NOTES ON THE RACING

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 81, 7 April 1913, Page 3

NOTES ON THE RACING

On Wednesday neither of those thai got the course was able to get within striking distance of Karimoi and we were thus left wondering just how good the big, black -gelding" might be. Nor are we now any. better informed, for on landing over the sod' wall about seven furlongs from home he ruptured the suspensory ligament of his near fore leg. That he 'completed* the course on three legs only went to show what a right, game horse he must be, and it is a thousand pities , that his racing career should have been cut short. Fireworks gave a most promising display, and it is evident. that when • thoroughly, seasoned, he 'is going 'to be a -very useful 'chaser indeed. He has a fine style of fencing and should be at home,oyer any cdun-' try. On Saturday he' was most unlucky. . He. could not have won, but in crossing the last' f ence .Sunray, who was then in front, ran down towards the, inside wing. Fireworks was thus left with no room, and although he madfe an effort' to get QVer, he s'tmck the Wing and fell. The stewards subsequently, fined Futcher, the, rider, of Sunray, £4, for .'careless riding,' and as the incident appeared, to be, of an entirely accidental nature many peogle thought Futcher had been 'rfither harshly dealt with. It transpires, ,ho.wever, that Sunray had been running down other, fences, and in recognition of this, Futcher, as he himself admitted in evidence, should have pulled out' wider and given Fireworks more • room; Some ; thought • when they saw , the^ yelkw flag hoisted, , that Sunray would be deprived' of .the race, but this would 1 of course 'have been ridiculous for. he certainly did not' interfere, with Karimoii ' who, but f6r ' the mishap; would 'have finished third. •The Hutt Handicap resulted in one of the finest finishes ever se.en'at'Trentham, and' only the- judge could * decide what had .run. first,. second, .Or third. TJie favourite,, Lockwood^ was beaten on hid merits,., for, he was always well placed arid 100 ' yards fromhonie 'he had his head In front.' Obli^ant came from a long way, back into sixth' place, whilst Mort 'Ami' failed to st4y/ on, and both Muftiply ' and Imagination ' ran ' disappointingly. The winner returned his supporters , the biggest dividend of the meeting, ' and one of, the biggest of the season', whilst' the runner-up was also very little 'fancied. Awahou was' made a. slightly, better favourite' thiitt' Tetikura for Tthe'Muritai Handicap, 'but -he was early -in trouble, and. after dropping back last,., .all he could do was to finish fourth. Portland Lady was probably a r lucky winner, for had Tetikura been handled with better judgment he must ,have been very, difficult to 'beat. As it ,was he lost his position early and "was 1 then taken up fast' on,.,the l extreme outside as the turn was negotiated. This of "course meant his~running over a, lot oi extra ground, and When he got alihost on terms with the leader ,at die distance he was stone cold., ' Chamihade again failed' to distinguish himself, and he will need to improve considerably ' if ' his present owners are to' recoup themselves. ' Several, fresh horses , were, seen out in the Autumn Handicap, among them being Coroniform,' who looked well enough, though not so bright as when last saddled up at Trentham, Sir, Solo, who appeared 'listless,'' and Mira, who was in gr^at trim. .. Dearest and Undecided pleased most, in the preliminaries, whilst Merrivonia, -as usual, ■ went down with a very pottery action. , It was. hard luck for ' Bronze' to" so narrowly miss winning ( another important race, but {here were "nd excuses to be made, 1 and the, best .'horse at the' weight unquestionably prevailed. Undecided, who was always lying handy, ran a really good .race and may be ticked off as a likely winner in the near future, but Sea Qu^eii never seemed .to be at home and failed' to do as ' well as was' expected. Dearest, who^ found the journey too far, was in* difficulties, as the straight was entered, and Coroniform never looked really dangerous. ■ Sir Knox followed his* usual tactics in commencing slowly, but he had- every chanco and was quite well placed^enough to score when heads were straightened for home had he been able, to go on. . The fact was, however, that the pace had 'been exceptionally solid all through, the r time registered by the winner Being, unless I am very much mistaken, a New Zealand, if not an Australasian record. Unfortunately at the , time % of writing I have not . the necessary information by me, but I know that when he .won the Ashburton Handicap irf 1905 Clanburn established the then Australasian record .by getting home in 2min 21 l-ssec. «. ( . - Salzburg was rather better fancied than Briar Patch for the, Pacific Handicap, and he won like a racehorse. In consideration 6f : the big load he carried and the bad position he occupied until two furlongs from home his performance was of a high order. Briar Patch was unlucky, and,' seeing 'that she finished third after being chopped back last five furlongs from home, she must in other circumstances have been hard to beat. Pavlova,', who carried 41b overweight, is evidently improving, but some of the others, including Historiette, who- looks a bit delicate, shaped disappointingly. Had not the classic event found a place on the programme the public would not have had the pleasure of seeing the Great Autumn winner at Trentham. There is nothing very striking about 'his appear* Mice, and lie i» distinctly undersized j

but that he is a smart colt there is no gainsaying, and albeit the opposition was weak the time registered has only once been bettered— via., when Ingoda completed the lengthy journey in 3min 2sec in 1910. The intermediate distances were clocked privately to be run as follow : Four furlongs, 53 2-ssec; six furlongs, lmin 20 2-ssec ; one mile, lmih 46 2-ssec ; ten furlongs, 2min 12sec. Had the race been run in England the bookmakers would have demanded about 20 to 1 about Bon Ton's chance, and it is in such cases as this that tho automatic odds regulator almost invariably lays the better price. Naumai made a perfect nuisance of himself whilst at the post for the Suburban Handicap, for after being led out time ahd again, he persisted in backing down the fine and upsetting the field. A well-fancied candidate in Patronale got home in front, with Crown Pearl, who did better than he had done on Wednesday, as rmrtier-up. Culprit was disappointed whilst attempting to get through in the centre as the straight was entered, ahd Makara got a shockingly bad run, being chopped out after going a furlong, and then stopped about aquarter of a mile from home. Ladoga was generally regarded as good for the concluding event, but he let his supporters down _badly by fading away towards ' the business end of the trip Portland Lady finished fast in third place, and must have gone near winning had she hopped away as quickly as Usual. Scottish Star drew an outside position at the -post, and was never prominent.