NOTES AND COMMENTS

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 38, 13 August 1921, Page 12

NOTES AND COMMENTS

«n ■■■» uvcimt.")

Marion Jockey Club* Spring Meeting Will be fceM on 7th' September, and the Bangitikei Hunt Club's Steeplechase Meeting on 20th September. The principal events at the.first-named meeting are: Marton Handicap, of 300 soys, one mile and a-quaiter; Railway Handicap, of 250 soys, six furlongs; Hack Steepleo?Tase; of 230 soys, two miles; Rangitikei Steeplechase, / "of 325 soys, two

; miles and a-half. At the Hunt Club's

(Meeting, which will be like'a. second i day, the most liberally endowed events iareth'e Crofton Handicap, of 200 soys, eight; furlongs :a'n<l' a-half-; Hunt'Uup ;Steeplechase, of 200 soys, three miles; ■;land Telegraph Handicap, of 180 soys,' | six furlongs. Nominations for all events ■ at both meeting* close on Tuesday next, sat 9.p.m., with Mr. Arthur Way (secretary), Marton. The club has an accom--1 mo'dation house on the course for visit- , ing trainers and fifty-four boxes for visit-/! ■ing hdrse*. Mr. H. V\ Foy, at present i touring this island..witli\a\.partv-.0l New...South I Wales „coursing enthusiasts, "is a wellknown <-owner - and -breed/r. ■ He" hopes tcTpay'-a' yisit"l£~Dmiedih r'Tsefore Return-; ■in;r-fco~ Sydney. ;_ /...'. * Mr. F. Ward, -weighbridge-keeper, Clyde-quay, writes, as Tallows concerning , old-time steeplechasers:—"Dear Sir Lancelot, —Coalition is not the only horse that won the Grand National Steeplechase on. more than one occasion. Agent won the race three times and raced half a mile fur:ther on each occasion. He jumped two ,: more fences each time and carried more weight' (on; the average) than the present winner. Mutiny also won the race\ twice. Levanter beat him in his third

attempt; :and' that was the year when

Dromedary-fell over a policeman; other- , jjjivise yon could not have named the dis'*l*Hanoe she would have won by. The race \ised to be four miles, over more fences, and a rougher track. The track has been improved wonderfully. .V 'think Canard (who holds the record for

the highest weight carried to victory in the race) was the best cross-country • > i horse I have seen- He did not have j the same chance the present-time jump-. ■ers have. I looked after Mousetrap •■■■■when he won for/the late Larry Marfkey iii 1878."

:. Little, -has been heard of Fontenoy— the good-looking son of Haut Brion, bn&- of the first sons of ■ St. Simon imported to New South Wales—since he retired to the stud, but he turned up in a winning capacity at the. Grand National Meeting as the sire of Morning Glow, who beat ten opponents ,in the Tally-Ho Plate, a poor sort of curtainraiser for snch an important meeting. JWtenoy-'was. imported from;. Australia •with his dam, Rufine,.by Carlyon (winner of the Australian* Cup), by Mr. Frank Moore, and was a'good performer in the colours of the Wangariui breeder. He won a double. aY Rangitikei, the goodwood .Handicap- at Ellerslie, and also won three races 'at Hastings - a-nd Napier Park in the winter. •' 1 It looks as if the veteran owner -train-er-breeder -R. Knox, of Opaki, made, a mistake in trying to concert Sir Rossibery (Sir Knos—Merrie Rose) into a hurdle-racer -before his half-brother, Penury Rose, who is a year older. After two or three failures Sir Rosebery "was withdrawn. Penury Rose has since played his part ■well at' the jumping "business. He was successful at NapierPark and 'Hastings in hack company, finished fourth and second in open company at Trentham, and has since won at Riccnrton. He could have been, purchased for 100 guineas at Hastings, and probably a little less at Trentham. After returning home his owner apparently changed his mind about disposing of ■him, as, in answer to an inquiry, his

\ bwiier asked 550 guineas. At that price /he would have, proved a. cheap, pux»i bhase, as-the Trial Hurdles, .in which Ihe was successful at Riccarton, was .worth 280 soys' to the owner ■of the ;-winner. * Merrie Rose (Merrie EnglandYellow Rose) died' after; producing two • colta by. Merrie Moment. - Backers of the successful Trentham

Alteration "and Coalition, a ridiculously short price about pair repeating the performance ao, '-RiccartQn, and lost their money owing Cto Alteratioabreakirig down. ,It was reported in thejeity early in the week.that -all was not* right■•■•with the- favourite , *ior the Grand National Hurdles, ' alJthough his official scratching was not announced until the day before the race.

' ; . The Auckland-owned Cantoris is evidently" a consistent performer when the ' 'jpoing and other conditions are favour"able. He ran second at Trentham. and *£iet and second at Riccarton, and it ; looks as if his trainer, has some reason to .'*be dissatisfied with his-poor showing, at

\'Me South Qaaterbury.,Hunt Club's Meet-

»r Two veteran performers in Gladfuland Kauri King fought out.the finish of tho "XJrand National Hurdle Race. Both had ■{previously shown good form earlier in the previous jumping season. Last season jfc was thought Gladful's days of (Usefulness as a hurdler wero past, and jhe was put to the steepjechasing business. He ran second in the Egmont Steeplechase, third in the - Wangariui Steeplechase, ' and third in the July Steeplechase, at Ti'entham. Gladful, who ■wort the Great Northern Hurdles five years back, is eleven years old. Kauri King, who is twelve years of age> won the Grand National Hurdles two years

fcackReturned visitors to Riccarton report that Waimai visa unlucky not to be 'hailed the winner of the Grand National Steeplechase for the second time. That was evidently the opinion of, the C.J.C. fcandicapper,' a's 'in the. Beaufort 'Steeplechase the VBteran Auckland performer was asked to meet Coalition on exactly

the same terms as in the Grand National,

•Neither- horse started in the Beaufort, ■* whieli-wenttbCoragleii, runner-up in the big event on. the firat day. ■ "Hie latter has now won over both the Ellerslie and Riccarton countries, and with more age anH experience will probably bo one of the fancied candidates for next year's National. One thing in his favour is ' that ho will probably be reserved for the big events at the principal meetings, instead of being; asked . to race at the different courses. The, Winter Cnp winner, Clean Sweep, a gelding by Advance, the same colour as his sire, had previously demonstrated at' Riccarton that 'he was a brilliant galloper. At the Cup meeting &ist November he won the Criterion Handicap, and was credited' with running seven furlongs in the excellent time of lmin 25 1-Ssec. Clean Sweep is bred the right way, Tiis dam, White Shield, being by Steoniak —Corselet, by Cuiraseier—Rubina, an Australian-bred mare „ th;il won lets of i-ac'es for tho late Miv

Ban O'Biien, and at the stud produced uFlorrie, Launceston, and other good per-

White Shield was Strelitzia, a filly by San Francisco. The Winter Gup winner was bred by the late Mr. Andrew Rutherford.

Scrimmage, -who was sent ont favourite and beat seventeen others-in attractive style in the Avonhead Handicap on the opening day of the C.J.C. Grand National Meeting, had only started once previously, when she finished out of a place in the Ruapehu Handicap at Trentham in the summer. Scrimmage was bred by her owner, Sir George Clifford,, and was sired by Antagonist from Mad Whirl, and is a four-year-old full sister to Onslaught. Mad Whirl died in 1918.