RACEHORSE FOUND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22090, 22 April 1935, Page 8

RACEHORSE FOUND

PRINCE COLOSSUS LOOSE IN FOOTHILLS WAITAKERE SCRUB AREA SEARCHERS' ARDUOUS TASK After being missing for three days the racehorse Prince Colossus was recovered yesterday in an area of scrub in the foothills of the Waitakere Ranges, near Coatesville. Prince Colossus was removed from stables in Campbell Road, One Tree Hill, on Thursday night or early on Friday morning, and he was not able to start in the President's Handicap, run at the Auckland Racing Club's Easter Meeting at Ellerslie on Saturday, a race in which the five-year-old was considered to have good prospects. Concern at the treatment Prince Colossus had undergone was expressed last evening by Mr. A. Cameron, of Hamilton, who holds a five-year lease of the animal, and by the trainer, Mr. T. M. Morriss, of Cambridge, in whose hands the racehorse had been since the spring. They said the horse was in a condition whieh precluded early engagements, including the Avondale Jockey Cluh's meeting. At least three weeks of careful treatment would be required £o restore him to condition. The recovery of the animal came about in a surprising manner. The police had been investigating the removal of Prince Colossusi as a result of the complaint that the padlock of the door of his stable had been forced. Mr. Cameron learned on Saturday that Prince Colossus had been taken to the Coatesville district, but the information was otherwise indefinite. It was too late on Saturday to take further action. Behaviour of Two Men At seven o'clock yesterday morning Mr. Cameron and his son. Mr. John Cameron, left the city with a horse float, Detective J. B. Finlav and Constable F. X. Quinn accompanying them in a police car. About a mile and a-half from the property where the racehorse was allegedly kept during its absence the investigators were attracted by the unusual behaviour of two men in a motor-car.

The searchers at this time had no point at which to commence their investigations. They decided to follow the two strangers, who suddenly proceeded up a side-road. The investigators reached a property, and one of the men they had followed was questioned. He said Prince Colossus had been taken from the property some 20 minutes previously.

The investigators traced hoof marks from a stable close by. The marks, after a certain distance, were obliterated by heavy rain which was then falling. A widespread search was made over the neighbouring hills, under arduous conditions. Settlers in the vicinity had noticed a horse with a green cover being led through the district, and it was then agreed that Mr. John Cameron should go to a particular locality on horseback. He rode seven miles to a bush camp, and in the afternoon he saw Prince Colossus in an area of tea tree. He saw no fodder, and the animal had been affected by exposure. "Shocking Treatment"

Prince Colossus was walked back to the farm, and he was brought to the city in the evening in the horse float. It is believed a float was used to remove him from Auckland. " I consider Prince Colossus has received shocking treatment," stated Mr. Morriss subsequently. "He is a changed horse after being taken from a good, warm box. We had been told he was well cared for, but the fact is that he was exposed to the weather in the Waitakeres." Mr. A. Cameron said the disappearance of Prince Colossus was a serious loss to the trainer as well as to himself. He could not say what further action, if any, would be taken. The disappearance of Prince Colossus was a topic of much speculation in racing circles on Saturday, and there was undoubtedly keen disappointment on the part of many who had supported him.