 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 1938
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
1938 NEW ZEALAND TROTTING CUP
SMITHS QUICK THINKING PREVENTED HOLOCAUST IN TROTTING CUP
Another New Zealand Cup has come and gone and the latest, having much in common with its immediate predecessor, was one few would encore. It was not a race as we understand the word - just a mad scramble with ability in any department counting for little. Lady Luck was in full charge, and outstanding qualities in both horseflesh and horsemanship were wasted talents which could not be brought into play at any stage of the two mile journey.
Trouble started with the release of the barrier, when Rey Spec, Bonny Azure and Ginger Jack - a third of the limit horses - refused to get into action and caused more ducking and dodging than any debt collector ever did. In ordinary circumstances the field would have settled down quickly, but there could be no settling down here.
With 20 runners, all of which had to be within reasonable distance of the leaders, it was beyond all expectations that there would be any real order. Horses went where circumstances put them, and drivers were puppets. Some were given hopeless positions close, or comparatively close, to the inner rail; others were forced to commit their Cup hopes to the deep by being made the outside edge of the moving mass. Not that it mattered a great deal which was their lot. The programme committee's idea of a suitable limit had effectively removed all prospects of good judgement entering the question.
The few drivers who were placed where they could alter their positions were frightened to advance or retract and all had to stay where they found themselves. For the greater part of the journey they were like an uncomfortably packed collection of sardines waiting for someone to produce a tin opener.
As was only natural, this scrambling and crowded field could not go the full journey without an accident. At a stage when desperate positions called for desperate measures, Fred Smith met trouble which caused the inner wheel of Ironside's sulky to collapse. In "Truth's" opinion the club should present Fred with a gold medal. Had Fred attempted to stop his horse, as instinct must have prompted him to do, there seems little doubt that Addington racegoers would have witnessed one of the worst smashes in the history of the sport.
One of the leading division and third from the rails, Ironside was hemmed in with no chance of escape. The collapse of his wheel came when he could not go ahead, pull out or pull up. Fred took one look behind him - the New Zealand Cup field must have presented a pretty picture to him at that stage - and his course of action was decided for him. With his broken wheel ploughing up the track, Fred did his best to keep Ironside at full speed ahead. With the leaders going at 2.8 gait, full speed was impossible, but he slowed down sufficiently to allow the scrambling field to flow around and past him without disastrous interference to any. Had Ironside stopped suddenly or had he been allowed to take the swerve his broken wheel would natuarally tend to give him, the Addington officials would have had all the material on hand for a first-class nightmare.
It is to be hoped that with this incident came the awakening that the indescriminate preference for quantity of a questionable class over quality of an undeniable class cannot, and never will be, a sound or sane policy. The race from start to finish, could leave little room for debate on this question.
In spite of everything, there had to be a winner, and Morello emerged from this scramble the apple of Lady Luck's eye. And he deserved his victory. He went away well; did his work like a tradesman and when he was asked a question in the final quarter he came away in a manner that left little doubt that he was built of the right stuff to survive the day and the conditions. Always handily placed, he enjoyed no luck, either good or bad, in the running, and it has to be admitted that his finishing run carried the hallmark of class.
At the same time, he was fortunate that the conditions attached to the Cup allowed him, a pacer assessed on 4.27 when nominations closed, and one which had failed to prove his merit in numerous opportunities, to take his place in the field. He had done little to justify his inclusion here, and this is his seventh season of racing, but the result proved his connections had solid grounds for their faith in him when they accepted the Club's invitation to parade. Although there are people who will claim that Morello had no right in the field, the Club stretched its imagination and the conditions to attract horses not regarded as being in town-hall society, and all had an equal right to share in the spoils.
Lucky Jack was definitely unlucky not to have made this his second Cup. Like all the backmarkers, he was made to work overtime to get handy to the leaders, and he was forced to cover a ton of ground. When Ironside got in the wars, Lucky Jack was sent back, and he had to start all over again. He finished gamely, but the cards were stacked against him, and he had to be content with second money.
The Aussie, Logan Derby, acted the gentleman and ran a solid race for some of the minor money, while Ginger Jack came from an impossible position to have his number hoisted in fourth place. With a decent beginning it looked as if the latter must have been the winner. Pot Luck, another to begin slowly was right up, while Parisienne, pushed off the face of the earth all the journey, was next and far from disgraced. King's Play, Plutus, Rocks Ahead, Evicus and King's Warrior all went well to a point.
A break at the straight entrance cost Lawn Derby any chance he held. Up to that stage he had put in some great work from the back of the field and he looked like putting in a claim when he left his feet.
The hard luck stories that followed the Cup would fill columns, and none of them had to be invented. There could be nothing but hard luck for the majority of the runners in such a field.
As a race it was a failure, and as an indication of worth in horseflesh it was a farce.
Credit: NZ TRUTH 16 Nov 1938
YEAR: 1938
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
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| Alf Lawrence owner of Morello & Maurice McTigue |
Australia's two best pacers, Logan Derby and Lawn Derby, were on hand in 1938, but the latter was hardly a chance in a controversial 20-horse field from 60 yards.
The event proved a triumph on debut for Methven's Maurice McTigue, who shot along the rails with the moderately performed Morello, which he trained and drove for Mr A J Lawrence, to beat Lucky Jack and Logan Derby.
But it was the majestic Lawn Derby who stole the show at the meeting when on the last day, he time trialled in 1:59 2/5 to become the first 2:00 horse outside America.
Credit: New Zealand HRWeekly 8Oct03