PURSER'S EXPLOITS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 18821, 11 July 1923, Page 6

PURSER'S EXPLOITS

LICK OF THE GAME. HOW HE MISSED \ CLT. ■ ' In view of Purser’s recent deed™ and looking at his wer i s n Uni big Spring handicaps, Mi Jt. L.l Jones must surely regard bin sMf as unlucky that he did not laud the Caulfield Cup of 1921 with the -elding (comments a Sydney writer) | It is difficult Io imagine that the horse we have seen win so brilliant I' over 12 and 13 furlongs with ov< • lOst. on his back, could not win t. Caulfield Cup with 7.7. Those wli> saw the race know that Purser w,L indeed unlucky to lose. He start Jn second favourite, and, but i i weight of stable money on Tan i loonia. would have been first favourite. Every man one met on t < course had at least saved on Purs* r, whose form in minor races seen-, <i to give him a wonderful chance. Y-t he was beaten. The damage v. < done when, a mile oi of rom hon I. he was knoc ted back to the tail Jf the field. At t half a length to beat the brilliant Violoncello. Where the actual damage was done ini:. tan, ii which he had 5.5 was not quite so ay parent, but subsequent form is so.n vindication for the judgment of Er e Connolly that Purser, who had been backed to win somewhere abou £75,000, was a “better thing' tha his own Rostrum was for the Epsom Perhaps it. was no more than another illustration of the luck' of racing. A horse generally needs some luck tv win a big race. Anyway, the weights which wore issued yesterday rate Purser as one of the best milers in Australia, and next to David the best of purely Aus tralian stayers. True, handicappers differ to the extent that in the Melbourne Cup Harvest King has >o concede him 31b., whereas in the Caulfield Cup he has to give Harvest King 41b. Maybe a mile and a half is Purser’s limit, but it will surprise no one if Godby is tempted 10 bam; on him in the Melbourne Cup, in which he has 9.2 to carry. Jt is another story whether, hardy geldin-■ though he may be, ho can stand Distrain of winning to-day with Ib.lo. and of being wound up again to do himself justice in a two-mile race in November.