It is a light-harness adage that a champion can handle any type of track: Lordship not only handled the wet going in Tuesday’s New Zealand Cup better than any of the field – most of them twice his age – but he also completely slammed the opposition and became the second four-year-old to win the premier event; the other was Lookaway. Lordship is a nonpareil, perhaps the greatest pacer in the world today, and both as a racehorse and a potential sire he could be worth a fabulous price when it is considered that standardbred stallions out of the top draw in America have already changed hands for half a million and more. Lordship is almost certain to go to America, and what a gem of the Globe Derby male line he will be expected to make, both in competition and as a progenitor.
Lordship raced smoothly and confidently throughout in the Cup. He was kept in a handy position at all stages, and he had the race won with a little more than a furlong to go. At that point he had his only serious rival, Falsehood, safely covered, and he was drawing away, three lengths clear, as the post was passed. Young Denis Nyhan handled Lordship as well as any ‘old hand’ could have driven him. He had everything struggling to keep within coo-ee once when he asked Lordship to get down to serious business at the home turn, at which stage he still had four horses in front of him – Diamond Hanover, King Hal, Falsehood and Blue Prince. But Lordship was pacing in the ratio of about two to one to anything else by then.
This was a pointless victory, one of the greatest Cup performances ever, because it was an excellent field that Lordship actually outclassed. Mere speculation, of course, but it is interesting to think what the time could have been if the track had been dry. Lordship paced his last mile in 2:09, the first half in 63, a section of the race that was a real sizzler under the conditions. Lordship’s share of the stake, £4550 and the £100 trophy, brings his total winnings to £15,695. He has started 31 times for 15 wins and 12 minor placings.
The weight of the Auckland money was responsible for making Cardigan Bay the win favourite. Cardigan Bay’s totals were £3071 10s on-course (win and place) and £10,621 10s off-course. Lordship, surprisingly, was allowed to pay double figures for a win. He carried £2023 10s for a win (on and off-course combined), and £2337 for a place. The Falsehood-King Hal bracket was entrusted with £5362 for a win, and £7345 for a place. The total investments on the race were £61,004 10s, a big increase on the £49,562 10s handled last year. The on-course total this year was £24,828 10s, compared with £21,328 last year. The off-course investments soared to £36,176, as against £28,234 10s last year.
Grouse broke badly at the start, and Sun Chief, Scottish Light and Falsehood were slow to get underway. Diamond Hanover took over his customary pacemaking role and led early fom Smokeaway, King Hal, Blue Prince and Samantha, with Lordship next, on the outer, one out from the rails. Cardigan Bay made some headway in the first quarter, but he did not keep it up, and he was near the rear at the mile, where King Hal had run up to second and Lordship was still travelling like a hare, sixth. Lordship improved one position at the half-mile, where Falsehood was in full cry on the outer, and by the time the leader, still Diamond Hanover, reached the two furlongs, Falsehood was gathering him in with every stride. By now Lordship was looming up wide out.
No sooner had Falsehood taken charge on straightening up than Lordship zoomed past him with about as much effort as a mason would display in laying a brick. It was all over. Daylight was second, Falsehood next, and Blue Prince three-quarters of a length away third. Sun Chief was fourth, followed by Cardigan Bay, leading in a string of exhausted horses – Diamond Hanover, Samantha, Smokeaway, King Hal, Lady Belmer, Scottish Light, Invicta and Susan Blue in that order. Grouse had been eased up.
Lordship is a ‘pocket dreadnought’. Even now he is barely 15 hands. Trainers knowingly call it heart. Sporting writers traditionally call it class. Whatever it is, it is the indefinable ingredient that is the hallmark of the ‘small parcel’ tribe of world beaters that also includes Adios Butler, and Lordship’s sire, Johnny Globe, who was also under 15 hands when registered as a two-year-old. Logan Derby, sire of Johnny Globe, was also a little fellow, “with the endurance of a camel,” according to those who knew him best.
Tuesday was a great day for the Nyhans: Mr and Mrs Don Nyhan and their son Denis between them staged the whole show – Mrs Nyhan bred and owns Lordship, Don Nyhan trains him, and Denis drove him, and Don, of course, owns Johnny Globe, whom he brought as a yearling for £50 and won 34 races and £42,887 10s in stakes with him. He also trained and drove him the day he won the NZ Cup in 4:07.6, which has already stood as a world’s record for eight years. Johnny Globe’s fleet son is the only horse in sight likely to better it.
Roydon Lodge can take justifiable pride in the deeds of Lordship, because the late Sir John McKenzie imported Slapfast, the granddam of Johnny Globe, while Ladyship, the dam of Lordship, is by U Scott. Sir John also brought from Australia, back in 1923, the pacing mare Lightnin’, a high-class racehorse herself who established the family which has already produced, besides Lordship, an earlier champion in Emulous. Lightnin’ was by Siam from an Honest Harry mare and, according to Edgar Tatlow, in the early days of Australian breeding – “every other winner was out of an Honest Harry mare.” To round off Tuesday’s special interest in this pedegree: Ladyship (who took a record of 4:23.4 for two miles) was by U Scott from Lightning Lady (a top class pacer herself and a full sister to Emulous) by Jack Potts from Light Wings, by Peter Chenault (another of Sir John McKenzie’s importations) from Lightnin’.
The weather played a big part in Lordship’s winning run, for when the rain which fell heavily before and during the first race came, D G Nyhan had made up his mind to scratch the horse. The time for scratching horses for the first leg, however, had expired, and if Nyhan had carried out his intention he would have been fined. It was then decided, rather than risk official disapproval, to start the four-year-old, with the happy result of him winning.
So concludes the chain of events culminating in a neat pacing phenomenon, neatly driven by the son of a lady owner whose neat speech following the Cup presentation was warmly acclaimed by a dampened but by no means dispirited crowd of 18,500.
Credit: ‘Ribbonwood’ writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 7Nov62
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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