NOTES ON OUR GRAND NATIONAL MEETING.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 143, 16 June 1894, Page 3

NOTES ON OUR GRAND NATIONAL MEETING.

*»Abad beainning sometimes leada to a good ending" is a well-worn aphorism, bub It is particularly applicable to the North New Zealand Grand National Steeplechase Meeting ot 1894. The meeting wasb postponed from the original fixed date to last Saturday and Monday through stress of weather, and when the elements continued to be unfavourable on the Friday nighb and Saturday morning, added to the facb that the second day's racing was fixed for a day on which the general body of the public conld not attend, nothing could have been more gloomy or discouraging; in facb, ib looked as if the Auckland Racing Club had failure staring them in the face. However, diapite all of, these dismal forebodings, our Metropolitan Club scored decisively. The weather proved ■favourable, the public mustered in good force on each day of the gathering, and speculation was brisk, the result being that the sum of £8,317 wenb through the machines, againsb £6,809 lasb .year. Instead, therefore, of a failure, the meeting proved the moat successful winter reunion held ab the headquarters of racing, and will enable tho A.R.C. to come out with a profit) on the right side of the ledger. On tho first day of the meeting the piece dc resistance was the contest for the 250eove attached to the Grand National Hurdle Race, a field of nine going to the post. Among the half-a-dozen withdrawals was Kai-Iwi Lady, who had to be struck out on account of the mishap she meb with while being schooled, and Cyrus, the connections of the last-named electing to eband by Chatterbox. The race proved a very easy win for Melinite, and the manner in which the dollars were planked upon her in the tofcalisators was astonishing, considering thai) the mare had been a pronounced failure in her public essays on the flat. However, the reputation as a hurdler which Melinite brought with her from Napier was borne out to the very letter, and although it is the general. custom to worship the rising sun, I must s.-iy that the victory was achieved in such a bloodiest! and brilliant manner that it is safe to predict a big future for the Grand National victress, either over the small sticks or bobtvoon the flags. Melinite's career previous to Saturday laab may be termed a string of disappointments, although she can boast of a pedigree containing the bluest of blue alood, for she is a daughter of Nordenfeldt and Pearl Ash, by Lord Clifden. In the colours of Mr G, G. Stead she started Six times as a two-year-old, winning two of her engagements, viz., the Maiden Two-year-old Handicap at the Dunedin Spring Meeting and the Autumn Nursery Hanaicap at the Canterbury Jockey Club Autumn, Melinite was nob raced during the next season, bub in 1893 -94 her only success oub of seven sbarts was running a dead heat with Captive for the Dunedin May Birthday Handicap. The mare was entered for the lost Christchurch Grand National Hurdle Race bub did not start, although ib goes to show bbab she musb at that- time have shown aptitude for the jumping business. Melinite was taken to Sydney, and previous to going amiss her track gallops ab Randwick . were the talk of the touts. She was brought back to Christchurcb last spring along with Stepniak and Ich Dien, and after running nnplaced in the Great Easter and Autumn Handicaps ab tbeC.J.C. Autumn Meeting, held at the end of lasb March, Mr Stead sent her up toauction, withthoresult thabshewas knocked down to Mr VV. Praffitb for 150gs, and although the mare i* now raced in the name of Mr A. Robertson, the Hawke's Bay trainer, it is generally credited that Mr Promt, together with the well-known horseman James Hickey, has an interest in ier. The Grand National Hurdle Race is the first; event that Melinite has started for since going into her present quarters, and I repeat that her periormance was a meritorious and brilliantone. Wbab is to beat. Melinite in the forthcoming Hawke's Bay Hurdle Race or Steeplechase (if started) my readers may agk ? One or both races read the best of good things for the handsome daughter of Wordenfeldb, who I might here mention looked a mass of condition as she Oled oub »f the paddock to the post, while she was ably ridden by Jas. Hickey. Frank McManemia had Belmont, the runner-up to Melinite, strung up to the .very hour, and ib was a bib of bad luck for him to meet such a formidable opponent as tho winner, A similar misfortune befel Belmonb laab year in Hie same race, when Mutiny ran clean afay from him, bub the year previous he caught the judge's eye first. It Mutiny and Melinite had nob respectively been in the road" Belmont would have had a record of three successive wins, but as the matter stands ab present the position is an unenviable one. Belnaonb is very many degrees below a first-rater, and if proof were granting of this those preeenb ab Monday s races have only to cast their eyes back to the contest for the Hurdle Race. Coming Into the turn for home, Belmonb must have lad fully half-a-dozen lengths the best of it, font Liberator came with an electrical run when the whip was pub on him ab tho home turn, and afber the last hnrdle had been negotiated, he came away from Belmonb as if he were a common hack. Ib only goes to show what a tip-topper like Liberator can do with a (second-rater. By-the-bye, Liberator 8 running in the Grand National Hurdle Race was as disappointing as his performance in the Hurdle Race on tho second day of the meeting was brilliant;, bat ab their respective " National " weights Melinite earned too many guns for the bearer of tbe green land white hoopa. By winning the Greab Northern Steeplechase Bombardier followed in tbe footsteps of his relative Belle, the heroine of the race in 1886, for both are out ot the same dam, Kate, a mare picked up in Tauranga for a mere song, and whose pedigree is veiled in mystery. However, there is good reason to fcblieve from the deeds of Belle and Bombardier tbab Kate's pedigree is a clean one, find ib was a great loss to her owners

when she died a short time back. When Bombardier won the Autumn Steeplechase ab the A.R.C. Meeting ab Elleralie in March last, I along with many others regarded it in the nature of a fluke. This opinion, of course, was formed on account of the mishaps which befel some of the homes engaged, notably Uaion Jack. However, after Bombardier's display ab the recent Takapuna Meeting and his success in the Greab Northern Steeplechase, I have come to the conclusion thab he is an under-rated animal. Morrigan rode the son of Brigadier a rattling good race. He kept his horse in a nice position until aboub the laab mile and a quarter came to be compassed, and nob displaying any nervousness or anxiety came away ab the home turn and won by fully five lengths. Bombardier finished up his task in a determined manner, and ib cannot be said of him that he is deficient in either stamina or pace. A more popular victory than that of Bombardier has not been recorded at Ellerslie, for his owners are universally liked and respected, and they are among the mosb liberal supporters of the sport in the Auckland district. With regard to the other jumping events on the programme, there is nob very much to say.. Cyrus jumped very badly in the Maiden Hurdle Race on tbe opening day of the meeting, which cost his owner tbe race, bub the schooling he gob did him good, for on Monday he fenced much better and was successful, bub it was a close thing between the West Coast horse and Sb. Michael. However, Cryua was giving his opponenb 2et 61b in weight and the ground was heary, so thab his performance reads a fair one. Tbe Taranaki mare Belle proved very unfortunate at the meeting. She fell in the Grand National Hnrdle Race and showed no better fate in tbe Tally-bo Steeplechase on the second day, coming to grief at the stone wall leading on the course when looking all over a winner. Warrior ehaped really well in the Maiden Hurdle Race, and aa he can both muster up pace and jump very decently, he promises to develop into a very useful member ab the illegitimate game. St. Kilda recorded a good winning performance in the First Welter Handicap, bub this achievement was eclipsed in the Second Winter Welter, in which event he was weighbed ab 13sb 71b. He had to put up with second "place behind St. Patrick, bub had Frank McManemin's horse not gob such a long advantage ab the start there is little doubt in my mind that Sb. Kilda would have won despibe his thumping weight. Sb. Kilda has proved himself a downrighb good one, and the way Adam Byers rode him in both races, shows that he has lost none of his former ability ac a horseman. Ib will be remembered that Byers was on the back of Necklace when she cub oub the six furlongs in 1.14 Jab Ellerslie in the Newmarket Handicap, ab the A.R.C. Summerof 1885-86, while he also rode several other good winners in Mr John Marshall's colours, besides many other races. Taken altogether, the Grand National Meeting was full of interest, and Mr Percival was untiring in his efforts to make the gathering a successful one; well he succeeded, too. Now we are ab the end of another Auckland racing season, and turfites will be indulged in a few months' respite before they are again asked to sling their race-glaeses over their shoulder, and, to quote Lindsay Gordon — The coarse is seen with its emerald sheen By the bright apring-tids renewed, Like a ribbon of green, stretched out between Tbe ranks of the multitude.