CURRENT TOPICS FROM STABLE AND COURSE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 July 1939, Page 9

CURRENT TOPICS FROM STABLE AND COURSE

Many years have elapsed since a fill?/ **>ivas capable of giving the best of the colts a race. Wakeful did not race until she was four years old. Sarcherie had three races at two years, did not race at three years, and only came to her best form as a five-year-old. Fillies who in recent years more than held their own against colts and geldings were Carlita, Furious, and Frances Tressady.

One true stayer of this lot was Carlita. who came, largely, of a St Simon —Musket cross. Her sire was Charlemagne and her dam Couronne by Gipsy Grand out of Coronal by Medallion, grandson of Musket. Gipsy Grand was by the successful imported sire. Grandmaster son of the great French horse. Gladiateur by Monarque. Like those other great staying mares, La Carabine and Cruciform, Carlita was not a -success at the stud. Rockfel was probably the best of her age regardless of sex. There is little doubt that had she been a runner she would have won the Derby and the St Leger. The last mare to win the Ascot Gold Cup was Quashed, and she practically had only one horse of class to beat, the American, Omaha. Before Quashed (a granddaughter of Tracery) won in 1936, the Cup had not been won by a mare for 42 years. Victress in 1894 was the great mare La Fleche. Meantime, such illustrious mares as Pretty Polly and Sceptre had both failed in this test over two and a half miles. Excepting in the matter of courage and stamina Quashed was probably not in the class of the three mares mentioned. At the end of the long race, too. her speed surprised even her warmest admirers. When the American champion drew level a furlong from the post practically everyone thought the gallantmare would be defeated, but she. as \ well as Omaha, fought out every inch of the last furlong with superb courage and she matched the horse in speed. Among the outstanding marcs which raced in the last quarter of the 19th century were such performers as La Fleche’, her sister, Memoir. Pilgrimage (immortal as the graddam of Swynford and Chaucer), Shotover (winner of the Oaks and the Derby), Jannette. Wheel of Fortune (declared by Fred Archer to have been one of the fastest horses he had ridden), Dutch Oven. Signorina (regarded by some of the veterans of the English turf as the finest mare sired by St Simon), Thebais. Seabreeze, and her dam, St Marguerite, one of' the greatest mares in the stud book. These mares proved themselves equal to winning in any company regardless of sex or class. It is a rare thing now, in either England or Australia, for fillies to run in such races as the Derby or the Si Leger. . , . , Mares occasionally win important handicaps over a distance. For instance. Amalia, Akuna (Sydney Cup). Carry On (Australian Cup), and Sarcherie, the best stayer produced in Australia for many years. One the other hand, it is a long time since Australia bred a filly that would bo confidently backed to win a Derby

or St Leger. As a general rule, owners do not sec any point in running and knocking about a good fill}' in an effort to win a Derby or Leger. The last mare to win the Derby at Epsom was Fifinella in 1916. She also won the Oaks, but Hurry On (not a runner in the Derby) won the St Leger. In the past half-century fillies have not been as prominent in the Leger as in earlier years, but in that period it has been won by Seabreeze. Memoir, La Flcche, Pretty Polly, and Tranquil the last mare to win, in 1923. After Briseis won the Victoria Derby in 1876 a filly did not again win that classic until Lady Wallace scored in 1905. Since then the fillies to win have been Wilari (1911), Carlita (1914), Furious (1921). and Frances Tressady. (1923). A filly has not won the A.J.C. Derby for 41 years. Picture won in 1898 Before that only three fillies had won. Clove in 1865. Florence in 1870. , .and Nellie in 1879. M| The last filly to win the A.J.C. S’. Leger was Lady Valais in 1924. Befoie that the race had been won seven times by fillies. The last filly to win the V.R.C. St Leger was Wilari (in 1912). Like Rockfel, Wilari was entitled to be considered the best of her vear regardless of sex. She was another of the Musket—St Simon cross, her sire being Wallace and. her dam Murna. bv imported Haut Brion. son of St Simon. Wilari had two strains of Musket, her dam being out of the famous Trenton mare. Etra Weenie.

How Fillies and Colts Fare in Classics FEW REALLY GOOD MARES NOW HURDLE RACE ACCIDENTS ARE COMPARATIVELY FEW (BY ••CARBINE.”) The brilliant success of Rockfel in England in 1938 serves to remind that, in competition with colts, fillies have not for some years made such a distinguished showing as they did in some past generations. In 'Australia, fillies have never been very strongly represented in classic races. Some of the best mares—Wakeful and Sarcherie, for instance—did not run in the classics.