Sporting ACROPOLIS AS A MUDLARK

Southland Times, Issue 25666, 8 May 1945, Page 7

Sporting ACROPOLIS AS A MUDLARK

——» ‘ Game Performance At Forbury LADY DAWN WILL DO BETTER By HAMPTON Acceptances for the Oamaru meeting close at 8 p.m. today. Not Produced Dundee Sandy, Cameroman and Emulous were among several . good young horses not asked to race in the mud and slush at Forbury. Went Begging Although there was a fourth prize offering in the St. Clair Handicap, only three runners braved the elements, and £lO for fourth place went begging. Twice Placed Jeeves, who was driven by his owner in both his races, was responsible for two creditable place efforts, and he may have been unlucky not to have finished closer in his first outing. Novice Winner Sphere, who beat the novices at Ashburton on Saturday, is a four-year-old gelding by Valkyrian from Turn Over, by Thuriiham from Sleepy Head, by Birkenhead from Somniform, by Boniform from Dreamer.

Handicaps Cancelled . An unusual position was created with the handicaps for the Poverty Bay Turf Club’s winter meeting to be held at Te Aroha on May 12. The handicaps were published last Monday, having been declared a week earlier than the advertised date. They were not due to appear until after the Whangarei meeting. These handicaps have been cancelled and a fresh list will be declared this week.

Riccarton Inquiry The verdict of the Canterbury Jockey Club’s Judicial Committee in the Addington Handicap case stated that any interference did not affect the result of the race, and then cautioned K. Nuttall, rider of the winner, for causing interference. As there was only a head between the horses, the two findings (says The Timaru Herald) were obviously inconsistent. The District Committee, having agreed that there was nothing to prove that The Vulture was beaten through interference, did the logical thing in expunging the caution from the records. Two-Year-Old Winners _ Winning form has been shown by 45 two-year-olds this season. This division has had no outstanding individual pegformer, while its members tried at weight-for-age failed to make the grade. Al Sirat, in spite of his failure to hold his form, goes into winter quarters as the biggest winner, with £2200 to his credit. He is closely followed by the consistent Gigli £2197, while other winners of £4OO or more are Balmacara (£1525), Deprive (£1418), White Blaze (£1295), Duplicity (£1265), Majestic (£1075), Balmore (£915), Black Acre (£850), Psalm (£815), Essay (£715), Lord Coronach (£690), Good Company (£615), Montezuma (£530), Drambuie (£520), Fearless (£520), Gay Star (£460), Loch Derg (£440), Behave (£435), Palissy (£420), Royal Raider (£405), and Derene (£400). The North Island two-year-olds fared much better than their southern rivals, gaining 16 places in the first 22 horses in the list. White Blaze is the biggest winner among the fillies. Different Story In these days of big totalizator turnovers and the, rush that racegoers have to make investments, particularly on the last race of a programme, it was interesting to see the totalizator before the last race at the Forbury Park meeting. Twenty minutes before the totalizator closed on the St. Clair Handicap, a member of the totalizator staff announced that it was regretted that the machine could not close for another 20 minutes. There was no business being done at any of the windows, but as the totalizator did not close until 4.42 p.m. there was no option but keep it open. Rain was still falling at this stage and it was not a very pleasant wait until the machine closed. The investments offering for the three-horse field in the Flying Handicap were accommodated in a very short time.

Lady Dawn Unlucky It is not doing Acropolis any injustice to say that Lady Dawn would have won the Ritchie Memorial Handicap had she been more judiciously handled. The form of Lady Dawn stamped her as a great mare, and her effort on Saturday was one of the outstanding features of the chief event. In a small field she struck all the trouble going and three times she received a check which cost her some ground. When she took the lead within the last three furlongs and led into the straight she appeared to be doing her work better than Acropolis, and even at this stage she appeared to' have the result in safe keeping until she went to a break. Lady Dawn’s performance stamped her as an outstanding mare on a heavy track, and with average luck she would have won at Forbury.

Radical’s Form The Jack Potts breed are not regarded as good mud horses, but Radical discounted this theory in his own particular case by running two very solid races for a first and a second at Forbury. His two-mile success Was an outstanding effort, and in both his races he showed rare gameness in finishing in great style. His elder brother, Knave of Diamonds, handled the going reasonably well to beat all but Navigate, but there is little question that he would have finished even more resolutely on top of the ground. Radical’s time in winning the Beach Handicap over two miles was 5.6 1-s—B 2-ssec faster than it took Acropolis to win the Ritchie Memorial Handicap, the next race on the card. Freckles’s time in winning the two-mile trotters’ race was 5.18 1-5— 3 3-ssec slower than Acropolis took. This was also an excellent time effort in the circumstances.

Sally Lunn Retired Sally Lunn, who is owned in Wellington and trained at Te Rapa, has been retired from racing and will take up stud duties in the approaching season. Except for a third placing in the Canterbury Cup as a four-year-old, Sally Lunn has shown no form since she was a three-year-old, when she was one of the best performed of the season’s fillies. That year she won six races, finishing up with five wins in succession. Early in the season she won a trial at Invercargill and her last five appearances furnished wins in the Canterbury Halswell Handicap, the Dunedin President’s Handicap, the Wellington Champion Hack Handicap, the Oamaru Cup, and the Canterbury Sockburn Handicap. She scored these successes while a member of R. Wilson’s team at Riccarton. During the past two seasons Sally Lunn has been located in the north. She had four starts last term as a five-year-old and two outings this season without result. She was a candidate for the Churchill Handicap at Te Rapa last week, but she pulled up lame after her last race in die Foley Memorial Handicap at the Avondale April meeting, and had not done well in the meantime. Her trainer, A. Winder, doubted whether she would stand another preparation. Sally Lunn is by Salmagundi from Paigle, by Night Raid. She won six races and £1535 in stakes.

Game Performance Acropolis proved himself a game four-year-old by winning the Ritchie Memorial Handicap at Forbury on Saturday. The Dillon Hall gelding followed the pacemaker, Scott Axworthy, practically all the way, and he had all the

mud and slush that was going hurled at him. In spite of this, Acropolis battled on with rare gameness, and although Lady Dawn appeared to have his measure inside the last three furlongs he carried on to win decisively. It was a rare exhibition of courage, as not only was Acropolis the junior member of the Ritchie Memorial Handicap field, but he came home much more generously than all of his rivals, the majority of which tangled at some time or other of the running. The going on the rails, where Acropolis raced throughout, was probably worse than on any other part of the tracjc but this fact did not appear to worry him greatly. In the absence of Dundee Sandy and Knave of Diamonds, Acropolis was sent out a firm favourite on Saturday, and he did not let his party down. It was not surprising to find Acropolis distinguishing himself as a mudlark, as his dam Seaworthy was at her best when track conditions were at their worst. Seaworthy was a daughter of the Australian horse, Man o’ War, a mudlark himself and the sire of stock capable of handling heavy going. Seaworthy is a sister to War Paint, Fairhaven, Warhaven and Gandi, all of which were capable of handling winter tracks. Another member of this family, Doctor Ted, a two-year-old from War Paint, gave an outstanding performance to win over a mile and five furlongs at the South Auckland meeting on Saturday. Doctor Ted is a firm favourite for the New Zealand Sapling Stakes at Ashburton next month.