day (1924) was Nukumai, who was later :o prove himself one of the greatest horses that was ever raced at Trenlham. Nukumai won the Winter Hurdles again in 1927, the year he took the Whyte, Parliamentary, and Winter treble; and four years later in 1931 he again won the Winter Huidles, after having beaten everything except Pans in the Wellington Steeplechase on the opening day. In his last success he was sixth favourite, but he was then rising thirteen years old and few hurdlers come back at that age.

Since the establishment of the Trentham Hurdles (first day) and Winter Hurdles (third day) sequence, the Trentham Hurdles form has usually given a valuable clue to the Winter Hurdles result. Lucullent and Zircon were unexpected winners of the Winter Hurdles in the first years the sequence existed, 1925 and 1926 respectively. The next year was Nukumai's year; but the Trentham winner, Wharnclifle, was second. In 1928 Beau Cavalier, who lost his rider in the Steeples, was the winner, with the Trentham Hurdles winner Gaze third. Overhaul won both races in 1929, Mister Gamp being second on each occasion, and Paddon.(l932), Rasouli (1934;, Revision (1935),. and John Charles (1937) have been other horses to win both events. Last year Court Yard turned Trentham tables on Full of Scotch after the latter had made the running to the final fence.

I Another line that has sometimes given the result of the Winter Hurdles is the fourth horse in the Trentham; Hurdles. Prior to his second success in 1933, Paddon had been fourth in the Trentham, Adventus, the Trentham winner, being runner-up in the Whiter, j Then three years ago the fourth horse, in the Trentham, Travelling Agent, similarly improved to win the Winter Hurdles from the Trentham victor,! Black Marlin. FIVE DOUBLE WINNERS. Thus in the period since 1925 up fewer than five horses have won this double, and several other horses have given the clue to their Winter wins with good performances in the Trentham. King Rey must therefore on the records appear to be one of the hardest to beat on Saturday, for. though he is still a comparative novice at the game, he fenced like an old hand after running down the first obstacle a bit on Tuesday and he has class and stamina 1x see him through the other part of the contract if he safely negotiates the fences again. The fourth horse on Tuesday was Fireguard, another stayer and probably unable to reach the money only because of a "life" at the third fence.

Up till Rasouli's year there was ao penalty or rehandieap in the Winter Hurdles for success. Revision was rehandicapped 71b to 9.9, Black Marlin 61b to 9.6. John Charles 61b to 9.G, and Full of Scotch 101b to 10.11. Whether King Rey is to be rehandicapped has not.yet been announced. Tuesday's second horse, Loombination, is not engaged in the Winter Hurdles, but the next five to finish, Inness Lad, Fireguai-d, Royal Dance, Curie, and Silver Sight, ai-e still in the field. Inness Lad, who was second to Charade in the Great Northern Hurdles, is not wanting for the necessary stamina, and he and Fireguard, who was second in the last Grand iNational Hurdles, look the best of this lot. Curie was a bit unlucky in meeting with interference on Tuesday, but the distance of this race is likely to prove beyond his measure. Silver Sight failed to handle the going, and the track will probably be still worse on Saturday. WITHOUT PRECEDENT YET. Survoy, winner of the Wellington Steeplechase, will be an interesting addition to the Winter Hurdles field if the holds his ground, as is intended, unless he should noi have recovered sufficiently in time from a leg he stripped when he went through the brush double in the straight in the Steeplechase. He is as smart a hurdler as he is a 'chaser, and he has won the only two hurdle races in which he has started this winter. Should he succeed he would be the first horse ever to have taken the SteeplesHurdles double at Trentharn. The best previous dual performance was that of Nukumai in running second in the Steeples and first in the Hurdles in 1931. The only other horse ever to je placed in both events was Nor'-West, who won the Steeplechase in 1898 after having run third in the Winter Hurdles (won by Marina), the Hurdles in those times being decided on the first day and the Steeples generally on the second day. Winners of the Wellington Steeplechase since 1924 who have run also |in the Winter Hurdles have been Omahu (twice), Beau Cavalier, King's 'Guard. Mangani, Billy Boy, and Eri- ; nation but none of them finished in ' | the money, though Billy Boy ran ! fourth in Rasouli's year and Ennation was also fourth last year. Omahu (won the Winter Hurdles in 1919, several years before his successive wins in the Steeplechase in 1924 and 1920. The genei-al rule at Trentham prior to the immediate post-war years was, for the two races to be decided on the same day, but sometimes the Steeples was reserved till the second day. On the Hutt Park course, which was the venue till 1905, the Hurdles was usually run on the first day and the Steeplechase on the second day. The Winter Hurdles was instituted in 1896 In 1895 Dromedary was third in the then Open Hurdles, only three horses finishing; and on the second day he was remounted after falling to finish third in the Wellington Steeplechase. The records are therefore rather against Survoy's succeeding in the double, but he is just the horse who might set precedent at nought. After | all, Omahu and Beau Cavalier sue-1 ceeded in different years in the two races, and Nukumai went within a placing of achieving the double. Survoy is a clever jumper, and he has both pace on the flat and stamina. j