WHEEL AND TRACK NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 283, 30 November 1931, Page 12

WHEEL AND TRACK NOTES.

LOOKING WELL. The natty little mare Nella Dillon is looking a picture and though not among the favourites just now for the Waikato Handicap, the daughter of-.Author Dillon may prove one of the hardest to beat By winning the Te Aroha Cup last season she showed she could go two miles and for speed there are few in the race next Saturday who can go faster than she. ON THE IMPROVE. It would not take a really good trotter to wm the opening event at Hamilton on Saturday and the imported mare Miss iiraeside appears to have a. royal chance of opening her winning account. Her track work suggests she is on the improve but occasionally she makes a break and when she does it is a bad one. There are one or two useful sorts in the race, but they are weir back in the handicap 4.1] the horses P. Smith has imported and Taped have won, with the exception of Miss Braeside and her turn may not be far off.

A FINE RESPONSE. The acceptances received for the Waikato meeting to be held on Saturday are exceptionally good and indicate clearly that where programmes are cast to cater ior the novice and middle-class horßes there is no necessity to go outside Auckland to get sufficient entries. In the waikato Handicap there are a dozen acceptors, all Auckland-owned, and the smallest acceptance is in the Members' Irot, in which there are eleven horses. The slow-class pacers' attract the largest nelds, this because many of the horses figure in two events. A CUP PREPARATION. That good stayer The- Abbey is being given a preparation for the Auckland Cup by b. August. The chestnut gelding is one of the very few unfortunate horses handicapped to go faster than he has ever paced, and from this it will be recognised that to win a race like the Auckland Cup he will require to be as good, if not better, than ever before. Still, August knows how to get the best possible out ot a horse, and he can be depended upon to produce The Abbey at the top of his form at Christmas. At the same time the task confronting the chestnut is a big one. and he is not likely to be amontr the earJy fancies. LEFT TWO IN. The Melbourne trainer F. B. McFarlane, who is due to arrive to-morrow with five horses from Melbourne, had them all entered for the Waikato meeting, but he has accepted with Donna Gulvallis and Wilbur White only. Donna Gulvallis is oD o t , -i mit of the Progressive Handicap, a -3.4: mile and a quarter, and he may be a useful sort. The fact of Wilbur White being 36yds behind in the Waipa Handicap, a 3.42 mile and a half, shows that it must have a performance, but from a time basis it may not seem very good. However, it is always, well to remember that horses from Melbourne invariably prove good performers when brought to New Zealand, and travelling expenses are so heavy nowadays that no trainer would undertake the trip McParlane has unless he was confident he would get some money. AUCKLAND MEETING. The Auckland Trotting Club's summer meeting will be brought a step closer on Ifriday, on which day at 5 p.m. nominations for all events close with the secretary, Mr. A. G. Mabee. The final payment for the-Great Northern Derby also falls due. while a payment for the 1932 Derby must be made.