Sporting PSALM OUT OF ACTION

Southland Times, Issue 25550, 19 December 1944, Page 7

Sporting PSALM OUT OF ACTION

Wingatui Trip Cancelled

By

HAMPTON.

Psalm will not contest the Dunedin Champagne Stakes at Wingatui next week, and the Salmagundi filly is to be given a good spell. She was very sore, besides being lame in front, after she worked on Saturday morning. It is thought that she ricked herself during her work. It is unfortunate that her Dunedin classic engagement has had to be cancelled, as she was a firm favourite for the race and, in spite of the fact that she would have carried 9.3, she looked unbeatable. Psalm has proved herself one of the most brilliant fillies raced in Southland, and her form at the New Zealand Cup meeting stamped her as the best of the South Island two-year-olds. At the Cup meeting she was not at her best, but she was good enough to finish second to Al Sirat in the Welcome Stakes and to win a division of the Pioneer Handicap. Hei only other start was when she won the McLean Stakes at Wingatui. Her stake earnings amount to £Bl5. Psalm has not proved an easy filly to train and her trainer, F. W. Ellis, stated last night that she would be given a good spell and would not race until next season. Acceptances Tonight Acceptances for the Dunedin meeting close tonight. Transferred . , , Benbecula has been transferred to F. W. Ellis’s team. A Veteran , Pink Robe, who has been nominated for holiday meetings, is now in her thirteenth year. She has a three-year-old son, Battle Robe, racing. Early Favourites Hilda Potts, Catalpa and Sea Born are the Auckland favourites for the Auckland Trotting Cup. Rider Engaged The Invercargill apprentice B. ». Wilson, will ride Red Prize and Starlee, and possibly First In, in the Dunedin Cup at Wingatui. Change of Stables . . . Sea Bom and Claremorris, previously trained by F. G. Holmes, are now m the care of the New Brighton trainer, N C Price, who will take them to the Auckland Trotting Club’s meeting. A Rare Combination The Pacing Power-Bronze Eagle bracket justified itself as a firm tavourite for the New Zealand Cup by finishing first and third, and the same combination is likely to instill t e same public confidence for the Asnburton Cup. Pride Of Mossburn Pride of Mossburn, an entrant tor the Invercargill Cup, apparently owes the distinction to his relationship to Macedoine. To date he has started 16 times, and the only money he has received was for a third awarded to him at Wyndham as a result of another horse’s rider failing to weigh in. Tara King Tara King is to fulfil his engagement in the Auckland Cup, and will be ridden by J. Garth. He is the only horse P. Burgess will be taking to Ellerslie. His defeat in the Metropolitan Handicap following his outstanding success in the Riccarton Handicap was a severe setback for supporters of the Beau Pere horse, but he may not take long to prove that form all wrong. He worked freely at Trentham on Thursday morning. Small Dividends Blue Horizon will probably go out the shortest-priced trotter on record in the Winslow Handicap at Ashburton on Boxing Day. In all of his last five undefeated starts the simplicity of his performances has amazed the public. A trotter which can afford to be driven with such disarming confidence should one day be capable of racing with pacers of cup class. That will be a treat not enjoyed by the public for many years. In fact, it would be an almost historical occasion; but it takes the great to make history, remarks a Christchurch writer. Wyndham Ruling The Wyndham Racing Club’s programme includes a condition that “where the number of horses accepted for any flat rate exceeds the safety number, horses will be reduced by ballot to the safety number.” The opposite principle has been adopted in connection with trotting races, where if the number of starters exceeds the safety number divisions will be run. Wellington Cup The Wellington Cup (£5000) will be restricted to horses three years old and upwards which have won a race of the value of £350 or more, or races collectively worth £5OO. In the event of the acceptors exceeding 29, aged horses which have not won a flat, race for 12 months will be eliminated; then horses which have not won a flat race to the value of £5OO or races of a collective value of £750. If that is insufficient a sectional ballot will be held.

Sprint Handicaps Pacers travel at such consistently fast speeds nowadays that the task of a backmarker from 48 yards or further in a mile and a-quarter event is a tremendous one. For instance, in a mile and a quarter event at Addington in October, Haughty, from 60 yards, finished third in 2min 37sec after being up with the leader for most of the journey. Her time from post to post was 2min 34sec. Indianapolis won the Hannon Memorial at Oamaru from 60 yards in 2min 36 3-ssec, and his time from post to post (that is, the neat mile and aquarter) was 2min 33sec. Harold Logan won from 84 yards over a mile and aquarter at New Brighton in 2min 36 3-ssec, and his time from post to post was 2min 35sec, indicating what a wonderful beginner he was. Author Jinks once won a mile and a-quarter race at Ashburton from 144 yards. Although the class he beat was not the best, it was still a wonderful performance. Haughty has been nominated for both the 2min 46sec class sprints at the Canterbury Park summer meeting. Her present mark in this class is 36 yards, which should prove by no means beyond a “two-minute” pacer.