"SPECTATOR" IM THE NORTH.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 9990, 21 March 1898, Page 2

"SPECTATOR" IM THE NORTH.

THE WOODVILLE MEETING. The Annual -Meeting of the Woodville District Jockey Club, held on Wednesday and Thursday, ranks amongst most successful of the many reunions that have taken place on the club's course, which, by the way, was greener andfresher looking than any of the race tracks I have seen for some time past. Being a seven furlong course, nioely situated and level, the horses can be seen and colours distinguished without' the aid of glasses. The fields were very good if we except those of the hurdle raoes, and the Ruabine Hack and Railway Stakes events. The racing was of the most interesting character, horses being engaged from all parts of tbe West Coast of tbe North Island, from Wanganui to Woodville and from Woodville to Wellington. As pointed out by mc on a previous occasion, Woodville is the terminus .of the Master-ton-Wellington line, and is about midway between Wanganui and Napier, and it will always bo found that when the prize money is made good excellent fields will be seen there. The extension of the railway from Masterton should make a great difference, and this the powers that be recognise, so much so that they have had an architect, Mr Cooper, froip Napier through with a view to improving the stand. Hand contracts are to be made for the erection of new offices for stewards, secretary, and the Press, and for luncheon, weighing, and jockey rooms, all very much required. The enlargement of the saddling paddock and lawn, the shifting of the stand, and, indeed, the expenditure of a round sum of money in the way of increasing the accommodation of the patrons of the club and the betterment of the racecourse property as a whole, are amongst the contemplated undertakings of the immediate future. There areno meetings on the Calendar more popular than that of Woodville, and as a consequence the attendance is usually large for a country gathering. Then the management is excellent, and the officials deserve the success they meet with, for they try to excel. The catering is good, and the handicapping and starting are placed in the hands of capable men. With fine weather, good fields from all points of the compass, little to cavil at with regard to the handicapping or starting, it is not to be wondered at that success was so marked; and the financial results, bearing in mind the amount of racing that ia being carried on, must be gratifying to all concerned. The sura of £4666 on the first day and #1243 on tha second day, making a total of £8908, was passed through the totalisators, as against £8636 last year. \ *

Trickster's son Nukurau (Maori for gammon) was too good for the opposition he met with in the Trial Handicap. First Result is not the horse he was. Alionora may some day make a useful mare, but Te Huru, judging from his performances bath days, should make, a very useful horse, for he has* some aiste. He is a full brother to Undine, and was bred at Te Mahanga. It was hard luck to run up ap»inst Nukurau, who was iv excellent form and probably a better horse than ever he was before- Toriki was too alow for Opai at the difference in their weights in both tbe First and Second .Hurdle Races when it came to racing,-and the small turns were against the big son of Torpedo. Rodara ran as he did at Wanua. »i» very badlyi It was quite expected that he would make a better display at Woodville in the "Second Handicap Hack Hurdle Race, as he showed good form on the flat on the first day. He, however, commenced tailing away from;the start, and at the initial hurdle nearly fell, and was never in the hunt. Opai is an improving gelding, but with something to carry him along he might not have done so well. He was raised 171b for his first win, but it would

have taken another half stone to have brought him and Toriki together on the Woodvflle course. Wish appeared to act badly at the turns when runningin the Grandstand Handicap, in which she was a strong favourite, but next day, in a weak field, won the Ruahine Hack Handicap somewhat easily, the erratic Marvellous in that race, being nicely got away by Mr Piper with the others. Thrush, who won the Grand Stand Handicap, was neglected on the totalisator, and paid the big dividend of £17. The Woodville Cup produced a very pretty race. Whario and King's Bowman ran themselves out in the first mile, and when racing commenced it resolved itself into a contest between Bona Fide and Primula. The latter wasinterferred with more than once, a_d Bona Fido had to come on the outside of his field turning into the straight; and in the run home Primula failed to give a start of a length and a-half which he had a furlong, from home. From post to post the mile "and a quarter was run in2.log. Rip Van Winkle, who is on the improve, ran up well at the finish. Many thought Primula should have won. A surprise was in store in the uext race, for a rank outsider in Wiritea, who, however, ran well in the opening event, bowled over Te, Huru, Splinter, who was favourite, not showing up, nor The Archer, another well-backed one, either. The dividend, £32 6s, was not participated in by the stable followers, who, howeve*, staked heavily on the horse in hia first essay. Russley Belle ran well in this race. A protest for inconsistent running against Wiritea was, after long discussion, dismissed, and very properly. Titoki maintained his Wanganui form and won the Borough Handicap, White makiu*? a showy and rather close finish with Warnote and Maid Marion after sneaking up next the. rails. With the same luck at getting up on the inside he might have landed Titoki, with his double penalty, winner of the Electric Handicap. As it was the race produced a most exciting contest, and only the judge could determine whether Gold Cup, Maid Marion or Titoki was second. He placed them in the order named. Titoki's name appeared in more than one report as having run second. Slumber, who had run badly in a previous race, the Grand Stand Handicap, was only prevented from creating a surprise through Progress wearing her down at the finish, for nothing else had a chance. Progress is a daughter of the defunct Musket horse Archer, and Peabloom, and is a useful, though, I am told, a delicate, mare. She ran two good races, but in her second race was put but by Te Huru, who is a true goer. Coin showed a rare dash of pace for 'about four tnrlonga in the .Electric Stakes but shut up like a knife in the straight. He is a Louis dOr all over. After the running I of Russley Belle on the first day, when she appeared to get disappointed, I was quite prepared to see her win the Stewards' Hack Race, and was much surprised at the dividend (£2l 6s) she paid, and Nukurau again showed a bold front in this event, Primula had a better run in the Autumn Handicap than in the Cup, and Bona Fid© waa not so fortunate, but the pair were again first and second. Lorelei rah quite like a back number, and this mare has coat her followers a lot of iponey lately. Whario ran so well at the finish that it is perhaps a mistake that his rider did not again force the pace instead of waiting and getting on the heels of the others. When Splinter won at the second time of asking, the owner of Nukurau protested on the ground of inconsistent running, and the protest was thrown out. Splinter ran prominently on the first day,all the way. Return and Ben Varrey had the High Weight Handicap all to themselves after running to the home turn, when Straybud retired, and though Ben Varrey finished better than usual with her, Return won with something to spare. This brought a pleasant meeting to a close. A considerable sum of. money was received by wire for investment on various races, but some of those who wired were too late. One would-be investor on Russley Belle, when she paid the fine dividend of £21 6s, and who sent two pounds, would be much disappointed when he received a wire to inform him of the fact that his commission came to hand after time. The racecourse at no distant date will be connected by wire with outside districts. Messengers were running to and from the course throughout both days of the meeting, and tbe investment department was worked with all possible expedition under the circumstances, Hastings, March 14. The general opinion up this way is that Vedette, who was shipped for Sydney at Wellington on Saturday, has been favourably treated in the races in whioh he is engaged on the other side, particularly in the Doncaster Handicap; and my own opinion is that he only requires to be aa well as he was at Taranaki and Wanganui to give a good account of himself. I related last week that I made the time for the mile that he ran at Wanganui loiin 42gsec, as against the lmin 42aec of the official watch holder, and may say that I timed him to run the first half mile of the race in 50seo dead, and the three-quarters in lmin lbfaw \ and he was running under a strong pull all the way. Whether there is any truth in the report I cannot say, but it was 'stated that he had run a mile and a half, in private, in faster time than recorded for the Taranaki J.C. Handicap, whioh he won in gmin 36|sec. How he will fare when be gets into "town ball" company remains to be seen, but I question whether we have anything faster off the mark; and fit and well it would be hard to find In New Zealand a batter representative over short courses, whatever ne may do over the longer ones. • An item of interest to Hawka's Bay sportsmen and breeders will be the announcement that Mr G. P. Donnelly has secured the services of the imported Gold Reef for a couple of seasons, completing negotiations while through at the Wanganui Meeting. Gold Reef ha. no doubt been secured to take the {tface of Robinson Crusoe, whose obituary was penned a few weeks since. ' The foals I have seen by Robinson Crusoe are full of promise. Those by Gold Reef are highly spoken of indeed, and he should be a good substitute. Just prior to~the Wanganui Meeting I heard on good authority that Mr T. Scott could have had 500ga for Plain Bill had be been disposed to sell. Some enthustastiQ wasters place bin oa the same pedestal as

St. Simon, the Auckland crack, but while that is a large order, an estimate upon whioh* experts would differ, I think it may bo fairly claimed that two better geldings at four years old have not been seen in the colony as hurdle horses.

Just now at Hasting, and at stables within a radius of a iV*w miles, there are upwards of 100 horses in work,, and some twenty odd are visitors to the training track at headquarters of a morning. I have seen more, and better horses, too ; indeed, a big percentage of those in commission are quite of the leather-flapping order, and there are far too many unsound ones on the tracks to please their owners and trainers. The tracks are largely responsible for this state of affairs, and the long spell of dry weather has prevented the custodian of the Hawke'g Bay J.C.s reserve doing justice to the gallops under his charge, while private gallops could not be properly kept. The rain last week made all the ploughed gallops . too heavy, and the grass ones are not m good order for trial work. As a coiisequence,the course proper on the outside has been used by trainers who liked to pay for the privilege. I understand that £1 is the charge per gallop for a single horse, and ten shillings for each additional one from any one stable. It is a wonder to mc that the Hawke's Bay Jockey Club have not a better grass gallop than the one in use at present. Evidently a large number of horses have been worked on the different gallops during the seasop, and the difficulty of maintaining a good carpet of trass is probably greater than one would at rst suppose. Bush Rose, full-brother to Primula, wa» purchased after, the Woodville J«f_eting, for a patron, by T. 'QuinUVan j u_.» anil has joined that trainer's team at Hastings. Donovan, who was-purchased by Quin- * livan sen. while at Wanganui, has been doing useful work at Hastings since his arrival. Petroline, who was sold at Wanganui, should make a good mare for West Coast i racing. I would prefer her to Donovan on actual merit. Both should pay their way in their new ownership.

Mr Douglas is having a number of his horses worked in view of visiting Australia, and Mutiny, who has been up a few weeks,, i_ going along nicely and should soon run into shape. Report has it that Toriki was re-purchased from Rollo by Mr J. R. MoDonald on Mr Douglas's account, but this is not correct. I cannot at present divulge the name of ihe purchaser of Opai, who changed bands at the Woodville races. It is more that, probable that this gelding will be nominated for hurdle races at the Canterbury J.O.s Autumn Meeting. Opai's dam, Polly, claims a number of winners. Opai has not done a great deal of schooling and may, therefore, be expected to improve. Mr Nixon, owner of Sedgebrook, talked of giving that horse a long spell after the Wanganui meeting, but Belcher told mc that he would perhaps keep him on for the Thompson Handicap at Wellington, as he was none the worse for his fall in the Wanganui Cup. I hardly fancy that there will be a fair show of Hawke's Bay horses for the Canter' bury Jockey Club's Autumn Meeting. It is impossible to indicate what they will be just now however. It is a pity that the Canterbury Jockey Club did not have a; weight-for-age race at a mile and a quarter in their Autumn programme instead of in the Midsummer one. A race between • Euroolydon, Waiuku, St. Paul, Multiform and Gold Medallist would be interesting, and a trio of these horses would almost, certainly have been drawn Waiuku and St. Paul _re better horses now than they were in the spring at New Zealand Cup time.