TROTTING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 109, 11 May 1933, Page 16

TROTTING.

SATURDAY'S MEETING. A TABLOID REVIEW. WHAT FORM SUGGESTS. ' The Auckland Trotting Club's meeting on Saturday should attract a big attendance, as good fields will be the order throughout, and included in those booked to compete are all the best provincial horses in their respective classes. Weather conditions and the state of tile track will have to be considered, and the tabloid review below by "Orion" is based on the assumption that the track will be heavy. Innovation Trot, one mile and a half. Limit 3.48. Colleen Murphy, limit.—Not solid enough; breaks too much. Grand Triumph, limit.—Has plenty of pace, but in the past has not trotted solid. Golden Huia, limit. —Has filled a place on four occasions lately, but is a Jong way from being 1 a good one. Mountain Sun, limit.—Has only raced once as a trotter. Pearl Parrish, limit.- —Breaks too much. Peter Abdallah, limit. —No chance. Singing Bird, limit. —Very ordinary. Waskasu, limit.- —Just a possibility. Worthy Kate, limit. —Has done nothing so far. Autumn Lu, 12yds.—Invariably goes away pacing, and then to a break. Stays on well. Golden Eagle, 24yds.—This one looks to be a great place bet. Kuini, 24yds.—Has only to begin right to win easily. Hard to pick one to beat this. Chrystal, 48yds.—No good. Nelson Pirate, 48yds.—Should go well. Mattie Herbilwyn, 96yds.—Fast, but unreliable. Win Huon, 96yds.—Very solid, and might have a good chance in this moderate field. Kohewah, 120yds.—Will not start. Devonport Handicap, one mile and a quarter. Limit 3.6. Ariel Bell, limit.—Made a good showing in liia only start at Epsom. Should be very hard to beat. Aircraft, limit.—Has done nothing to date, but hails from a good stable. Chancellor, limit.—Does not leave the mark. Camelia, limit.—Not much good. Free Gift, limit.—Unreliable at barrier, but only has to leave right to be in the money. Gloster, limit. —Know nothing about him. Homo Brew, limit.—Cannot stay. Jester, limit. —Likely place bet. Docs not always go solid. Lucky Love, limit. —No good. Our Summer, limit. —A good sort, but always loses lengths at tlie start. Student Prince, limit. —Years since he Won. Tinokalia, limit.—Has no form. Nellota, 36yds.—Won a race this season, but has raced badly since. Red Hope, 36yds.—A useful sort, but no champion. Worthy Chief, 36yds.—Honest, but may not be good enough. Cimarron, 48yds.—Very fast, but has a big field to go round. Stormy Mack, 60yds.—Set a severe task. Fergusson Handicap, two miles. Limit 4.32. Kewpie's Triumph, limit.—Has never been good at two miles. Prince Pedro, limit.—Has not been finishing on well. Would go well on a dry track. Brentlight, 24yds.—Just a moderate. Direct Morning, 24yds.—Should get a place. Kewpie's Guy, 36yds.—This looks to be a good thing. Pageant, 48yds.—Bracketed with Kewpie's Guy. Auto Machine, 60yds.—Has had his day. Enawah, 72yds.—Will not start. Franklin Handicap, one mile and a half. Limit 3.28. Jackie Thorpe, limit. —Should go a good race. Poi, limit.—Only a moderate. Bracketed with Raider. Raider, limit. —Has won seven races; this may make the eighth. The hardest he has yet taken on. Silver Bingen, limit. —Does not stay on. Some Dillon, limit. —A bad proposition. Willie Derby, limit. —Has raced badly lately. Our Peter, 12yds.—A good chance. Free Logan, 12yds.—Very speedy. Sure to get a place if he leaves right. Pukemiro, 12yds.—Very consistent. Goes beat on a dry track. His form has been good lately. Glandore, '24yds.—No chance. Homeward, 24yds.—Backed and beaten at Cambridge.

Realty, 35yds.—Should be the hardest for Raider to beat.

Whitford Trot, one mile and a half.

Limit 3.36. Billy Carbine, limit. —Cannot stay. JVloko Girl, 12yds.—Not always reliable, but has speed. Nell Yolo, 12yde.—Will have to do something wrong .to lose. Dark McKinney, 36yds.—Just plugs along. -Zanzibar, 36yds.—Cannot stay. Bessie Parrish, '18yds.—The only one likely to trouble Nell Volo. Etta Cole, 72yds.—No chance. Explosion, 72yds.—Too far back, unless the others all make mistakes. May Handicap, one mile and a half. Limit 3.42. Jester, Free Gift, Our Summer, Red Hope, Tinokaha, Nellota, Worthy Chief, Cimmaron are all in Devonport Handicap. May Chenault, 24yds— Has speed, but has not stayed on in recent efforts. Stormy Mack, 36yds.—Will be there at the end. Donee, 36yds.—Was unlucky at Te Aroha and Cambridge. Peter Grattan, 36yds.—Long time since he was in the money. Papatoetoe Handicap, one mile and a quarter. Limit 2.47. Kelp, limit. —No chance. Prince Pedro, limit.—Just a chance. Pegaway, limit. —Looks an odds-on proposition. Brentliglit, 12yds.—Doe6 not handle a heavy track well. Great Parrish, 12yds.—The hardest for Pegaway to beat. Auto Machine, 24yds.—Begins too slowly. Direct Morning, 24yds.—Might go a good race. Kewpie's Triumph, 24yde.—A likely place-getter. Pageant, 24yds.—A good sort; bracketed with Pegaway. Enawah, 60yds.—Will not start. Jewel Pointer, 84yds.—Too far back.

Henderson Handicap, one mile and a quarter. Limit 2.56. Cleao, limit.—Has not done anything for a long time. Edna Worthy, limit. —Was well beaten at Cambridge, but may go better on Saturday. Guid Harvest, limit.—lnclined to go to a tanprle, but a speedy pacer. Will be bracketed with Mazda and Raider if all start. Great Fame, limit.—Very ordinary. Fisher, limit. —Not too genuine. Has speed. Prince Etawali, limit. —Does everything right. Should go a good race. Wee Machine, limit.—A slow beginner, but stays on. Te Mahanga, limit.—Will not start. Rey de Quest, 12yds.—Not a good one. Francis Lincoln, 24yds.—Would win on a dry track. A good sort. Some Dillon, 24yds.—A bad pacer. Hohoro, 36yds.—Has always gone his best races on a heavy track. Jackie Thorpe, 36yds.—A place possibility. Willie Derby, 48yds.—Not a good one; bracketed with Homeward. Homeward, 72yds.—Too far back.

WHEEL AND TRACK NOTES.

ARRIVING FROM THE SOUTH. Rustle, a trotter, trained by J. Shaw at Addiugton, has ■ been purchased by an Aucklander, and should arrive from the South iu the course of a day or so. RACED BADLY. R. D. Kennerley brought Silver Bingen back from tlie Cambridge meeting on Saturday, and on Monday made the trip up with Brentlight and Kelp, who had an engagement each at the Northland meeting. Both pacers raced badly, and neither ever looked like being in the money. They are not good propositions.

PLACED AGAIN. The chestnut pacer Our Summer is still a maiden, and it seems he is fated not to win outright. He has a number of placings to his credit, and two thirds were registered by him at Cambridge. He is in at Epsom on Saturday, and if he could be relied upon to leave tlie mark right he would be a very hard horse to beat.

HAS BIG FUTURE. The pacing mare Probationer seems destined to reach good class. She is a most reliable pacer, and a good stayer, and ber improvement is a credit to lier trainer, S. A. Edwards, who drove her admirably in both her winning efforts at Forbury. By winning the Southland Handicap) on Saturday in 3.16 4-5, Probationer established a mile and a half track record at Forbury. She began from 36yds behind. When the field of ten horses had traveised a mile she iiew down the back straight, to be in front before a mile and a quarter was completed. From there on she simply played with her field. The previous best time accomplished on the Forbury Park track was that of Nimbus, who won in 1932 in 3.19. Probationer won the Renown Handicap on the first day of the Dunedin meeting. She is by Wrack from Our Nurse, who is also the dam of another promising pacer in Sure.

ENAWAH'S WITHDRAWAL. The Waikato owner Mr. W. Johnstone apparently holds no two opinions about the handicapping of his horses, and at least two meetings recently he lias felt so keenly on the point that he has withdrawn his horses from engagements. But, while Mr. Johnstone is not the only one who has failed to follow the adjustments at times, other owners have not gone quite so far as to scratch their horses. In deciding not to start Enawah on Saturday, Mr. Johnstone gives as his reason what he considers the absurdity of the present system. By winning at the Cambridge and Northland meeting Enawah went from a 4.29 mark to 4.26, which means that she would be handicapped on the limit of the New Zealand Cup. The winner's portion of the stake attached to the Fergusson Handicap on Saturday is less than £200, and the penalty is 24yds. but Enawah could, providing she is good enough, win the rich New Zealand Cup, and be penalised only 12yds. This is only another of those positions which crop up under the system, and it would scorn that the move of the Canterbury owners and breeders to have a system of fixed penalties introduced, and handicappert. abolished, has good prospects of coming into operation when the present .season ends.

ROTORUA MEETING

EXCELLENT NOMINATIONS,

Tho nominations for the Rotorua nontotalisator meeting, to be liekl on May 20, exceed all expectations. For the , six events 80 entries have been made, and included are such fine performers as Pegaway, Brentlight, Pukemiro, Nell Volo, Explosion, Our Peter, Wee Machine, Homeward, Prince Pedro, Guid Hairst, Te Mahanga, in fact, practically all the best of the provincial horses.

HELPING SMALL CLUBS.

OWNERS SHOULD BE CAREFUL.

If there is one thing in the trotting sport that it would be fairly safe to bet upon it is that nobody understands the present handicapping system, not even some of the handicappers, and if this is so, then owners will recognise how necessary it is that they should make themselves conversant with any position likely to crop up before they start a horse iu a race. No better example of this is needed than was provided at the recent Hawera meeting. At many of these small fixtures the fields arc so small that the meetings cannot bo any good either to clubs or owners. When the Taranaki Trotting Club saw the poor outlook confronting the Hawera meeting, Taranaki at once abandoned its fixture.

But it is with the Hawera meeting this article is concerned. In the 3.0 mile and a quarter and 3.38 mile and a half each day the fields were small, so small, in fact, that on the second day only one dividend was paid, there being but four stables represented. In the 3.0 mile and a quarter, which looked a foregone conclusion for Raider, the owners of Fisher and Gold Seam were not keen on starting their horses, but rather than allow Raider to have a walk-over and in order to assist the club, they started their horses. Raider and Cracker, stable mates, finished first and second, with Fisher third and Gold Seam fourth. Later in the afternoon Fisher finished last in a field of four in the 3.38 mile and a half, in which he was on the limit. Fisher was giving one second away to start in each race, but because his owner started him and finished third in the mile and a quarter lie now goes back to 3.37 in the mile and a half, so that he has been penalised two seconds for a mile and a half for finishing last in a field of four over that distance. It may be said that an owner should know the position before lie starts —the answer to that is the handicapper did not know, because lie handicapped Fisher on the same mark for Taranaki as lie was on at Hawera, and has now been informed by the stipendiary stewards' committee that the horse must be handicapped on another line. If the handicapper does not know the position, then it is a poor lookout for owners. It would seem that the sooner fixed penalties- are introduced, with no discretionary powers allowed handicappers, the better for all. Either that or do away with the system altogether, which probably would be best for the sport.