SALE RING, ROMANCE

Taranaki Daily News, 7 June 1932, Page 8

SALE RING, ROMANCE

AN : INTERESTING SEQUEL. PROMISING YOUNG HORSES.. . High Command- and Onslaught, two rising two-year-olds by Spearhead, are instances ; of.. what .can be accomplished if the job of moulding stamina in young horses ,-is patiently undertaken, says “Veritas” in the: Sydney. Referee. Their respective owners very deliberately, planned not., only their development but also their 'acquisition. They actually came into unwitting competition for the yearlings at. the sales, andit is a surprising climax fo find, after so long a lapse of time, that both s . horses should score their initial - successes within a day of each other. . High Command won at Caulfield on May 10, while on the. next day at Geelong, Onslaught parted with "his maiden certificate.' ■ Leading Victorian rihgmen own 'these promising young, horses.. ;W. Mitchell owns High Command, who is out of Polylogy,': the. dam . of Royal Charter ■ and Sonora, ; and Onslaught carries the colours of E. Lyons. IQiieen Battery, a sister to Artilleryman’s dani, is; the dam of Onslaught.. ' : • b-;.'-■ - High. Command/cost 350 guineas .and Onslaught 575 guineas.-Lyons tried to buy. High Command,- but Mitchell was similarly intent.. The story is worthy of record. ' - ■ Each had scanned the catalogues for the 1930- Sydney yearlipg- sales, hoping to secure one with staying blood in its veins. They picked- op the. Spearheads as the likeliest, ' and in this-respect, singularly enough, each, determined . on securing the Polylogy youngster. It was late in the evening'when the “Noorrilim” yearlings • capie . under the hammer. Such a time is-considered unpropitious for obtaining big .-prices, as the -bulk , of the bpyers depart before then. Thus did Lyons expect: little competition for the Polylogy. yearling. However, he was soon disillusioned. His every bid was quickly topped, and so peremptorily, too, that he sensed the -ep-

position of someone, desirous of buying the yearling at- any cost, so he discreetly ceased nodding his”head. . Not till after the fall of : the hammer did he learn that it was his friend 'and brother metallician, who had outbid him. The news duly spurred him to- get one of 'the remaining Spearheads. ; And the Queen Battery / yearling, which was: immediately led into the sale ring, became his ’at ; 575 guineas. .; ' Both owners 'then set about the maturing ■ of' an idea longpre valent with them, that. New Zealand’ offered greater attraction,, on account of; its pastures,-for the growth of yearlings than did., Australia. The. yearlings were broken in, gelded, and. in due. course, dispatched to the Doipinion, where they remained until the time came for their transhipment to the land : of their'birth.’ , • • . . , Neither-Was,hurried. All intentions of taking one of the classical three-year-old races were set aside,.afid it was decided by both owners-in separate counsel, with their trainers to husband all the prospective resources of the young ■ Spearheads until late in-their three-year-old careers. It will occasion ,no surprise . to . those who witnessed their .initial; successes if either High ’.Command .or. Onslaught eventually develops,into a Cup horse! Vin. O’Neill, first' had the, tending, of Onslaught, though subsequently,he passed into the mentorship of C. ,T. Godby, who .still has. him .under, his care. Strangely enough, too, Godby . has always trained ,HigJiiConymand...,., The peculiar circumstances connected with their original purchase and the identical desires of , each owner regarding development,;, with the fact of bpth beijig 'npw trained by the same trainer, and each winning his first race on almost the-same day, so long after purchase time,-enhance the interest of the. story., -....--