SPORTING NOTES

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 52, Issue 3756, 15 May 1936, Page 7

SPORTING NOTES

■ENGLAND’S BEST THREE YEAR OLDS. THEIR BLOOD AND BREEDING LINES. (By Backwood.) Now that we have, in previous issues, disposed of Bala Hissar, Abjer, Mahmoud, Midstream, Wyndham, Boswell, Rhodes Scholar, Sansound, Harina and Thalia—the first ten in, the Free Handicap—it is timely to mention another half-dozen among whom it is quite likely are even better three year olds than those already referred to. Last week there was reference to Tide Way and Ferrybridge, first and third in the One Thousand Guineas. .More about them is given below. But let me quote this week's half-dozen in the order given by the noted English judge referred. to in the earlier notes:— The first colt on the list is* Lord Carnarvon’s His Grace, by Blandford out of Malva, and therefore a full brother to the Derby winner Blenheim, who was also bred by Lord Carnarvon, but was sold to the Aga Khan tor whom he won the great race at Epsom. His Grace is a good and intelligent looking bay colt with a nice shoulder, a good back and quarters, but perhaps a trifle straight in front. In fact, his forelegs seem to be his worst part, and they are things of some little importance. His Grace first appeared on a racecourse in April, when he was unplaced behind the Flower Show filly, now known as Barrowby Gem. He ran well enough, however, to suggest that in time he might be able to live up to his breeding. He won his next race-in June, When he was successful at Kempton Park in the Redfern Plate. It is interesting to note that behind him on that occasion were Trustaway, Concordat, and Ferrybridge, all good winners later in the season. I remember that after that race I formed an opinion, as one does at racing, that here quite probably was one of the best of next season’s three year olds. As the season went on I had to modify that opinion, for although he was started in six more races he never once reached the first three at the right end of the race. He is bred to be a very good horse, and his early promise was to the effect that he would make one. His later record is disappointing, but he is in the hands of one of the great masters of his profession, and it may well be that this good colt will be the good three year old that I once thought he was reasonably certain to be. Tide Way is a filly with very definite possibilities. She is owned and was bred by that great supporter of the turf; Lord Derby, and is a brown filly by Fairway, out of Drift. She is, therefore, well enough bred to win any race that there is. She first matle an appearance on a racecourse at Ascot, when she finished fourth in the Queen Mary Stakes, the race being won by Fair Ranee. I am certain that Tide Way is a better filly than that actual race suggests. Tide Way then won the Fulbourne Stakes at Newmarket in nice style, but then failed at Sandown Park in the National Breeders’ Produce Stakes. She ran ,in only one other race, when she was successful. That was the Ham Produce Stakes, and she won in a canter by eight lengths. It is difficult to fault her, but here, again, if there is a fault, it would appear to be in her forelegs, which are rather straight. She is bred to have speed and to stay, and should play a prominent part in the, classic races of next season, which are open to fillies, while whatever her fate bn the racecourse, she must have a great potential value in the paddocks.

Veuve Clicquot is another filly, and also a very nice one. She was bred by Mr Barclay, in whose colours she ran for a part of last season, until she was sold for a big price to Sir John Jarvis. Her earliest efforts did not suggest that this daughter of Mr Jinks and Pama was anything out of the ordinary. She failed in her first race at Newmarket, and then failed in quite a minor affair at Gatwick. This did not suggest Ascot form, but she ran at Ascot in the Windsor Castle Stakes and won by a short head from Squadron Castle. She won her next race, the Chesterfield Stakes, at Newmarket, and then was beaten in two jnore races, in each of which she met high-class opponents, and in each of which she ran well. She is a quite exceptionally good looking filly. I cannot fault her. Her breeding hardly suggests stamina, for she is by Mr Jinks, who was a very good son of Tetratema, and was not a genuine stayer. ’.

I do not know quite what to make of Barra Sahib, a colt owned and bred by the Aga Khan, by Blandford out of LaWoulzie, He is a big, rather heavy chestnut colt with rather light bone, in spite of liis fine size. He is more like .5' Hurry On than a Blenheim, and may take time before he gets to his best. His trainer may, indeed, have trouble with him if the season is very hard, for those forelegs of his have got a lot of his own weight to carry. He might make a great jumper one day, but as' he is in the classics we must not consider that. As a racehorse last season Barra Sahib did quite well, for he ran in six races and won two of them. He was second in another three and fourth in the sixth. He began by being second to Golden Martlet in May at Newmarket, which may not have meant much, for Golden Martlet slammed the field from the gate home. He was then given time, and did not appear again until Goodwood, when he ran in the Le vant Stakes, in which he was beaten by only half a length by Sansonnet. He followed up that useful form by winning the Hopeful Stakes Newmarket, and then won the Maiton Plate at York from Paul Beg, the winner of the Glmcrack Stakes. He was beaten in the Empire Stakes, won by Empire Glory, to whom he was giving 17 lbs. On the whole, that is a good and progressive record, and if his trainer can keep him hard at work and ;get him fit, there are great possibilities about him, but I think that the season will have to be wet.

Ferrybridge is perhaps better known as the filly who was beaten by inches, and who, if she had won, would have won a fortune, rather than as a very nice young, lady which in reality she. is. She is by Ballyferls out. of Sun-'

dridge, and is owned by Mr R. F. Watson and trained by M. Hartigan. She was unplaced behind His Grace at Kempton Park, and-,then, ridden by a stable boy, was beaten by a head in a maiden juvenile plate at Nottingham in September. No one had heard of her before then, and I do not suppose that much would have been heard of her for a little time more if she had not been backed at starting price for a lot of money, the coup just failing. She showed in her next race that she was useful, for she won the Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket, and then finished the season by winning the Theale Maiden Plate at Newbury from a huge field. All this may not be quite classic form, but it was so progressive and she is.such a nice filly that I would not put much, if anything, beyond her. She has a lovely head, a good shoulder, nice hard forelegs, and she stands over a little, with a good back and good quarters.

■: The last of to-day's series is another flily, named Barrowby Gem, by Hurstwood out of Flower Show. She, is owned by Sir Frederick Eley and is trained for him by Templeman. She is a powerful and well grown filly, with really good shoulders, and her hocks well under her. She is well grown and has a nice foreleg. I have no desire to fault her, even if I could do so, which I cannot. She was started in eight races, failed in three, and her only notable success was in the Sandown Park Stud Produce Stakes, which she won from a really good field. She started at long odds, but did not altogether surprise her owner and trainer. She was beaten by Paul Beg in the Gimcrack Stakes by only a neck, and may have been an unlucky loser. She was beaten by only Embuche in the Lancashire Breeders’ Produce Stakes at Liverpool in the summer, and she was giving the winner 19 lbs. On her New-, market running with Tide Way she is better than that very promising filly. She was hampered at Ascot when failing there, and indeed, never had a change in the race. On, her Salisbury form she is a better animal than Vanbrugh. She may, indeed, be the b’sl. of her age and sex. She has done well during the winter, and if her slightly excitable temperament can' be tamed she may win the Oaks and other good races. Her temperament is not a bad one, but merely one which causes her to be wishing to get on with the business at once and win as far as she can.