TROTTING BREVITIES

Evening Post, Issue 66, 15 September 1936, Page 13

TROTTING BREVITIES

Moerangi is said to prefer flrm footing. ' Trevor de Oro showed on Saturday thgb he should be a winner at any time. Ray Queen is one of the most peculiar-actioned pacers ever .seen. She hangs her head as though it does not belong to her. At a recent meeting at Ascot (Victoria) a driver was fined £1 for having one of his legs out of the sulky during the race. Graham Direct will probaby have his next race in the Weston Handicap at Oamaru. The speed he showed in patches at Wellington gave the impression that he will be better than ever this season. At the Ascot Trotting Meeting held at the end of last month the stewards disqualified two owners, drivers, v and their horses for not doing their best in- a race. Grace McElwyn was kept fairly busy last season when as a four-year-old she started in 31 races. She won six times and was placed in 13 other starts. Grace McElwyn went 4min 27 3-ssec on the final day of the National Meeting, and last season reached a record of 4min 25 l-ssec. The general opinion among visitors —Qjvners, trainers, and officials—to the Wellington Trotting Club's Meeting, was that the Manawatu Trotting Club has seriously blundered in changing its date to clasji with the Auckland Trotting Club's Meeting on Labour Day, October 26. Shoelace was brought to the Wellington Meeting, but she travelled so badly that her owner, the Hon. G. R. Hunter, M.L.C., scratched her rather than risk her running below public expectations. The reason why there are So few trotters about is probably due to the lack of opportunity afforded them. In one sense there are far more opportunities for trotters thnn pacers, because the former have comparatively few opponents to the multitude Of hoppled horses that race during a season. The trainers are, however, too impatient or something to bother about trotters, but it should be remembered that there are hundreds o» pacers not worth taking to the races. Arrangements for holding the first matinee meeting are being put in train by the executive of the Auckland Owners' and Trainers' Association. The events to be decided will be announced as soon as owners notify the secretary of the association as to what horses they will have for the meeting. It is intended to have a two-year race for pacers who are in the early stage of their preparation for the two-year-old event to be staged by the Auckland Trotting Club at its February Meeting, and also a heat for three-year-olds and novices of riper age. If sufficient inducement offers it is the intention to include an event for young straight-out trotters. Members of the association will provide trophies for the winners of the various races.