England: Keen Competition Seen at Newmarket; Chatsworth and by Thunder to Meet, Daily Racing Form, 1955-06-25

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, England Keen Competition Seen at Newmarket; Chatsworth and By Thunder to Meet ; By CLIVE GRAHAM ; 7 London Correspondent, Daily Racing Fon LONDON, England. The postponement of the Royal Ascot meeting from last week to July 12-15 will give a somewhat "unreal" quality to the coming first July meeting at Newmarket. Normally, horses running here have already been seen in action on Ascot Heath, and the racing has taken on the nature of consolation prize- giving to the Ascot losers. We shall see instead a more diverting and competitive program. One of the main attractions will be the Princess of Wales Stakes founded in 1894, a weight-forage contest at one and one-half miles. Two intended runners; are Chatsworth and By Thunder. The five- year -old Chatsworth recently created a good impression by winning the Manchester Cup under the handicap weight of 136 pounds. He is now one of the half dozen of our best middle distance horses, and his trainer, Humphrey Cottrill, expects him to gain further kudos. A victory here against By Thunder, who may lack the necessary speed, will leave his owner, Major Holliday, with a variety of races to choose from in the fall. He is fortunate in also having the year younger, Narrator, winner of the Coronation Cup and March Stakes. The Nearco colt is being aimed for the Eclipse Stakes at San-down on July 10, and the big Ascot prize a week later. Chatsworth will therefore be able to escape the physical strain imposed by these two rich events and will be fresh for an autumn campaign. At this stage, he appears likely to prove one of our top contenders for the Washington, D. C, International in November. He has already proved his ability to race on a turning track, as evidenced by his victory last year in the Kempton Park Jubilee Handicap. AAA The Saturday fixture originally planned for Ascot was transferred to Newbury, partly because of the railwaymens strike, and also owing to the enormous expense involved in opening Ascot for one day. There was only one train run to the Newbury racecourse station on Saturday, and the bulk of racegoers came by car and motor bus. The resulting confusion on the roads at the approaches to Newbury was chaotic. One had to admire the resourcefulness of Charlie Smirke in his racing Jaguar. Charlie forfeited his driving license some years ago, and his car is now steered by a chauffeur imbued with much of his masters spirit. The Jaguar, with fine disregard for the British-style of road conduct, was driven American-fashion past the endless head-to-tail traffic block. Eventually a traffic cop arrested its progress, two miles from the track, and Charlie had to dismount and sprint on foot the remainder of the way,, to weigh out for Minstrels Gallery in the first race. He arrived at the scales in the nick of time, and went out to set a new five-furlong track record of .59 on the three-year-old daughter of Tudor Minstrel. Five other jockeys were caught in the traffic, and did not arrive until after the first two races had been run. A A A Empire Way, by Honeyway, emphasized his claims to being the best two-year-old seen this season, when winning the Fen-wolf Stakes of six furlongs. The chestnut colt beat Aidos by two lengths, with Mrs. Elizabeth Grahams newcomer, Mamounia, a fast-finishing third. Mamounia is the filly by Chanteur II. Minaret, who fetched the equivalent of 0,000 at the Dewar dispersal last December. She has not grown perceptibly, but may bear out the theory that all Chanteur II.s best fillies are inclined to appear under-developed. The winner is also of the small and wiry type, and will probably fail to maintain his status to the end of the seasonThe other two-year-old winner, Gilles de Retz, seems a different proposition. He is a hefty son of Royal Charger from the French-bred mare Ma Soeur Anne, who raced with success in England. Gilles de Retz will take high rank, and may be the best colt of his year. Owing to the doubts, engendered by the strike, none of the entrants from France and Ireland contested the Churchill Stakes, which was won by the temperamental Prefect, a five-year-old son of Preciptic. AAA Although there will be" no English participants, there will be plenty of visitors from this side of the Channel in Paris Sunday to see Phil Drake contest the Grand Prix. His amazing finish in the Epsom Derby is still a matter for much argument especially in the light of tithe result of Wednesdays Irish Derby. Phil Drake has been made first choice at 4-to-l for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, with Acropolis next at 7-to-l. Acropolis has had plenty of normal exercise since running in the Derby, where he may have been handicapped by casting one of his shoes at the mile post. Alycidon, full brother to Acropolis, is maintaining his position at the head of the list of winning sires . . . Lord Derbys stallion has not made his mark so far this season with any two-year-olds, but most of his progeny are being reserved for Ascot and Goodwood . . . An unofficial handicapper rates the seasons crop in this order: Empire Way, Prince of Greine by Arctic Prince, Mos-terton by Mossborough , Gilles de Retz, Idle Rocks by Rockefella, Palariva by Palestine, Rose of Sharon also by Palestine and Turresia bred in Italy by Paper Weight. The last three are fillies. It can be seen that Palestine is the only sire to figure twice.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1950s/drf1955062501/drf1955062501_9_2
Local Identifier: drf1955062501_9_2
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800