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RUGELEYS CHESTER CUPIb ♦ Son of Rossendale and Roya Under -Light Weight Takes Big Stake. £ Sa • . H Tl Beats Good Field in Soft Going at English ,n Coarse — Some Facts About ■ His Blood Lints. y ■ . a: AU • I • R By K E. COUSSELL. 9 LONDON, England. May 15.— The lightly ci ■weighted four-year-old gelding Rugeley had J a fine chance of winning the historic Chester k Cup in the soft going. This race is one of ■* the richest prizes in England for which a r staver can compete. The distance is two and f A a quarter miles. This year the stake was c worth 3,100. ■ A lot of rain during the night had made y, the going deep, which just suited Rugeley. ■ A Scullion ran third to Condover in the New- a bury Spring Cup. His trainer, Captain Hogg, ■ was sanguine as to his chance of going one Q better in the Chester Cup than Happy Man, J which finished second in 1923 and in 1921. e Scullion started favorite at 4 to 1. He v F could not act on the course, ran wide at the j, turns and eventually finished sixth. Lord Jl Derbys colt, Sierra Leone, and Mr. Cur- s zons Bellman were second favorites at 5 to 1. * Sierra Leone occupied third position in the 5 two and a quarter-mile Great Metropolitan. » Bellman ran third in the Chester Cup last q year, but had not started this season. Be- r fore the race it "was rumored he had hurt P his off hind leg. He was never racing with J a real winning chance, though he did fill third place. s SIERRA LEONE WELL UP. Sierra Leone was all the time among the s leaders and actually headed the field at one S and a half miles. When fairly in the straight y about three furlongs from home, Rugeley j quickly disposed of Lord Derbys colt and, z staying on stoutly, won by three lengths. s A late rush by Miwani carried him into third position, half a dozen lengths behind Sierra L«one. This is the horse which broke down almost on the post in the Cesarewitch last October. Donoghue, who rode Becka, when later discussing the race for the cup, complained the pace was poor. None of the lightweights * fell into the trap of taking a long lead to J * run themselves to a standstill. This re- suited in the poor time of 4:14, which has only once been exceeded since 1902. It com- c pares badly with Rathleas 3 :57 in 1912. Anyway, Rugeley revealed himself a I greatly improved animaL He did not strike i J off too well and twice met with interference J In running. A month ago he was concerned ; j In a desperate finish of short heads in a ■ i race run over two and one-eighth miles at : Newbury. Before the start, Rugeley took : charge of bis jockey and galloped over a , ] mile round the course. He then won the , race from Forseti A- K. Macombers and I 1 Brisl j BEATEN A HEAD BT SAFSOTLTO. Ten days later Lord Derbys classic colt, . Sansovino, had all he could do to beat Ruge- " j ley by a head over one and a half miles at » Birmingham when the Chester Cup winner * | was conceding twenty pounds, which is 3 I weight-for-age terms. The result of the cup , « set people talking of the chance Sansovino bad in the Derby. ! The victory of Rugeley was popular, though his owner was not present. He is. a nephew of the late F. Gretton, who owned 1 | Isonomy, and for whom the late John Porter r | trained Pageant to win the Chester Cup in 1 ; successive years, 1877 and 1878. Ralph More- tton, the trainer of Rugeley, was head lad , 1 to Porter. Rugeley is by Rossendale from Roya, which 0 was four years old when she produced the e Chester Cup winner. He was bred by the e late Lionel Robinson. He sold him as a foal 1 to Moreton in the December sales of 1920 Z " fior ,750. At the same time Lady James s • Douglas paid ,750 for Roya, whose three-year-old - Fomme Royale is a winner this s season. Out of ten starts as a two-year-old Ruge- _ j ley ran second once and third thrice. Last ,f ,l season he ran three times unsuccessfully and d : was returned after Newbury on April 14. *■ Rugeley did not see a race course again for t eleven months. ROTAS HISTORY. Roya is a gray mare by Roi Herode from n Carinya. In the Newmarket December sales s of 1916 she was purchased for Richard T. Wilson. The price was ,009. Carinya is lS by William the Third from Carita, by Galli-nule. i- The last named was a sister to General i- Peace, which won the Lincolnshire and d the Auteuil Grand Hurdle Race. She was s also sister to Oppressor. He won the Irish h Derby. Carita herself won the Astley Stakes, beating - the St. Leger winner Challacombe. Her ;r best son is St. Spasa. After racing success-fully ;- in England he went to Australia, where .„ be won over 0,000. His victories include e the Adelaide Cup, with 126 pounds, and the ie Metropolitan Handicap at Sydney. He also so ran third in the Melbourne Cup, carrying g 127 pounds. Caritas dam. Moira, bred eight winners of 0,000 in stakes. She was by Victor from Lady Jacob the dam of seven n winners, by Uncas, son of Stockwell. Rossendale was a good son of St. Frus-quin "- and Menda, by Gallinule, from Glare, the ie dam cf Lesbia, and Flair, as well as being g the granddam of Prince Palatine. After Sir ir John Thursdays death I purchased Rossendale . at the July sales in 192! for the insig-. ~ nificant price of ,050. I was acting for * my friend J. E. Brien of Kingfield, New w South Wales, who obtained one of the greatest t- stallion bargains I have ever known. Jne e late Henry T. Oxnard had vainly tried on in many occasions to persuade Sir John to name ■ a price fcr Rossendale. Yellow Sea was in in foal to Rossendale when Phil T. Chinn boi:;a t her for ,500 in 1916. The resulting ■ produce was that high-class horse Yellow w Hand. The Villager, which ran second in me e Oesarewitcb of 1922, is a son of Rossendale. e. A large proportion of his offspring appear to Lo be endowed with stamina. J. E. Brien has ,„ transferred Rossendale to his son Cecil Brien. n- in whose stud the horse is now located in ln co.npany with Orbys Pride.
