VICTORIOUS VETERAN

Taranaki Daily News, 23 July 1931, Page 11

VICTORIOUS VETERAN

A SPARKLE LEFT IN NUKUMAI HURDLING IS HIS BEST QUALITY. FAVOURITE OF TRENTHAM CROWD BRED ON STOUT COLONIAL LINES. Although Taranaki owned and bred, the veteran Nukumai has, for the greater part of his career, been looked upon as the “bread-and-butter” horse of Foxton, for until this season he was prepared by the Foxton mentor, Alf. Wright. During the current term he has been trained by. Martin Conway, and his bright appearance at Trentham was a tribute to the ability of the Hawera trainer. The reason Nukumai has lasted so well is that he did not begin racing until he was a four-year-old, • and, though he showed some pace on the flat, it was evident even then that he would be a better proposition as a hurdler Further, the fact that he did not reach form until, the winter was evidence that he was essentially a winter horse. And so all through his career he has been seen' at his best on heavy tracks, when the going upset many others. Nukumai opened his winning account as a hack hurdler at Napier in 1923, and the following week he scored over the batteiis in open company at Hastings. His next outing was in the Trentham Hurdles, when he was one of the outsiders of the field, and he was narrowly beaten into second place. He won his first flat race at the meeting, taking the Highweight Handicap on the second day. In the following season he again failed to strike form until the winter, but he won at Otaki and concluded the season by lifting the Winter and Final Hurdles at Trentham.

He completed the hat-trick by scoring his first success in the Jumpers’ Flat, at the beginning of the . ew season, but he suffered defeat in the National Hurdles. The heavy track at Waverley in October materially assisted "him in placing. the Waverley Jubilee Cup to his credit, this being hie most important win on the flat to date, a The Hawke's Bay Hurdles was the only race he won during the remainder of the season. Though beaten in the Winter Hurdles at Trentham, he went on to win the Jumpers’ Flat at Riccarton again, and ran Penury Rose to a length in the Grand National Hurdles, beating her in the Sydenham Hurdles on the last day of the meeting. These two good jumpers had staged a great duel throughout the meeting, as Penury Rose had acted as runner-up in the Jumpers’ Flat, and when all things are considered, the honours were with Nukumai. The Sydenham Hurdles was the, beginning of a sequence of four wins, for Nukumai scored an easy win in the Ludlow Hurdles at the Wellington Fleet Celebration, meeting and then went on to take the Marton and Heaton Park Handicap at the Marton meeting, held at Feilding. That meeting was remarkable for the fact that an abnormally wet week found the Feilding course submerged to the extent of a foot of water and mud in places, and Nukumai simply revelled in the conditions. The Manchineci gelding did his winter racing that season as a steeplechaser, scoring a surprise win in the Egmont Steeplechase —at time of writing, his only cross-country success to date. He ran a fair third in the Napier Steeplechase, but his poor exhibition in the Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase showed plainly that steeplechasing was not his forte.

It was as an eight-year-old that Nukumai revealed his true worth, and at the conclusion of a very busy season, for he started 27 times, when he beat all the best milers in the Whyte Memorial Handicap and scored as convincingly in the Parliamentary Handicap at. Trentham. To prove his. remarkable ability as a mixer he came out on the third day with a steadier of 11.8 and strolled home in the Winter Hurdles, thus completing his third hat-trick and registering a performance which must stand unchallenged for many years. His other successes that season were the Okehu Hurdles at the Wanganui spring meeting and the Pahiatua Handicap. In the Ashhurst, Foxton and Egmont Cups he ran close seconds, but in each instance the going was not sufficiently easy to place him at his best. The 1927-28 season was a lean one for him, but he came back to his best form in the winter and ran good seconds in the Whyte Memorial and Parliamentary Handicaps preparatory to going on to win his third Jumpers’ Flat at Riccarton and meet the reward of consistently good form by winning the Grand National Hurdles, in which he carried 11.11 and beat hurdlers of the calibre of Gaze, Red Fuchsia, Beau Cavalier, Peneus and Co. Nukumai lost form during the remainder of the season, and it looked as if the best bad been seen of him. He • was troubled with soreness, and the following season saw him In the worst form of his whole career. He earned second money in the Napier Steeplechase, but ran badly in his other two starts across country.

After running second in the Sydenham Hurdles, and racing at Wanganui Nukumai changed stables at the beginning of this season, and Martin Conway had taken him in hand when he contested the Egmont Steeplechase. It was evident then that Conway had given the veteran considerable schooling, for Nukumai jumped fairly well and ran a good second to Omeo the next day. I think the first time we saw anything of the old Nukumai this season was when he ran Conjuror IT. to a head in the Century Hurdles —a race he was particularly unlucky to lose. He ran a fair third in the Wanganui Steeplechase and then went on to Auckland, that, strangely enough, being his first appearance at Ellerslie. To run fourth in the Great Northern Hurdles over tricky country Nukumai did well, and he was also going along attractively when he fell in the steeplechase. His next appearance was in the Wellington Steeplechase, and it is generally conceded he was,a. trifle unlucky to be beaten by Paris. At all events, although out of favour as a betting proposition, he earned the plaudits of a racing crowd that knew him of old, and he must have understood that great ovation he received on returning to scale after the Winter Hurdles. Many of those who cheered the veteran had cheered him after winning *he same raca in 19’24 and again in 1935 I oheered him when, he won the Whyt® Memorial

and Parliamentary Handicaps and cheered him when he ran other good races at Trentham. Perhaps his return to his best form is only a flash in the pan, but there is no doubt the old chap has a wonderful heart, and nothing would please racegoers more than to see him add another Grand National Hurdles to his already illustrious record. Nukumai was foaled in 1918 and consequently on the first of next month he will have reached his 13th year. He is by Manchineel, who was by Maniapoto (sire of Ngata and other good jumpers) from Eduam (by Somnus). Maniapoto was by Sdult (St. Simon —- Beauharnis) from Lady Fisher. The maternal line of Nukumai's dam is obscure, but she was by St. Clements (a full-brother to St. Paul, winner of three Avondale Cups, and a champion two and three-year-old when Multiform was in his prime). St. Clements was by St. Leger from Santanclla, by Hippocampus from Slander by Camden (son of Calendar) from Annie Laurie, by Cap-a-pie. St. Leger, who also sired St. Hippo, Nestor, St. Crispcn, Bluejacket, Ropa, St. Laura a,nd Cruciform, was by Doncaster from Atlantis, by Norrnanby from Hurricane, by Wild Dayrell from Media, by Scutaria. It is breeding familiar to all old-timers for it is entwined in the pedigrees of all the big winners and is blood which has produced horeee of stamina, and courage since racing began tn New Zealand.