SOME EARLY HOPES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 117, 19 May 1937, Page 15

SOME EARLY HOPES

GREAT NORTHERN MEETING

(Special from "Early Bird.") AUCKLAND, May 18. The very bad weather that caused the Waipa Meeting to be abandoned was general throughout the province and'the tracks in the north from now on will be very heavy for racing, fc>o the mudlarks will come into their own at Te Rapa at the weekend and .again at EUerslie next month. It will be remembered that EUerslie course for the last Great Northern Meeting was unusually fast, the Cornwall Handicap being run in 2min osec, and tne hacks doing their seven furlongs in lmin 26 2-ssec. This sort of thing was experienced over the three days, nut this time it will be. very different soins. ' Monastic's success in the Adamson Steeplechase last Saturday, following on his very good second to Don irma on the opening day at Hawera, draws attention to his prospects at Te Rapa. And if he contests"the Great Northern Steeplechase" he will not'lack support if he continues to make the expected improvement. He made up a lot of ground in the final mile of the Egmont Steeplechase, and as he ypparen.lv stays1 well he should win again on the trip. His races at.Te Rapa at the weekend will finally decide whether he will run at Ellerslie or Wanganui. PROMISING REAPPEARANCE. Philemup might have been wanting a: race when he defeated aE except Professional in the hack.sprint at Pukekohe last week, and so he ought to do better when he is produced on his home track this weekend and at Ellerslie. In the spring he was in excellent form, emerging from the maiden class to be able to dead-heat with Quadroon in the Waikato Hack Cup. He made a very promising reappearance at Pukekohe and is evidently going to be good in the future. He can handle soft ground and in this respect he will have, things to his likmg now. Next season he should be capable' of winning handicaps.. Royal Appellant is one of the early fancies for coming handicap events, notably the Auckland- Cornwall Handicap, in which event he has only 81b above the minimum, so that if he can handle the heavy ground he. will be prominent. . Royal Appellant raced very prominently at the last Great Northern Meeting, winning the open handicap,, one mile, on the final day with 8.11; the minimum then, being 7.0. Subsequently he won over a mile at Te Rapa in the late spring with 8.9, and was second and third at EUerslie at the Summer Meeting, following this up with" a- third with 9.0 on January 30 on the same track. , On Easter Monday he finished. fourth, after d very bad beginning, in the Auckland Easter Handicap, carrying 8.4, so that he will' have every apparent prospect of extending his record in the very near future. ; ~ Horowhenua has been very . disappointing ■in the past twelve months, but his showings at Whangarei and Pukeko.he indicated that he is at last setting : back to his best form. He Has always been partial to soft tracks and so his turn may not be far off, especially with important .winter handicaps in the offing. The conditions are now made to order for him, and while considerable improvement is necessary if he-is to do more.than hold, his own he really looks like making amends. His next 'engagements are to be filled at Te Rapa and Ellerslie, and he may also be on hand if the Waipa Club decides to hold its abandoned meeting on June 26, the first available Saturday. . . ■ ' The loss of the chance to race at Te Awamutu through the abandonment of the recent fixture is going.to be a serious thing for horses with engagements ,at the Great Northern fixture, for many owners were looking to.this- outing to assist their horses in preparations for the long jumping events to come. ■ Among those to be very seriously affected will be the Hawke's Bay hurdlers Royal Mimic and Collision, both of whom are entered at Ellerslie. Even if they do compete at Te Rapa they, will lack experience ,of racing and jumping the reverse way round at EUerslie. and experience has shown that this is a veryserious handicap. Te Kapa is, a leithanded course. INTEREST IN ALLEGRETTO. Much interest will be taken in the efforts of Allegretto in his .coming races over country, for he was one of the best steeplechasers produced at the last Great Northern Meeting.. He has not raced in the interim! At the last Waikato Winter Meeting he won the Hack Steeplechase with 9.0 and then went on to Ellerslie to capture the Greenlane Steeples under 9.8 arid the Tamaki Steeplechase with 10.12, winning in very easy fashion each time. His form was even better than that of any of the proved ■: cross-coun-try performers that .raced in the bigger events, and so' his reappearance in the near future will give a line on his Great Northern- Steeples chance. When he won at Te Rapa twelve months ago he had'been off the scene for over eighteen' months. •-.-■' 1 The early favourite for the Great Northern Hurdles should be Lord Val, who appears to be exceptionally well placed with 9.2. He is a good mudlark arid so far as his stamina is concerned any horse capable of winning a Cornwall Handicap should not be bothered by the two" and a half-miles of. the big hurdle race. ' Lord Val finished third in the handicap at Pukekohe last week, so that he will be a fit horse by June 5, and in the meantime he ■■ may be given an outing at Te Rapa. At his last start over hurdles in his own district, at Ellerslie last October, he carried 10.5 and won over two miles in showery weather and on'soft ground, while his last effort over the sticks wast a fourth to Beau Ga'llante at Treritham a fortnight later, when he carried 10.9General entries for the Great Northern Meeting ■' have; fallen very much below those of .last year, in point of numbers, so it is possible that many owners will be holding off for Wanganui, which clashes with the first two days at Ellerslie. Bonnie Rollox and Kiltowyn in addition were scratched early on account of dissatisfaction with the weights allotted them, and in the case of the former he will be missed from .the Great Northern Steeplechase field, which is not always contested by a large number of horses. On£ of the horses being sorted out as the most likely' to win the big Auckland jumping double is Clarion Call, who finished second to Boughal over the sticks at Hawera. However,' the Marton gelding has a good horse's weight, 10.11 in each event, and that will try him ■ out. He had • 9.7 when he lost-his: rider last year at the last fence, at which Ijime he had the Great Northern Hurdles won easily, and he scored with 10.5 over two miles the second day. In the spring of 1935. Clarion Call was unplaced in a steeplechase ,at Ellerslie and on the-second day qi that meeting' he carried 10.8 and defeated all except Gascille, so that he is well acquainted with, the Auckland steeplechase country.