OPENING JUVENILE EVENT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 49, 26 August 1939, Page 22

OPENING JUVENILE EVENT

WANGANUI DEBUTANT STAKES

WELL-CREDENTIALLED MATERIAL IN FIELD

(By "Rangatira.")

The Wanganui Debutant Stakes is run over a distance of 4£ furlongs, and it is customarily preceded by a parade on the first day of the meeting, which often gives the right clue to the result. This race, since its inauguration, has usually been the first two-year-old contest of the season, though for a few years the Marton Jockey Club put on a juvenile event a week earlier, which it dropped three years ago.

There have now been 19 Debutant Stakes, and seven of them have been won by the favourites, the horses so succeeding being Rational (1920), Viyella (1921), Arpent (1924), Frenzied Finance (1926), Korokio (1930), Midian (1932), and Moquette (1935). Seven other favourites, Subdivision, Francolin, Isa, Pin Money, Severe, Protector, and Submission have been in the minor places. Among horses who were beaten in this race are Thespian, Back Off, Ballymena, Lady Bentinck, Lady Cavendish, Gay Blonde, Gallio, and Amigo, who all reached high class later on in their careers.

Some big fields have paraded for past Debutant Stakes. The largest is the 18 of 1927, when Knightlike was successful and the favourite, Freehold, unplaced. There were 17 starters in 1924, when Arpent beat Lady Cavendish, but few of that year's field subsequently rose to much account. Last year there were 14 runners, and the winner, Pas de Cheval, was ninth favourite out of the 11 totalisator numbers and paid a dividend of over a score. Pas de Cheval is the biggest outsider to have won the race, the least fancied of the previous winners having been the eighth favourite Queen March, whose victory proved no fluke, as she went on to win five other events that season and wound up the leading youngster of the year. USEFUL FIELD PROMISED. A field of ten or even a dozen may be anticipated for this year's race, as most of those nominated are -well forward and their connections are anxious to try them out. Twelve months ago the original entry of 20 was reduced to 14. but the defections then were rather more numerous than the average. The Wanganui breeder-owner Mr. G. M. Currie customarily has one or more candidates in the race, though it was not till the successive victories of Moquette;and Icing in 1935 and 1936 respectively that his colours were carried- to the fore. This year he has a single horse engaged, the bay Ring-master—-Midinette gelding Kingcraft. Ringmaster, a son of the Phalaris horse Gokwado, had only Master Hotspur to represent him out of his first crop last year in the Dominion, and that colt won first up at Ashburton, while one of his fillies who was sold to Australia also did well in Sydney during the closing months of the term. Ringcraft belongs to the celebrated Eulogy family, his dam, the Limond—Motley mare Midinette, having been a good two-year-old herself, winning the Feildmg Stakes and the Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes, and being as well a full-sister to Moquette and a half-sister to Legatee, previous winners of the Debutant Stakes. Kingcraft has not featured a deal in recent track notes, but he is undoubtedly fairly well forward.

n /¥L °*er Wanganm-trained member of the field is Uvedale, who has been galloping pleasingly. Uvedale is a brown filly by the Gainsborough sire Leighon (sire of Saxon Tor in his first crop) out of the Australian-bred but New Zealand-derived Comedy King mare Humorada, a half-sister to the A.J.C. Metropolitan winner Maniapoto, and she will carry the colours of Mr W. V. Cathro, of Wanganui, who bought her dam with her at foot for 65 guineas last January twelve months. Uvedale's racing will have added interest, as she was a surviving twin.

Leighon has a second representative in the field in the Trentham filly Lady Govern, a chestnut daughter of the King Mark—Parula mare Misgovern, who will carry the colours of her breeder. Mr. E. N. Cunningham, of Lower Hutt. Misgovern, who has previously left Improvident at the stud, was a useful performer 3n her day, and the family is that to -a/hich have belonged such horses as vhe Great Northern Foal Stakes winder Rencontre, the Avondale and A.R.*?. Welcome Stakes winner Ashby, Modern, and Hazoor. Lady Govern shewed promise in her earlier work at trentham, where she is trained by EL McCauley. McCauley ia likely to have two candidates for the opening juvenile event of the term, as he has also entered his own filly &ady Benso, a shapely youngster whCJf it would be difficult to fault and wh_i in recent gallops has been beating Lady Govern somewhat decisively. Lady Benso is a chestnut daughter of the Solferino horse Gustavo . and the Tractor—Droski mare Traction, a half-sister to that fine allrounder Ravenna (dam of Travenna and Alma), the McLean Stakes winner Ovedrawn, and Bonnie Lake (dam of Mobile), so she is a member of a very successful Otago line. She was pur-

As first two-year-old race of the new season, the Wanganui Debutant Stakes, decided on the second day of that club's Spring Meeting in a fortnight's time, will attract more than ordinary interest. It will provide the first real line on the prospective juvenile talent, and, though the rule of the past has been rather against the winners' going on to become leading youngsters, there have been a number of notable exceptions since the race was instituted in 1920, among them Rational, Queen March, and Surmount. The fifteen horses nominated for this year's race include several of most promising early track form and breeding.

chased by McCauley with another Gustavo filly in March from their breeder, Mr. L. C. Hazlett.

| Two other Trentham youngsters in I the field are T. R. George's pair, Beau Coureur and Beechnut, who have been referred to in recent notes. Beau Coureur is a classy brown colt by Beau Pere out of the Paladin mare Zarisee, dam also of Dollar Bill and Free Gold, and he will carry the colours of his breeder, Mr. T. Newman, of Nelson, who has hopes of his being the champion of the season. Beechnut, small and compact, is a bay gelding by the Chief Ruler horse Rulanut out of Johneen's half-sister Attar, and it was because George previously trained those horses for their wins that he was induced to purchase Beechnut on his I own behalf at the sales last January. As a trainer who has had marked recent success in the Debutant Stakes, 'iV- w Vr ,? w ls one whose candidate, Miss Hallomet, will attract notice. Miss Hallomet is a chestnut filly by the Diacquenod—Lady Bede horse NightFox (a half-brother to Galilee who never raced) out of the Day Comet— Avanti mare Hallomet, descending from the famous Stepfeldt (sister to Stepniak), the ancestress of Rapier. Gesture, Pavlova, Reputation, Provocation. Devotion, Stanchion, Suggestion, and other brilliant performers. She will be raced by her breeder, Mr. J. B. Cresswell, of Stratford, and she has been working well for some time on the tracks. New has trained the last two winners. Pas de Cheval and Surmount, and he also produced Legatee five years ago.

There is also a half-brother to Miss Hallomet's sire in the field, Beau Leon, a brown colt by Beau Pere out of the English-bred Adam Bede mare Lady Bede. This colt is owned in Te Awamutu by his breeder, Mr. E. H. Cucksey, and though he was not produced in the recent parade at Ellerslie he is said to be well forward and booked to make the trip. His breeding is as attractive as one could wish.

A third Beau Pere engaged is Belle Cane, a brown filly out of the Absurd — Tame Duck mare Duck's Egg, a halfsister to Admiral Drake and Francis Drake, and the dam previously of Round Score. At the January sales this filly was bought for 275 guineas by Mr. W. J. Smith, of Sydney, who now has Beau Pere at the stud in New South Wales, and she has been leased for her racing career to Messrs. T. J. and P. A. O'Neill, of Wanganui. the owners of Lowenberg. RACE CALL'S RELATION. Two colts among the remaining entrants are Radio Call and Silver Shekel, j Radio Call is a brown son of Gainscourt and the Quin Abbey—Brown Nell mare Quinsy, who never raced, but she is a full-sister to the successful jumper Brown Abbey and to the solid sprinter Race Call, and belongs to the same excellent family as Kilboyne, Kilrea, Money Order, and Murihiku. He was purchased at the sales for 55 guineas by Race Call's owner, Mrs. M. Casey,. of Taihape, who will run him in partnership with the Hawera trainer L. E. George. Silver Shekel is a brown son of the Paper Money horse Inflation and the Lapidary—Jean Laddo mare Princess Lajean, a halfsister to Arrow Lad and Jean Ladosio (dam of Jeanne), and he will carry the jacket of his breeder, Mr. D. R. Bridewell, of Palmerston North. Barry Boy, with Ringcraft and Beechnut, completes the geldings in the field. He is a brown son of Hunting Song and the Whirlwind —Cione mare Lady Whirlwind, and he is promisingly bred, as Cione, who never raced, was a full-sister to Prodice, the dam of Gallio and Te Hero, and a halfsister to Ammon Ra. At the January sales this youngster was bought for 140 guineas by Mr. F. H. Walker, of Hawera, whose colours Fafner carried. Three further fillies complete the list of horses nominated for the race. The trio are Indore, Golden Hind, and Lucky Lul- 1, who are each owned in the Auckland Province, though trained outside the province. Indore is owned by her breeder, Mr. A. B. Williams, of Te Puia Springs, who previously won the Debutant with Knightlike in 1927. She is a bay daughter of Bulandshar and the Limond —Sweet Charity mare Clemency, hence she is a full-sister to Baran and a half-sister to Kindheart, who race under the same colours. Clemency is a half-siser to Knightlike. Golden Hind and Lucky Lulu are members of H. Dulieu's team at Nev/ Plymouth. Golden Hind is a chestnut daughter of Myosotis and the Lord Quex —Dominant mare Martial Lady, a half-sister to Beau Vite and from the same successful family as Wotan, Game Carrington, Quadroon, etc., and she will be raced by Mr. R. Stormont, of Auckland, who has leased her from Wotan's owners, Messrs. R., T. A., and N. Smith, who bought her at the yearling sales for 70 guineas. Lucky Lulu is a brown filly by Foxbridge from the Valkyrian—Glacier mare Lady Lulu, a winner of several small races in the north a few seasons ago for Mr. L. W. Davis, of Waitoa, who is racing her progeny. She is a full-sister to Noble Fox, who won a juvenile event at New Plymouth in the autumn and gave the impression at the time of being a very promising sort in the making.