SPORTING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25799, 21 March 1945, Page 7

SPORTING

THOMPSON HANDICAP WINNER’S GAME PERFORMANCE (Special) WELLINGTON, Mar. 20. One of the interesting features of the racing at Trentham on Saturday was the success of Palissy in the Flunkef Handicap, a six-furlong race for two-year-olds. Palissy was one of the highest-priced yearlings of the 1944 sales, .Mr T. Fisher, Upper Hutt, giving 1850gns for him. He was one of the first crop sired in New Zealand by Robin Goodfellow, and is the first of that sire's progeny to win in the dominion. Palissy. who is a half-brother to The classic winner Greek Shepherd, has done vary little, racing. He was given two starts fn the spring and was then eased on account of his rapid development. His win on Saturday was scored at his fourth appearance in public. He finished in resolute style and appeared as a colt who will run his races out well. Three-year-olds have not enjoyed much success in the Thompson Handicap, and when Dileas won on Saturday he was only Ihe ninth winner of that age in the 54 contests to date. Dileas is raced by Messrs .7. and L. McMillan, of Palmerston North, and was bred bv Messrs A. B. and R. B Stonex, of Auckland. When offered as a yearling at Trentham in 1943 he was passed in at ISOgns, and was subsequently acquired privately for his present owners. Dileas had one race as a two-year-old, nud prior to Saturday’s Thompson Handicap he had contested nine races as a three-year-old for three wins, two seconds, fine third, and two fourths. His failure to finish closer than fourth In a hack race at Mnsterion a week before the Wellington meeting was not an impressive Thompson Handicap trial, but Dileas no doubt appreciated the drop in weight to the minimum, and he gave a game performance. His trainer, G. W. New, always held a high opinion of Dileas, who could be depended upon to work well with any of the handicap horses in the stable. It was this fact which encouraged the bold stroke of a Thompson Handicap coup with a horse still eligible to run In hack events. Dileas has now won £1630 in stakes. Flying Ace, the winner of the Thompson Handicap in 1944, went very close to winning the event again on Saturday. He was prominent among the first half-dozen all the way. but the fortunes of the running went' against him and his winning chance was affected through his being forced to cover extra ground on the turn. To fail by two short heads was an excellent performance. Those who made Immediate favourite for the Thompson Handicap were unlucky not to receive some return. Immediate finished a close fourth, not half a length from the winner, and would have given a lot more trouble to the place-getters had lie not been checked turning into the straight. He appeared to clip the heels of another runner and had to be steadied for a stride or two at a crucial stage of the contest. But for this he would have reached a dividend-bearing place.