MANAWATU MEETING

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 141, 11 December 1935, Page 8

MANAWATU MEETING

FINE LIST OF ENTRIES

GOOD QUALITY CUP FIELD

The Manawatu Racing Club has every reason to congratulate itself on the excellent entries it has reoeived for its cpming Summer Meeting, which opens on Boxing Day. The nominations generally are better both in point of number • and in quality than they were last year, and the material promises to be on hand to provide highclass fare. With such response from owners the club may look forward to a most successful fixture.

As an exception to the majority of the other fields, the entry for the Manawatu Cup is smaller than last year, but only one nomination less, and what is missing in this respect is more than made up in quality. In the probable field are last year's winner, Tout le Monde, also Grand Jury, who was narrowly beaten two years ago and then went on to win the Wellington Cup. The Manawatu nominations are taken fo late that the omissions at acceptance are sure to be small. Only two horses dropped out at the payment twelve months ago and all the acceptors started.

AWAPUNI PREFERRED?

It is interesting to note in the list the Auckland Cup entrants Gay Boy and Werohia, besides Tout le Monde, who has already been scratched, and it may now be assumed that Awapuni will be the venue where these horses will do their holiday racing. There is still an opinion that Werohia may go north to Ellerslie, but, having so lately been entered at Manawatu, one would expect him now to be seen out at Awapuni, unless the weight he receives is considered unsatisfactory. Gay Boy is almost certain to remain in his own territory.

With Grand Jury and Might in this year's field Mr. J. E. Henrys will have no trouble in finding his top weights for the list of handicaps he will be issuing on Monday. Both these geldings are useful-class stayers at their best. Grand Jury is the better performed. Besides his Wellington Cup success and his second in the Manawatu Cup two years ago he was third under 7.8 in last year's Auckland Cup, and in some quarters he was. considered unlucky at Ellerslie, though his subsequent form hardly bore out this contention. Might's winning efforts have been in less auspicious company, but he was third, and perhaps unlucky, in last year's New Zealand Cup off the minimum. Through Gold Trail, who was second at Riccarton and then winner at Ellerslie, Grand Jury will probably be set to concede Might some pounds at Awapuni. Werohia, Gay Boy, Davistock, and Round Score are other interesting entrants for the Manawatu Cup, as all have recently been in solid winning form. The winner of the Cup in recent years, indeed in. most years since it was established in the early nineties, has been a horse who has been racing in form during' the month or so preceding the race. Even Tout le Monde last year was no exception, for, after having been off the winning list for over two years, he recorded a much overdue precedent victory among the hacks at Ashburton at the beginning of the month.

WEROHIA RIGHT TYPE.

Werohia is the type of staying gelding who should be suited by the Awapuni course and the Cup distance. His form at Woodville last weekend was the best he has ever shown, though he was a very promising three-year-old, winning several races and running third to Red Manfred and Spiral in the Great Northern St. Leger, and finishing third also in the New Zealand St. Leger. Another son of Greyspear in Spearful wps the Manawatu Cup winner three years ago.

Gay Boy was barely out of maiden ranks at the beginning of the present term, but he has added five more victories to his tally since then, and he looks ready for more. There is not a lot of him, but he is all quality what there is, and he is entire as welL He has yet to be tried over 1J miles, but he has never been found wanting-at 1J miles.

Davistock too is a much-improved horse this season,- and he has been a winner or in the running at every start he has had during the current term. With his long final run he looks like one who will stay the distance. So does the promoted hack Round Score, a relative of Admiral Drake by Werohia's sire Greyspear. Round Score has won three of his five races this season. He carries the same colours as Arrow Lad, who won the Manawatu Cup four years ago. The other five horses in the field are also not without prospects, especially Sunee, who was not suited by the track conditions at Riccarton, where he was among the better-fancied section in the New Zealand Cup, and who should be harder to beat on a firm track. Eis stablemate, Red Sun, was a shade unlucky to be beaten at Awapuni last year, so he might make amends. Tout le Monde was last year's winner, and Rust, Alby, and Hunting Cat are all form horses who could not be ruled out in a search for the likely winner. With such an array of talent the Cup should be a splendid race.

AUTOPAY'S PREVIOUS WINS.

The other two open handicaps on the first day are the Fitzherbert Handicap, six furlongs, and the Grandstand Handicap, nine furlongs, and both have attracted excellent fields. The thirteen in the sprint are four more than last year, and the dozen in the Fitzherbert are three more than last year. The quality of the fields is also very satisfactory. Among the sprinters is Autopay, who was the winner last year and also two years earlier, failing to gain a place ,m the intervening year. Autopay has also won the Palmerston Stakes on the second day the last two years, but the w.f.a. item has been dropped from this year's card. Autopay has already done a fair amount of useful •work since his brief spell at the stud and he will not be far from fitness point by Boxing Day. Also in the field is Movie Star, who was second last year, but he has been on the scene for some time. The form horses listed include Limulus, Gasman, Courtega, and Bodyline; and the South Island pair, Hororata and Invoice, may be ready for something better, as they have previously been at i * P, erlod P f the season, both incidentally having been winners at Awapuni last December. Fulojoy, Prostra- *£??•. ,anA Symcony are entrants who did their early racing this season in Australia. Full Throttle and Land Tax, winners among the hacks at the meeting last year, have not yet raced

The Grandstand Handicap is generally won by a good horse. Two years ago it was Forestry, who went on to win the Wairarapa Cup; and last year saw Inflation stage, his brilliant brief come-back. There is a horse of the class of Inflation in this year's race. It is Golden Hair, who is now in L G. Morris's stable. Will she retrieve her old form in the same way? History has a habit of repeating itself. Golden Hair is not the only interesting nominee. Another is Princess poreen, one of the best handicappers in the land and nearing winning form again. This mare may yet accompany Cuddle to Auckland, but her owners are evidently in doubt still about where she shall do her holiday racing, and their decision will probably depend on her handicaps. Passion Fruit and Speed are two others at their best distance in this race, and Alchemic, who has dropped out of the Derby will add useful three-year-old tone to the field. Among the remainder are only Round Score and Alby who have another engagement during the day.