 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 1951
INTERDOMINIONS
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Soangetaha showed himself to be among the top flight of pacers in New Zealand by his convincing defeat of Vedette in the second heat of the Second Qualifying Race of the Inter-Dominion Pacing Championships.
It was a brilliant win. At the entrance to the straight, Soangetaha appeared to be dangerously hemmed in but he managed to get clear in the run home. At this stage Vedette was three lengths in front but Soangetaha responded bravely to a hard drive by D G Jones to finish powerfully and take a head decision. He paced his final four furlongs in a fraction over 60 seconds. In the final of the Pacing Championship, Soangetaha was unlucky to be beaten by Vedette. He has already been hailed as the next New Zealand pacing star.
Bred at Akaroa by J X Ferguson, Soangetaha was purchased as a yearling by the late Mr A G Ryland, of Auckland for 410 guineas. He was placed in Mr J Gee's Mangere stables, from where he had three starts as a two-year-old. At his first appearance he finished third to Gay Heritage and Our Ida in a division of the Great Northern Trotting Stakes. He is now raced by Mrs M A Ryland, and trained by W J Coates, Templeton.
A grand type of colt, the four-year-old Soangetaha has been sparingly raced. Out of 22 starts, he has had six wins and ten placings, for a total of £4485 in stakes.
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Without in any way detracting from the full merit of the sterling performance of Vedette, great praise must be showered on the brave efforts of Soangetaha, who, in accordance with regular handicaps, was giving away a tremendous amount of time. The two miles assessment of Soangetaha when the carnival was opened was 4.34, whereas Vedette had reached the tight mark of 4.20. over each distance of the championship races, Vedette was only conceding his younger rival 12 yards start, and it stands to his credit that Soangetaha beat the ultimate champion in the second qualifying heat.
Soangetaha also succeeded in his mile and a half heat, defeating On Approval decisively in 3.13 1/5. D G Jones, who drove the youthful pacer with excellent judgement, and W J Coates, the trainer who put a good polish on the four-year-old, wisely decided not to race Soangetaha in the two miles on the third day and he came up fresh for the final.
He ran true to label, and at one stage, while Vedette was seeking an opening, it really looked as if Mrs Ryland's brown horse would succeed. Soangetaha was unable to hold off the brilliant final dash of Vedette when he got clear, but the Auckland owned pacer was gallant in defeat and made a four-year-old record of 3.23 4/5.
Credit: NZ Hoof Beats Vol 2 No.4