WHEEL AND TRACK NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 249, 20 October 1928, Page 16

WHEEL AND TRACK NOTES.

(By ORION.)

October 22—Oamaru T.C. October 22—Northland T.C November 6. 8. 9—Metropolitan T.C. November 17, 21—Otahona T.C. November 24—Wellington T.C. November 28. December I—jjTorbury Park December B—Walkato T.C. December B—Cheviot T.C. December 15, 17—New Brighton T.C. December 26— Gore T.C December 27.29.31—Auckland Trotting Clnh December 26—Aahbortoa T.C. December 26, 27—South Walrarapa T.C. December 26. 27—Westoert T.C. December 29—Win ton T.C. December 31—Inauahoa T.C. 1829. January 1, 2—Canterbury T.C. January 3— Westland T.C. January 4. s—Greymouths—Greymouth T.C. January 19—Wellington T.C. January 24, 26—Forbury Park T.C. February 1, 2—Nelson T.C. February 9 —N ii. Metropolitan T.C. February 16—Wellington T.C. February 23—Kaikoura T.C. February 23, 27—Otahahu T.C.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

WJ.B.—You are not on Jewel Pointer.

A. Julian will drive Sunfish in his engagements at the Northland meeting on Monday.

Eoro Peter will not be taken to the Northland meeting. This is bad luck for "dry" betters.

Great Way and Lord Lu.are the moat likely pair to appeal to stay-at-home backers on Monday.

The Northern Steamship Company announce that the 8.8. Clansman, will leave for Whangarei to-morrow (Sunday) evening at 10 o'clock instead of at midnight. , - - •

The other morning at the track an owner wanted to bet half a hundred that Greab Way would win more money this season than Koro Peter. Apparently he; thinks Great Way fir going to get in early at Whangarei on Monday. I

Should The Abbey begin right in tho Northland Cup, it is hard to see the others getting to him. However,, it ie always on the cards that the chestnut will do the Charleston at the start, and, if he does, then Sunfish will get him : early.

Chrystal, a maiden by Gold Bell— Dorothy Dimple, has been going attractively in his work at Epsom. He will be making his first appearance in a race on Monday at the Northland meeting and as he appears a sensible sort should be prominent.

It was a sporting action on the part of the owners of Native Prince to withdraw their horse "from the Campbell Handicap on Wednesday in order that J. Shaw could, drive Jewel Pointer. As the race was run it would have been a good thing for Native Prince.

F. Gilchrist has a great record so far in the trotting sport. He only took over the training of Etta Cole in the whiter and both times he has driven her she landed the money. Fred is very popular apd successful in the galloping sport, and evidently he is going to be equally successful with trotters. Steady and painstaking, he should soon get horses to train if he will take them.

Race driving in America is altogether a different proposition to driving in Australia, our method of handicapping making- the latter much more difficult. In America all the horses start off the same mark, and the track drivers are not at all anxious to go to the front, being content. to trail the leader and make the drive in the run home. For years the crack horseman, Ed. Geers, made use of the leader as a wind shield, making his drive in Ihe home stretch, and the other drivers never seemed to drop to it. What wind pressure means is shown by the fact that no American horse, in the days when wind shields were allowed in making records, could ever get within seconds of the time without them. \

It is claimed on behalf of the Auckland trainer W. Orange that he drove the first two-year-old trotter to victory in New Zealand. This happened about a quarter of a century ago. There may be a generalisation about the gait, but the first two-year-old pacer the writer remembers winning in open company was Ribbonwood, who started favourite in a pony race at Tahuna Park, but finished unplaced (says "Sentinel" in the Otago "Daily Times"). Ribbonwood afterwards won his next two races as a two-year-old. It is a big step from being a pony to development into the champion of his time. Shortly afterwards Ribbonwood went into D. J. Price's stable, and the youngster was worked on a private track near the Sunnyside Mental Hospital. Price, who has just won the Caulfleld Guineas with Balmerino, had at times a solitary spectator, who hung himself over the dividing boundary and was a keen observer of the colt's track work. One morning the spectator called to Price: "Have you ever won a race with that chap?" "No," replied the reinsman. "Well," said the spectator,"you're on the wrong side of the fence." Years afterwards, when Ribbonwood was matched against Frits, Price told the writer that the son of Wildwood could break 2.6, and this was on the small, badly shaped track which then existed at Addington. Ribbonwood went 2.9 easily as an exhiMtion demonstration on the final day of the meeting at which he defeated Fritz, and on a mile track'-in America it was thought the son of Wildwood would goa two-minute gait.' Still, for all that, Price: held the opinion thai he would sooner take Fritz to America.thah his own horse* because one was a pacer and tha other waa a trotter. 1

FRAMING PROGRAMMES.

OWNERS CAN ASSIST.

No matter when a trotting club draws up a programme complaints are heard from a section of owners, who consider that this, or that, particular club is not catering for local horses. And to a great extent the owners are right, but they are to a degree also to blame, because they do not assist at all, and so long as they hesitate to voice their views until it is too late to effect a remedy, then the position is not likely to improve in their eyes. The trouble with the owners and trainers in Auckland is that they are not united, and at present each is satisfied to go along his own sweet way, listening to the growls of others and occasionally doing a growl himself. But this doesn't get anywhere and never will bring about any benefit to all.

In Canterbury the owners and trainers have their Association, and a real wideawake body it is. Well organised with keen men as its executive, the Association does a tremendous amount of good in the course of a season, and it is powerful enough to make itself heard and respected on all occasions. From time to time suggestions are made to clubs, and not infrequently programmes considered suitable for the smaller clubs are drawn up and submitted, and are wholly or partly adopted. If this can be done in Canterbury, there is no reason why the same could not apply in Auckland. Why, even in Sydney, where the trotting sport is at a very low ebb, owners and trainers are now getting together, and an Association is being formed in the hope that the sport will be given the lift along which it is badly in need of at'the moment.

Some years ago the Auckland owners and trainers formed the North Island Owners and Breeders' Association, but so little interest was taken in it by the members themselves that it did the only thing , possible under such conditions— faded out of existence. Trotting was just beginning to boom then, and the sport has grown in popularity so much in recent years that it is now referred to in certain quarters as the people's sport. Prize money has increased, classes have been tightened, several country clubs have come into existence, and the sport ia such an extensive business nowadays that the time has arrived when owners and trainers should do something for themselves, and not sit still, leaving everything to real honest committees of clubs, who would welcome suggestions, even though they may not be put into force. Most owners and trainers continually harp on handicapping, but there are other items of almost equal importance. The classes of the races are of greatest importance, because, when all is said, it doesn't really matter what mark the handicapper would place a horse on if there is no class to suit him. This particularly applies to the country meetings. How many men on country club committees are there who have the faintest idea of the number of horses in training v* Auckland, and the classes that would suit them? Very few indeed. Birti the trainers and owners know almost jtp' a horse, and, they are in a position, .if they eared to d? so, to compile a list of Auckland. hOrses and forward it with suggestions to any country club, and the latter could then see at ia glance wl*t classes, would ' draw the best fields. Then there is the transport of horses from one meeting to another, which could be dealt with if the Association -was in existence, because it would be known just hew maiiy horses would be going to a meeting, aind where they were tobeloaded en route; I only mention these two items out of many.

■ Of course,, the' only way to get the North. Island Owners and Breeders' Association going again would be to start afresh. Forget it had ever been in existence before, and begin with a clean sheet. Membership subscription could be as low as one shilling, but in order to get away from the struggling stage—-strug-

gliiyj organisations never carry any weight—l would make a suggestion. It is this: That whenever an owner wins a race he, pays into the funds of the Association one per cent £1 in £100). By this method only owners who win would pay, and most owners would be only too pleased to contribute, because they know then they are winning. Were this done it would not be long before the Association would get a solid fund* and be able to do something. However, these are only suggestions, and they ara worth nothing unless the owners and trainers, who are the ones mostly concerned, get busy and show that they are alive to their own interests.

OTAHUHTJ TROTTING CLUB.

Now that the trotting season is in full Bwing in Auckland, one of the important fixtures in the near future is that of the Otahuhu Trotting Club on November 17 and 21. During the two days the prize money distributed will amount to £6900, and the smallest stake is £300, while each of the two big handicaps, the Jellicoe and Fergusson Handicaps, limit 4.32, carry £1000. The Campbell and Visitors' Handicaps, for straightout trotters, are worth £400 each, the limit being 4.42. There is yet plenty of time for owners to study the programme, which appears in another column, as nominations do not close till Friday, November 2.

BANKHEAD BREAKS BANE.

Under the above heading the Sydney "Sportsman," commenting upon he recent Epping Thousand won by Graceful Derby, says:— J. Bryce, jun., a leading New Zealand trainer, brought Bankhead to Sydney specially to contest the Epping Thousand, and he returned by the next boat. It must have proved a costly trip. To make such a trip, Bryce must have thought it easy picking. Bankhead has 2.16J against him for a place in a mile race, but as the New South Wales Trotting Club does not recognise place performances, he started off scratch in the lj-mile handicap on a 3.30 basis. With a longer acquaintance with the tricky Epping track and Sydney drivers, Bryce might have done better. When he lost his position early and ran into s pocket he was up against It. Sydney drivers on the Epping track don't let 'em out when once they get 'em there. Syd Ball knew his track, and when Marie Dillon dwelt on the mark, he went for the outside, and sending his mare along for all she was worth, he ran the leaders down and got the rails in half a mile. That the mare finished as she did after such a half-mile dash showed her condition and grit. After getting away badly, making a launder in the second round, and being knocked from post to pillar in an endeavour to get out of pockets, Bankhead was beaten by half a head. What a good thing to come undone. Had he got into the .final it is doubtful if he would have beaten Graceful Derby, but he would have certainly made things more interesting.