BACKED AND BEATEN

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 88, 5 July 1927, Page 8

BACKED AND BEATEN

FUTILE ADVICE ABSURD GELDING FAILS BADLY ‘'Follow the money” is advice given to punters, but that every big commission does not spell success was shown in the second division of the Ascot Maiden at Sydney the other day. Having his second run on an A.R.C. track, The Furrier, a Melbourne three-year-old, was the medium of solid support, yet had no say in the finish. Though he had failed to win a race, The Furrier had shown great pace in his comparatively few starts on Melbourne registered courses, and had filled places in good company, so that when he was bought for the Sydney ponies he could well have been expected to turn out well. FAILED TO TRAIN ON

But, like many of the Absurds, he has failed to train on, and his effort said little for his chance over anything but a very short journey. On what he was backed punters were in the dark. His one run, at Victoria Park, had attracted no attention, so that evidently he had done very good track work preparatory to the race. There was no doubting the genuineness of the commission, and it almost appeared that the commissioners that combed the ring had no limit to the money they were prepared to invest. NOT COMFORTABLE

But The Furrier not once looked a winner. He was among the first to get away, and for a few strides took the lead from Merton, the favourite. Then Miss Humbug, on the outside, usurped the position from him, and from there onward The Furrier was not going comfortably. Three furlongs from home Merton shot to the front, with the race apparently won, and at that stage The Furrier, hard ridden, was dropping back. He did not conclude that backward movement until the post was reached. The Furrier’s form must have been a great disappointment to his big betting connections. That he possesses pace is undoubted, but unless he improves in stamina —and that is not usual where the Absurd stock is concerned —his chance of paying his way in Sydney is not too bright. MUCH WEAKER CLASS The drop from the class against which he ran well in Melbourne to that which beat him was great, and he is another case of a youngster looked upon as a prospective championearly in his career failing to live up in the slightest degree to that hope. That support for The Furrier turned what was a bad market into a good one for the connections of Merton. On form he was a cut above the rest, and he demonstrated such in the race. Though he did not have the best of runs, he had no difficulty in running to the front at the turn and holding a big lead to the post.