NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 51, 2 March 1909, Page 2

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The Australian Cup and the Bourke Handicap will be run at Fleniington tomorrow. Like the Newmarket, the long distance race is timed to be started at a quarter to three. The breakdown of Scorcher will reduce the field to sc-vei.teen. Jack Smith and Nushka have each iucuried a 101b penalty, whilst Even Time, for his win in the St. Leger, has his weight increased from 6.11 to w.f.a. 8.0. Three weeks ago Signor was at very attenuated odds, but his work at Caulfield did uot please the touts, and the beckmakers gradually lengthened their prices unti) double figures were obtainable. After his Essendon Stakes gallop Signor would come into favour again, like Soultine, Signor will create a record if he wins, for in the 47, contests which have taken place for the Austra lian Cup, no horse of his age has been successful with a greater weight than 8.10. On three occasions only has the 9st-and-over division prevailed ; Malua and Highborn, each six years old, winning with 9.9 and 9.4 respectively, whilst in 1906 Tartan, then a four-year-old, carried 9.6 to victory. When tho handicap was originally reviewed it looked as if Mr. Menzies had not spared Signor, but now that several of his most dangerous opponents have, from one cause and another, dropped out, the position is somewhat altered, and the task of the New Zealand horse is, perhaps, not so formidable as at first appeared. The Bourke Handicap is run on an elbow course, and is a furlong further than the Newmarket. In the nomination list are found the names of Dunolly, Irishman, Golden Slipper, Parsec, Scotland, and True Scot, all of whom ran in the hi? sprint behind Soultline. Higginbotham, the well-known Flemington trainer, has prepared several winners of the Bourke Handicap ; the aptlynamed True Scot, by Wallace — Fides, is in his stable. Soultline's exertions must have told upon even his wonderful vitality, and ho had to nut up with defeat from Parsee in the Alleged Stakes, at a difference of weight of only 61b in favour of the younger horse. Parsee represents tip-top form, as he won the A.J.C. Derby and Caulfield Guineas very easily, and only succumbed to Alawa in the V.R.C. Derby after a great race. Even Time, winner of the V.R.C. St. Leger, is described as a massive black colt, who was wisely given plenty of time to mature, and his frame was not overtaxed by his being raced as a two-year-old Even Time is by Maltster (Bill of Portland — Barley),- from Egalc, by

Goldsborough, from Equation, by Grand Flaneur ; very aicil breeding this, and it should assist him in getting successfully to the end of thelojgest journeys. All the progeny of these precious Gol-ds-borough mares do well nowadays, and nearly every important race is won by horses that owe their staindjn constitutions, the foundation of their success, to the toughness they have inherited through their dams from the old Fireworks horse. The St. Simon strain gives the shape and the galloping power, but the gameness is the maternal contribution. The Mana-watu R.C. has decided to run its next Sires' Produce Stakes at the autumn meeting of 1911. The club was groatly disappointed by the small field which contested this valuable bwo-year-old race at its recent summer meeting, and a section of the -executive Avas opposed to continuing a costly* experiment. However, it was recognised that the -summer meeting was scarcely the most suitable time to run such a race on account of the clashing with the big Elkrsli© meeting with its Great Northern Foal Stakes and Royal Stakes. In the autumn there vill be far more fcwo-year-olds ready to stand the severe strain of a six furlong race than is the case in ■December and January, and the 'Manawatu R.C. is to be congratulated upon iits rosolve to give owners and breeders another opportunity to support a race ■that should be a welcome addition to the little list of juvenile classics. Theodore is quite reconciled to his new quarter's, and since returning to Hastings has been shaping attractively in his work. Quinlivan knows every mood and phase of the Merriwees, most of whom are great doers, and take a lot of galloping to keep them fined down. Theodore is a colt of exceptional scope and liberty, and he should render an excellent account of himself in the Hawkes Bay Stakes in 'May. ■Downfall will, so it is reported, bo ridden in the Wanganui Cup by F. E. Jones, as 'L. Wilson, who steered th» chestnut in the New Zealand Cup, will be required for Sir Tristram. i Kapu is no exception to the general run of the San Frans in respect to wanting tim-j, and the half-brother to Mahutonga 13 therefore unlikely to show his true merit until well on in his four-year-old days. Then, with a strong horseman like Jenkins up, and a course with heaps of straight, Kopu will keep the very best busily employed. Erl King (Birkenhead— Dryad) is to be relegated to the ranks of the hurdlers. Well . up to weight, and with a fair amount of pace Erl King has cost his owner a substantial amount in wagers this season ; but although a disappointment on the flat, he is just the sort that might gay his pay over the battens. When schooled by J. Hall last week, Erl King showed fair aptitude for the game, and he should certainly make a more successful hurdler than his halfbrother .Repulse. Vi, wbo ivas withdrawn from her Wanganui engagements, has been nominated for the Napier Cup, run on 17th March. Frank Lind, whose luck this season has been right out, may have a turn before long, as two of his team in Research, who yesterday galloped with Blue Bibbon, • and Overtime, are in forward condition.