The Southpaw, The Diva & The Diggers by Peter Fenton

Author:Peter Fenton
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781925367539
Publisher: Brolga Publishing
Published: 2017-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

THE MAJOR HANDICAPS

Flight, now a four-year-old, was due to return to racing on September 2, 1944, in the Group 2 Warwick Stakes. She had been installed as favourite for the one mile Epsom Handicap as soon as weights were announced. This was only to be expected after her marvelous performance in the Doncaster as a three-year-old. The seven furlongs WFA event attracted a good field which included Tribal, Peter Riddle’s excellent handicapper Modulation, who was being prepared for the Epsom, Kingsdale, a Doncaster Handicap winner and Katanga who had won four times at WFA in his previous campaign including his victory over Flight in the All Aged Stakes. Flight’s army of fans saw the race as a chance for her to avenge that defeat. Though Katanga had the benefit of a run under his belt and Tribal was a last start winner, punters and bookmakers alike were keen on Flight’s chances. This was despite the fact that experts were wary of mares resuming in the early spring and that she looked big and burly.

A slashing 6 furlongs trial win at Ascot, in which she carried Arthur Watts and left good gallopers far behind, showed she was primed for a first up victory. Though she was the popular pick with most critics the Sportsman was very taken with Tribal’s form and selected him to win. The track was in good order and Flight was always a warm favourite on the totalisator and in the betting ring, firming to 6/4 with Katanga and Tribal easing slightly to start at 4/1 and 5/1 respectively.

The mare went straight to the front and led clearly from Tribal with Munro on Katanga not far away in third place. Flight beat off Tribal in the straight but Katanga loomed as the immediate danger. Munro, as ever, had timed his run perfectly. The big stallion caught Flight at the Leger but could not get past her. As she fought back with her customary courage, Katanga, frustrated that he could not overtake her, turned his head and attempted to savage her. She ignored him, striving desperately to hold the lead. Flight had limited galloping room on the rails and as Munro pulled Katanga off the mare Thompson asked her for one last effort. Dwarfed by her rival, she again took a narrow lead and refused to surrender, pulling out every ounce of energy to win by half a head with two and a half lengths to Tribal in third place. Her supporters were thrilled. The champion was back. Her prize money for the race was almost 800 pounds. On the same day a very handsome and promising chestnut colt named Shannon, trained at Randwick by Peter Riddle, won the Hobartville Stakes.

Flights victory ushered in a series of clashes with Katanga which was to cause tremendous interest and about which much was to be written. Over three seasons they were to clash eight times, always at weight-for-age. Katanga was something of an old marvel. His best form did not emerge until he was seven when most stallions have retired to perform more pleasurable tasks.

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