42 Meetings In Next Fortnight

Press, Volume C, Issue 29704, 23 December 1961, Page 4

42 Meetings In Next Fortnight

A busy fortnight of holiday racing, in which 42 racing and trotting dates will be crammed into 14 days, begins today with meetings at Invercargill, Wingatui, Awapuni, New Plymouth and Te Awamutu. In the fortnight there will be 14 days of trotting and 28 days of racing, for more than £190,000 in stakes. Holiday racing in Canterbury will begin next Tuesday, with the Ashburton Trotting Club’s Boxing Day meeting, where the main attractions will be the £l2OO Ashburton Cup and the New Zealand Champion Stakes,, a £lOOO event for three-year-olds.

The South Canterbury Jockey Club’s meeting will begin at Washdyke on Wednesday and continue next Saturday, when the £BOO Timaru Cup will be run. The final holiday attraction in the province will be the Canterbury Park Trotting Club’s New Year meeting on January 1 and 2. Major attractions at Addington will be the £llOO New Year Handicap on the first day and the £llOO H. H. Wauchoo Handicap. ' the £lOOO Hornby Handicap and the £7OO Cross Memorial Stakes on the second. Other trotting meetings tn the South Island over the holidays will be at Invercargill, Gore, Westport, Reefton and Greymouth. On the West Coast the major event will be the Greymouth Trotting Cup, to be run on the second day of the club’s meeting on January 6. Galloping meetings in the South Island will be at Wingatui. Washdyke. Waikouaiti. Wyndham. Oamaru. Invercargill and Kurow. At Wingatui the main attractions will be the D.J.C. Handicap and James Hazlett Gold Cup todav and the £l5OO Dunedin Cup on the second day on Tuesday. RICHEST EVENTS Easily the richest and most Important meetings in the country over the holidays will be at Ellerslie and Epsom. The Auckland Racing Club, racing at Ellerslie, will distribute £54.100 in stakes over the four days of Its meeting, on December 26 and 28 and January 1 and 2. The Auckland Trotting

Club, racing at night at Epsom. will distribute £21,100 in two days on December 27 and 30. The richest event at Ellerslie will be the two-mile Auckland Cup, worth £10,850 and a gold cup valued at £l5O. Other big race* will be the £3500 Queen Elizabeth Handicap and £5OOO Great Northern Derby on Tuesday, ♦he £2OOO Summer Cun on the second dav and the £7500 ’’ailwav Handicap and £2OOO Great Nhrthe’n Foal Stakes on the third day. On the fourth dav on Janu. ary 2 the programme will include the £2OOO Nathans’ Memorial Handicap and £2OOO Great Northern Oaks. At Epsom the major event will be the £5lOO Auckland Trotting Cup on the .first night. On the second night the main race will be the £3OOO Champion Handicap. Five of the 13 runners In the Auckland Trotting Cup are from the Christchurch district. Thev are Samantha, from Yaldhufst, Takitimu (New Brighten), King Hal (Belfast), Aldora (Yaldhurst). and Smokeaway (Templeton). The South Island also has at least three runners in the galloping cun at Ellerslie— Uanmai, Compensate and Studio—and one in the Great Northern Derby—the Riccartop three-year-old Burgos. Another North Island meeting with a particular Canterbury interest is the Manawatu Racing Club's meeting at Awapuni. which began last week, will continue today and finish next Wednesdav. Quite Able, from Rieearton. and Gay Defoe, from Washdyke, are in the £2lOO Manawatu Cup today and Coral

Ring, Hand Over and Flying Time also have engagements at the meeting.