AUCKLAND.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9432, 2 June 1896, Page 2

AUCKLAND.

May 25. Present indications show that the Auckland Racing Club will put up a record with their North New Zealand Grand National Meeting this year. The large acceptances received on Friday night for the Grand National Hurdle Race and Great Northern Steeplechase must have surprised the most sanguine, and they are indeed worthy of the high-sounding title of the meeting. The defections from the Hurdle Race are Mutiny* Gondolier* Kapua,

Icone, Panoply, Unwlopogaw. tteMey, The PluK Chris. Waituna. Free Lance, and S Raven, while Gondolier, Ika The Plug, Waituna, Ben Lomond and Aughadowey are slraek out of the Steeplechase. Tins leaves th* splendid number of twenty-Uree m the " little stick " event and twenty-two in she

o'-oss country race. - With Dante, Liberator and Donald p* MoKinnon at the head of the list- accept--au«. forth. Hurdle Race «c*« .» well ;< «pre«mted. as the .Utting-th. tno alone fo, Juki endow the race witb£« ™T gre.tes m! Q far K fc Kilda lias not oo interest. oo tar "'•• , ... ml . , on A the forthcoming Ai been jumped, am* » w«ek will enable *» to gauge hi* P, hance with mo- «*»»?* W »* the iv \ -P a gelding is a great fancy, tv, &v rtl™ who declare that Fabulist re The colt is trained in al evantei , is well trea ted on the co pVlVa " e 'wei;>ht, and Rae has given him a he With regard to the other pi ?°" horses in the list, Aughadowey, must be tl spected. He has eight pounds less than lie le won -with in the First Takapuna Hurdle m Race, and is a horse that is improving, tl: Ongo has an outside chance, and on Taka- ti< puiia running Aughadowey should beat .tl Bombardier. A strong Napier tip for the raoe A is Tally-ho, a five-year-old mare by Fore- tc runner, owned by Mr D. St. John. At the la recent Napier Park meeting, it will be ti remembered, she won the First Hurdle Race tl with 9st iOlb in the saddle, and on the tl second day ran second to Kanri Gum in p the Second Hurdles with lOst 101b. If all fc we hear about Hopgarden is correct, he n must take no end of beating, but after he b arrives here it will be easy to sum up his h chance. Waiongona, who figures among the ci light weights, is the property of Mr J. J. t* R°issell, of New Plymouth. He has not yet cj arrived here. The race is as open as ever, £?< but those who stand out at present with the h best claims to my mind are Hopgarden, a Liberator, Aughadowey, Tally-ho and b Levanter. * With regard to the Steeplechase, I have a o very strong liking for Liberator, who must c be hard to beat. Mr W. Dougla3, having v purchased Tiritea, has two formidable 1 strings to his bow in Mutiny and the latest s addition to his string. The popular fancy c of the pair here is Tiritea. A fast horse 3 'ike Barnardo should have no difficulty in h winning as easily as Liberator did last year, 0 providing, of course, that Mr Rutherford's d horse can get over the fences. There is no I reason why he should not. The other morn- c ing Carbuncle came a nasty cropper while 1 being schooled, but she is none the worse for 1 it. Oα the score of weight she is nicely f used. The connections of Ditto are con- 1 fident about their chance. The race is very v open, but of the whole lot engaged I don't r think anything reads with a better chance c than Liberator. ' < During the last few days the West Coast c mare, First Sight, has been on the cour3e, 3 and has made a favourable impression. She c jumps in capital style. k Another new arrival in Raupo has been 1 put through a course of schooling, and ao has t Donald McKinnon, Kildare, Ditto, Augha- £ dowey, Paddy O'Rorke and Miss Nelson. < One morning Donald McKinnon baulked £ at the water jump, but he got over at the next attempt. i Levanter looks in great heart. His stable ] companion Three Star has been schooled s regularly, but he does not jump too -well; 1 After all Hopgarden waa not on board the ' s.s. Btirrnmbeefc last week. It appears that ] the weather was too rough for him to be i shipped. . _ • AMdugh Chris is a non-acceptor for the ; Grand National Hurdle !Race, I hear that 1 she is to be brought to Auckland for other ' events to be run at the meeting. . The J. B. Williamson stable has supported , Aughadowey for the Grand National Hurdle race coupled with Ballyhooley and Ditto for ; the Great Northern Steeplechase. They have taken 500 to 2£ Aughadowey and Ditto and 500 to 2£ Aughadowey and Ballyhooley. The last named is to be brought over from Sydney in the course of a few days' time. The New Plymouth owned mare, Belle, wag put up to auction on Friday ylast at Messrs Hunter and Nolan's yards. She was knocked down to J Thorpe, at £50. After the sale it was given out that Belle was bought in on behalf of S. McGuinness, to settle up a partnership between himself and J. J. Russell. Whether such is the case I cannot say. i The Aoteroa-Waotu Racing Club held . their annual winter meeting on Thursday, - May 21st;, at Te Awamutu racecourse. All i the officials of the club were natives. A . number of Tisitors from Hamilton and othei , , Waikato townships were present. The racecourse, which is a natural one, is one of j the best in the Province, skirted by a i gradually sloping hill. Following are r results of the different events :—Handicap k Hurdles—Mr H. Hannon's Long Roper, s lOst 121b, 1; Mr H. Wells's Midge, list, 2. The Maiden Plate was won by Mr Hannon's Castashore, Bst 71b. Aoteroa-Waotu Cup— J Castashore, Bst 7lb, 1; Mr Wilson's Arena, 1 7st 101b.' 2. Flying Stakes—Mr Corboy's 1 Astronomer, 6at 71b, 1; Mr Wilson's Arena, fc 2. The Consolation Race was won by Mr s Harwood's Laddie. Omararakotuku fell in * the Hurdle Race throwing his jockey heavily, '* but the latter luckily escaped without being n seriously hurt. * A most annoying error crept into my notes c of last week in reference to the brood mare 9 Atalanta. It should have read that she was * in foal to Cuiraseier or. Orestes, having been '• served by both horses. * Astronomy, the winner of the Flying Stakes at the Aoteroa-Waotu meeting, is a ie two-year-old geldiog got by Castor. He is owned by Mr F. Corboy. o May 26.

There was a good deal of in and out running during the two days of the Takapuna Winter Meeting, and this no doubt accounts for some of the dividends paid. Donald McKinnon's victory in the Steeplechase made such an impression on the onlookers that last night he came in for lots of snpport for the double of the North New Zealand Grand National Hurdle Race and Steeplechase, and he is now as good a favourite as anything for both races. To-day Gillie was scratched for the Great Northern Steeples. Among the starters at the Takapuna meeting who can have no chance of success in the big events at the North New Zealand Grand National Meeting are Bonovoree, Grenadier, Ida, Captivity, Forella, Ideagram, Paddy O'Rourke, Ditto and Clarence. This morning George Hope had Mutiny, Tiritea and Chris on the course at Ellerslie, and they were treated to light exercise. Hopgarden was also on the course. All looked well. The two-year-old colt Woodstock has been gelded, j Mr Morrin has thirty-one of his mares at Wellington Park in foil. Word received from Sydney states that Osculator is looking well after his spell, and he is about to be put in work again. Sabretache has improved, and it is predicted he will win a race ere long. St. Kilda has won the Britannia Handicap at the Takapuna winter meeting three successive years.