SPORTING

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 3, 3 July 1941, Page 16

SPORTING

PROGRAMME AMENDED

HUNT CLUB ACTS

OPEN EVENTS AT AWAPUNI

; The abandonment of the Wellington 1 Meeting will be felt by owners of horses who were preparing for the Grand National Meeting at Riccarton next month. However, the few clubs staging fixtures prior to the C.J.C. i Meeting will probably benefit by securing increased fields. In the North Island the Manawatu Hunt Club and the Rangitikei Hunt Club will furnish owners with opportunities for giving their horses additional racing prior to going south to Biccarton, and in the South Island the Waimate, South Canterbury, and Christchurch Hunt Meetings will supply similar opportunities. It is not improbable that some of the clubs will make their programmes more attractive by increasing the stake-money. At Eleventh Hour. Recognising the opportunity presented by the abandonment of the Wellington Winter Meeting, the stewards of the Manawatu Hunt Club decided to add to its programme for Saturday wee. an open steeplechase event. The distance has been fixed at two and a half miles, and there will be a stake of £250. Also, the Waituna Hurdles, originally restricted to hack and hunters, has been made an open event, and the stake has been increased from £120 to/ £175. These eleventh-hour decisions will be appreciated by owners of the' better-class jumpers. History Repeated. During the last war the Wellington Racing Club found it necessary to first postpone and then abandon its winter gathering in 1915 owing to the presence of sickness in Trentham Camp. It was at first thought that it might be possible to stage the fixture after the Grand National Meeting at Riccarton, but there was little improvement in the situation during the month and it was finally decided to abandon the meeting. The early action on the part of the stewards of the club on this occasion has enabled owners to amend their programmes in time. However, one unfortunate was the Southland owner-trainer W E, Hazlett, who arrived at the scene of action on Tuesday with a couple of his jumpers. Another effect of the abandonment is that the winter sale of thoroughbreds will not now be held: Manawatu Entries. Entries for the Manawatu Hunt Club's annual meeting, to be held at Awapuni on July 19, close with the secretary at 9 p.m. on Monday next. Riders' Plans. M. Ritchie, who has been riding Birkology in all his recent successes, left for the north on Monday night to enter upon his military duties. He had been granted in advance the necessary leave to enable him to take the mount on Birkology at the Wellington Meeting, so probably he will defer the leave till the Grand National Meeting. Another well-known horseman, G. R. Tattersall, is also going into camp. May Be Postponed. There is a possibility that the annual meeting of delegates to the New Zealand Racing Conference, which had been set down for Friday week in Wellington, will be postponed and held .in Christchurch during the progress of the Grand National Meeting. A decision is expected to be reached during the next day or two. The New Zealand Trotting Conference is definitely proceeding with its meeting on Wednesday next. Modest Record. Straightdell, who dropped dead at Wingatui recently, had a comparatively modest record. As a three-year-old he. won once and was second twice in six starts; as a four-year-old he was first twice and second nine times in 20 outings; as a five-year-old he again scored on two occasions and was third once; and as a six-year-old he won once and was second on three successive occasions in 20 starts. Peculiarly enough, the only courses he scored on were those of the Dunedin and Riverton Clubs, four of his successes being gained at Wingatui, his home track. Now Impossible. Beau Cavalier and Coalition are the only horses, to have won the Great Northern Steeples, Wellington Steeples, and Grand National Steeplechase in the same season. But for the abandonment of the Wellington Winter Meeting many enthusiasts would haye been looking to Streamline to attain the honour. Two horses who won all three events, but not in the same year, were Valpeen and Billy Boy. Gone Out. Eupatrid, who was raced by Mr. J. Somerton, of Taranaki, has been returned to his owner,' the lease of the Hunting Song gelding having expired. He was a useful sprinter in the hack ranks prior to being put to hurdling, and after running second twice to Mataroa, at Waverley and Egmont, he won the Manawapoii Hurdles on, the second day of the Egmont Meeting in May. Two other members of H. Dulieu's stable, Hagen and Empire Action, are not being persevered with further and have' been sent home. Likely Recruit. ' When he ran second to Kinkle in the W. G. Park Steeplechase, Floodlight showed that he is likely to make good in the role. Originally, he was a good performer on the flat, and although he has lost much of his pace he should pay his way as a jumper. He is raced by Mr. J. H. Greenhead, who did so well with that other Illumination gelding, Erination. On Lease. Platform, a three-year-old gelding by Night Raid from Fairform, and a half-brother to those good performers of earlier years, Some Form, Rin Tin Tin, Charmaine. Tauramai, and Passaform, has been secured on lease by the Southland trainer F. J. Boyle. Platform was started five times as a two-year-old and three times this season without getting into the money, but he should be capable of better deeds with greater age. Australian Sires. During the coming season Ajax will go to the stud at 250 guineas, one of the highest fees charged in Australia. The same fee is charged for Titan, the only son of the Derby winner Hyperion at the stud in Australia. Fifty-five stallions are advertised in a Sydney paper, which reports that there has I been very little alteration in the stud fees. Studmasters take the view that j the yearling sales showed a soundness '■ in the industry. Fees for a few stallions have been reduced, but Double ] Remove (imp.), who stood at the Kia Ora Stud at 75 guineas last year, commands 150 guineas this year, at which figure his list is already full. Win and Place. , Randwick totalisator figures furnish undoubted proof of the popularity of the win-and-place method of invest- ' ment and of the five shillings unit. Mr. | F. Wilkinson, Randwick totalisator' manager, makes the point that the recent rapid rise in .Randwick investments can be traced to the installation of win-and-place machines on suburban courses. Every fresh installa tion helps to make the racing public more totalisator-minded. The attend- : ance at the Warwick Farm Meeting, held at Randwick, was more than 21,000, as compared with 17,800 on the corresponding day in 1940. For seven races in 1940 the totalisator invest- , ments were £27,070. With one race less at this year's meeting, the machine handled £32,026. The figures leave no room for doubt that Sydney racegoers prefer win-and-place machines ito the old method of one-two-three | payments on a 60, 20, and 20 percent- < age. It seems likely, too, that public demand will very soon cause the totalisators with 10s units to pass out of existence.