NOTES AND COMMENTS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3097, 30 May 1917, Page 7

NOTES AND COMMENTS

IBi Glrncok.l tho : Winter Meeting of the Otaki Maori '.Racing Club will take place on Monday and Tuesday next. Tho fixture only requires fine weather to be a record one. Very large fields are engaged in the various events, and the racing should be very interesting. According; (o all accounts; the' going promises to be on tho heavy side when the Eilerslia meeting opens on Saturday next. This will be nil against the topweights in the fiat races, in which tho minimum is Set. The Maiden Steeples field will sen sorao promising 'chasers go to tho post, notably Styrax, Czaronus, and St. Elmn, and a. win for any of this trio would causo El Gallo'a stock to ■ depreciate for tho Great Northern Steeples, in which the Spalpeen gelding is asked to carry 12st. 101b. Reports state that tho dual Great Northern ' winner is better aow than at any t-ta'go- of his career, and it would certainly appear as if he will want to be if he is to concedo 161b. to Braeburn. , Contradictory reports are in circulation regarding Morecambe. Some state that he :s backward, and others credit him with being wall forward. His trainer apparently (iocs not think ho requires a race, as ho has not paid up for him in the Maiden Stoeples. At Hastings he sohooled woll, but he has a. vory -unsightly joint, though it is callows, and may not affect "nin. Tho Birkenhead gelding will act well in soft going, but his admirers would rather he had a race into him, for the Ellerslio course is nearly, four miles long, and this is a very severe task for a horso that has not had. a race for two years. The Great Northern. Hurdles is run on the opeiiing day. The omission of Bon Kova is to bo regrotted, and had the Eoniform gelding 6eon the post ho would have started at a very short price. In his absence tho race appears (o bo a. verv open one. Sir Solo is the latest horso to comn into tho market, and such a good stayer as the Auckland Cup winner should givo a splendid exhibition, as ho is a good fencer, and acts well in. heavy going. The erratic Fisher is well fancied in the north, but. ho is none too Tcliable, and tho lot ho was making an exhibition of when ho tossed out in the Brighton Hurdles ivoro very weak. Proof of this is to be found iii tho fact that Plymouth oventually won, though a|; Awapuni ho failed to get a. placo cither day. V Gang Awa' was, tho etar performer anion? the horses racing on Iho flat at Waiijraniii last week, when ho won tho principal ovent each day. Ho ia a four-year-old gelding by Provocation from the Gold Reef mare Gold Cord, tho dam of Tho Native and Golden. March, who nro.bcsl. known as jumpers. Gang Awa' has n few useful performances to his credit, most of them over sprint courses, but his two wins, over a milo and a t|U»ricr. iiuil a milo and a distance, suggest that ho in even Ijctlei' than was generally recognised. It is stilted by ."Terlinga.-" thai; Hio Messrs. Moses, of New Houth Wales, havo purchased Magpie, who ran second (o Gay Crusador in tho recent Two Thousand Guineas at Newmarket. Magpie is by Ilark Ronald from Popinjay. Colorado and Golden Maiich were scratched for all ongagomonfe at 'tho Auckland Racing Club's meeting at 11.25 a.m. on Friday. Crib, who scored at Oaraoru last, week under iisi'. 131b., represents the' best hurdle form in tho South Island. Ho is not engaged at the Dunedin meeting, which opens on Saturday, but vrill probably bo sent north for tho July meeting at Tr'enthiim. Montana, who made such a creditableshowing in the Hack Hurdles at ffancamii, has been engaged in boWi tho hurdles and flat events 'at, the coming Gisborno meeting. Municipal, who carries tho same colours as Montana, is also lo bo put back to hurdle Tacing. Mo wag schooled at Wanjjanui last; week, and (shaped well, With Montana, Splendidiis. andi Mnlticipal to carry his colours in jumping events, Afr. A. M'Donald should win several races during tho winter. : A Press Association message from Sydney states that' Tim Doolan, engaged for the Grand. National and the Australian 'Steeplechase, has arrived, and also several yearlings which are to be auctioned owing lo tho reduction of racing in New Zealand.