Some horses in three events

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32941, 13 June 1972, Page 8

Some horses in three events

The programme committee of the Rangiora Trotting Club have virtually provided three races for 2.19 class horses at the club’s meeting on Saturday and some trainers have taken advantage of these conditions by accepting in all three races.

When withdrawals closed yesterday the club was left with no alternative but to give more than a dozen 2min 19sec class horses two starts and, in the case of three horses, three starts. In addition to the Woodend Handicap and Ashley Handicap, 2min 19sec class horses were also eligible under the special conditions for the North Canterbury Stakes, a race for three and four-year-olds. With 15 horses left in the North Canterbury Stakes the club was unable to fill the other two races without including dual acceptors. The situation was made worse when it was decided thave the Ashley Handicap nediately before the North Canterbury Stakes, the second leg of the main double. Three horses—Curragh’s Dream, Frosty Peterson and Hazy Dream—-have been included in the field for both races, although all appear in the list of reserves for the Ashley Handicap. With many of the Rangiora acceptors racing on both days at Nelson, scratchings are likely to be heavy and the club might be left with several less than the 15 acceptors in the North Canterbury Stakes or the near capacity fields carded for the other two races. With the number of good

two-year-olds to race this season, the club may have been better served in providing for them on the programme.