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GROOMSPORTS WATERLOO Buglands Champion Hurdler Is Defeated After Eight Wins First Appearance in a Handicap at Chelten ¬ ham Ilrinps Defeat for Son of Soul onqne His Komantic History SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE CORRESPONDENCELONDON LONDON England March 9 There is al ¬ ways a tinge of regret about the first defeat of a horse which hail hitherto proved in ¬ vincible The champion young hurdler of the season is Groomsport which had won eight lurdle races in succession since he com ¬ menced at Liverpool in the Abbeystead three yearold hurdle of 1250 in November when ic scored easily by three lengths lengthsTherefore Therefore great interest was taken in Uroomsports first appearance in a handicap This was the valuable County Hurdle Handi ¬ cap of 5000 over a stiff and waterlogged course at Cheltenham March 7 He was of course heavily burdened with 166 pounds and set to concede lots of weight to all the lorses Notwithstanding there was no hesi ¬ tation on the part of his backers who made him a 1 to 2 favorite favoriteAt At the final turn Groomsport which was running fourth commenced a stern pursuit of the leaders The outside position possibly cost him a length or so but it was beyond his power to recover his ground A thor ¬ oughly beaten horse he fell at the last hurdle and another horse on top of him himcuooaisroiiT cuooaisroiiT XOT DISGRACED DISGRACEDUnder Under the circumstances Groomsport was not disgraced Apart from his big weight the extremely heavy going penalized him and the strong pace set by the other horses finished him At the last hurdle he hardly rose and after his fall was absolutely pumped out for a few minutes minutesGroomsport Groomsport is a fouryearold colt by Soulouque After he had been successful in six races his owner was asked to put a price on the colt he quoted 40000 A few days later at Lingfield he met Gasper which is a wellnamed son of Cigar and Doubtful At that time the latter could have been bought for about 5000 5000At At Lingfield odds of 10 to 11 were laid on Gasper and evens against Groomsport They met at level weights and the latter won easily by five lengths There was there ¬ fore no question of his superiority He was generally regarded as one of the best young hurdlers seen for several seasons that he is as good as Trespasser I rather doubt doubtSOULOUQCE SOULOUQCE A JIHOTIIEU TO 1lIT SOW Soulouque is a big handsome black brother to Neil Gow The latter a chestnut won the Two Thousand Guineas and deadheated with Lemberg in the Eclipse Stakes He sprang a curb which stopped him in the Derby All the same he won nearly 90000 in stakes stakesSoulouque Soulouque however was no use as a race horse At the Newmarket December sales in 1917 I tried to buy Soulouque for an Australian friend as his half brother Tra quair was a most successful stallion in the New South Wales My limit was 1500 1500and and I bid it an opponent advanced another 50 In the hope of stopping him I went to 1COO My opponent bid 1650 and Soul ¬ ouque was knocked down to Michael Turley who took him to Ireland IrelandThe The same year Turley had bought for 250 the brood mare ICirka She had a filly foal by Neil Gow and was in foal to Torloisk The Neil Gow filly found her way to the United States where known as Liberty Girl she won several races VAS CIIEAl AS YEARLING YEARLINGIn In his first season at the stud Soulouque was bred with Kirka and Groomsport was the result Turley did not make a fortune out of the produce for he sold him as a yearling at Dublin for 850 to Mr Barnett in whose name the horse has won all his races racesGroomsport Groomsport beat a big field in a 1000 race over one mile at The Curragh as a twoyearold and he also won a handicap over the same distance at The Curragh in May last year Coulthwaite his trainer states he is an extraordinary horse in that he fairly skims his jumps taking them almost as has walks Of course had I purchased Soulouque for Australia there would have been no Groomsport GroomsportHis His dam Kirka has produced several small winners her granddam is La Roche which won the Oaks Kirka it is worth mcntion ing is the only mare in the English Stud Book sired by Mark Forard In 1898 he won the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster beating Desmond and an Dales winner in Musa He accomplished little afterward The son of Right Away had no chance with thoroughbred mares and eventually became the chief stallion at the leading Polo Pony Stud farm in England Mark Forard won many prizes in the show ring The race at Cheltenham in which Grooms port fell was won by a useful horse named Assaroe a gelding by Battle Axe which cost 125 as a yearling at the Dublin show
