NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1021, 10 January 1911, Page 7

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

[By Glencoe.]

Nominations for tho Pahiatua Racing Club's annual meeting eloso this evening. ' ■ Under the new 1 Gaming Act, which increases the amount payable per cent on the totalisator returns, tho Stratford Club had to pay no less than <£305 totalisator tax this .year, as against «lißs tho' previous year; . • . leading jockeys, are kept- as busy in Franco .as in, England., 1 Up 'P t)ie beginningl of November Neil) had 'ridden in 71G races this' year, winning 156, whilo G. Stern won 117 of tho 553 races in v.'liich he rode. C. Cliilds was next with 73 wins.. A. Oliver was tho principal winning jockey during the holiday meetings when ho rodo cigiit winners. Other prominent horsemen who wero successful at tho samo time wero H. Gray, (six winners), 1\ D. jloncs. (four), and W. Young (four). That handsome littlo black horse, Swimming Belt, has been sold, and will in future bo trainfcd by H. Carr, at Invercargill. Tho hor'so was shipped south by tho Maori last night. • His- departure will leayo Mr. J.' l Monk with only;. .one representative 'to 'carry his ' colours.- .at .Trentham and.,that,..will bo.Gijfsy Belle. i During tlio-yearling 'safes at 'Auckland 'Mr.' P. Desmond, formerly, ij.wncr.of Whetumarama, purchased a couplo of. youngsters by Soult. Presumably, therefore, tho ex-Feilding sportsman intends entering tho rnnlcs of owners again. . Ono striko (says an English exchange) causes nioro misery and distress than all tho betting that has taken placo sinco the beginning of the, world. Thirteen of tlie sixteen winners of the A.R.C. Royal Stakes' have been horses trained by R. J. 'Meson. ... i The Charlemagne ll—Janet filly which Mr. J. Buckley purchased at Christeburch in November last is to join tho Porirua stable's immediately after the Wellington Cup meeting. ■\fc a meoting of' Stewards of tho Wellington: Racing Club, .held yesterday afternoon,;- Several'.'npplicatibns ■ for 'the re-. morale of Mirafiar disqualifications' were deaif'wiijli!Jn' 'eh'cK ( case 'a fine 6f"vfi2 was imposed, "and. 1 the' dikiunlificati'tin removed. ... . . Sportsmen in.the Auckland district are said to bo laughing at tho expenso of the buyer of ono of tho highest-priced lots at tho Glonora Park sale.- It appears that tho said buyer . was trotting a well-known southern buyer whom bo thought would be suro, to givo a big price for the yearling in question, and his dismay was stated to bo very noticenblc when the southern buyer suddenly dropped out and left the northerner in possession of .the yearling ho did not want. Mr. G. D. Greenwood, owner of .Danube and Miss Mischief, is at present spending a holiday in the Auckland, district, and, until .ho coines south, nothing will bo known as to liis intentions for. rrentham. Chief interest is,'of course/'centered in Danube and Miss' Mischief, and the'bulk of peoplo .apparently forget that the southern owner has another rcprebentainc ill tilfi Cup, and that .is Lady Reina, Gsu 71b. Her best performance to date is tiic good second which she ran to Martino in tho C-.J.C. Oaks, which was run in record time. _ A considerable number of visiting horses aro expected at Trentham by the end of tho present week. J- H. Prosser is the latest to book accommodation, anrl lie has ordered eight boxes for Ills team, which leaves on Saturday morning. It is roportcd from Auckland that Master Theory (Soult-Romola) has changed-hands for 400 guineas. At the Leicester meeting on December 1 (=avs a Homo exchange) a .curious incident . happened' in • coimecHofi. with the Belvoir Steeplechase.' During/rthat race Baker's Lad fell, and J. Nightingall, who was riding, prevailed upon one ot tlie mounted policemen to allow lum to on his horso and sit in front of hun in order to avoid a walk through the slush to tho paddock. After going a littlo way Nightingall's spurs pricked the horse, and, in his p lingo forward, ho parted, company with tlie policeman. The officer of the law, however, stuck to \iglitingal!, and a double fall was the result. In the tumble the heavier weight ,of the policeman caused a little damage to Nightingall's shoulder, and the pair, after all had to walk back, taking with them a liberal plastering of_ mud. Good Form, a half-sister to Sir t.olo, has developed into a' very racj-looking thoroughbred, aiul towards the back ,cml of tho season she ought to bo enuai to winning a good race or. two. She won -i race at the Takapau meeting last month and at Waikanao she was unlucky 'liot to win a double, for after being badly left ill her first race she was only beaten by a narrow margin, and m her second eifort she won easily.

RACING FIXTURES.

Tin 11 1 23, 25—Wellington R.C. Summer. Jan! 21- and 22—Foxton R.C. Annual. Feb. 1 aud 2—Pahiatua R.C. Annual.