ZEV’S VICTORY.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 2779, 22 October 1923, Page 5

ZEV’S VICTORY.

PAPYRUS HELD BY HEIYT GOING.

WINNER DECLARED A WONDER HORSE.

ZEV DEFEATS PAPYRUS BY FOUR LENGTHS.

[By Electric Cable —Copyright.]

[Aust. and N.Z. Cable Association.] (Received Monday, 2 a.m.) NEW YORK, October 21.

Zev’s time was 2.36 2-6 (not as given on page 0). The time by quaxters was 23 4-6, 60 2-5, 1.15, 1.40 4-5, 2.7 3-5, 3.35 2-5. Mr Basil Jarvis, the trainer, wad sorely disappointed at tho showing of Papyrus and said Zov was a wonder horse, but he thought Papyrus could have done bettor on a faster track. “The stop something we never have on English courses, bothered him and he never was able to bit his proper stride. We were fairly beaten by ft great horse and the result might have been tho same under any condition.”

Steve Donoghue, Papyrus’s jockey, declared Zev was the better and faster horse. Papyrus ran well enough, but lacked the speed to match Zev. Donoghue explained after the race that Papyrus was continually slipping on the miry track. Tho gate receipts totalled 482,000 dollars of which 190,000 dollars was given in prizes of the various races.

Attempts are being made by Western racing promoters to ari'ange a race between Zev and My Own at Christmas for a purse of 100,000 dollars.

Three races preceded the Zev-Papy* rus contest, and sufficient indication that the tracks were in an unfavourable condition was seen when the ride/s of the horses came back heavily spattered with mud. Sando, rode a horse named Osprey in the third race and the throng rushed across the field to watch the American jockey, whose horse, however, took only third money.

Donoghue and Sando shook hands just before the trainers saddled Zev and Papyrus. The American horse overtopped the Britisher by several inches. Both horses carried 126 lbs. It is estimated that crowd number seventy thousand. When the two colts went to the post, both diorsos broke fast, as the barrier was lifted, but Zev (got intb the lead almost immediately and led by a 'ength at the first furlong and by another length as the third furlGng was left behind, but Papyrus climbed forward, until they were nearly even at throequarters of a mile. Zev then rpurted and was a length ahead at the mile and two lengths ahead as the horses came into the stretch to the judge’s stand. Papyrus then reached forward and reduced the distance between himself and Zev to a length and a half, but Zev made a final spurt durng the last three furlongs and finished four lengths ahead of his opponent Although Papyrus ran a game race, he never really threatened Zev, who continued to hold the lead from beginning to end, proving that all the rumours conceding his bad condition were unfounded.

It is interesting to note that Zev was extremely nervous at the barrier, while Papyrus lived up to his reputation of being a q/iitc unexcitable colt, and gave Donoghue little trouble, while Sandc had his hands full with his mount.

Some observers declare Papyrus was in front for a third of the first furlong, but Zev overtook him with an amazing burst of speed, and at the end of the first furlong was on the rail. Neither jockey used the whip, both urging their horses by hand and heel. Zev's victory makes him the greatest American money horse, having won stakes in excess of 250,000 dollars. He wins 80,000 dollars and the international gold cup by this race.

The mud appears to have proveij Papyrus’s undoing. Oblbrvera declared it clung to his heels and seemed to hold him down, disrupting ail Donoghuc’s plans and strategy. The horse's unfamiliarity with the dirt track, coupled with the fact that the dirt had been turned into a mire as thick and sticky as molasses, led to his defeat by such a large margin. Mr Jarvis was the first to congratulate Sande and Mr Hildreth, the trainer of Zev. The spectators, while delirious with joy at Zev’s victory gave Papyrus and Donoghue a rousing cheer as they cantered off to the stables.

Although the weather men predicted an overcast day for the great international race, the sun was shining brilliantly when the horses trotted out upon the very muddy and heavy track. Zev, who is considered to be the best mud horse in America, was said to be specially shod with toe tips and caulks, while Papyrus is understood to have been wearing smooth plates. Mr Jarvis and Donoghue, however, felt no misgivings of Papyrus’s ability to negotiate the heavy going. The Bettings for the race had much beauty in them. Belmont’s spacious infield and stately trees, russet under Autumn's influence, and the towering stands offered a fine background for the colourful crowd, in which every element of American life was apparently represented—society dames and flappers, actresses, male and female racing enthusiasts, tourists, officialdom, foreign visitors and a considerable proportion of the local British Colony, filling the various enclosures.