Week-End Racing in Australia.

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 80, 15 October 1928, Page 7

Week-End Racing in Australia.

Possibly the most outstanding event of the'racing over the week-end was Mollison's failure to gain.a place in the CaulJiekl; Guineas on Saturday. The Victorian colt was reported sore last week, and it has to be presumed that his A.J.C. Derby effort adversely affected him, for ho should at- least have beaten Ramulus at a, mile. Balmerino, who won on Saturday, has always been rated highly by the; Victorians, and he is of interest to New Zealanders because he is by All Black from Anna, who is from the Dominionbred mare Anna Carlova. He may prove Prince Humphrey's strongest ,opponfent in the Victoria Derby next month. Kalloni, as was generally expected, made no jjace of the Toorak Handicap, this being his. fourth win in succession. He has been a gold mine during the past two months to the ex-New Zealand trainer, M.-M'Grath. - : If Hynanna started in the Caulfield Stakes he failed to gain any prominence, and is not mentioned. „ ..Gothic was equal to downing Amounis and,.with Limerick out of the road, the English horse, looks like haying matters all his own way in the: weight-for-age races ,in Melbourne. T. ;Green Out of Luck. Billet fell after two furlongs had been covered in the Trial Plate event at Masterton on Saturday and T. Green, her rider, injured his elbow. He rode Kalos two races later, but the elbow, combined with the leg injured at Ellerslie,'were too 'much of a handicap, and he cancelled all,his remaining engagements for Saturday. Green should be fit to ride again at -Trentham on Saturday next, when one of his mounts will be Gold Tinge in the "Wellesley.;Stakes.j.^ --^.t - y [','■ ■■■■■ Weightfor-Age>Forrn, 4 su :; .' * ■ .-■:. Apart from Limerick"'New-Zealand has been without a real w.eight-for-aga;. horse for some time, and.these events have been carried off by handicap, performers. Star Stranger,/. Jtapier, and Count Cavour may be first-class handicap horses, but they are not weight-for-age horses in the true sense of that term. Commendation by many was claimed to be the equal of Limerick, some still Ithink '. he .-.was better than the black, and-'at least'it has to be. conceded that he, was very little .in-;-ferior. As he has lost ;non> of,his pacd,: and after Saturday,-itliei'c--appears-little need to worry about the barrier disturbing him, he should have a good season ahead in weight-for-age races. The Harcourt Cup at Trentham should see him make a successful ■redppearanee in that class. '■"•' : ""''" * ' ' ' An Unusual Happening: An incident,. l such..as happens very rare- ; ly-cropped-up in" cotirieetiovi witlrthe Trial Stakes at' Wingatjui on- Thursday. Mr. G. J. Barton' Starred two. horses, both of them trained by''lVY.-.Cooper, who also holds a jockey's ••^license. Had there been only, one starter, Copper would have had the -hJcaraty'trat bacause'-'two horsestrained by him were in the field he was debarred irom riding either of them, there being a specific prohibition 911 this subject in.the Ej!iK--spf<Jßacing*y. ■:■";''%, '■:• '>"■',- Hawcra Track At Hawera on Thursday a strong wind and a heavy track slowed up the horses. The most interesting gallop of the morn-' iug- was performed by Mendip,' Orazone,? Bisox, and Animated, who- were , associ-, at6d over six furiongs.' Mendip was quick-" est-to begin and Orazone slowest. 'Mendip was soon joined by Bisox, closely attended by Animated, the latter being eased/after going four furlongs. Bls'ox and Mendip finished strongly, with Bisox half, a length to the good, with Orazone a couple of lengths away, in lmin 27sec. Silvennine and Silver Rule jumped off from, the seven-furlong post, and ran four furlongs down the hack iv 55% sec. Royal Acre worked a strong half-mile without being sent against the watch. Partaga did a couple of rounds of useful pace work on/the sand, a similar task being allotted Polyphemus on the same track." .- •.Cool-; mint worked at half-pace to the threefurlong post, coming home from there in" 42sec in attractive style. Egeria worked half a mile comfortably in 58 l-ssec. Black Odin finished up his work by running home two furlongs in good style. Bright Glow and Sagjttarius^yeiie/CQinpanions over four furlongs;-mn-from'-the seven-furlong post, finishing together in 55sec. Calapat, Paitomi, an,d.'.Gasnax)per.did.useful pace work on the sand. Bonogne, after a short let /up, _ has resumed work on the tracks again. Transport of Racehorses. Owners of racehorses, ...breeders, and trainers were invited by Mr: 0; R. Wise to attend a meeting in Dunedin on Friday afternoon for tho purpose of discussing the question of taxation on racing, to take steps to travel; horses race meetings by motor, and'to discuss the further question of voting at the General Election only for those in favour of racing and sport. The response, however, was so small that the meeting did not eventuate. .In the course of discussion Mr. Wise said the railway',charges' for the transport of horses were;undoubtedly .top high!, and hd" contended that owners: could secure; a( j.. vantages in, iiiore.!ways" than ioije by.resorting to thcMise'pf motor-lorries for the conveyance iof their, horses to and from meetings, says, the ;"Otago Daily Times.". He had received a letter from <T. H. Jefferd, who stated that the means of transport he had used mostly had been a special body fixed. .011-to., a .lorry. 'One lorryl carried live Horses,'..which rode facing crossways. Tliey travelled with far more comfort and fed better on a lorry than on a train. He had never had- any skin or hair knocked olf them, whereas in a train it was the exception to get to the end of ii, train journey without something of this kind ..happening. - The. best ...means of trai^sport that he had used was a special Jox, which held three horses facing the way the lorry was travelling. There were, in his opinion, many advantages in motor transport, one' of the greatest being that the1 amount of air could be'regulated. The charge he had paid. for transport was 5d per mile for "each horse for the outward journey and 3d per' mile for the return journey. Stable boys and feed Were carried free. Mr. Wise stated that he had also received a letter from Messrs. Powdrell 8r05.,, Hastings. • They stated that they had two horse boxes, which fitted on to-tow-ton-;-lorries. .Each of these boxes' carried five horses, in comfort and safety. The cost of_ making these boxes, together with a loading gangway, was in the vicinity of £80 cp.eh;' The boxes were provided wiffi removable' cushions to prevent any damage to the horses \llld to keep them from falling down. Jii the carriiigc or/ horses' they governed their prices by tile, rail way ■'"faress'Wlien they were cpmpetinjs against,.the--railways v . ; but whey they we*e, off .-thejiailway' .route they charged £-1' «jthrn"&¥e"l6i'"«BC& horse fora 32*

mile journey. - Under that distance the charge was. £5 for. a full load for a two- | .hours and a-hal£; run going and coming. The cost of running worked ■ out at about Is Sd per mile. The writers added that they carried horses to the local hunt two days per week during the season. , .They had carried some local horses on several occasions, and these walked up the gangway into their boxes as if they were going, into their stables.