RAGING NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 72, 26 March 1935, Page 4

RAGING NEWS

QUIETVEEK IN RACING.

NO EXTRA TROTS AT IIUTT PARK.

(Ey"Rangatira").

With the more important of the early Autumn I meetings over, there will be an easing off in . , racing interest in the next three weeks, due to the lateness of Easter this year, and there are only minor fixtures for the immediate future. Saturday's meetings will be the Hawke's Bay and Birchwood Hunt (at Invercargill), and the Manawatu Trotting Club's two-day fixture will open at Awapuni and conclude on Wednesday. Of more general interest will ,be' the opening of .the flat season in England, with the Lincolnshire Handicap tomorrow, and the conclusion of the National Hunt session with .the Liverpool Grand National Steeplechase on Friday. , The Wellington Trotting Club's application for an extra meeting on May 6 has not been granted, so , that the light-harness season,in Wellington is,over. . HANAtfATU'3 GOOD MEETING. ■ ' The Manawatu Racing Club's Autumn Meeting last weekend was generally conceded by officials to have been the most successful the club has enjoyed in recent years. There was an all-round increase of revenue, and' the totalisator returns v/ere up not only nearly 50 per cent on last year, but also over 20 per c?ht on two years.ago. Last year the meeting had to " . be held very close to Easter,- but, even so, this year's meeting was much more profitable.than had been anticipated. It is to be hoped.that the stewards will reconsider their decision of last year to drop two of the established weight-for-age races, and restore them in future programmes. After his second successive victory in the Awapuni Cup Silver Ring is almost certain to go to Australia aga.in for the Easter racing1. He has meanwhile -been.entered for the C.J.C.Great Easter Handicap, but probably only lest there'should be any hitch in plans for the Sydney campaign. He has now won £4,830 in stakes, to which this season's contribution (mainly as a result of his A.J.C.Epsom win) has been £1,825. In the A.J.C.Doncaster he shares second top weight,9.B, Winooka being at the head of the handicap . with 9.13. : . ■ . . • , NIGHTLY'S LAST, RACE? , , ■ •, -After his Hazlett Gold Cup success at Dunedin ,' last month, Nightly left.the impression that he, "might be another Chatham, but his"races in theW.R.C.Thompson Handicap and in the Awapuni Cup have .heavily discounted that idea. In both these appear* ances he was well beaten after going six furlongs} it would seem that his wind affliction is so, serious as to render further perseverance with him of questionable worth. From Christchurch it is reported' that' ' „ . •he probably ran his last' race last week. He has been ~ entered for neither the- Great Easter nor the Great Autunsa; . As he is entire it is likely that he will be given'an opportunity at the stud, but his .chances here may not be so good as they would have been.a,yea». , or two ago, owing to the importation recently of . so many stallions from overseas.• , ■ -One of the most improved hocks seen out recently . ,is the Trentham-trained Acceptable, a very eaßy 1 "double winner at Awapuni last week, and .his rapid advancement illustrates again the vicissitudes of • the Turf. Early in his career, when raced by his breeder, Mr.'R.J.'Murphy, he showed any amount of I brilßanee. but could not stay the shortest races, Mr.G.H.Uason then acquired him on a tv/o yearsl ". early last season, and quickly won a,couple of small . races with'him, but there seemed to be no improvement in' his stamina, so Mr.Mason did' not care to, go on with him, and allowed him to' revert a' few months ■ ago to his breeder with the lease only half completed, • '• Mr. Murphy handed the Tea Tray gelding to H.Pritchard, wlio had lost his principal patron by the late Mr. tf.H.Ballinger's death, and the credit for working so great a change in the horse must go to Pritchard. Pritchard concentrated in building him up in condition, without'seriously galloping him, and this, with a year more dh tohis"age, has-transformed Acceptable into the horse that he now is. On Awapuni running Acceptable should race successfully up to a mile ana in much better company, and there is still room fir ■ • improvement in him. It is certainly a welcome change of fortune for his owner. LUCK TURNS FOR LOWE. Another welJ-knov/n-racing man to find fortune sv/inging back to him during the past fortnight has been the veteran Trentham trainer, J.Y/.Lov/e, the) owner of Sunee and Red Sun. For over two years the only race that Lowe had won prior to the recent Wellington Meeting was a small novice event with Sunee at Ca^rterton last November. ■ All appeared to* b"e going very smoothly for the veteran when Red Sun won the A.R.C. and W;R.C; Handicaps within a month !'at the beginning 0'f.1933, but then the course of luck was abruptly stayed.' A visit to Melbourne with Red Sun and Sage''was fruitless', and .shortly after hisr. • return Sage broke a leg in a race at Levin. , The run» of adversity, did not show the slightest sign of ceasing until Red Sun, was unluckily beaten* by Tout le Monde in the" Manawat'i Cup last Boxinff Dayj but ' that marked the turn ,to, better days, anc Sunee's 1 unexpected success- in the• Champion hack Cup at the i' recent Wellington Meeting ended the frowns of •fortune. Sunee, in running out his hack nominations i at Awapuni last week, was next to. a good thing beaten '■ on the first day, but he won decisively o/i tiie i • second day. Hev is a well-bred four-year old belonging to one of the best staying .families in ['Australia, and although he will in future have to ■ .'compete in'open- company''he might train on to do some . " of the.good things that were ,earlier hoped from Red rSun« whose future racing'will probably now be con--1 fined! to highweights and hurdles. Trentham stables had the best innings they have enjoyed for some time at the Manawatu Meeting last •weekend. On the first day Acceptable and Princess Doreen were successful, with Te Ua and Sunee in minor places; and on the second day Acceptable and Sunee were winners, with Might, Red Sun, and Darecoui*) 1 filling places. Cottesmore, the sprint winner, was , also until comparatively recently trained at. Trentham, but he was transferred to Otaki in order 1 to undergo a salt-water course of treatment such ss J had been marked with very successful results in the j case of Princess' Dore.en, also at the hands of A.M. Wright. An unfortunate of fsef to this good record.'* i was the death of Te Ua, a promising jumper who was to have been raced over the country during the , coming winter. Te Ua, a five-year-old gelding by 1 Acre from the Spalpeen mare Wench, a good hurdler i herself, had always had a will of his own, but as , a rule he was generous enough under the colours. I He was jumping well out in front last Saturday till I the second,to last hurdle, when, on his rider allowing him rein to,fence, he suddenly darted in and jumped the running rail instead of the hurdle, and, crashing through tiie rail, shockingly staked | himself. His rider (P., BurgessJ fortunately escaped with a bruising. Te Ua did exactly the same thing at Woodville' -last December when making his debut - , in a jumping role, but did not hurt himself seriously, and was"able to run second in ttie second day»s hurdles.