TOO TOUGH TO LOAF

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 81, 2 October 1940, Page 13

TOO TOUGH TO LOAF

OLD SILVER STREAK

VETERAN SCORES FIRST UP

! When Silver Streak finished out of a place in the Waikouaiti Cup last New Year's Day, it was announced by his owner, Mr. E. H. Aubrey, that the grand old gelding had run his last race. However, a winter on the hills of a North Otago station as a shepherd's hack worked such wonders in him that his old trainer, T. Hobbs, persuaded Mr. Aubrey a few weeks ago to put him back into training.

Such wonders! He was produced in the T. A. Munro Handicap at the Kurow Meeting at Oamaru on Saturday, and, outsider of the five runners, he beat his opposition pointlessly by three lengths in lmin 26 2-ssec for the seven furlongs, which was a second faster than the hacks ran the distance in the previous race. Those who were ready to concede that he might have a real kick still left in him were rewarded with a dividend approaching double figures. Silver Streak's win was naturally highly popular, despite his defeat of the public fancies. He has always been a popular horse with racegoers, as well he deserves to be, for he has been hardiness itself, his range of victories covering the gamut from the best sprints to middle-distance events, with a third in the New Zealand Cup thrown in to boot. His first win in an open class was as a four-year-old in the Kurow T. A. Munro Handicap. Among Silver Streak's more notable wins have been the C.J.C. Stewards' and Members' Handicaps, the A.R.C. j Railway Handicap and a dead heat in the A.R.C. Newmarket Handicap, thei W.R.C. Railway, Metropolitan, and Thorndon Handicaps, the D.J.C. Publicans', Electric (twice), Telegraph (twice), and Grandstand Handicaps, the Oamaru Flying.and Stewards' Handicaps, the Southland Flying and President's Handicaps, the Ashburton Handicap, and the Gore Spring Handicap (dead heat), some of these over 1% miles. One of Silver Streak's most sensational wins was his defeat of Defaulter in a sprint at Dunedin two years ago when the Defoe horse was having his first start as a three-year-old. Few may realise what that narrow defeat cost Defaulter. But for it he would have equalled the Australian and tfew Zealand record winning sequence of nineteen jointly held by Desert Gold and Gloaming, and he would possibly have exceeded it by at least # four points, for it is problematical if he would have started in the Sydney Cup the Easter before last if that record had been within his grasp, and he won the only four races he had subsequent to his failure in the Sydney Cup. J.n his last 24 races Defaulter was beaten only by Silver Streak (which broke the sequence at the eighth race) and in the Sydney Cup (prior to which, without that Dunedin defeat, he would already have exactly .equalled the record of Desert Gold and Gloaming). Silver Streak has not missed a season since he first began racing as a 1 two-year-old, and he is now eleven years of age. Last spring he was third in the Telegraph Handicap at Dunedin, dead-heated with Norseman. in ; the Spring Handicap, H miles, at Gore, and was runner-up to Thermidor in the Kurow Cup, \\ miles.. He was turned out in the paddock at the New Year, and on Saturday he was having his first start since resuming. His full record is as follows:—Starts. Wins. Places. . £ At 2vm 8 — 2 45 it S£:::::: £ ■*:.»-■ ■«g t* Ins :::::: 25 s 9 At Tyrs 3 — 1 . 15 At Byrs 21 4.5 815 At 9yrs 10 1 3 \'l AtlOyrs..... 12 l; . 2 "2% At llyrs 1 1 —• io° Totals .152 29 47 £5740V 2 Silver Streak is another of the many yearling bargains of the. ring. He .was bred by Mr. I. G. Duncan at the Elderslie Stud in 1929 and he was sent down to the annual Wingatui sales in February, 1931, when he was knocked down to Mr. Aubrey, of Awamoko, North Otago, for 55 guineas. Like Phar Lap, he was raced on lease over a valuable portion of his career by his trainer, T. Hobbs, and it was in Hobbss colours that he won the Stewards' and Railway Handicaps as a four-year-old. However, the lease was only tor twelvemonths, and in Mr. Aubrey's interest he has earned £4073 10s, so that he has been a windfall for both his owner and his trainer. , Silver Streak is probably the most hardy of any of the Paper Moneys, though at times his trainer has had ; his share of worry with him. A bay gelding, he is out of the imported mare Fulica, who was by Braxted (a son of Forfarshire and a winner of the Goodwood Stewards' Cup) from Bald Coot, by Fowling Piece (a son of Carbine) from Aminte, by Minting (a son of Lord Lyon and sire of Spearmint's dam). It is a branch of the Bruce Lowe No. 19 family, the branch from which came also Colin, one of the unbeaten horses of the Turf and the winner of £35,832 in stakes. Both Paper | Money and Fulica were imported by Mr Duncan, and Fulica was raced here as a three- and four-year-old, winning three small events at New Plymouth and Marton before being put to the stud. Her best offspring by far has been Silver Streak. * :