EXIT THE VETERAN NGATA

Taranaki Daily News, 31 July 1930, Page 4

EXIT THE VETERAN NGATA

j.-. . .SPLENDID.“ALL ROUNDER.” ! -. • .. r-. _• • - _ VT™ 1 ” -.r .‘ i. • : - Of all the good houses' which have carried the well known' green jacket of , Mr. James Bull,' nope was ■ held in the same esteem by the Hunterville sports- ; mqn as Ngata, and, great as the record, of the Maniapoto-Daisy Paul gelding actually is, there is no telling to what great heights of fame he might haVe •soared if unsoundness had/not always made the task of training him so difficult for J. T. Morris. - And credit is due co “Poor Old Father,” as trainer “Jimmy” Morris is known in Rangjtikei, for keeping the horse on his feet" for eight racing seasons.! Ngata was a standing order for every treble at important jumping meetings, it being Mr. Bull’s practice to enter the gelding for both hurdles arid steeples, and for the principal flat races as well. A proficient jumper of all classes of fences, he was also endowed .with the paice of the flat racer, which ’made the task of' selecting the most favourable events? for stake-earning very difficult ..on nomination' days. . ..There seemed do . be nothing, which Ngata equid not. dp. when well,.and Mr. Bull simply “took, the bull by the hdniq” and entered him' • - for every thing in sight, -leaving the-final-selection to.his astute adviser, J. Morris. ... , „-... .., Cup races and other important flat events fell to Ngata, and the writer has reason to look back with happy memories on the day before the Wanganui Cup of 1922, when Mr. Bull joined a party of sportsmen who were discussing the chances of champions like Amythas, Vagabond, Marqueteur, Foo Chow. Rude-and Egotism on- the morrow.- The general opinion l , was.: that Amythas would show the field a clean pair of heels, but Air.-Bull settled the question “in a crack” for us. “Ngata will win!” ■ he said, much to our amazement; and it was plain -to see that--he meant what he said. - Never was a man more confident-, 1 and I (for one) took l his tip, and had the pleasure afterwards of seeing the gallant and game son of Mania- - poto spread-eagle a high class "field, and , run in an easy winner by a full two j . lengths (it- looked more. • but*‘that Jwas- ? the official from the- soli tlier-iier,-Foo. Chbwj with Rude- three- lengths 1 ■ away : in third- place. The champions could not. live, with . Ngata -that day, ; and he might have improved---upon; the record, 2min. 595ee.,..if need be,*"-That time is shared -by Dusky- Eve--(1919), and has not been bettered. Bert Mor- . ris rode strictly to. instructions that ' day, clapping .on ,tlie pace at the six ( furlongs post in the final round, and, gaining a break which the top-Weights found impossible to bridge. Ngata carried a fair weight, 7st. 131b5., which was ‘ just 101 b. more than Dusky Eve had - three years previously, so that his record time is better? .Ngata won important handicaps at Ne.w Plymouth, Bulls, Foxton, Awapuni, Riecarton and Ellerslie. and B. H. Morris was associated,, with his chief victories. J

Over hurdles there was not,, in his time, a. better horse in the Dominion, and he won several important events, in this class (including a Cdntury Hurdle race) under big weights. But luck was against him more than once, and he was unfortunate in not collecting Grand National honours. He started .only once in a steeplechase, as far as memory recalls, and that was at Trentham, and only unsoundness at the critical time prevented him from taking part in more. Judging by the ability which he showed on the training tracks, he could jump anything in reason, and' ’t is a gyeat pity that, Morris could not produce him at his best for one really good race over '.‘qoiun^ry.’’. Ngata was not an over-raced horse ae

horses.-go, and when one considers that he was on. the Turf, for nine seasons it is remarkable that he only contested seventy-eight races. He did hoc sport silk, until a- four-year-old, and had his hardest, seasons .at..five•=and •six-, doing very'little racing again until well into his prime, at ten and eleven. That a horse could retain his brilliancy until that age (eleven) 'stamps-his as .something out of. the ordinary/ Dozens of others which are saddled up twenty, and sometimes thirty times in the year, do not last nearly so Idrig. Ngata died as he lived —game-to the last;;'. Used since his retirement; as a . hack and a hunter,, he appeared to be in the best of health, and it was while being taken - to a hunt gathering that he faltered, giving Mr. Bull junior, an ifidieation that something'was amiss. A few mo? ments after his rider had dismounted he dropped and died. - Ngata’s race record reads as’follows;

. 1st. 2nd. 3rd. Unpl. At. 4 years 1 . 0,. 1 . ; .2 At 5 years ’ 5. 5“. 3 4 At 6 years 0 ■‘>2 ■■ ■ 1 6 At 7 .years 1 ■O’ •a- a--1 i-.- At;-S-.years . ■3 J -.-.Op 5 .-At 9„ years JJid pat ( xac,c.,. • At 10 years .4 .. 1 2 7 "At 11 years 2 ' 1 ' -r c - : 9 ’ At 12- years : ■’ X)-i " 0 3 ; 37