NOTES AND COMMENTS

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 141, 17 June 1922, Page 9

NOTES AND COMMENTS

(II "lIR LASCEIOt.")

The round, of jumping meetings will be continued at Hastings on Wednesday and Thursday next. The Hawkes Bay Hunt Club's Meeting will be held, oil Saturday. Handicaps for the opining day at the Hawkes Bay Sleeting are due on Monday. The Wellington Steeplechase will be run on Bth July, and the Winter Hurdle 6on 15th July. Botlrevents carry stake money of 1500 soys. The Manchester Cup winner, North Waltham, was sired by Junior, who ha» a representative in the Dominion in Auckland. Handicaps for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups will be declared about the 26th inst. It is stated that George Price has decided to settle in Sydney, and will leave on 6th July with the two-year-old Quip and Loyal Irish. Owners of hacks and hunters have been offered a special inducement to bring them to Trentham next month. On the middle day of the meeting the card includes a Hack and Hunters' Steeplechase of the value of 500 soys. This is the most liberal stake yet offered for hacks and hunters in the Dominion. When the question of overcrowding fields was recently under discussion, one argument used to lessen the trouble was that the distances of races should be made longer. The Otago trainer C. Christie brought his team North in the Wanaka, and interned South the same way. It sounds like old times horses making the trip from Dunedin to Auckland by boat. Christie also took the Poseidon gelding Thrace back with him. The old stand at Trentham has been demolished, and a good idea can be formed of what, is going to be done. 2t is safe to say that when the present building scheme is finished the Trentham course will be on its own so far as the public convenience and comfort are concerned. The Railway Department is also doing its share. A^ new signalling system has been adopted, making it possible to run trains at shorter intervals, thus doing away with the congestion at the Wellington Station. Feramore,' who changed hands at fifty guineas at the clearing sale of Mr. W. G. Stead's stud at Hastings in May, is to take the place of defunct Polydamon in the Poverty Bay district. At the coming conference the Wairarapa Racing Club has given notice to move that the rule preventing races being run over a shorter distance than four furlongs be amended in the direction of permitting two-year-olds competing in such races from Ist August to 31st January. _ Although the nominations for the Wellington Winter Meeting do not close until Monday next, some trainers have already booked up accommodation to .avoid the rush. W. 'Hawthorne-is bringing seven horses. Riccarton trainees F. D. Jones and P. M'Grath are also coming up. The Gisbome-owned Queens Up {Our King—Lyrate), who was among the successful runners at the -Napier Park March meeting, scored in the Stewards' Stakes from the Native-owned Haurangi. The latter was brought through to Otafci for the sprint events tin company with Civilform, but they failed to score a win. Our King has sired a couple of useful performers in Irapuka and Queens Up. The public enclosure at Trentham is gradually getting ship-shape, and it bids fair to be very fine. "The new stand affords' certainly the Best view,, of the course obtainable, and the extent of lawn that will be available is unsurpassed on any racecourse in the Dominion. There are some nice shelter trees, and a beautiful picnic ground is in course of formation. Racing is a democratic sport, and the W-.R.C. is wiee to provide reasonable comfort for the less well-to-do. There were only four runners for the Napier Steeplechase, of 500 soys, after General Raven and Maraetotara, who had raced earlier in the day, had been taken out. They included Mattock, last •year's winner of the race. The winner turned up in the Foxton-trained First Line, who was unplaced in the event two years ago. He started each day at Wanganui,. but was not fancied, being the biggest outsider of the six runners when he ran third on the concluding day. Now that he has struck form, First Line may pick up a stake or two before the season closes. The season before last he won the Wanganui Steeplechase, June' Steeplechase at Hastings, and a double at Trentham. He was not so successful last year, when he went through without getting any placed money. Passin' Through and Sunrav were taken out of the Moteo Handicap Hurdles at Napier Park, each having an engagement later in the day. The Opakitrained Matatua (Birkenhead— Sun-, bonnet) jumped well in private before going to Wanganui, and the racing he had at the last-named place gave him confidence. He won in good style from Ruatara, who was conceding 51b. Mr. H. W. Brown intended to go through to see his horses race at' the Park, but was delayed here by urgent business. The high-class Queensland performer Molly's Robe (Syce—Microbe) recently carried 11.3 and won the Epsom Plato, five furlongs. During a short and brilliant career she won 10,025 soys in stakes. She is to be retired to the stud and mated with Woorak. General Raven made his reappearance in the Petane Hack Steeplechase, but failed to equal the performance of his stable mate (Kohinahina) in the same race a yeai ago. Reparoa, who on that occasion got second, was another that failed. That place was filled by another Gisborne representative in Gold Scene, who has recently done well in hurdle races. The Wanganui winner Oak Rose let his supporters down. One of the least fancied, the bottom weight on the card, in Red Cent, got the verdict. He won a hurdle race at Riccarton at the National Meeting three years "ago, but had not done much racing and shown no form since he came to this island. He is one of All Red's Oamaru progeny, an Australian-bred mare by Developer from Minting .Queen, an imported mare by Minting, so that he is well enough bred for anything.

The Melbourne Cup, of 10,000 soys, and the A.J.C. Derby of 1923, of 8000 soys, compare favourably with, rich stakes in other parts of the world. The richest classic race in the world is the French Derby, or, to .!?ive it, its French title, the Prix dii Jockey Club. In 1921 its vnlup was 260,175 francs to the winner, 30,000 francs to the second, 15,000 francs to the third, and 15,000 francs to tho breeder of the winner. At the par of exchange, the3e amounts represented

£10,527, £1200, £600, and £600. As may be gathered, stakes are extremely high in France, the Grand Prix de' Paris of 1921 being worth £23,710. .The Kentucky Derby (U.S.A.) ran the French classic very close, as it was worth £12,500.