THE CHAMPION TWO-YEAR-OLD.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1148, 11 April 1912, Page 7

THE CHAMPION TWO-YEAR-OLD.

Ihe double victory this week at Riccarton of the champion Chokebore colt over Ermengarde would appear to entitle him to claim the honour of being the champion two-year-old for the 1911-2 season. The reversal in form of the Highden” filly is somewhat difficult to explain, for on two occasions she scored over Autumnus, at Wanganui and Trentham. On the former occasion Ermengarde won the Jackson Stakes, putting up a New Zealand record for the distance, while Autumnus only got third. Again at Trentham Ermengarde scored a victory by half a dozen lengths over the Treadmill colt in the Wellington Stakes. The records of the two champions, however, still leave a doubt as to which two-year-old is the best this season, because it will be remembered Prince Soult twice scored over Ermengarde at Ellerslie during the Christmas racing carnival, and therefore the youthful protege of the great Soult is not without a claim to the season’s championship. Then there is still another brilliant youngster, who at the tail end of the season has put forth a strong challenge for consideration. The victory of Our King in the Great Northern Champagne Stakes at Ellerslie on Saturday was a strikingly good credential, for he defeated Prince Soult and covered the six furlongs in the fast time of lmin 15sec on a fairly dull track. Of course, Our King has not had anything like the racing the other two-year-olds have been through, but still his time entitles him to vie with the others for the championship. At this late stage of the season there is now no possibility of the four abovenamed youngsters meeting on equal terms to determine which is the actual champion. If time is to settle arguments there can be no question that Ermengarde is entitled to firsthonours with 1.13 to her credit, while Autumnus’ best performance on time was at Riccarton orp Monday, when he covered the six furlongs in lmin 14sec.