THE BIG SPRINT

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 148, 20 December 1945, Page 12

THE BIG SPRINT

PROSPECTS AT ELLERSLIE

(Special to "The Post.")

AUCKLAND, This Day. The fact that Exeter has been rehandicapped an additional 31b in the Christmas Handicap at Ellerslie on Boxing Day decided his trainer to run him in the Railway Handicap instead, for in this he has 9.5 and that weight was not added to after his success at Te Awamutu, over a seven-furlong course. His Railway Handicap impost is not excessive, for Neenah won with the same poundage last year. However, the former has yet to prove that he is as brilliant as Neenah over six furlongs, for all his best efforts of late have been over a slightly longer journey, with the mile probably seeing him at his best.

Cambria will be making his fifth attempt to win the Railway Handicap on Boxing Day, so he is easily the veteran of the field. As a three-year-old in 1941 he finished fourth under 7.1; the following year he was second with 9.2; in 1943 he was out of a place with 9.3; and last Boxing Day he was fourth with 9.1. Next week his weight is 8.11, so it is not this that will beat him. Reorapa has raced fairly well at Ellerslie in the past and if on hand should offer stiff opposition, for he has 31b less than when, beaten in the C.J.C. Stewards' Handicap last month. Sweet Biscuit was second in the last Railway Handicap with 8.9 (she had won it a year earlier with 7.12), and this time she has 8.3. This fine mare appears to have not quite regained her brilliance, and in the Stewards' Handicap at Riccarton she was closer at the finish than at any part, weighing-in for fourth. Nevertheless, she still has a good chance, for she has freshened up since her return.

Much interest will be taken in Balrnacara, the leading three-year-old in the north, for he has not been stretched out in his last two outings, winning the Great Northern Guineas and the Waikato Guineat; easily He is handicapped at a couple of pounds below scale weight, and if he is good he can win with that. Tuis may be the best of the visiting trio, for she ran second in the C.J.C. Stewards' Handicap. As she had won at Ellerslie in the winter, she knows the track Lord Luck has not quite come back -to his best, but the race at Te Awamutu will have sharpened him up. He captured both open sprints on the second and third days of the last Summer Meeting at Ellerslie.

Theophilus has won two sprints at Ellerslie this season and was then put aside for the Railway Handicap, a race in which he should be a very difficult horse to beat, for he has early speed as well as courage to fight on. Verdant is a speedster, and if he gets to the front,may hold his position. Black Beret has been running on at the end of his recent races, but that may not be exactly the thing for this race. Kentish has not run up to his brilliant track work for a long time, but Flowerburn and Cricket Ball have revealed brilliance in their latest outings. Down the scale there are possibilities about Deprive. My Bonnie. Bonny Pay, Olga's Pal, King's Pride, Good Company, and White Blaze, for all have speed enough to win a Railway Handicap It should .be a fine conlest on Boxing Day, with trainer F D. Smith holding four strong cards: Cambria, Sweet Biscuit. King's Pride, and My Bonnie, all racing in different interests. However, to sum (it up, the issue seems to lie between Balmacara and Tuis, with Theophilus, Sweet Biscuit, and Flowerburn also possibilities.