HERE AND THERE

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 93, 21 April 1931, Page 6

HERE AND THERE

this Week's Racing. Kiicing i'of the remainder of the week ■will bo at Stratfoi-il and Wnshdyko (South Cuntorbuvy-lfcoting) on Thursday. Tliere will bo no racing on .Saturday, which is Arizac Day. Radical Date Change. The Dunedin Jockey Club hns made a radical change in connection with next reason's racing dates. Jn place of the usual two flays in. the spring, the club plans to race on 10th October, utilising .the othen date for a onc*lay meeting on 23rd March. The Hummer and Autumn Meetings will, as usual, be two-day affairs, ahd the Winter Meeting will extend' over three days. . Chokoboro Team. The Chokcbore Lodge team at Riccnvton has been reduced to ytraightcourse, Winsome Hind, Owlsflight, and Zcsbrugge, from whom Sir Charles Clifford will draw representatives for the meetings to be held during the N winter months. The remaining horses in the stable are on the easy list. Hurdling Prospects. The hurdlers that raced 'at Trentham on Saturday were not a particularly promising lot, and only a few of them at the most are likely-to rise-to-.anything better than just mediocre class. Birkbeek was easily the -best, but Callamart, Hymgreat, Tunbridge, Princess Elizabeth, .Spearopa, iind Ex -Bono may win- races during the winter-. . ■ Trained for Jumping. Birkbeek is a seveu-year-old brown gelding by, Birkdale (a eon .of . Birk'e.nliead) from the Martello mare Kotheringay Castle. He learned to jump with the hunters in Hawkes Bay, and he did not appear under racing colours till he was live years old, since when he has confined his attentions wholly.to the fencing game, both steeples and hurdles. Kew jumpers arc made this way now, and it will be more, than interesting to follow his career this winter. If -Saturday's, showing was a real earnest of his possibilities, he is going to play a prominent part in the coming big leaping contests. ;■: Stoutly Brod. .-.,;..".. Callainavt is an improving hurdler, and he may be good with more experience.- He did-not appear to.be ridden with the best judgment on Saturday, but his rider had some excuse- for trying to keep him out of the trouble that \iv.as threatening to develop among those folio wing.. Birkbeek over the last mile of the race.. ;Whcn putting in a promising finishing run he appeared not to sight the last fence;.pr°' perly, and crashed through, the top railing. It is to be hoped that any injuryhe suffered was no more than surface deep, for his showing to the point had been quite a creditable one,' as he had just returned from a month's spell. He is stoutly bred, being by imported Callaghan from a Martian mare, and he should stay, though it is questionable if he will successfully carry the biggest weights. .. No Novice to Game. ■' Hymgreat is no novice to the hurdling game, for he raced into the money over the fences as a four-year-oid more than three years ago. However, he had not had success ppor to the last Manawatu Mooting, and he is probably only now beginning to shape as a prospect for the' highesl; hurdling honours. It is..in.his; 'favour that he. jumps safely and clears his obstacles smartly.' Though not; truly brilliant, he appears to stay on. well at.the finish, of his races. 'It is Bueli.:a' kit ithat' .has. fashioned' many of. 'the nipst ■: success-.. fill; hurdlers':'.. ■'.-.. ■■;'';:" "r.;'o: ■..•':'.; "■''-'■^■' Likely Improyer. .','', '■■'■ Princess .Elizabeth is another who-;is no novice- to'the game, but until she had a run at Waipuknrau at Easter she'had liot raced for nearly eighteen months. Early .last season'she wou hunters' events along the East Coast, and on her, showing on Saturday she is likely, to succeed in better company this winter. Prior to the meeting, she-..was: -schooled at--Trentham ono morning, and she tucked the fences away under her in very business-like manner. - She is a five-year-old half-sister by Cynic to Koyal. JP.amon and. Koyal. ;Kpu--tme.'ancl is therefore quite attractively* bred. It is not" altogether certain,- neverr thelass, that she will stay with the best of them, although ' she was . finishing strongly in fourth place- on Saturday. Lack Experience. •-.- - ... Tunbridge, Spearopa, and Ex Dono lackhurdling experience, but they shaped in; promising mannor on. Saturday. Tunbridge has: ; :already ; .been.- ti .\vinner,;but.:the ob-■stacies.-hehad to.-'cross-:at; ; BiilIs were not ■dißieuiti' "aiid ::there'; were .not •■;' many of ■ tljeril.- ":■'-., His.' fencing 'is quite satisfactorj^for a novice., and he has a useful turn of speed, which-should .enable him' to take Up a; desired place in his races.' Spearopa and Ex D6no, both stoutly bred, were making quite a good showing, till they struck trouble.at the BecoUdrtO-las.i;..fencevi Oncetheyi Ibarii ;to. cnrb;their;'iiT)pi2t.ubsity (in; itself not an.; i.nyaliiab.lc; trait yin: a'-:novice jiimpcr). th'eyVm:ay-"'-turn\;out:;:to;:;-bei;useful; ; aefiuisitjons to 'the ;;preseu^ t'-jather ;depleted; iinmping;iratiksi; . S:;-;::;^.1:;;'-:;'^:'^ P[ .Catkin-'as^HJiiiriHej^*^,'.^^:;^:-;.' .;:';■ '.The former New.-ilcainnder;.Catkin (Cat»'; mint—HukaiSapa),-the-, older-:.4'ujl brother, to Shrgpn,' aud- who; Svill b.e;- vp'arfcicularly remeni&ered for -the.-fine- race 'heiran into • third,iplace in the 1928 Auckland-,Gup, has' been very, disappointing, to hia;<cbnncetiorisrccently in Victoria, and.1 the 'l'atfes.t about •him.'.is that he is to be tried;as;-a/jumpers-He.- was schooled a couple. pr : .'::Sb. weeks ago, and he is stated to have' shown; some; aptitude -in his ■ initialilcssonsi-' Even if; ho: does:not rise, to great-heights, a_Vic-' tbviaii' '•ivtiter comments, the experience': over fences may have the effect of knocking a. little honesty into him. :. Odds and Ends. Nominations for the principal events at the Auckland Racing Club's Winter Meetingl (Grand National Hurdles, Grand Na:.tid.tfai. Steeples, Winter Steeples, Cornwall Handicap,;l£ing George. Handicap, and "York "Handicap) close"af"s o'clock*" on Friday evening. Mr. E. H. Skipworth, acting-starter to the Auckland.. Bacing.. Club, has. accepted -an invitation by the Franklin-Racing Club to act as starter at-the race.meeting at Pufcekohe on 9th May. Mr. John Donald, of the Westmere Stud, has sold the stallion Diacquenod to the' Randwick: trainer. AY., Booth,- and the horse: was shipped by ' the TJliinaroa on Saturday. ■■■ 'The. lameness which came against the Ellerslie-trainecl Fobt'Rule recently is beliaved ,to be of a serious nature, and it is unlikely ; that she will be further persevered with for racing. . .'. :■■ . ■ The Otago owner-trainer; D. P. Wilson, is stated to be planning a North Island trip with some of his horses during the winter months. He has-nominated Black Duke, and, Rin Tin Tin at Marton. The decision of:; the Dunedin Jockey Club to'curtail the. stakes for ,the three days.'of the Winter Meeting to £3200 means.a very substantial cut. in. the prize money. Last season the stakes' totalled £5893. Riccartori'trainer F. D. Jones is reported to have reebmmissioned Arikiwai. He has had a-lengthy .spell, and he appears to be quite, sound at present./ Whether ho will stand a severe preparation onlytime will, reveal. ...... The committee of the ;Dunedin. Jockey Club is reported to bo drafting a remit for the annual meeting of, the Racing' Conference in July on the subject of a redistribution of racing dates. Mount Shannon was handed over to the Awapuni trainer, L. Knapp; after the •Hawkes1 Bay Meeting on Saturday,'and he will now undergo 'a : preparation for hurdling. ■He has occasionally , shown flashes of brilliant form, and should make good over .the fences. ...'■■ . ■ . The Dominion-bred two-year-old Golden Gate (Limond —Royal Exchange), who won a division of the Fernhill Handicap on the final; day at: the A.J.C. Meeting recently, was again successful at Tattersall's Meeting last-Saturday, states the Makura's "Wireless News."'