TROTTING Seven Auckland Cup horses at Addington tonight

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33407, 13 December 1973, Page 9

TROTTING Seven Auckland Cup horses at Addington tonight

Seven Auckland Cup candidates are included in the field of 16 which will contest the Atlantic and Pacific Travel Free-for-all at the Commonwealth Carnes equalisator meeting to be held at Addington Raceway this evening.

Trophies valued at more than $2OOO will be> attached to the nine races, which will cater; for most of the horses racing in major events' during the ChristmasNew Year holiday period.

The meeting, arranged in conjunction by the Canterbury Trotting Owners’ and Breeders’ Association and Christchurch Round Table No. 1, will start at 4.30 p.m.. with the final event about 8 40 p.m. A supporting event will be a relay race over a circuit of the track between members of sporting clubs. Each runner will cover 200 m pulling a sulky carrying a team-mate. The heats were run a fortnight ago, and created considerable interest. The winning team will receive $4OO, which will go to the funds of the club.

The organisers of the meeting are hopeful that a four-figure sum will be raised towards the funds of the Commonwealth Games. Feature race The feature race, which will start at 7.10 p.m., will be run under free-for-all conditions over 2600 m. Among the entries are Arapaho. Dwayne, Globe Bay, Manaroa, Manawaru. Royal Ascot, and Scottish Charm—seven of the best-performed pacers in New Zealand today. All have been entered for the Auckland Cup, which will be run on December 29, and considerable interest will centre on their efforts.

Among their rivals will be Why Bill, one of the early favourites for the $5250 Ashburton Cup on Boxing Day, Noble Lord, Speedy Guest, Golden Guest, and Johnny Kirk, all of which have been entered for feature events to be run during the Christmas-New Year period.

There will be races for fillies in both the two and three-year-old age groups, and also events for colts and

geldings of the same ages,! as well as an event for* tightly-assessed trotters, j which will see Bachelor! Tom, Tunza Time, Le Char,! and other form horses com-1 peting Stand opening The new public grandstand at Rangiora Raceway will) be opened officially on! Saturday by the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr May). The opening will take place after the presentation of the trophy attached to the Rangiora Cup. Also attending will be the president of the New Zealand Trotting Conference (Mr R. J. Rolfe), and other members of the conference executive. By Annbro Del Del’s Dream gained her second win from as many starts when she won the Debutante Stakes at the Thames meeting last Saturday. Trained by J. E. Smith, she is by Armbro Del from Rosa Dream, one of the first mares by Lumber Dream to go to the stud. Rosa Dream has gained prominence as the dam of the speedy but rather erratic three - year - old, Mighty Gay. Solid effort Imasport, a winner at Addington Raceway a week earlier, did well to finish seventh in the J. Corrigan Handicap at Waimate last Saturday after starting from 30m. The pace was a strong one and it was late in the event that Imapsort put in an appearance. He was running on boldly towards the finish and will have to improve very little to be a top chance in the President’s Handicap at the Rangiora meeting on Saturday, when he will start from the limit. Imasport is trained at Bumham by B. R. Gliddon, who is enjoying a fairly successful season. “In the wars” The former Christchurch trainer-driver, K. D. Murray, was “in the wars” at Cranbourne, near Melbourne, last

week. In an incident-packed day Murray was given a two-week suspension, a $25! fine and a hefty punch in; the throat from an irate j punter. Murray was given! the suspension for careless; driving, causing interference! to Wongala Pride, driven oyj B. McConnell. He was later; fined $25 for alleged mis-; conduct towards McConnell; outside the stewards’ room. Then, after the final race, a bearded man strode towards ■ Murray and threw a punch which caught Murray in the! throat. Penalty-free Astro Blue and Noodlum, which dead-heated for first in the New Zealand Golden Slipper Stakes on Saturday at Waimate, both received $1017.50 as their share of the stake. Neither horse was penalised, dead-heats being regarded as second placings. Had Noodlum won outright; he would not have been penalised, as two-year-olds are. not eligible for reassessment' after their third win, subject to the stake being within certain limits, which was the case at Waimate. Noodlum will escape a penalty for his next win provided the stake; is less than $7OOO. Retired Mr R. M. Mugford, of Aylesbury, this season decided not to renew his trainer’s licence. Aged 91, he was probably the oldest licensed trotting trainer in New Zealand. “I raced only for fun, and never took it too seriously,” he said recently. Mr Mugford recalled that he raced horses some 55 years ago when he had a property at Halswell. He has been at Aylesbury for 50 years, and has bred and raced quite a few horses, probably the best of them being Richard Hanover. However, some 50 years ago he enjoyed success with both Final Leave and Bundaberg. At present, he is breeding from two mares, Dianthus Girl and Fashion Creed, and owns a number of young horses, most of which have been leased out.

Sway Boy is being ac-

claimed as the best pacer; seen in the Auckland district! for some time. He gained his; sixth win from seven starts when he won the Thames Centennial Mile last Saturday at Alexandra Park. He' is a candidate for the Tairua Pace, the second leg of the! T.A.B. double on the second! night of the meeting on Saturday, and even though he will start from 10m he will; be a commanding favourite. Trained at Albany by A. and D. K. Gibbons for the Chatswood Syndicate, he is a four-year-old gelding by Scottish Command from Sway Girl, the dam of Swayette, by County Antrim, a good winner when trained at Addington by L. O. Thomas,! from Killarney Girl, by! Swordsman.