THE TURF

Evening Star, Issue 16995, 18 March 1919, Page 7

THE TURF

[Gosai# et Old Idunt/tt.}

jury Trots begin on Saturday of >■•ll3 week, and will bo continued on Monday, the first race at 12.30 each day. Over 20 horses are already in training on the excellent tracks that George Mason takes ranch pains with. Sungod, Albert Cling, and Nihilist are pretty sure to be will backed for the Cup. Palisade is being schooled to steeplechasing’, and if all goes well Mr L. C. H'izlett will have this horse and Sylva as cross-country candidates in the coming winter season. Marsalis the only Taieri-trained racer nominated for the Great Easter and the Great Autumn Handicaps. Gloaming has not been nominated for ihe Great Easter Handicap, and his only appearance at the Canterbury Jockey Lltio s Autumn Meeting will be in the Challenge Stakes, in which he may have another chance of meeting Desert Gold. ■ • 'lf n< o ower - has a chance at the weights .n the Southland Cup, and so has Burrangong. I should not be surprised to find Golden King the preferred one of Hogaji’s stable. Qunrest is at the minimum. Is he quite past hope? Rose Pink took the lead at the start of the \V airarapa Cup, but had to give way to Hydrus, who led the way at the back from Rose Pink and Bonnie Maid, Mascot being last. Half a mile from home Bonnie Maid was in the lead, and she led into the straight. Mascot challenged the leader halfway down the straight, but failed to make any impression, the favorite winning by a length. Ladify was fourth, and then Goidstrearn. Snub, winner of the Canterbury Cup,*' ’ d very well for Mr Kemball by carrying 'l2 into third place in the Brunswick xlandicap at Flemington on Saturday, and -a he is a great stayer he is pretty sure o win a decent stake soon in Australia. Mickey Free was supposed to be a good hing for Waimate, but he shaped badly. Molly’s Robe, winner of the V.R.O. s’ewmarket Handicap, is a Queensland Hy that won five races as a two-year-old. Ibis season she took the King’s Plate and •ran second in the Oakleigh Plate, so she uld be well backed for the Newmarket. Ie is by imported Svce (Cvllene—Skvraper) from Microbe (Warpaint—Microone). Podometer, a brood mare nurchased in ifcw Zealand by Mr B. Chaffev. reached Melbourne recently, and is no\v at tho herwood Park Stud. She is bv Stepniak from Demeter, by Wallace from Eleusis by Barcaldine, and is the dam of Surveyor. the best two-year-old in New Zealand this season. The death is announced of Mr Robert Crawford- of Victoria. He was the owner Of Prince Bardolph. When the last English mail ieft The Panther was favorite for the Derby at 5 to 1 against. The fount of all Irish humor—and it is a never-ending stream—must surely be Mulhngar, writes English ‘ Sporting Life. ’ The District Council of that delightful place have solemnly passed a resolution calling on the Irish people to stop all forms of sport, including racing, until all the imprisoned Irish political leaders have been released.

The Victory Steeplechase, run over two miles at Manchester on New Year’s Day, was won by Lieutenant-colonel Busby Bird s chestnut gelding Water Bed by Feather Bed—Coolbawn, with 12.4 up. Water Bed is trained by R. S. Sievier who stood for a seat in'the last English Parliament, and was defeated. In Australia Sievier plied his calling under the name of Robert Sutton. Water Bed had previously recorded some good performices as a hurdle-racer, but this was his '■l? appearance over fences. Colonel “ iv Bird gave 2,000gs for Water Bed a >or so ago. “Bend Or” thus writes Bed in the ‘ Sporting Times ’ ; i-“T went to Manchester to see the best amper in England win the Victory ’Chase. Than Water Bed we have had no better type of ’chaser for many a long day. Jerry M. was a grand horse, though of a different type. The Grand ’jtional winner of 1912 was a round, p-girthed horse of tremendous proporall through. Huge quarters fo!- . id a back which required a long-legged jockey to set astride with comfort. Water Bed is not this sort. He stands up in the air a good 17.1 hands in height, yet he is so admirably proportioned that one loses sight of Lis height and falls in love with his grent_ reach. This latter is his chief characteristic. A fine, swinging stride, he uses all his grand anatomy when moving ; lienee the rhyme of his action is perfect. But if one can thus eulogise his action, what is one to say of his jumping? It is just wonderful. To see a horse with such a long stride jump every kind of obstacle with perfect precision ia simply amazing. His judgment in taking off is 'ost accurate, fur 14 never appears to .Huge from the natural swing of his stride when approaching tho jump. Yet he seldom rises too soon, and never fails to measure tho height or breadth of the obstacle correctly.” Says the Auckland ‘Star’: The investments of a big punter at Te Aroha are said to have had considerable bearing on some of the results. How cheering it must be to an owner or trainer to know that his rider is more than friendly with an investor who is backing another horse in tho races as if it was all over I H. Robinson and R. S. Bagby were both responsible for good riding performance# at the Te Aroha meeting. The former had i six mounts, winning four straight-out winners, one winning dead heat, and a dead heat for second ; while in 10 mounts Bagby rode three winners, a dead heat for first, and one second.