NOTES AND COMMENTS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 78, 26 December 1917, Page 7

NOTES AND COMMENTS

fBY GMNCOB.I

There is likely to bo a very large crowd present at Awapuni to-day for the opening of tbo Summer Meeting of the Manawatu Racing Club. Trains leave Thorndon at 7.45 a.m. and 8.20 a.m.. and the first, raco will start at noon each day. , They are a poor lot in the Trial Plate, seven furlongs, and the runners are to be ridden by apprentice riders. Signorclu and Matilda: have both done a fair amount of racing, which should hell) them to sto out the distance. Winning form is well represented in the Tokomaru Hurdles by Colorado four not out and-Con three not out. Focraau and Tornea are of the tearaway order, and may not see out the one and three-quar-ter miles. Colorado is a Rood stayer; and may last out the journuy better than Con. ,A field of twenty has been accepted for in tho Gillies Hack Handicap, e!i furlongs. Tho top-weight, Comment, 9at. -41b., is meeting a better field than she defeated at Tauherenikau, and with King's Armour and Hupana setting a fast pace the weight may tell on tho Wairarapa mare. Enduro is a horse that has been watched for a long , time, and to-day may be the day for tho Fordell representative to show his best form. Zel t is a light-weight with a reputation.

The whole of tho seventeen iicccptors are expected to go to the pout for the Ouji. Square Deal, Olicnt, and Devotion are all on the Bst. 301b. mark, and the trio will have a big following-. Devotion is such a thorough stayer that sho is suro to receive much eupnort. Of the light-weights Drlbblo and Maacot should both run good raceu. . Ooolpan, who has an engagement in the ■Tuvonfle Handioe.'), vanquished a fair field, including Finmark, in tho Maiden at Masterton, and he should bo well supported to-day, and Torfrcda seems to be a two-year-old of some class. WoodvlUe form points to Quinn's Post and Altercation as likely to show up well in the Hack Welter, while word comes from Hastings that ncxton has improved considerably of lato The Pitzherbert Handicap is the open sprint event. Lingerie and Acre are at tho head of the handicap, and they are both suro to be in the limelight the whole way. Tho top-weight in tho Grandstand Handicap, ono mile, is Gang Awa', a proved.performer. He, Ohiwai, and Ladogeur are all at home over the distance.

Rorka'a Drift is an unlikely starter in the big handicap at Dunedin to-day, owing to an accident. Belair, who was purchased at a big figure last month, will race in her new owners' interests at tho Wingatui fixtiiro to-day. The olaes opposed to her in tho Bnrnside Handicap is not strong.