THEOPHILUS GOOD

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 63, 15 March 1945, Page 10

THEOPHILUS GOOD

THE CARDINAL RESUMING

(Special to "Thß Post.")

AUCKLAND, This Day. Although Powys was a winner of a sprint at Paeroa in the early spring, his subsequent lack of form was disappointing. He is engaged in the St. Patrick's Handicap at the Ohinemuri fixture there on Saturday, and he may reveal improvement, for he was close up at the finish of the race recently won at Te Rapa by Neenah.

When Firm Lass finished a fair third at the end of a seven-furlong hack race at the Franklin Meeting she gave her best showing to date in the north; hitherto she had won on the Taranaki midsummer holiday circuit. Firm Lass shapes very well, and the fact that she W"as taken to the Wellington Cup Meeting indicated that she is highly rated. She has a chance in a hack sprint division at Paeroa.

Theophilus has been very consistent of late, and his second to Fight On at Te Rapa was impressive, for a fortnight earlier his conqueror had won on that track in open company. Theophilus has had three runs this season for two wins and a second (he did not race at two years), so his record is a very good one. He may win a division of the Komata Hack Handicap on Saturday.

In the two divisions of the Netherton Hack Handicap at Paeroa on Saturday there are two gallopers who have shown up of late. They are Sir Bian and Kitty Green, who will contest different divisions. The former won well at the Rotorua Meeting last month and might have done better at Te Rapa last Saturday week with a better run, so he is open to improvement. Kitty Green won at Te Rapa last month and ran another fine race there at the Franklin Meeting for a close fourth.

Fate has not been kind to The Cardinal; had it been, and he was a thoroughly sound horse, he might have been up to the best class on the flat, and, subsequently a tip-top .steeplechaser. Nearly two years ago he was favourite for the Great Northern Steeples, in which he finished second to Chat, and last year he was in line for that event again when Ire fell a fortnight earlier at Te Rapa and was off the scene for a time. He is due to reappear in the cross-country race at Paeroa this week, but may require an outing or two.

Judged on the race she ran at Te Rapa, the two-year-old Polotown should be a distinct possibility in the juvenile contest at Paeroa. The speedy Royal Slipper, who won first up in the early spring, is to make her reappearance in the same event. Unless a horse gets away smartly at the fivefurlong barrier on the Paeroa track any winning chance fades right away, and these two fillies should not be found wanting in this respect. When Hunting Mac gets up a bit in the weights it seems to hamper his jumping, if not his pace. Lately he has been mixing his racing, and has been accepted for in the two classes on Saturday, the hurdles and middle-dis-tance flat race. In the spring Hunting Mac won a hurdle event on the Paeroa course, and if kept to jumping he may add to his record this week, for he has the necessary brilliance for this track.

There was good support for Tiger Tan in the open sprint at the recent Franklin fixture following upon brilliant track trials, but he was never sighted. Early this week light rain fell continuously in the north, and if it keeps up for the Ohinemuri Meeting the Ellerslie-trained galloper may reveal considerable improvement, for he is at his best on a heavy track.

Lo Zin, winner of two races recently and a very promising middle-distance p~erformer, claims two engagements at the Ohinemuri Meeting on Saturday, being in the Cup and the Netherton Hack Handicap, and he must be deemed a possibility ,in whichever event is chosen for him. He won narrowly but well at the Franklin Meeting, and while not as yet anywhere near the standard of his stablemate, Swift Quarry, he may prove a worthy deputy for that fine galloper. A fine future was forecast for Lagenia when she ran Water Vixen to a neck at the Waikato Meeting a month ago, and she was consequently confidently supported for the Herries Cup at Te Aroha. In that race she ran very disappointingly, and was at fine odds a week later in the- Franklin Cup, when she ran second to Swift Quarry. Although easily beaten, she was easily superior to the rest of the field, and if she would only run up to that form this week she would go close to winning the Ohinemuri Cup, for she has the pace if her rider would only make the most of it in the early stages.