Excellent Field is Assured for Great Easter Handicap

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27043, 30 March 1949, Page 7

Excellent Field is Assured for Great Easter Handicap

SPORTING

No fewer than 32 horses have been handicapped for the Great Easter Handicap, which will be run at Riccarton on Easter Monday, and this should ensure an excellent field from the point of view of numbers and class. Candidates, from Wingatui stables are Frances, Super, Faites Vos Jeux, and The Hob.

The Great Easter is generally regarded as one of the hardest races on the calendar to win, and the table of winners contains the names of some outstanding gallopers of their time, among them being Goldspur, Cruciform, Lady Lillian, Vladimir, Machine Gun, Penates, Nystad, Razzle Dazzle, Reremoana, Cimabrue, Autopaz, Master Dash, and Concertpitch. It was in 1924 that Razzle Dazzle was successful, and on the second day of the same meeting he inflicted a half-head defeat on Gloaming in the Challenge Stakes.

One of the sensations in connection with the race occurred in 1917, when Nystad was the winner, defeating the warm favourite Sasanof. A report of the race in our files says: “ The Great Easter Handicap was wrecked by one of the worst starts the writer has ever seen for an important event. Half the field appeared to think it was no start and Nystad was one of those who got a big advantage over the others. In a good finish Nystad beat Sasanof by half a length. Sasanof appeared to be unlucky to lose as he was conceding the leaders 10 lengths half a mile from home. The start made it a most unsatisfactory race.” The weight-carrying record for the race is held at 10/4 by Machine Gun and the fastest time is against the name of Density, who recorded 1/23 1.5.