THE TURF.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1028, 18 January 1911, Page 6

THE TURF.

NOTES AND COMMENTS. [Br Glencoe.] WELLINGTON CUP MEETING. Track work*at Trentham was interest" ing yesterday morning, but the majority of (lie Cup candidates had not reached tlia course, so that the best gallops of the wc-ek will probably be seen to-mor-row. Yesterday's work was done on tha Trial Gallop, inside the rails, and on the tan track. The weather was fine, and the going good.

The most attractive gallop of tho morning was a mile and a quarter spin by Iranui (Bentlev), • Lady Medallist (Traill) and Goldfinder (Emerson).-Lady Medallist began with an advantage of a length, and led for a mile, where Iranui challenged her while Goldfinder was hopelessly out of it. Iranui quickly passed Lady Medallist, and passed the post over a ►length to the gocd, the time being 2 min. 12sec. Iranui is undoubtedly, in great heart, but not much notico vas taken of Goldfimkr's poor showing as h* is a notoriously bad track horse.

Among the sprinters the best gallop of the morning wr.s' registered • by the Dunedin horse Oh-sono (Emerson). • He hopped off at.the five furlongs post, and shotvsd a brilliant turn of speed by covering the distance in lmin. 2sec. As tho Telegraph Handicap" candidate was clos« to the rails all the way, some ,of the Trentham trainers consider- that Obsono's gallop is the best that lids ever been seen on this particular track. 1 ■

Gold Lace (Bentley) and Effort (W. Evan) were'associated in a six furlongs gallop. The former finished a long way ill. front, and covered the last five fur< longs in lmin. 4sec. : Effort again'showed signs of bleeding as she was pulled up. Big l Blast'covered fiva furlongs-'alorie in lmin. 4sec., and Myra and Ivumble, who were associated over the same distance', registered slightly better time, j . -

The two-year-old Sinapis, Tacihg close to the rails, easily beat Daunton .over four furlongs, run in the smart time' of SOJsjc.

War Queen ran six furlongs on the, tan in lmin. 22sec — fair time for - this track. Septimus easily beat Succession over half a mile covered in 51sec.',\

The Cup candidate Merrivoma did two strong rounds on the tan, and was Kitting out in fine style. Slio is -to be ridden in tho Cnp by C. Jenkins. Counterfeit appeared to hold Nitlisdale quits safe over half. a.milo .sprint, and' St. Petersburg finished in front of Aloha over a similar distance. Useful work was don* by Colleen Mary, Dazzling, Bracken, Whitestone, Passive, Laius, St. Felix, Dearest, Turna, Hereward. Peter Pan, First Battery, Sonite, Deploy, Lady Ivilcheran, Lambtoii, and others. H. King arrived from the north. yesterday with Kill, who claims'an engagement on Saturday next. A number of . horses arrived from the south by ths Mararoa yesterday morning. Acceptances for the first day of the Foxton Racing Club's 1 summer meeting, and entries for tho Trial Hack Race (first day), and Maiden Hack Scurry (second day), close to-night with the secretary, Mr. W. Gray. ; • " Acceptances for the first day's events at the Pahiatua meeting qlose next, Friday night. Bookmakers are notified by advertise- .. ment that applications for licenses to bet ' at the Foxton meoting must bo lodged with tho secretary of tho club to-day. Mossmere, the winner of the Maiden ■ Plate at Wairio, is a half-brother to the . well-known steeplechaser Haydn, as he is by Westmere from Myra. He was bred in tho North Island and brought _ down'to Southland a number, of.: years back, but proved a most unfortunate animal (says the "Southland Times"). Time after time he went amiss or contracted sickness in some form or other, and thus failed to distinguish himself beyond racing fairly well once or twice at hack meetings. However, ho began ,to show improved form about twelve months.ago. ' . Winnie R., (late .(Balgonie), , mei-ly' raced"at'Miramiir, and/who som&thing moro than two and a : half, years ago won an "Ascot Thousand" on . Mr. . ■Wren's Melbourne-course, ran second to tho. English-bfed Refresher in" the"" Peel" Plate (14.2 and under), of-1000 Rs..to the winner, at tho Calcutta Second Extra Meeting on December 10, whilst another Australian representative in Safety Pin' filled third place. Winnie R., who is now. raced by Mr.' Galstaun/' was ■ in ■ receipt' of 2st. 111b. .from the English gelding, but he beat her' easily.

The well-known trainer, F. M'Grathj after a stay ofJsome weeks in New Zealand has: returned to Sydney a most enthusiastic advocate of the the Sydney "Eeferee"). The stakes given' by the various clubs using the machine in the Dominion appeal to him. "Why," ho said in discussing the matter, "you can almost count the people at some of the meetings in small townships, and yet. the programmes include .£IOO prizes., At places, : say, of the importance'of Goul-, .burn,- you have, a chance of racing an occasional ,£SOO prize, and there viilL be no race of less' than <£70 or ,£BO on' the programme. Then, look. at Auckland. The attendances at big meetings there are no greater than at suburban 1 .fixtures in Sydney, and at the recent : A-E.C. fixture, the lowest; prize was <£123; . and there werp" ten races which carried : .frotn .£4OO up to .£2OOO each. ■, Taking a line through Auckland, there'would be no "difficulty in giving .£IO,OOO ptizes atEandwick with the totalisator in use. The machine .would be good for big as well; as little owners in New South Wales, aa the resultant richness of prizes would do ; away with the-necessity -for .totting on their part.. From ah owner's standpoint tho. totalisator' is preferable to bookmakers,: as. a fair share of the money .invested goes toward an increase r of stakes." Touching on totalisator speculation, an exchange mentions that during the 3S days' racing held'at Maisons-Laffitte (near' Paris) last year, the sum. of. <£1,527,806 went through the machine. This is aa average of : over i£12,000 a day.