TROTTING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 119, 22 May 1931, Page 12

TROTTING.

EYES ON DOMINION.

MELBOURNE TRAINER'S PLANS WILL BRING TEAM OVER. breeder's bad luck. A. Hcndricksen experienced ii stroke of bad hick last week when lie lost two promising youngsters by Ileal Guy. Both took ill and died. ENTERED FOR ASHBURTON. Among' the entries lor the Asliburton meeting is Speed Queen, a Sapling Stakes candidate. Speed Queen is by Nelson Bingen —lTaydock. and is owned bv the Auckland sportsman Mr. Geo. McMillan.

A BOLD SORT. Roi Grande, who made his appearance at the track yesterday, is a bold sort and mav be given a run at the Waikato meeting on Saturday week if the necessary papers arrive from Australia in time for him to be handicapped before the acceptances close next Monday. A. Newdick has always had pacers in his stable, and a trotter is something by way of a change. However, Roi Grande has not always been a trotter, and severe flunks made by the hopples on his legs show that he has done more than a little at the pacing gait. From what can be gathered from Australian papers it is a long time since he won a race, but as he has no time against him'for two miles he should be starting from a mark which should enable him to win here if he is any good at all.

STEPPING ALONG. L. Mitchell is'beginning to send Mountain Dell along in hor work, as lie is keen 011 having her right when tjic winter meeting opens at Alexandra Park next month. The brown mure at present is a trifle on the big side, but as she is worked whether the tracks be wet or dry she should soon lose that little bit of surplus llesh and the next couple of weeks will see her recording her usual brilliant trials.' As she can handle any going she is still to be reckoned with, although she is getting 011 a tight mark.

END DRAWING NEAR. ■ There arc still over two months to go before the present season closes, and at the moment there does not seem to be anything calling for a very radical change in any avenue of the lightharness sport when the conference meets in July. Xo doubt there will be plenty of remits brought forward dealing with the handicapping system, but there, is not likely to be any changes made unless it is to introduce a fixed system of penalties over all distances. At present luuulicappers have a certain amount of discretionary power, which i.-s all very well if consistency is shown, but when some horses are dealt with severely and others leniently for practically the same performances, then owners and trainers become dissatisfied, and rightly so. It is because - of these inconsistencies that many owners are ;.**vocating a hard and fast system of penalites, which means that there would be 110 necessity to pay big monev to liandicappers, because the adjustments could be made by club secretaries. It is very doubtful whether such a system would be in the interests of the sport, and it would be far better to go back to tlie old order of handicapping, when horses were placed 011 marks considered to give all an equal chance of winning. Any owner who is not satisfied unless his horse is given an advantage, which so often happens under a fixed system, is not a "sport"' in .the true sense of the word. . .

MAY COME OVER. An exchange says* that tlie Melbourne trainer W. McKay is coming across, to New Zealand with two pacers—Direct Home and Auburn- Lad. Both are recognised as brilliant pacers and Direct Home has a Svdney 'thousand, to his credit. On Monday last Auburn Lad won the principal event'at the' Richmond meeting, recording a 2.20 rate. Com- i menting on the win the "Globe" says: ; If a vote were taken in trotting circlet, as to the most unlucky horse racing during the past twelve months the verdict would probably go to Auburn Lad. In September lie ran .second in the £500 Trotting Cup to Burnealto., and had lie not met with interference in that race he probably would have won. Taken to Sydney for the Thousand in October lie won his heat, travelling a fraction over 2.13. In the final, however, he had lo strike his colours to the champion Walla Walla, who created a new Australian ' record for the mile and a half by regis- : tering 2.1 li. On his return to Victoria t Auburn Lad contested the £400 Open r Handicap at Ballarat, but again bad luck in running relegated him into third 1 * place behind Paddy McKinney v and , r Abdullah Bells.. He was then turned out r for a spell and was taken in hand by his l owner-trainer, W. McKay, a few weeks

A DIFFICULT PROPOSITION. It is reported that E. Tuke lias purchased tlie grey gelding Stoney and will prepare liini for future racing. Judged on anything lie lias done since coining to New Zealand, Stonev is not worth buying at anv price, and r I uko has a hard proposition. in front of him if lie hopes to win races. On one occasion the grey secured third place and recorded 4.131 l-r>, but he is not likely to ever get near that time again. STILL A MAIDEN. J. Gee did ::at take Kewpie's Triumph to Hamilton, hut the chances are he will i e there at the Winter Show meeting. The colt lias failed by a long way to develop to the extent expected when he finished ithird at his first appearance. Ilis third in the Derby was also a promising effort, but he has ndt'repeated it sii'ce"'mi it h hard to account for his failures. Handicapped on 12yds in a 4.r,0 class on .Saturday week he is well placed to' open his winning account, but as lie is in receipt of only 12yds from Carnui the latter should hold him safe. WAS WELL SUPPORTED. On l'orm tiicre is no encouragement to risk uood money on Some Dillon, but somebody anticipated the chestnut doing his best" at Hamilton on Saturday last, because he was sent out a good a-econd favourite in the Dominion Handicap. Luck was against him, as he crashed into Tiny Rose when the latter broke up five furlongs from home and th.'.t was the end of the"Some Dillon investments. At tintime the gelding was pacing well and handv enough to win had In' been good enough. Usually he leaves his feet on his own account, but o:i Saturday it was the fault of Tiny Rose breaking.

WHAT PRICE THIS ONE? The second "leg" of the double at the Winter Show meeting at Hamilton on Saturdav week will be the Ivureka Handicap. a 2.1!> mile, and at first glance (ilenlake's chance will make a strong appeal to backers. On time the prospects of Glenlako stand right out. and those who believe that a second or two in a mile is a big advantage will start sa\ing up when, they know (ilenlake has gone 2.40 :i-."i (a 2.1(5 rate) winning for a mile and u quarter, and 2.13 o- ; l into third place at a mile. As he is handicapped on the front of a 2.1!) class, or five seconds slower than his record, he should see a very short price if C. Donald sends him tij) for the meeting.

"SOMETHING WRONG." ''There is something wrbii'T with a pi me that forces the host performers out of business," comments "Sentinel" in mentioning that the one-time crack trotter Yo'Mig Blake was used at the Oamarn meeting as a mount for tiie cleric of the course. OLD CAMPAIGNERS. The devotees of the light-harness racehorse of the present period who were privileged to wituessUhc performances of the fast trotters 50 years ago and the immediately following decades, are awaitthat the improvement in looks of the standard-bred trotters has pretty well kept pac.2 with the improvement in speed! which' has been so marked during the past few decades.. That this should'be so is not surprising. Beauty of conformation was something (says, an exchange)-which was given w consideration in the period when harness racing was in its infancy, and when no concerted effort had been made to [Alice the trotting horse on a distinctly breed basis. In that era speed was the main, and almost the only, requisite .demanded by the old-time trainers, the greater number of whose campaigners were what may he termed "made - ' trotters that required years of persistent drilling to bring them to-the point where they became useful racehorses. Most of them were extremely plain, especially those which carried none of the blood of the Morgan strain. The Morgans, as a family, possessed beauty of conformation in a greater degree than the other early trotting strains, but when conditions arose which required a greater degree of speed than the horses of that family possessed, they soon ceased to he a factor in the racing world.

A GOOD FIELD. The Winter Show Cup, which is the biw race oil Saturday week ;it Hamilton, has plenty of material to provide a line contest, and as there is a cup worth £2.) accompanying tlie winner s portion of the stake owners will be keen to win. There j is no difficulty in framing a handicap and Mr. Goosman's. adjustments are -justj what would be expected, as the form of the candidates was well exposed and all had established their marks. On the limit are Dan Direct, Impromptu and June Nordica, and of the trio Impromptu stands out. Just how good lie is remains to be seen, but he can be expected, conditions being favourable, to knock seconds j off his handicap, and this will make it hard for those handicapped behind luni; in fact, handicapped anywhere in the race. On 12vds are Direct Morning. Master Huia. Peter Pirate and Richore, and Peter Pirate is the most likely to go well. Nell a Dillon and Explosion are on 24vds, but neither will' appeal. St. George, Brutus and First Flight are on 3(]vds, and after her brilliant run on Saturday, when she lost all her handicap and then finished second to Grand Canyon, First Flight is bound to be hard to dispose of. St. George is one of C. Donald's team, and if he is-brought north then he will have to be reckoned with, although lie was beaten out of a place on Saturday at Oamaru from a 4.:!1> mark. He is now on 4.37. " Nothing else in the race looks to have any chance, and those who are inclined to sum the position up | early will be content to decide between Impromptu and First Flight.