TROTTING NOTES

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22344, 7 March 1938, Page 13

TROTTING NOTES

Reminders Acceptances for the Timaru Trotting Club’s meeting will close'at 9 pan. tomorrow. The single-pool system of betting will be in operation at the Timaru meeting. Handicaps for the Cheviot meeting will be declared to-morrow, and acceptances will be received up to next Monday. Nominations for the New Brighton Challenge Stakes, 1939, will close on March 17. Nominations for the Greymouth meeting w'ill close on March 22. Rehandicaps The following rehandicaps have been declared for the Timaru Trotting Club’s meeting to be held on Saturday:— Temuka Handicap—Walter Wrack, penalised 40 yards, now 84 yards behind. Timaru Cup—Morello, penalised 12 yards, now 12 yards behind. Kingsdown Handicap—Walter Wrack penalised 48 yards, now 84 yards behind. Washdyke Handicap—Frisco Lady penalised 12 yards, now 12 yards behind. A Successful Meeting The Wellington Trotting Club’s meeting on Saturday was one of the most successful held at Hutt Park for some time, for the gate receipts showed an increase on last year’s figures and the totalisator investments improved by more than £2OOO. Punctuality in the running of the different events was observed, and while the fields were not big, winners were hard to find. Many improvements to the racecourse are still badly needed, but these will be attended to within the next 12 months. Debarred From Starting Wee Potis, a good-looking filly by Jack Potts—Wee Audubon, was taken to Wellington by M. B. Edwards, but because the application for registration was got produced, she was not allowed to start. In rule 158 of the Rules of Trotting, the following proviso is made:—“ Before a horse shali start in its first race after being registered, it shall be produced to a stipendiary steward for inspection. The horse shall be presented for inspection in the birdcage, or other appointed place at least one hour previous to the time of starting of the race . . . and at the same time the copy of the application for registration shall be handed to the stipendiary steward . . . Any horse -which has not been examined by a stipendiary steward shall - ■ 5

be ineligible to start in a race.” By nn oversight, the registration papers were left in Christchurch, and the stipendiary steward, Mr F. J. Commons, had no option but to refuse to allow the horse to start Wee Potts is a promising filly, and it may have been lucky for some of those engaged that she was not startedFrlsco Lady Frisco Lady, one of the most attractive mares in commission, has not yet proved her ability to run out a hard two miles race; but she is a brilliant sprinter and proved this in the Au Revoir Handicap, which she won in 2min 43 3-ssec. She began well, was always one of the leading pair, and slipped her field in the straight like a champion. She would possibly have won under anj conditions, but the runner-up. King’s Play, had none of the luck of the running, anti he was forced to cover some extra ground. It was Frisco Boy who made things harder for the Auckland gelding, for when tbe latter was making a very fast run round the top turn Frisco Boy, on the inside, went with him and forced him another sulky out. _ There was no question of team-driving by the reinsmen behind the bracketed horses, for J. Bryce, jun., behind Frisco Boy, would have been lacking in judgment had he allowed the other to pass him. Frisco Boy could not pace it with the other pair in the straight, and his display was not an impressive one in view of his championship engagements. Unruly Pacers Mr A. J. Hastings, starter at Hutt Park on Saturday, did very good work at the barrier, and his task was net an easy one. Two novices in Fenella and Sewana in their engagements gave him more trouble than al] the other horses started at the meeting, and as one race started in front of the grand- ■ stand, patrons were given an idea of ; the patience necessary in the handling of young and inexperienced pacers. Fenella, who was having her first race, broke her over-check in the bird-cage before the race, and the music of the band did not help to calm her. At the barrier she hocked away, tried to kick her driver from the sulky, and at one stage looked likely to ; throw herself down. Her driver. R. B. Berry, exercised a lot of patience, but eventually two sharp cuts with the - whip persuaded the mare that she had * better attend to business. When the barriers were released she began very • quickly and led practically all the way. In her training Fenella is a quiet, well-mannered mare, but travelling by train and boat and the hustle and bustle of a racecourse unsettled her. Sewana was a real problem, and a* he has dene a deal of racing there ir. not the excuse for him that there is for Berry’s novice.

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