FOR AVONDALE CUP

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 211, 6 September 1945, Page 8

FOR AVONDALE CUP

PROSPECTS FOR SATURDAY (Special) Auckland, Sept. 4. Early favourites for next Saturday’s Avondale Cup are Chung Chong and La Fillette, with the Jellicoe Handicap winner Hippodrome also in demand. All three can handle heavy ground, and the prospects are that the course will be at least on the soft side. It is a very big field and horses able to get a position early will have an advantage. Their winter activities should bring. Nawab, Regal March, and Theophilus into the market, for the Avondale Flying Handicap, for they are in excellent order. Other possibilities at this stage appear to be Tiger Tan and Black Beret; the latter revealed good form in the Members’ Handicap on the final day at Trentham in July. Peter Gregor, winner of Ihe event, failed at the Pakuranga meeting. A horse remarkably well placed in the Avondale sprint ts Sweet Biscuit, one of the best in this class in the northern district. She has a fin? record in big sprints, having won the Auckland Railway Handicap in the 1943-44 term. Last Boxing Day she ran Neenah to a head in the same event, and was third in the sprint on the third day. With a race into her it would not be surprising to find Sweet Biscuit winning a couple on end. and she may be a first-class proposition for the speculators to have on side.

The manner in which Yorkish has been galloping at Takanini since he had his race at lhe Pakuranga Hunt gathering suggests that he is all the better for that run, and he is expected to play a prominent part in the seven furlongs Henderson Handicap at. Ellerslie on Saturday. Some trouble has been experienced in keeping this big fellow going, but there is no doubt about his pace, so it is anticipated that if he goes on the right way he will yef have time to develop into a handicap performer. Hurdles Prospects. It is almost certain that Shepherd’s Mate will be a firm favourite for the Kingsland Hurdles at Ellerslie on Saturday, for after finishing third at the Great Northern meeting he went on to win at Trentham, his form on that occasion being very impressive. The opposition is not by any means first class and the Trentham winner should add to his laurels. A notable defection from this race was Ballyneety, who is apparently being kept for something better over a longer journey. Aero King went so well when ’ refeated Ballyneety at the Pak”» meeting that he is sure to find backing against Shepherd’s Mate on Saturday, and he is expected to go a fine race, for he is in receipt of half a stone from the latter. Trainer R. H. Martin also has Winning Tray engaged, and it is probable that he may enter calculations also, for he is speedy. He disappointed on his recent journey to Awapuni and Hastings, but that is not to say that he has no chance here, for he has had racing to bring him along.