| FEATURE RACE COMMENT |
YEAR: 1968
 |
Crumbling one after another before the long reaching stride of Humphrey, the rest of the 1968 NZ Cup field proved completely out of their depth against the short priced favourite from Hinds. My own impression of Tuesday's Funeral March in Be Flat was that the winner, whether the race had been run at it's pitiful 4:16, or 4:06, the result, as far as the winner was concerned, would have been the same. A real champion who can sprint, stay and, above all, begin like a rocket, had all the answers from go to whoa.
The half-mile sprint our first $20,000 Cup was reduced to came as a complete anti-climax to the great expectation that preceeded the race; instead of a re-incarnation of a Gold Bar or a Vesuvius we were treated to the frustrating dawdlings of pacers quite capable of reaching two-minute speed but who, instead, were firmly reefed and riveted to jog the first mile in 2:12.4 and the mile and a half in 3:16.8. This left Humphrey the relatively simple task of a last half-mile in 59.6, which he obviously do 'on his ear' any old time. In fact, if anything could have offered him any sort of competition, he could have knocked spots off two-minute speed on the day. Hubert should have been there to see him go!
Humphrey is raced by W E (Ted) Lowe and his wife, and Ted drove with supreme skill and confidence. The hearts of backers of the favourite must have moved close to their palates when Mister Chips broke with a little less than half a mile covered and caused a hullabaloo, because Humphrey looked to be right in the path of it; but Ted Lowe said after the race that the incident had caused him no concern. There were many well-wishers who viewed with no little anxiety the lack of 'elbow room' Humphrey would have from his short mark of 6 yards. They were soon reassured. Humphrey proved to be actually better off there than he might have been on the limit and, when he got away with such smooth alacrity, even for him, he virtually had victory conceded to him by the snails pace set by Spry, in particular.
Humphrey, a quality seven-year-old bay gelding, built like a greyhound, has now won 18 races and been placed 21 times for $42,665 in stakes. By Morano, a brilliant though temperamental pacer by U Scott from Coquette, Humphrey's sire was a member of the Bonilene (imp.) family, which has been represented by two NZ Cup winners, Lookaway and Adorian, on the distaff side. Dalene, dam of Humphrey, won three races and took a 2:10.6 rating for a mile and five furlongs. She is by the eminently successful American-bred sire Light Brigade, and her dam, Doonholme, also a useful pacer, was a royally-bred mare by Rey De Oro (our leading sire on three occasions) from Raclaim, by Wrack (also our leading sire for several seasons), from Trix Pointer, the great American-bred pacer who won the NZ Cup in 1919, and whose son Wrackler (by Wrack) won it in 1930. That is a brief sketch of the Trix Pointer household and its three NZ Cup winners to date; and, by the way, the 1953 NZ Cup winner Adorian is Humphrey's uncle! Ted Lowe mentioned this during the Cup presentation.
Now on to the Lowe family record in the NZ Cup. The late W T Lowe, father of Ted Lowe, bred and owned Lucky Jack, who won the Cup in 1937 and 1939 and finished second to Morello in 1938; and Ted Lowe also owned Cairnbrae, who was trained and driven to win the 1964 Cup by C S Donald. Ted Lowe paid a warm tribute to "the best vet in the world, Bill Robinson," during his reply to the gold cup presentation in the birdcage. Bill Robinson apparently performed a delicate, highly-professional and skilful operation to remove a stick from Humphrey's rump when he was a young horse. Ted Lowe at one stage thought Humphrey "would never race again," but Mr Robinson saved the day - and the future - for Humphrey. A special mention, too, for Mrs W T Lowe, Ted's mother, who has now seen, from the foal stage right through to headquarters fame, generation after generation of the family founded by Tairene, a chestnut mare bred by her late husband and foaled in 1912, by the dual NZ Cup winner Wildwood Junior fron Jessie B., by Smith O'Brien from the legendary Prickwillow mare. Atanui is one of this tribe.
The field had an initial upset through Governor Frost's rearing up and falling when the field was practically ready to leave. This caused a few minutes delay, and when the trigger was eventually pulled, Jacobite, Mister Chips, Happy Ending and Cuddle Doon broke, while Allakasam shuffled off the mark and Cardinal Garrison was slow to move. Atanui was the early leader from Loyal Knight, Chief Command, Miles Gentry, Spry and Governor Frost, with Mister Chips improving, then Co Pilot, Jacobite, Chequer Board and Humphrey. Spry hit the front at the end of five furlongs, and with a mile covered he was followed by Chief Command, Atanui and Governor Frost. Humphrey was tenth at this point, and he had run up close to Spry with half a mile to go. The horse who might have made a race of it for Humphrey from then on was Chief Command, but he got pushed back at a crucial stage, and the race was well sewn up by the time he secured an opening to brush home briskly in fourth place. Cardinal Garrison also looked a shade unlucky. After his slow beginning he made up his lost ground promptly, only to have a ragged spell probably because of the lack of pace. His run from the half-mile, where he had to go three wide to get within a length and a quarter of the winner, presented him as a four-year-old of real class, and his big day will assuredly come.
But it was Humphrey, more Humphrey, and nothing but Humphrey once he flew past Spry. Co Pilot did surprisingly well to come in two lengths and a half from the second horse, and following the fourth horse, Chief Command were Chequer Board, Miles Gentry, Atanui, Spry, Governor Frost, Loyal Knight, Allakasam, Great Adios, Happy Ending and Cuddle Doon in that order.
Credit: 'Ribbonwood' writing in NZ Trotting Calendar