BETTER THAN WINDBAG

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 92, 9 July 1927, Page 7

BETTER THAN WINDBAG

LIMERICK’S WEIGHT IN THIS YEAR'S MELBOURNE CUP

The handicapper who framed the Melbourne Cup weights thinks Limerick is a better horse than Windbag

or the Cup field is worse than that Windbag defeated. Windbag won with 9.2, and Limerick has 9.1, but a comparison on weight-for-age standards under which geldings are allowed 31b. makes Limerick a 21b better horse than Windbag, on Melbourne Cup reckoning. The form of the two horses is very similar in the eyes of a Sydney writer. Each won the Leger, ran second in the Sydney Cup, and won the two remaining weight-for-age races at the autumn meeting of his year. Both were thus proved stayers, when the Melbourne Cup weights were issued. WINDBAG AND MANFRED Windbag got 9.2, and broke a four-year-old weight-carrying record, by winning. He defeated Manfred, perhaps the fastest and one of the best stayers Australia has seen. Limerick, with the same autumn achievements, has 9.1, which would be the equivalent to 9.4 if he were entire. In allotting this weight, the handicapper either gauges the prospective Melbourne Cup form to be lower than in Windbag’s year—and in this assumption he will perhaps prove right, for great stayers are few —or the gelding allowance is tinfair, and such horses, when they are really first-class, such as Gloaming and Limerick, are as good as entires, and not entitled to an allowance.

Still, though the weight may be severe, Limerick, great stayer that he is, can’t be put out of the Cup. NOT BUILT FOR WEIGHT

He would have been infinitely better off with a pound or two less, for he is not a powerful horse, but

9.1 may not prevent his winning the Melbourne Cup if he strikes autumn form", for he was a much improved horse then compared with the previous spring, and odds are on his developing into a better horse this coming season.

It is an accepted rule that a class horse improves more between three and four years than at any other interval, so why shouldn’t Limerick, and it remains for him only to fulfil this standard rule of measuring thoroughbred development to prove the best stayer in Australia in the coming season. And, as Windbag proved that the best stayer could win the MelboLirne Cup even with over weight-for-age, so Lmerick might do. There may be older horses with light weights who, if they are good enough, could upset calculations. They have not shown themselves to date, but of course there are possibilities of good stayers developing, as Bitalli and King Ingoda did. LIMERICK APPEALS MOST

One who might prove good enough with time is Imitator, who, after a shocking passage in the last Sydney Cup, ran fourth. Her Cup weight is only 7.7, a trifle for a five-year-old. Another good staying mare is Spear Maiden, winner of the King’s Cup at Flemington in April. Because he is a proved runner of two miles, Piastoon, despite his 8.9, may be a Cup possibility, too. Bacchus is another certain stayer, but 8.5 appears to be his full measure.

One other proved stayer of two miles who hasn’t been put right out of the race by the handicapper is Naos, second last year with 7.0,, and second in March in the Australian Cup to Spearfelt with 7.11. At 8.0 in the weaker field for the Melbourne Cup this year he will again be hard to beat if he strikes his form. And the stable has backed him. But of all the Cup horses at this stage the great stayer that appeals most is Limerick.