TROTTING.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 205, 30 August 1928, Page 14

TROTTING.

WHEEL AND TRACK NOTES.

(By ORION.)

SEASON'S FIXTURES. September 8— Nfw Brighton T.C. Seyteuibor 15 —Wellington r.C.. September 13-Welllngton Trotting Club. October o—Metbven0 —Metbven T.C.

Wiiul Shield, a five-year-old sister to Free Advice, owned by J. McKendrick, has been mated with Al Mack.

Van .Rich is being prepared with a view to competing at early meetings. The little bay gelding is again with G. Robertson, anil looks in good condition to bo tuned up for events ahead. Yesterdav morning he was a bit sore after working, but there is nothing seriously the matter with him.

G. Robertson will have a team this season similar to that of last, with the addition of the trotter Billy Carbine. The latter ran some useful races without winning much money, but he is a horse who should improve, and perhaps this season he will do a lot better.

G. Mitchell l.as only the trotter Sebisca to worry over the?e times. The bay gelding was a bit unlucky in not winning a race at Te Aroha, but he is still on a fair mark, and is liable to pick up a stake at any time. He has done a good deal of work, and is shaping eatisfactorily.

The honest Admiral Lock i 3 one of G. Robertson's team again this season. The bay gelding went some really good races for the Epsom trainer last season, but he never was quite good enough to pull off the main portion of the stake. Four times he filled the role of runner-up, but with an ounce of luck he may go oile tetter this season.

C. G. Lee is keeping his team going, *nd Colonel Thorpe in particular is being given plenty of useful exercise. So far the big gelding has been a disappointment, although he won a small race at Taranaki last April. He was trotting more solidly in his races towards the end of the season, and if he continues to improve in this department he will get a stake or two, a? he has plenty of pace.

F. Gilchrist is one of the regular workers, with the four-year-old Etta Cole. She has developed into a much better looking mare, than the was last season, and in her training promises to be a useful one as time goes on. Should she turn out good it would be a pleasing item to chronicle, a? her owner, Mr. F. J. Docherty, has been a long time endeavouring to get a good one.

The Derby colt, Rolfe Audubon, being prepared by A. Julian, is making good progress, but it is doubtful whether he will be sufficiently advanced to beat the opposition in • October. The chestnut has been improving all the time during; the past .wtfekg/jmd in one or two sprints over a half-mile has hit out in a manner which suggests he ia going to be really good in time.

At the annual meeting of members of the Forbury Park Trotting Club this week, Mr. Black made a suggestion that • two mile and a-half race should be included in the Forbury Fark programme. Racing clubs had these long races, and he could not see why they should not have at least one rape at trotting meetings. The suggestion was put in the form of a motion by Mr. J. Carter, and was put io the meeting by a very diffident chairman, who said he thought two miles quite enough for a good horse. The motion was defeated.

G. Phippr will have Dick Dillon and Haerenga Pai to battle for him this season. Dick Dillon is finding the game very hard for him, as he is on a mark ■where ho is not able to cope with the improving young horses he has to give ■tsrts to. He managed to win a small racs at the Waikato last season, but it was the only one in 14 starts. Haerenga Pai, on the other hand, may turn out a good mare. The daughter of Happy Voyage and We© Enid won at her second start last season, and subse-quently,-when brought to Auckland, was in a place a couple of times, but she wag not at her best; as «he had been suffering from the effects of a bad cold. She has only just turned four years, and looks a' likely sort to turn out a useful Bare.

Mr. W. D. Easton, speaking at the annual meeting of the Forbury Park Club on Monday, said that there was a way in which the stewards could do more to help along the sport of trotting than they were doing at present. They should keep a much tighter hold on the racing. At the last summer meeting there had been two very glaring cases of inconsistent running that had been allowed to pass unchallenged. He considered that the stewards should have demanded an explanation from the men concerned. It was only by the exercise of the strictest supervision that they could induce in the. public that confidence in the sport without which they could not be expected to helft the club by putting their money through the machine. He mentioned the names of the horses in question, and said of the one that he did not think a worse esse of inconsistent running had been sfeen on the course. The stewards should have asked for an explanation and thus satisfied the public that they ifrere looking after that sort of thing.

Trotting handicapping has always been a very debatable topic, and opinions thereon are as many and varied as the horsc-s handicapped. Nevertheless, Inhere ia room for a great deal of revision in the methods adopted in New &outh Wales. Sydney's two clubs have separate handicappcr (says "Vedette," i|> the Sydney "Referee"), who work on entirely different methods. And the reeult is an enigma to everybody except those who have taken the time and trouble to study out the systems employed. They are certainly not understood by tbt big majority of trotting f&llowers, and have much to do with the Moribund state of the spoTt here as compared with New Zealand and elsewhere. At tapping, winnjng time is considered ths only basis for the marks aJlotte# How?ver, a wiTOer ontßide his handicap time ia penalised 12 yards in » similar class of race at next entry. Placed performances other than wins are not considered. : Victoria, Park also makes time both- ende;*Bjl ; the middle of its adjustments;" but placed horses are liable to be penalised there. However, if b horse wins in slower than handicap time,'he escapes a penalty in the next • handicap.