SPORTING Bernborough's Brilliant Career

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 November 1946, Page 5

SPORTING Bernborough's Brilliant Career

26 Wins in 37 Races

Effects of Big Impost

Discussed

[Specially Written for the Star.]

The/ breakdown of Bernborough at Flemington could be described as one of the most unfortunate happenings in Australian racing circles. .When it was announced that Bernborough was to take, his place in the Caulfield Cup with 1.0.10, the bulk of public opinion was against giving any horse such a herculean task, let alone a champion, who had plenty of opportunities in easier races to add to his excellent record.

After Bernborough had been beaten in the Caulfield Cup there was a lot of discussion in racing circles in Melbourne an'd in the newspapers, and the owner and trainer of the champion came in for a good deal of criticism for their handling of the horse. The trainer, H. Plant, publicly stated that he definitely did not want the horse to start in the Cup, and then after the Cup he told the' owner that Bernborough had not been doing well. Breakdown in Straight

In spite of this opinion, Bernborough was. allowed to take his place in the Mackinnon Stakes, in which his breakdown occurred. Particulars of the race show that he was the' first to jump out and was then pulled in behind Flight. He commenced to make a forward move as soon as the straight was reached, and as he was gathering his top speed for his run down the long straight, he suddenly swerved off the track and his rider dismounted. That was the end of his career.

It could be said that he may have broken down whether he had started in the Caulfield Cup or not, but that effort, following on other hard races in handicap as well as weight-for-age races, undoubtedly had much to do with his trouble.

Mr. A. Romano, his owner, had not owned a horse previously, and this fact probably had much to do with the unfair programme followed with the horse, who was called upon to win good races at Randwick last summer; travel to Melbourne, where he won races in the autumn; to return to Randwick at Easter and race against Flight in weight-for-age races, and then to undertake an exceptionally hard' trip to Brisbane in the winter and win the difficult Doomben double (the Doomben Cup with 10,11); to return to racing in Sydney in the early spring and contest weight-for-age races at Rosehill and Randwick, and finally to fill a full programme at Flemington and Caulfield. One of the Champions

Many other horses may have been called upon io .do more than Bernborough.* but the tasks given him in ifo shoffea career as he was allowed to enjoy, were sufficiently -severe to wear him out as a comparatively young horse. He did not set any new track records, but did everything to entitle him to be classed amongst the champions of the turf in Australia, and he : would undoubtedly have been near the top rung of the list if he had been given a reasonable chance in the matter of placing him. One could imagine what his record would have been if he had had the same treatment, and programme, as, say, Gloaming. ■ In all. Bernborough contested 37 races for- 26 wins, two seconds and a third, and'he won £25,504 in stakes.

Costly Sequence

Bernborough’s sequence of 15 wins was very costly to Australian bookmakersj but no doubt they got a good deal back when lie was beaten in his last two starts, in which he was an odds-on favourite. One Melbourne writer has worked it out that if a bettor had started supporting the champion with £lO, and played his bets up over the 15 races, he could have amassed £16,080, in .spite of some of the prices being, as low as £ 8 on to win £l. Keeping up the support, however, that large sum would have gone when Bernborough failed in the Caulfield Cup, and no doubt more would be added to it when a recovery was attempted in his next, and final, appearancc. It is definitely certain that Bernborough will not race again, and much interest will be centred on his future as a stud proposition. RACING FIXTURES November 30: Canterbury. November 30: Avondale. November 30: Woodville. TROTTING FIXTURES. November 30: Reefton. December 14: New Brighton.