RACING NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25386, 18 November 1943, Page 3

RACING NEWS

By Sentinel L. J. Ellis has been engaged to ride Sir Bradbury in the Stewards’ Handicap. Sir Bradbury and the Derby candidate Conspicuous are booked for an early arrival at Riccarton. L. J. Ellis will have the mounts on The Raker and High Play at Invercargill. Gamble, who displayed pace in the special gallops at Riccarton, is a four-year-old gelding by Croupier from Cuddle. Handicaps for the minor events on the New Zealand are due to-mor-row, and winners at Invercargill with engagements at Riccarton are liable to be rehandicapped. Piccolo is a bay gelding by InflationSweet Music, by Nigger Minstrel—Kilmiss, by Kilboy. Piccolo finished third in the McLean Stakes. Last year Royal Lancer ran a close second in the Southland Cup with 9.13. In this year’s race he will have to carry an extra 41b, but it may not stop him from starting favourite. If John o’ London and Invulnerable are class-enough to reach classic form at the New Zealand Cup meeting they should shape well at Invercargill. Falconbridge is a brown colt by Foxbridge from Grey Eagle, an imported mare bv Grey Fox II (son of Le Samaritain) from Anthea, by Thrush —Rhodanthe. by Aurum, a son of Trenton. Horses with more than one engagement at Invercargill include Minority, Platform. Night Lancer. Standby, John o London, Lady Don. Invincible, Silver Mask, Royal Rae, Elvena, Black Bard, Bannockburn, and Pink Dart. Lord Ronald, the two-year-old who showed up in the special gallops at Riccarton on Tuesday, is a bay colt by Defaulter from Privet, by Rizzio (son of Cicero) from Tiger Rose, by Rossendale. Lord Ronald is engaged in the Welcome Stskss Glad’ynev, Happy Ending, Te Kawiti, Classform, Don Quex, Rink, Conspicuous, Hippodrome, Subdued, Intense, and Tavern Light were sent strong gallops at Awapuni on Saturday. Sir Bradbury shaped well in a sprint over five furlongs. The margin between the horses at the end of the special gallops which took place at Riccarton on Tuesday should not be taken as conclusive evidence of merit. On such occasions horses are sent out not with any great desire to win a gallop, but mostly with the object of giving them experience under something resembling race conditions. The acceptances for the Southland Racing Club’s spring meeting make a rather interesting card because the fields include horses with important engagements at the New Zealand Cup meeting. The meeting will, in consequence, arouse very widespread interest, as the form disclosed may throw some light on the more important events to be decided at Riccarton next week. The presence of Royal Lancer, John o’ London, Invulnerable, and some candidates for the Stewards’ Handicap will greatly enhance the interest in the racing. The conditions attached to the Stewards’ Handicap render the winner of a race of the value of £2OO or more to the winner liable to a rehandicap. The winner of the Flying Handicap at Invercargill receives £2OO, and that in all probability tended to reduce the size of the field. The winner of the Stewards’ Handicap will receive £7BO, or nearly four times the amount of the stake at Invercargill That is possibly the reason why Fleet Street dropped out of the race, and why Royal Flight and others were not nominated, in spite of the gennral practice of racing a horse to tune him up for important engagements. The winner at Invercargill may not disclose- foim better than that which led to the handicapper’s adjustments for the Stewards’ Handicap, but the temptation to increase the original handicap of winners has generally been irresistible. Three horses with engagements in the Stewards’ Handicap are down to meet at Invercargill, but it is doubtful if a win by one of them would justify an increase of weight against the very much stronger opposition they will have to meet at Riccarton. The win of Boulder Dam at Napier Park with 8.0 in lmin 14sec may represent better form than a win at Invercargill, yet he, with a first, a second, and a third this season, escapes liability to a rehandicap. It should be the form and not the stakes that marks the merit of a win.