WAIPA REHEARSAL

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22513, 17 December 1947, Page 12

WAIPA REHEARSAL

AUCKLAND PRIZES ASPIRANTS IN ACTION FORM MAY IMPROVE The summer meeting of the Waipa Racing Club on Saturday gave horses engaged at the forthcoming Auckland Cup meeting the opportunity of a dress rehearsal, but not all donned their full war paint. At provincial race meetings nreceding more important fixtures the best horses often do not show the form they reach later. The reason is not difficult to assess. A trainer getting a candidate ready for a big effort does not have the horse at concert pitch weeks before but times the preparation so that the peak of fitness is reached if possible just when the major engagement is due. The meeting on Saturday drew the largest number ever engaged at Te Awamutu. The going was good and so was the racing on Ihe whole. Royal Charter, carrying 8.13, sained his third success of the season. He has now won up to a mile and a half and bred as he is there is no reason why he should not run out two miles on a track like Ellerslie in which he has 121bs less to carry than on Saturday last. He is subject to a re-handicap, but it is doubtful if his Cup impost will be readjusted. Foxfable. once again beaten, ran third. His last two efforts have shown a slight improvement. Nevertheless in the big Boxing Day handicap, he would be considered only in the light of an outside chance. Sylis, winner of the Auckland Cup 12 months ago. has shown nothing like that form this season and was unplaced at Te Awamutu. His withdrawal from the Auckland Cup is not surprising. Had he started he would probably have been an even bigger outsider than last year. Another failure was Chung Chong. Among the scratchings were Frontier Mac, Ascot Lad, and Lord Barwon, who apparently are being reserved for Auckland. Indian Gold, a fancied candidate for the Auckland Cup. added an unplacing to his previous list of this season. This was the five-year-old’s first run on a right hand track, so that possibly he was on his wrong leg for some of the way, but the experience may be helpful. EXETER TRIUMPHS Exeter triumphed in the second leg of the Te Awamutu double when arriving home'! first in the seven-furlong Flying Handicap with the stayer, Faxwvn, second. This was a case of class triumphing over the moderates. The winner, an eight-year-old gelding by Foxbridge from Neon, when tuned up to concert pitch has always been reci gn’sed as in the first flight of seven to eighi furlong gallopers in the Dominion. Last season he failed to win a race, but ran Sleepy Fox to a head in the mile Kind’s Plate at Ellerslie last summer in 1.35 1-5. the fastest time ever recorded in this country over ei«ht furlongs- Later in the season he ran second to the same gelling in the Great Northern Challenge Stakes. The season before he revealed his class when winning the North Island Challenge Stakes at Trentham and other races. At his ase he might not be up to h ; s best, hut there is no way of determining this at the moment or until such time as he is pitted against the best again.

Foxwvn, although a winner over two miles and middle distances, has always been able to sprint as well. He is reported to be in particularly fine racing order so that with 8.12 he will not He overlooked in the forthcoming Auckland Cup. Third in this sprint race was Contaeo. consistent until recently. The field behind him, however, was a poor one. WIN AFTER 18 MONTHS The success of Brockton in the seven-furlong Paterangi Handicap at Te Awamutu was his first success since he won at Avondale on July 29, 1946. This Dink six-year-old has always possessed a private reputation as a galloper above the ordinary but a glance at his performance sheet will hardly hear that out. He was not opposed by a high-class field the other day as Chatssourt and Flvin® Robin were among the scratchings which reduced the field within the safety limits.

Second to Brockton was Miss Julienne. who was having her fifth race of the season. This was the first time dur-

ing that period that she had earned anything towards her keep. It was about this time last season that she struck her best form when at the A.R.C. summer meeting- she won twice and was third in the other effort. She is a five-year-old by Lang Bian-