THE NEW ZEALAND TWO-YEAR-OLDS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 33, 7 February 1894, Page 3

THE NEW ZEALAND TWO-YEAR-OLDS.

Tie present racing season in New Zealand is now more than half over, and in the bpinion of those properly qualified to judge the two-year-olds seen in public are an exceptionally weak contingent. With the opinion we fully agree. Ib is, we admit, a somewhat Sweeping assertion, bub we fancy we are nob far wrong when we state that nob one really hieh-claes youngster has up to the presenb made its appearance this season. Philson certainly won the Welcome Stakes, when making his solitary effort on a racecourse, but Mr O'Brien's colt will have to grow and alter a good deal before he presents bhe appearance of being a Derby colt. Pom Pom, who finished second to Philson, is nothing very greab to look ab, and his subsequent failures clearly indicate thab he is nob able to carry weighb. Strath Braan is big enough for anything, and with time may develop into a good horse, bub np to the present, from some cause or another he has belied bis looks, and ab the best ib i 8 extremely doubtful if he will be as good as bis beautiful breeding should make him. In Auckland Three Star won the Greab Norbhern Foal Stakes in a manner which gained for him a large number of friends, bub the son of Castor failed to presenb a moderate weighb to Nixie in tbe Midsummer Stakes, and a failure such as this is bound to detracb from his Derby prospects. The remainder of the best of our bwo-year-olda are fillies, and Neroli ii fairly entitled to stand at the head of them. Mr Knight's filly had not learnt to gallop _ when Bhe made her appearance in the Kindergarten Stakes run ab Plumpton Park in October. However, her nett performance was better, as she carried ofi the C. J.C. Spring Nursery Handicap from Nixie and three or four others, ond in the Middlepark Plate ab the commencement of the presenb month, she was only beaten a head by Lakeshell. The latter performance, however, hardly reads aa being anything very remarkable, and probably the daughter of Artillery, while undoubtedly the besb of her age and ccx, is nothing oub of the common. Forme commenced the season well by winning both the Auokland September Stakes and Hawke's Bay Welcome Stakes, but tho daughter of Formo is—like her mothersmall, and is not likely to be heard of as a three-year-old. Tartan and Lyrebird have both won in Hawke's Bay, and Lady Moth and Ophelia in Auckland, but they are not likely to develop into Derby representatives, and although Rancour and Dunlop have won races they do nob display much promise. King Wai, on the other band, although not exactly built on the lines of a typical Derby winner, has won two of the three events in which he has started, in really good style, and Mr Cutt's colt has an equally good claims to the premiership of the season as many of his contemporaries whose aims have been higher but not crowned with success. By a similar reckoning, Blarney, who defeated King Wai at Wellington, on Monday, is entitled to respect, and it is probable we have not seen the best of the son of Flatter. On the whole, however, a glance ab the performances of the best of our two-year-olds, leads to only one conclusion. That is, that ib is improbable that we have yeb seen the winner of next season's Derby.—-" Canterbury Time?."