MEMORY HONOURED

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 12, 14 July 1939, Page 13

MEMORY HONOURED

LATE MR. HAROLD RUSSELL

The Harold Russell Memorial Challenge Cup, the feature event on the card for the Hawke's Bay Hunt Club's Annual Meeting at Hastings tomorrow, is the new title of the old Hawke's Bay Hunt Cup. It has been so named in honour of the memory of the late wlr. H. Russell, a former president of the club and a past president of the New Zealand Hunts Association. The late Mr. Russell was one of the*, most prominent huntsmen in the history of hunting in the Dominion, and he'was actively interested in the sport up till the time of his death last year. The Russell Memorial Challenge Cup itself is a trophy valued at £75, and it will be held by the owner of the winner each year for a period of twelve months. The winning owner also takes a miniature of the cup valued at £5 ss, which is his own property.

EARLY CONTESTS

The Hawke's Bay Hunt Club was one of the earliest to take advantage of the opportunity afforded by the 1914 Racing Commission of holding totalisator meetings, and the first Hunt Cup Steeplechase was run in 1915, when J. Cameron's black gelding Tarero was a very easy winner in a field of eight. The stake on that occasion was £150, but the hunt clubs generally were hard hit by the depi'ession a few years ago and they are only now beginning to bring their stake-offerings back to predepression level.

The club did not race again till 1920, and then not on its own account till two years later. In 1920 and 1921 the hunt club fixtm*e was combined with the Hawke's Bay Jockey Club's Winter Meeting, a three-day affair being staged in 1920, and the Hunt Cup Steeples on those occasions were won by the late Mr. C. F. Vallance's Sturdee and by Mr. W. Robson's Merry Own respectively. The hunt club separated its meeting in 1922, and the sequence of the club's own annual fixture since has been broken only in 1933. when no meeting was held. . Up till 1928 the club always raced in the winter., but from 1928. (when two meetings were; conducted, though in different racing seasons), the fixtures were in the spring. A reversion to the winter was made in 1932, and since then the racing has been staged at the back end of the season, usually the week after the Wellington Meeting.

KEEN INTEREST,

The record of the Hunt' Cup Steeples, now the Russell Memorial Challenge Gup, is most interesting, as it shows how keen have been certain owners to win this race. One of the keenest was the Greenmeadows sportsman, the late Mr. C. E. Twist. In 1922 Mr. Twist's Powder King was second to Fred Davis's Seadown. The next year, when Ramanuwhiri beat Kovno, there were only two starters, and Kovno was afterwards acquired by Mr. Twist from Mr. A.-Syme. In the following two years Kovno was again second, but his turn came at last in 1926 at his fourth attempt. In 1930, Kovno, then 14 years old, was again second, to Risk. In 1927 Mr. Twist supplied another runner-up in Woden, who was also second in 1929. A further second came when Dozie was beaten by Cotsfield five years ago; but the following year Mr. Twist won the' race for the second time with Prosy Boy. No other owner has yet succeeded in winning the Hunt Cup Steeples more than once. Among those who have enjoyed single victories are Messrs. F. W. Wall (Ethiopian), E. Riddiford (Banjuke), W. A. Todd (Hollycombe). O. Nelson (Ponjola), K. McK. Duncan (Risk), G. D. Beatson (Luna Lux), J. M. Reedy (Cotsfield), Dr. C. Raymond (Royal Songster), Mr. J. Brice (Miss Pango). and Mr. J. Patterson (Kiriroki). Not one of these owners is represented in tomorrow's fields though the Wall-family has an interest, as Hilaria, who has had only two races yet. carries the colours of Miss M. P. Wall. Among the owners with candidates tomorrow, however, are several members of well-known hunting families, including Mr. E. E.Loisel (Rapa Waiata), Mr. Angus Dods (Count Willonyx and Umpire), Mr. S. G. Bridge (Given), Dr. D. J. Holden (Acron), Mr. J. N. Lowry (Bang Bang), Mr. E. W. Symes (Royal Toast), "and Mr. L.-N. White (Sabatini).