GRAND NATIONAL PROVIDES A REAL TEST OF ABILITY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 188, 10 August 1931, Page 5

GRAND NATIONAL PROVIDES A REAL TEST OF ABILITY.

Famous Horses have Battled over Riecarton’s stiff, gruelling Course. SINCE THE EARLY DAYS, the Grand National meeting at Riccarton has been rcgai'ded as the big event of the year for country people. Hunting and stceplecliasing are not the flourishing sports they were before the advent of the motor-car, but the tradition lingers on, and thousands of visitors flock to Riccarton in August. The great event of the week’s racing is the Grand National Steeplechase, which attracts the finest horses in the Dominion, and is battled out over a gruelling course of three and a half miles. It Is the chief jumping contest of the racing year in the Dominion, and has seen many sterling battles, and not a few surprises since its inception.

The very early days of the race are remembered by few sportsmen, but the names of some of the early performers are still recalled. One of the horses remembered from the very early days is Agent, who won three times. Clarence, Canard and Chemist were also steeplechasers of high merit who put U P good performances in the early days of the race. Little Ahua. A horse whose performances ar% still talked of was Ahua, who won in 1592. Ahua was very small in size, but was a very game performer, and a steeplechaser of high merit. A northern gelding, Dummy, was the first horse to win both the Hurdles and the Steeples. Ilis performance in the nineties was equalled by Ilaydn at the beginning of the century, but no horse has since so distinguished himself. The National has seen many competitors, who, although they have failed in the race, have distinguished themselves elsewhere. The chief of these was Moifaa, who started in the race only once, but did not complete the course. Moifaa later went to England where he won the Liverpool Grand National, the world’s greatest steeplechase race, run over the wonderful Aintree course. One of the greatest races for the Steeples was run in the year Medalhus won from Ilippowai and Scottish Minstrel. Heads separated the placed competitors, and the rest of the field came in a bunch close behind. Medallius’s race is still remembered. The first National to go to a mare was run in 1909, when Nadador won. The National of 1913 provided another great finish which is talked of to this day. Bercola beat The Spaniard and Glenmore with only heads separating them. Coalition’s Rise. In the race in 191 S, that great hcrse Coalition ran for the first time, but

did not get a place. He won in 192 Q Royal Mint, Seaboy.

against a small but very good field which included three previous winners, and was victorious again the following year. Coalition is remembered by many sportsmen as a very game runner. There were notable races in 1922 and 1923 when Oakleigh won. A great battler was Tuki, who won in 1925, and ran second again two years later. lie was a rather old horse, but proved by his performances that he was a stayer;

Wiltshire won in 1928 and 1929, and is very well liked for this year’s race. Riccarton is generally admitted to be the most difficult steeplechase course in New Zealand. Where other clubs have reduced their jumping courses to more easy limits, those at Riccarton have been kept up to the formidable standard of twenty years ago. The obstacles are notably stiff, and it takes a very good horse to complete the course. Gruelling Journey.

The Grand National Steeplechase is a gruelling journey of three and a half miles, starting on the straight five furlong track just beyond the entrance to the course proper. This point is half a mile from the winning post, and with the two circuits of the course added, gives the length of three and a half miles.

The jumpers meet their first obstacle opposite the carriage paddock, where there is a brushed rail 4ft sin high, 2ft 9in wide, and well packed. The next jump is the stand double, both legs of which, being more in the nature of show jumps, are easy. The fences are identical, 3ft 6in hurdles, topped with a foot of light brush. The next fence is “ Cutts*,’* one of the most famous jumps in New Zealand, and a real test of the powers of a horse. The jump gets its name from the fact that it is opposite Chokebore Lodge, for many years the property of the late Edward Cutts. __ The fence is sft sin high, and 3ft 3in through, made of tightly packed, unyielding brush.

The first obstacle in the back stretch is the sod wall, 3ft 9in high, 4ft through, and with a 3ft 6in ditch in front. The post and rails come next, and require a clean jump, because although it is not a very difficult obstacle, it is built solidly. It is 3ft 6in high, with a 3ft ditch in front. Another double comes at the kennels, a furlong past the post and rail. The first fence is a low sod wall, topped by a rail to a total height of 3ft Bin, and brushed for another foot with stiff broom. The brush topping is Ift 3in through, and tightly packed. In front of this fence is a 3ft ditch, making it a trying obstacle. The second leg is a comparatively easy 3ft Bin rail, lightly brushed, after a gap of 34 yards. The Big Sod Wall.

The big sod wall which follows is a formidable-looking obstacle, although it is in reality not quite as high as the sod wall near the mile post. It is 3ft Bin high, 4ft through, and has a 3ft ditch in front. The take-off face of the wall is made perpendicular, and gives a most difficult appearance, although it is a good obstacle to jump.

The nex,t fence, a stiff 4ft lOin brush, has claimed many victims, an explanation being that when the horses reach it on the second time round, they arc tiring. The fence is formed of a 2ft Sin rail topped with brush 3ft through, densely packed, and is considered one of the most difficult jumps on the course.