NOTES AND COMMENTS

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 56, 8 March 1919, Page 12

NOTES AND COMMENTS

(BI "SIR LANCELOT.")

Handicaps for the opening day of the Masterton Meeting are due to appear on Saturday next. Mr. Whitney will probably be represented at the Wairarapa Meeting by Trentham Rose and Rose Pink.

In the Redwood Memorial on the second day of the Nelson Meeting Pacific Slope scored decisively from Red Signal, who was improved with the Ta.e on the first day. A Christchurch paper states that Winter Cherry, whose name appears among the acceptances for the Waimate Cap, is running in the paddock at present. All the North Island horses which competed at the Nelson Meeting returned except Rene Rose, who was left at Blenheim on the return trip. Red Tape, who has recently won four races in succession in the South, is engaged in the Waimate Cup, to be run on Thursday next. War Tax and "Utuwai, who were among the winners at the Nelson Meeting, are engaged at the Westport- Meeting on the 17th inst. The latter is nicely handicapped in two events, and a penalty may not stop his winning again. The North Island contingent won all the galloping events on the first day at Nelson, with the exception of the Trial Stakes. The best dividend was returned by Utuwai (San Fran—Waingongoro), a member of F. G. Oarmont's Levin team.

Gold Problem (Gold Crest—Probability) is now out of the hack class, and will in future have to compete in open company. Intermezzo (Gay Spark—Prologue), for •some time trained at Trentliam, is now in the charge of her owner, Mr. A. Huddleston, at Blenheim. After the Marlborough Meeting, the half-sister to Sinapis will probably go into T. H. Gillett's Riccarton stable.

The Trentham-trained Rebekai scored her fourth successive win on the fourth day at Nelson. Her next appearance will be at Tauherenikau.

Fiery Cross pulled up lame after a gallop with Glendower at Riccarton one morning this weak. Since Mr. W. H. Hartgill died there has been a lot of trouble over the judging at different meetings. The writer suggests that the Conference should forward a recommendation to the clubs that the services of paid officials should be employed where they are available. Xanthos and Ladify are engaged at the Westport Meeting. The first-named was unlucky not to win a race at Nelson. B. M. Morris, with five wins, was the most successful rider at tha Nelson Meeting. J. M'Laughlin is taking Rebekah,' Guinea Gold, Sunburst, and Red Signal to the Wairarapa Meeting. Pitch Dark (All Black—Noctorum), who accompanied the team to Nelson, may not make the trip to Tauherenikau. Robert Dillon, a member of the successful Harold Dillon tribe, won two of the trotting events at Nelson. He paid a remarkably good price when he defeat-, ed the Petone-trained.. Gratton Chimes (Jewel Chimes—Cute) on the second day. The weather in the Nelson district has been dry for some time, and the courso was very hard. Trotting horses engaged at the meeting had been allowed to use the inside of the course next the rails, which was more like a' plough than a grass gallop. The members of H. Telford's Trentham team at present in the North have been engaged at the Ohinemuri Meeting, to be held on the 15th and 17th instant.

Under a welter weight in the Nelson Cup, Rose Pink ran a sterling race. She was allowed to remain in her box on the second day. She is down to 'compete in the Wairarapa Cup on Thursday next. She has 8.5, 'which is a stone less than she carried at Nelson.

Very satisfactory nominations have been received for the Masterton Racing Club's Meeting. The following horses are engaged in the principal event: — Autumn Handicap (open), of 300 soys, on© mile and a quarter: Goldstream, Pacific Slope, Multicipal, Hydrus, Royal Battery, Esperance, Cooing, Altercation, Loyal Arch, Comment, Muitaine. In a field of five, Goldstream paid a remarkably good dividend in the Welter Handicap on the first day at Nelson. There was, however, not a great deal of merit in the performance. He did not run on the second day. His next appearance will be in the Wairarapa Oup, for which event he is liable to be rehandicapped. Lingerie (6.10) and Probation (6.7) are the only New Zealand' horses left in the Newmarket Handicap after payment of the first acceptance. Estland and Finmark have both been paid np for in the Australian Cup. The easiest win on the first day at Nelson was that of the Blenheim-owned Silk Ribbon (Gluten —Grey Ribbon) in the ,Trial Stakes. She led from end to end, and never looked like getting beaten. The failure of the Trentham-trainod Rene Rose was a great disappointment to her connections.

The members of Mr. W. R. Kemball's team have arrived safely at Melbourne. The Autumn Carnival opens at'Caulfield this afternoon, when the Oakleigh Plate, Bond Cup, and St. George Stakes will bo decided. Snub is top-weight in the Bond Cup, ono mile and a half, with 9.2. Hymestra is top-weight in the Salisbury Welter, seven furlongs, with 10.9. Impediment and Nanna are in at the same weight—9.7 apiece. The only New Zealander in the Oakleigh Plate, five furlongs and a half, is Lingerie, who has 7.5. Magpie represents the best form in the St. George Stakes, a weight-for-age race, with penalties and allowances. The three-year-olds engaged include Eusebius, Outlook, and Scornful. The meeting will be concluded on Wednesday, when the valuable Futurity Stakes will be, decided. Nanna and Hymestra are both engaged. . The totalisator investments at Nelson were a record, also the amount invested on the Cup. The stakes in all galloping events except the principal race each day are very poor and could well be increased.

Mr. D. G. Wallace has been appointed secretary of the Horowhenua Racing Club. The 6th of June has been suggested by the authorities as.the date of the race meeting. A meeting is to bo held on Monday night to definitely decide whether the meeting is to be held or not. Esperance, who carried the lightest weight, led for about ai. mile in the Nelson Cup, and was the first horse beaton. It was thought the rough track would suit Ladify, but she was tailed' off last when they had gone half-way. Tlte West Coast representative Xanthos was also badly placed. Rose Pink and Pacific Slope were always well placed •behind the lenders. Gloaming* nest appearance will pi'ob-<_J____-t»4_V^n^^

at the Canterbury Autumn Meeting. The Welkin gelding is also in the North Island ChaUenge Stakes. The Trenthara-trained three-year-old Guinea Gold was saddled up twice on the opening day at Nelson. In the Trial she only managed to get third. Later in the day, she was sent out a good favourite for the Telegraph Handicap, but was comfortably beaten by Gold Problem, who was conceding his opponent over two stone. Guinea Gold is by Husbandman—Marsuma, .and looks like winning races.

Tempo, winner of the Trial Handicap on the second day of the Hamilton Meeting, is a member of F. Tilley's Fordell team by Maniapoto-—Sing Song (dam of Singer).

Esrperance (Martian —Mary-of Argyle), the full-sister to Mascot, scored her first win in hack company on the second day of the Nelson Meeting. She is engaged in the Wairarapa Cup. Mr. Hobbs informs a Christchurch paper that he did not accept with Gay Lad and Winter Cherry at the Waimate Meeting. It seems nearly time -file Racing Conference sent out a recommendation to clubs in reference to this matter.

The Dunedin Jockey Club will hold a three days' meeting in June, when £7500 will be distributed in stakes, giving,an average of £2500 per day, against last year's average of £1590, The Canterbury Jockey Club has followed the lead of North Island clubs, and will start the first event at the Easter Meeting at 11.30 a.m. Battle Song, who carries the colours of the local M.P. who races as Mr. P. Soames, scored his most important win to date in the Napier Cup, worth 600 soys to the winner, yesterday. On his first appearance this season h% scored in the'Masterton Cup, in which he defeated Mascot, Client, and other performers. His /est performances last season were in March, at Tauherenikau, where he won the Soldiers' Cup and Camp Handicap. The field he met at Napier yesterday was not a good one for such a liberal stake. Tressida, who filled second place, had not shown any form for some time, and- Rewi Poto, who came third, was conceding the winner 231b. Bred as he is, it would be surprising if Battle Song did not win races over a distance. His sire, Signor, was a successful performer over long distances, and put up an Australasian record when he won the Canterbury Cup. He also sired Dusky Eve, who recently won the Wanganui Cup.

An Otago writer with a penchant for figures quotes the following facts to show what 'a great weight-carrier Rorke's Drift is :—ln his 74 races he has carried a total of nearly 4| tons—to be precise, 945_ilb, or 6755t -i-lb—,and this works out to an average of a' little less than 9.2 per race. Only twice in his whole career has he had the luck to get in at a weight under 7.0. Putting up lib overweight, he had 6.12 in the Murihuku Handicap, at Gore, when My Lawyer (8.10) beat him by a nose. By the way, poor Jim Rae, now very ill in hospital, rode My Lawyer in that race. A week later, Rorke's Drift, handicapped at 6.12 in the Winton Cup, won by a couple of lengths from United Service (8.4). Only seven times has lie started in the seven-stone division. Ho has raced with as great a weight as 10.9, and at Wingatui (where the miniumu is 7.0), and with 10.6 at Riverton, and he won at Wingatui with 10.0, this race being the D.J.C. Birthday Handicap. As a fact, ho has put up 11.9 —in tho Winter Cup and August Handicap—but these are high-weight races. I question whether any of our modern horses can show such a weight-carrying-record, and be it remembered that he is not a sprinter, but a racer that has specially shone at a mile and a quarter and a mile and a-half.