FOR WELLINGTON CUP

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 7, 9 January 1946, Page 6

FOR WELLINGTON CUP

HANDICAPS DISCUSSED Five years ago, in January, 1940, Kindergarten carried 8.6 and won the Wellington Cup, with Belle Cam? (7.10 i and Serenata (7.9) in the minor placings three lengths away. Kindergarten was then a three-year-old, as was also Belle Cane, and Serenata, who had won the New Zealand Cup the previous November, was a year older. For the 1946 Wellington Cup Kindergarten s owner provided a problem, for not only did he nominate the New Zealand Cup winner Golden Souvenir, but he also entered the old champion, who has not sported silk since he won the James Hazlett Gold Cup at the Dunedin meeting twelve months ago.

The Weli.ngton Racing Club had included in the Cup conditions a clause to the effect that the maximum weight should be 9.9. Kindergarten in any handicap race would be entitled, on his record, to pride of place in the weights, so it was a foregone conclusion that the handicapper would have to assess all other entrants in relation to the Kincardine horse. When Kindergarten won the Cup it was run over a mile and a-half, but since then the distance has been increased to two m.les. He was given 10.9 to carry in the 1944 Wellington Cup. 141 b. more than Lord Chancellor and 431 b. more than Don Quex, the ultimate winner, who had 7.8. Installed a hot favourite, Kindergarten never Haltered his supporters and eventually finished a long way behind the placed .horses. Prior to that failure he had been three times successful in weight-for-age company during the 1943-44 season. In t tie current season he has not raced and reports have it that he has done nothing on the tracks that could be regarded as a Cup preparation. Champion that he is, Kindergarten can be counted out of Cup calculations, as may be indicated when acceptances are* taken to-morrow.

It is Kindergarten’s younger halfbrother, Golden Souvenir, who will have to be carefully considered. He has been given 9.1, an impost he has earned through his consistent form this season. He won the J. F. Buchanan Memorial at the Banks Peninsula meeting with 8.6, scored comfortably in the New Zealand Cup with 8.2, and after winning the Churchill Gold Cup, beating Master Robin and AlSirat at weight-for-age, he went under by half a head to Miss Medley in the Canterbury Cup. He was rather unlucky with 8.10 in the Auckland Cup, being beaten only half a neck through his run being delayed, but on the final day of the Ellerslie meeting he won the Clifford Plate at weight-for-age. No horse will strip in better condition for the two-mile test at Trentham than Golden Souvenir, and it would not be surprising to find him favourite on the totalisator.

Longsword carried 9.6 in the New Zealand Cup and finished fifth, and beat all but Caithness in the Metropolitan at Riccarton, conceding her 291 b. He led the Auckland Cup field at the final furlong with 9.2 and eventually finished fourth, so at 8.13 in the Wellington Cup he must be respected. He is a proved stayer but has been rather unlucky in some of the major handicaps. .

There is a drop of 71b. to Financial, who comes next in the list of weights at 8.6. This is less than he would have got had not Kindergarten's 9.9 tied the handicapper’s hands. The Manawatu Cup has generally proved a reliable guide to the big race a; Trentham. Financial won at Awapuni with 7.10 on Boxing Day, and the following day carried 8.9 when he won the Louisson Memorial. Raised to 9.5 in the Wairarapa Cup on New Year's Day, Financial again won like a proved stayer. At the finish of all three races he was travelling as if a distnce would have been no trouble to him. The Inflation horse is certainly in an ideal position in the weights to prove a trough opponent, especially when his latest triumphs ar e viewed. AUCKLAND CUP WINNER Expanse and Irish Note are on the same mark at 8.4, but as Irish Note is also in the Telegraph Handicap he can be regarded as a sprinter for the present. Expanse won the Auckland Cup with 7.8 and was fourth in the Auckland Racing Club Handicap with 8.6, being one of those glimpsed by the judge in a blanket finish. The last northern winner of the Wellington Cup was Royal Artist, who scored in 1933, so Expanse will have to break a long-standing hoodoo if he is carry off the honours next Saturday week. Three years ago Royal Lancer carried 9.3 and ran second to another South Islander in The Joker. On this occasion he has 8.1, the same weight as Piccolo, a winner at Trentham last spring. Glenfalloch is on the same mark, but his stock has slumped considerably of late.

Langue d'Or at 8.0 will appeal on this season s form, for he was third to Golden Souvenir and Chung Chong in the New Zealand Cup, and he won the Aidworth Stakes at Marton with 8.11, though it was not a strong field. It is aga.nst Langue d'Or, however, that he has not yet actually proved himself to be a dyed-in-the-wool stayer. Alethea, who was fifth in Don Qu ex’s Cup two years ago, has 7.13, and on her most recent displays, including her win in the Freyberg Handicap, at Awapuni. beating Typhoon, she should have more successes ahead of her.

Further down the list are Miss Medley and Western Front, two South Island horses that have already made reputations that justify their inclusion in discussions. Both are on the 7.2 mark, and so close to the “tail" that nothing on the minimum could be fancied against them. Half a dozen likely ones appear to he Golden Souvenir, Financial, Expanse, Langue d’Or, Miss Medley ana Western Front, but the acceptances to-morrow may dear the air somewhat.