TROTTING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 11, 13 January 1934, Page 14

TROTTING.

ACTIVITIES AT EPSOM.

NOVICES BEING EDUCATED. EASY TIME FOR PROVED HORSES. Following the big Clip meeting matters are fairly- quiet at Epsom juet for the moment. But in a week or two, when the programme for the February meeting of the Auckland Trotting Club has made its appearance, there will be a general livening up. Horses who raced at the summer meeting are doing little other than steady jogging, just sufficient to keep them from running into superfluous flesh, and at any time trainers can get ready to tune them up. Following the February meeting there will be plenty of racing ahead, as the country circuit then gets under way, and there will be meetings at short intervals.

However, while the older and proved horses are in light exercise only, trainers in the majority of instances are getting novices educated to the racing business, or are knocking the corners oif older horses who have not raced recently, and who have been placed in commission again. Interest in the novices is always sustained, nhd despite the fact the early opinions are rarely borne out when the time comes to race the always promising maidens.

MAY GET ANOTHER. W. Dye, who took Indian Author over after the Cup.meeting, will probably add to his small team in a day or two, as he expects to get a maiden by either Glandore or Travis Axworthy 6ent up to him from the South. In the past he has been content to confine hie attention to Moko Girl, but if he increases his responsibilities to three horses he will have plenty to do. TEACHING THEM. G. Webb, who daes practically no racing of horses himself, but is invariably busy putting youngsters through their first lessons, is spending a lot of time upon Bandy, a promising novice trotter by Nelson Bingen—Nancy O'Neill. It may be some time before Bandy develops that speed necessary to win races, but straightout trotters take a long time to make, and they cannot lie bustled along in the early stages of their education to the same extent as pacers. A LEAN PERIOD. There ie no more attentive trainer at' Epsom than C. G. Lee, but lor some time now he has experienced a very lean period. A few seasons ago he had «ome good wins with Nelson Diilon, Florent and Tiger Salve, but -since those horses finished their racing careers Lee has not had a very strong stable. During recent months he has handled a number of novices, both' pacers and trotters, and put thorn through their primary education, but it takes a lot of time and patience to make a green horse into a money-winner. All trainers havo their quiet times. NOT GOOD ENOUGH. After a workout on Tuesday A. Newdick decided not to take Dan Direct to the Wellington meeting, as the roan horse did not go well enougli to suggest he would have much chance of winning a race. Dan Direct seems to either have lost all form, or his speed is on the wane, because he has not put up a decent performance for a long time. In his final tryout to decide whether he would be sent to Wellington or not Dan Direct wae accompanied by Fisher. Dan Direct paced in his usual bold style, but there was a lack of dash about his effort. GETTING A TEAM. C. Smith is gradually getting a team together, although it hae to be admitted there is no money in sight for his horses in the near future. The only one he has ready to race is the disappointing Mazda, who was handed over to him after the Cup meeting. She is a neat little mare with a good turn of speed, and up to a mile and a quarter is able to put up fairly good time on a dry track. But she is not a good one, and Smith has no easy task in front of him to make her pay her way. Darkie Huon, by Torpedo Huon, is coming along nicely in his education, and others in the team are two maidens by Nelson Bingen, and one by Blue Mountain King. NO APPEARANCE YET. The next attraction for followers of trotting in Auckluud will be the meeting at Alexandra Park on February 17 and 21. In view of the small fields in the better class races at the reeent Cup meeting, the A.T.C. committee ie faced with a rather difficult problem in arranging classes which will draw not only good horses, but a sufficient number to satisfy and provide keen racing. There are plenty of horses in training, particularly those competing in slow-class events, and it is from these that the future champions are unearthed. Owing to the handicapping system owners are always anxious to know as early as .possible the classes for future programmes, and the bill of fare for next month at Epsom is being awaited.

WHAT WILL IT BE?

So' far there has been no intimation by the Auckland Trotting Club of any alteration being made to the systems of totalisator betting, and it may be that the club will continue the win and place totalisators. However, another experience such as place betters had at the Cup meeting would not do the eport any good, because the public do not appreciate backing winners and having tke amount of their investment returned without any profit. The general opinion is that the committee will note what happens at other meetings where the old one-two system has been reverted to, and if more satisfactory than the operating of win and place machine, the Auckland club will also go back to the old order.

SADDLE OR SULKY.

It is rather interesting to note that a Sydney writer has drawn attention to the fact that some horses go faster under saddle than in harness. There may be a few instances where euch lias proved the case, but all the records go to show that the general run of horses go very much faster with the weight off their back. The records of the pacers and trotters in America show that a horse hitched to a sulky can travel about ten seconds faster to the mile than when travelling under eaddle. The margin is not so large in New Zealand, where the tracks are smaller. This suggests that a saddle horse can hold speed nearly ae well as a harness horse on a small track, and hence the comparative proximity of the records. In America, where the best racing takes place on mile tracks, the harness horse can achieve a greater rate of speed and hold on to it.

HAROLD LOGAN

According to a Sydney paper Mr. E. F. C. Hinds, owner of Harold Logan, is anxious to secure matches for his gelding in Australia. In a letter to Mr. Frank Howell, of the New South Wales Trotting Club, Mr. Hinds intimates "that as there has been much talk of what Walla Walla, Louis Direct, Gipsy Pronto and others can do, it would be of public interest for a challenge match to be arranged between the best horses." He also states that as his horse is used to racing on grass tracks he would like matches to be arranged for both grass and cinders. The committee of the New South Wales Trotting Club was to have dealt with the suggestion last week, according to the Sydney "Sportsman," which adds: "There is no doubt that .the presence of Harold Logan in Australia would be a great boon to trotting, but then again liis owner is not likely to bring him across unless the inducement is there, and what are the owners of the crack horses' here going to say about it*

FOR AUSTRALIA. At Addington J. J. Kennerley has an, attractive two-year-old trotter in his stable by Native King (Nelson Bingen—Norice) from Onyx, who was by Logan Pointer from Cameos, a daughter of Galindo and Thelma. The two-year-old in Kennerley'e establishment hae been entered 'for the trotter's section of the Australian Derby, and it Jβ more than likely that Kennerley will take the two-year-old to the Commonwealth next season to fulfil the Derby engagement there.

OWNERS' RISKS. By finishing second in the .'Summer Handicap at Greymouth, Wahriooka lost his maiden status for a prize of 24eove, and came back 60yds in the novice trottets' race on the second day of the meeting. Wahnooka received his penalty under Clause 12 of the new handicapping syetem, which makes it plain that maiden horses, i.e., horses that have . never . won, shall not alter their aSsessments_ until they win a race, unless they finish in a class faster than is set out on Line 6 of the table, in which event the time mark from which they finish second shall become the basis of their future assessment. On the first day at Greymouth Wahnooka ran second in the Summer Handicap, which was scheduled as a 5.4 class for two miles, although it was only a fourteen furlongs race. A 5.4 class is Line 8 on the trotters' table, so Wahnooka had to be reassessed at 5.4 for two miles, and 3.46 for one mile and a half. Owners racing pacers and trotters out of' their classes take grave risks of paying dearly for their enterprise.