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BETWEEN RACES 1 By Oscar Otis Shannon H to Campaign in East McCarthy High on AustralianBred Overcoming Aversion to Our Turns Research Proves Pedigree Flawless FlawlessHOLLYWOOD HOLLYWOOD PARK Inglewood Calif June 19 After keeping his engagement in the 100000 Hollywood Gold Cup plus one on the Hollywood Park roster Shannon n the mighty Australian will head for New York seeking new worlds to conquer Owner Neil S McCarthy is anxious and confident against the best New York can offer and it would not be surprising if the in ¬ vader were to take a whirl in the 100000 International Cup at Empire City among other offerings in the Empire State We mention this because there is a growing conviction among clock ers and railbirds here that Shannon II is far more than a good horse They say he is a truly great one a horse head and shoulders above his competition This may sound incongruous when it is remembered that Shannon II has a few defeats sprinkled on his American record but against those defeats he has two smashing victories and a pretty good reason for the times he failed to score The writer is well aware as anyone that excuses do not make a great race horse but insofar as Shannon II is concerned and coupled with his two wins it makes sense In Australia they will fight at the drop of a hint that Shan ¬ non II isnt one of the greats of all time racing Down Under We are willing to accept their word in the light of develop ¬ ments here hereA A A AThere There are three things which Shannon II will have to master in this country to demonstrate his inherent greatness says McCarthy The first is the climatic changes which we believe he is rapidly overcoming The second is his ability to negotiate the turns The third is the re ¬ quirement that he be ridden in this country in at least somewhat similar fashion to the style to which he was accustomed in Aus ¬ tralia In the Argonaut Handicap won by Shannon II by a length and a quarter from Mafosta and On Trust Johnny Adams rode him to perfection He fits the horse to a tee Adams let Shannon II do the running and the thinking merely sit ¬ ting against him early Shannon II knows what he is doing and when given that sort of a ride will give his best Even so during the Argonaut I was a bit worried about the horse on the turns He faltered a bit as if not knowing exactly what to do If Shannon II improves his turn technique and is given the Adams ride he should repeat the effort in Australia which saw him negotiate a mile in 134 Hz Incidental ¬ ly Adams is quite frank in admitting there are some horses for whom he is unfitted to ride But by the same token some horses simply dote on his saddle style and run their hearts out for him himA A A A AIt It might interest you to know that owner McCarthy did one of the greatest bits of research ever attempted in the recogni ¬ tion of Shannon II by The Jockey Club of America The story borders on the fan ¬ tastic You will recall that the registration of Shannon II for breeding purposes was held up by The Jockey Club pending a thorough investigation It was McCarthy who assembled the information proving Shannon II without a flaw His research led him into lengthy correspondence and telephone calls to London and Sydney plus some original delving into 125year old history which has once and for all cleared up certain mysteries which might linger in the public mind It seems that in 1824 a shipment of horses left England for Australia via sailing ship a voyage that took six months During the trip some of the thoroughbreds died and never reached Australia They were thrown overboard overboardMcCarthy McCarthy definitely established the fact that there were two mares named Spae ¬ wife one in the English Stud Book being from Cuttysark by Soothsayer and foaled in 1823 The bar sinister of the offspring of Cuttysark still prevails in the United States to this day although she proved one of the great foundation mares of the Australian turf world The Spaewife in the Shannon n pedigree was a filly foaled in 1814 from Ringtail she by Selim and named in Australia The confusion of names at this late date easily can be overlooked But it did happen Spaewife the ancestor of Shannon n obtained her name from a contraction of a Scotch word meaning occult In any event McCarthy proved to the satisfaction of The Jockey Club and was bolstered by chapter and verse from both the English and Australian Stud Books that there were two Spaewifes and the one in the Shannon n pedigree was quite up in social standing then and now Tomorrow I will give in more detail the tracing of the records Suffice to say for the moment that McCarthy has a high opinion of the integrity of the keepers of both the English and Australian Stud Books The latter in particular is one of the most rigid imaginable McCarthy proved his point with Shannon n from the Stud Books in question while abso ¬ lutely agreeing with the point of view of The Jockey Club of America that perform ¬ ance in no instance could be accepted as a substitute for pedigree Fortunately for the almost unprecedented work of McCarthy in this research Shannon n has both
