TALK OF THE DAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3756, 9 March 1926, Page 61

TALK OF THE DAY.

Bi

SENTINEL.

ONE OF THE BEST. The discussion as to which ranks as the best horse ever seen in New Zealand naturally aroused widespread interest The list has been growing, but after seeing all the cracks that have been mentioned carrying silk at some part of their career there is not much doubt that Carbine, Amythas, Advance, Gloaming, and Achilles take a lot of shifting out of the front lot. Sasanof proved himself a great horse, but so far no one seems to have thought of Wairiki. R. J. Mason’s opinion must carry great weight, and he thought Multiform a really great horse until Gloaming came on the scene. Several others have been mentioned hut they do not rank in the same class as those mentioned above. Cruciform, Desert Gold. Treadmill, and Royal Artillery have been named, but the last-named was perhaps only a particularly brilliant sprinter. Desert Gold won a large number of races, but on several occasions met nothing of note. When she went to Australia she met with defeat over her pet distance and hence could not be classed as a champion. One of the best horses that ever carried a saddle in New Zealand was Gipsy Grand, a massive son of Grand Master, of whom the best was never seen on the turf. Although he was a great mas sivwteo-year-old, he won the Dunedin Champagne Stakes, but unfortunately when he went into winter quarters was massive two-year-old, he won the Dunedin track. This came about by the fact that he was so superior to the rest of the horses in the stable that when worked during the winter he had to take the outside of the track, whilst others galloped much closer to the inside. The re suit was that when raced as a three-year-old he could not be kept near the inside rails. He ran off the course at each turn in the New Zealand Cup, won by Euroclydon, but still managed to finisn third. The difficulty of controlling him cost him the Otago Cup, in which he ran third to Barmby and Marino. He had a change of riders in the Onslow Plate, when W. Pine replaced H. MTlroy. In that race he cleared out from Prince Warden and beat him easily by 15 lengths over a mile and a-quarter. Prince Warden was a good handicap horse, but he could not see the way Gipsy Grand went ir the race. In the autumn Gipsy Grand beat Skirmisher, Dilemma, and Saracen by 20 lengths in the Dunedin Cup. As a matter of fact they could not get near him, and one would have to closely rake racing history to find another instance of where i horse has really won an im portant race easily by 20 lengths. He ran the mile and three-quarters in 3.7£. and could not be held back to the field. On the third day of the same meeting Gipsy Grand bolted away with the For bury Handicap, 10 furlongs, and came out in the next race, the Marshall Memorial, six furlongs, and easily beat Saracen, who had been a winner on the second day of the meeting. There is no doubt that Gipsy Grand was then a veritable champion, and there is not the slightest shadow of a doubt he was one of the really great horses seen out in New Zealand during the last thirty years. The Dunedin Cup meeting of 1896 was the last time on which he sported silk. He was taken up to nawke’s Bay, but unfortunately ricked a front fetlock oi pastern when doing a gallop on the eve of the meeting. It is surmised that he either trod on a stone or else put his foot in a hole. Gipsy Grand then became installed at the Elderslie Stud, aud some further proof that he was really a great horse came from the late M:* G. G. Stead, who for several years bought some of his