ROLLING BACK THE YEARS: Peleid - Cock of the North; FROM THE SPORTING LIFE, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1973 by George Ennor.
Byline: George EnnorPELEID'S convincing and fully deserved success in the St Leger at Doncaster on Saturday was one of the best results that could have happened to racing.
It was an exciting race, won fairly and squarely, and showed again that massive financial involvement is not a necessity for Classic victory. Most important of all, Peleid's win was a great boost for northern racing.
There has been a tendency of late to dismiss almost any Flat horse trained north of the Trent as out of the top class.
Waterloo demolished that idea last year, but memories are often short and this new triumph has to be welcomed all round.
The St Leger result may not make Peleid a top-class three year-old, but it
re-establishes that the North can produce winners of the year's most important races. The St Leger must remain in that category.
Before dismissing it as an anachronism, bear in mind that with ordinary luck the Derby winner Morston would have been in the field.
The promise of a later closing date will prevent such as Mysterious and her equivalents missing the race involuntarily.
Peleid gave the Yorkshire crowd their first Leger win since Cantelo in 1959 and he won for the best of reasons - at the vital stage of the race he ran faster than his opponents.
This was a notable triumph for his trainer, Bill Elsey, whose father saddled Cantelo. Bill has kept Peleid in action since Grand National day, steadily improving his form and stamina.
Progressed
At Aintree, Peleid won a mile handicap under a modest 8st 4lb, but he has progressed in all his races since and now reached this splendid climax to his season.
Frankie Durr, who won the 1966 Leger on Sodium, was landing his second Classic of the season following Mon Fils in the 2,000 Guineas. What a remarkable 1,478-1 double, though both horses were well backed on the day of their victories.
Peleid drew attention to his Leger possibilities with a creditable fourth in the Ebor. Though a line through that race's winner, Bonne Noel, gave him something to find against the French challenger Valuta, it was felt that too much use had been made of Peleid at York.
Durr was instructed to ride a more restrained race and did it admirably, settling Peleid down in midfield as Gala King showed the way to Honey Crepe, King Levanstell and Duke Of Ragusa.
Then came Zab and Aureoletta, with Buoy and Cavo Doro bringing up the rear.
Valuta moved up towards the leaders a mile from home and two furlongs later Gala King could remain at the front no more. Duke Of Ragusa and Honey Crepe swept past him and led the way round the home turn chased by Aureoletta, Valuta, King Levanstell and Projector.
Peleid, steadily improving, came next ahead of the flagging Gala King and Zab. Buoy and Cavo Doro ware still at the back, but whereas Buoy began to make significant progress, Cavo Doro's forward move was purely nominal and shortlived.
Buoy came up to join issue with Duke Of Ragusa and King Levanstell approaching the last quarter-mile. Honey Crepe and Valuta were gone, although Peleid and Projector remained on the scene. Duke Of Ragusa battled to maintain his lead and seemed just to be holding Buoy and King Levanstell as they neared the final furlong.
Now Peleid pounced, swept through his battling rivals and raced readily home to win by two and a half lengths.
It was a desperate run for the places, with Buoy just getting second by a neck from Duke Of Ragusa. A second photograph was needed before Lord Rosebery's colt was awarded third place by a short head from King Levanstell.
The others, headed by Aureoletta and Projector, were six lengths or more behind. The favourite, Cavo Doro, trailed in with only three behind him.
No chance
At no stage in the second half of the race did Cavo Doro look like getting into the contest.
Lester Piggott reported to Vincent O'Brien that Cavo Doro had struck into himself about nine furlongs from home. He said that Buoy, in front of him, had stumbled and as he snatched up Cavo Doro the colt struck into himself and "went lame for about 100 yards".
The episode occurred behind the hill at the farthest part of the course and was not visible from the stands.
The TV film showed Buoy beginning to stumble and Joe Mercer confirmed that he had indeed done so.
Mercer said: "He went down on his nose but he soon recovered and was back going really well. It didn't make the slightest difference to the result."
St Leger
1 Peleid 28-1
2 Buoy 11-2
3 Duke Of Ragusa 6-1
Distances: 2 l, nk
Owner: Col William Behrens
Trainer: Bill Elsey
Jockey: Frankie Durr
Also ran: King Levanstell (4th),
Aureoletta (5th), Projector (6th), Honey Crepe (7th), Ragapan (8th), Zab (9th), Cavo Doro (fav, 10th), Valuta (11th), Gala King (12th), Long Row (13th)
CAPTION(S):
Peleid and Frankie Durr have plenty to spare over their St Leger rivals
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| Title Annotation: | Sports |
|---|---|
| Publication: | The Racing Post (London, England) |
| Date: | Sep 15, 2002 |
| Words: | 848 |
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