HARBINGER MAY DO BETTER

Southland Times, Issue 23795, 18 April 1939, Page 10

HARBINGER MAY DO BETTER

VOLOMA AT PRESENT SPELLING GREAT DIVIDE’S RETURN TO WINNING LIST Nominations for the Oamaru meeting close on Monday next. At Hutt Park The Wairarapa Trotting Club will hold a meeting at Hutt Park on Saturday. Next Appearance Foremost Junior may make his next appearance at the Forbury Park winter meeting. Success of Jack Potts The current season has been a great one for the success of stock sired by Jack Potts while Grattan Loyal is another - sire whose stock have been much in the limelight. By Jewel Pointer In Sandusky and Great Jewel, the Auckland sire Jewel Pointer (a son of Logan Pointer) one of the greatest pacers of his day, has two very useful representatives at Addington. Spelling Voloma has been eased in her work and she is to be spelled for the remainder of the year. It was intended to race the Adioo Guy mare at Oamaru, Forbury and other Canterbury meetings but the recurrence of an old leg trouble has caused an abandonment of this programme. Clifden Prospect Harbinger Who has been three times placed this season, will have an excellent chance to get on the winning list at Clifden on Saturday when she will be opposed to weak fields. The Wrack mare is a solid customer and at Otautau stayed on well at the end of her races. She is a half-sister to a good winner in Belle Grattan. Great Divide’s Return After an absence of some months the Great Bingen pacer, Great Divide reappeared at Addington last week and after being placed the first day won in impressive style over two miles the second day. Now that he is right back to his best Great Divide is capable of improving greatly on his present record, as there is no question about his stamina. Plutus’s Stake Winnings Plutus registered his fifteenth win, and raised his gross earnings to £5235, when he downed the favourite Colonel Grattan in the Free-for-All. The Nelson Derby horse may not be a genuine stayer, but he is a brilliant customer, and few top-class pacers have better prospects of further advancement. Seven Wins This Season Fine Art notched his seventh win of the season (five at Addington) when he paced home comfortably at the head of the Papanui Handicap field. It is obvious that the Jack Potts gelding is much more happy on dirt tracks than on grass, and he should be in cup class by next November. “Speed Crazy Van Derby raced on the first day of the Addington meeting like a horse who has gone temporarily “speed crazy.” His bursts of speed were sensational, and he is undoubtedly the fastest pacer in New Zealand today, comments a Christchurch writer. The question arises as to whether trials against time and training for races constitute a mixture calculated to produce a horse best fitted to race in a field. Van Derby is regarded as a certain twominute pacer, and no one would gainsay that he would outclass his present sprint company if he went correctly from start to finish. King’s Play King’s Play paced the last mile of the Easter Handicap at Addington in 2min 6sec, and the last half-mile in Imin 1 sec, and beat Plutus and Parisienne decisively. This eight-year-old gelding by Blue Mountain King (son of Ribbonwood) from Buz Buz, comes of the same maternal family as Australia’s super sire, Globe Derby. Buz Buz was got by Charming Bells from Springheel (dam of Globe Derby), by Globe from Fidget, by Vancleve—Madcap, by President Grant. Springheel also produced Mambrino’s Last, the dam of the trotter Mohican. The Vancleve strain has been one of the greatest for speed and stamina in the pedigrees of both pacers and trotters. Besides the mile pacing champions, Lawn Derby and Van Derby, the Vancleve strain crops up in Worthy Queen, 2min 3 3-ssec, the champion mile trotter.

Death of Erin’s King The death of Erin’s King at Cromwell, removes a high-class pacer and successful sire. Erin’s King was 28 years of age at the time of his death. A great racehorse, he was considered a first-class prospect in a New Zealand Cup, in which he was brought down in a smash. He sired many good pacers, best known of whom were Satin King, 4min 16sec, Erin’s Fortune, and Erin’s Princess. Erin’s King was by Hal Zolock—B.J.N., by Electioneer—dam unknown. He was bred by Mr J. D. Parker, Wakanui, and was owned by Mr W. D. Naylor, Cromwell.