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AMMON RA NAMED FOR HAWTHORNE GOLD CUP HAY MEET EQUIPOISE ♦ Owner C. C. Sheath Accepts Chicago Tracks Invitation. ♦ Australian Star Coming to Chicago for West Side Tracks Feature Contest in August. Australia is sending another representative to Chicago this summer to participate in the Worlds Fair events, in the shape of its greatest race horse since the death of Phar Lap. Ammon. Ra will be the distinguished visitor and his chief objective is the Hawthorne Gold Cup to be run in August. Some weeks ago, Joseph A. Murphy, general manager of the Hawthorne track, wrote to C. C. Sheath, of Sydney, N. S. W., owner of Ammon Ra, inviting him to ship the Australian champion to Chicago to meet Equipoise and the best America could muster in the Gold Cup, a race at weight for age, in which there are no weight concessions. In a cablegram received during the past week, Mr. Sheath accepted the invitation and stated that if the horse stood professional inspection and his May trials were satisfactory, it would be shipped the twenty-first of June to Monterey and after a rest, sent to Hawthorne for Its final preparation. Discriminating critics talk about the great trio of thoroughbreds bred in New Zealand — Carbine, Phar Lap and Ammon Ra — and Americans are led to believe with reason that Ammon Ra is fully entitled to the characterization — miracle horse. FREAK NEW ZEALANDER. The coming of the "freak New Zealander," as Ammon Ra is called at times on account of his "pigeon toed" front feet, will undoubtedly be hailed as an epoch making chapter in the story of international struggles on the turf. Ammon Ras shipment will be sufficiently early to allow him to become acclimated prior to being saddled for the Hawthorne Gold Cup, before the immense throng bound to turn out for the race. Ammon Ra is of a type far above the average of thoroughbreds, as in his twenty-one starts as a two-year-old and three-year-old, he was first in fifteen, second in three, third in one and fourth in the remaining two events. He has taken part in races up to one mile and a half and judging from his record all distances are the same to him and, as for weight, 118 pounds or more appears to be handled with consummate ease. The colt was four years old on August 1 of last year and as a four-year-old went on from victory to victory, showing he is of the same durable calibre as Phar Lap. To get a notion of the prowess of Ammon Ra, without any derogation to Phar Lap, it may be noted the younger horse defeated Night March twice. It was Night March that took . the measure of Phar Lap in the first Melbourne Cup, in which Phar Lap faced the barrier. The following year Phar Lap won the race. NOTED AS TRAVELER. Ammon Ra stands traveling like a veteran and appears to be of the kind that a six thousand mile ocean voyage will not upset. He has been shipped a number of times from New Zealand to Sydney, New South Wales, a distance of 1,300 miles and on one occasion had to travel six hundred miles in order to fulfill an engagement a day later, winning the contest. That Ammon Ra has overcome the handicap of turned in front feet and gone on to fame, has only endeared him the more to the fans in the southern hemisphere. One well known turf scribe says: "It is true Ammon Ra has "pigeon-toed" front feet, but that makes his performances those of a super-horse. Ocular inspection demonstrates the fact that he is a bit bandy in front. Bandiness, however, is no bar to greatness. Pigeon-toed men are exceptionally /Continued on twenty-third page. AMMON RA NAMED FOR HAWTHORNE GOLD CUP Continued from first page. fast over a hundred yard sprint, and bandylegged men are notoriously strong." Ammon Ra is sixteen hands, one inch, a of the place where Carbine, son of Musket and one of the worlds great throughbreds, was born. After winning a race for all ages when he was two years old, the breeder of Ammon Ra sold the colt to his present owner for 4,750 pounds, a record price in New Zealand for a two-year-old. Not many months later, as a three-year-old, Ammon Ra won the Australian Jockey Club Derby at Rand-wick, Sydney, 7,000 pounds to the winner, the richest race of his two- and three-year-old career. Stakes won as a two- and three-year-old amounted to 25,654 pounds. Ammon Ra is sixteen hands, one inch, a bay, with a small white star. He is by Limond. from Hyades and of the Bruce Lowe family, number thirteen, that group of thoroughbreds made famous by Orlando, a name familiar to Americans as its bearer was the great-great-grandsire of Domino, through Eclipse, Alarm and Himyar. Lord George Cavendish Bentwicks Elis also belonged to "number thirteen." Ammon Ra has the St. Simon disposition, it is said, being highly strung and full of fire and when he steps on a race track gives the fans many a thrill by his caperings. In his sixteen races in Australia, as a two-and three-year-old, Ammon Ra started favorite in all, irrespective of prior defeats. Unlike Phar Lap, he is a fast breaker and quick beginner. Up to one mile and a quarter New Zealanders and Australians are unanimous in the opinion that the antipodes has never had a more brilliant galloper. When the colt was offered for sale as a yearling there was not one bid by reason of his turned in toes. For the season ending in July, 1932, Ammon Ra won nearly seventeen thousand pounds, the largest amount of any horse in New Zealand and Australia. The record of his performance as a two-year-old and three-year-old follows: Two year-old — Started seven times for five firsts, one second, one third. Three-year-old — Started fourteen times for ten firsts, two seconds, two fourths. Grand total — Ran in twenty-one races for fifteen firsts, three seconds, one third, two fourths. I
