RACING

Evening Star, Issue 25171, 10 May 1944, Page 5

RACING

TBy St. Clais.]

Answer to. Correspondent. " Inquisitive."—The statement published on Monday that Pencive's stake in this year's Kentucky Derby, 65,200d01, was a record, is correct. When Pilar Lap won the Caliente Handicap, also run over a mile and a-quarter, the gross,, stake was 58,800d01, of which t.bo winner's share was W.OSOdol. News and Views. There will be a lot of racing during the first fortnight of next month, including three days at Auckland, one at Wanganui (to bo held on the Marton course), and three days at Wingatui. The patriotic trotting meeting at Winton will be the only sporting fixture in the South Island next Saturday, but race meetings will be held at Te Aroha and Otaki. Though the gate receipts at Ashburton last Saturday were down as compared with last year's winter meeting, the tolalisator turnover, £27,144, constituted a record for tlie club. After racing at the New Plymouth meeting Novocaine is reported to have bled, and was sold to Mr B. 0. Binnie, in whose colours he won the next Saturday at the Egmont meeting. The Winton Trotting Club has received excellent acceptances for its meeting on Saturday, and the strength of the lightharness stables in Southland is demonstrated by the fact that practically all the horses engaged are trained in tho southern province. Air Port, winner of the principal handicap at the Waikato meeting, had previously won the Poland Cup, Ashhurst Cup, Franklin Cup, and Tauranga Cup this season. He is by Surveyor from Country Air, both of whom favoured soft going, so should be kept in mind for further successes during the winter. It is reported that about 600 people assembled at the Christchurch station on Saturday morning with the intention of travelling to the Ashburton meeting by the slow train, but the sale of tickets was stopped when 60 had been purchased. Passengers who intended travelling by the express leaving later on had to produce travelling permits before they were permitted to board the train. Buen'o, who won the Juvenile Handicap at the Waikato meeting, cost Mr W. S. Goosman 500 gs at last year's Trentham 6ales. He is by Battle Song from Honeste, by Honour from Lucinda., by Martian from Lady Lucy, who traces back to Musket and that great mare Yattendon. Bueno has Staying blood on both sides of his pedigree, and is said to resemble Carbine in looks. Visitors to Wingatui at next month's meeting will find many changes in the layout of the grounds .that should be appreciated There will be only one enclosure, and greatly improved totalisator accommodation will enable the staff to handle all the investments with much more celerity. A new cloakroom, conveniently situated, will also add to the amenities.

It is reported from Canterbury that Mr F. C. Christie has sold Old Glory. When trained at Wingatui for a short while last summer, this Solicitor-General gelding showed a lot of pace, but was very difficult to manage on the tracks. At Riccarton he has been schooled for hurdling and showed good form, and the jumping evidently quietened him down. >

At the present time the prospects for the Dunedin winter meeting, to be held next month, look bright. Southland train, ers are quite confident, that they will be able to land their teams at Wingatui, and most of the Canterbury stables are now exploring every avenue of transport. Three days of racing at one centre and good stakes make the fixture particularly attractive under present conditions. Claims are being made in Christchurch that the three-year-old stallion Casabianca, by Casanova from a Nelson Derby mare, is the best straight-out trotter of his age in the Dominion. On a slow track at Trentham he won over a mile and a-half in 3.22 1-5. equal to about a 2.15 gait, and is expected.to develop into a champioil. With promising young trotters such, >as Desmond's Pride,'-''-'Jimmy'-.'Dillon,-' Blue Horizon, and others who have shown outstanding performances this season, races for trotters promise to be full of interest next season.

The validity of the notice issued by the Transport Control Board regarding the use of petrol for transporting horses more than 30 miles was expected to be cleared up when four trainers were charged with a breach at the Wanganui Magistrate's Court yesterday. Unfortunately the magistrate did not give a decision, and the validity of the Order in Council is still unsettled. With big race meetings in several centres to be held next month, clubs, owners, and trainers were hoping that the matter would be settled so that they could make their arrangements for taking their horses to these fixtures.

The Dunedin Jockey Club was the first big club in the Dominion to feature mile and a-quarter races for hacks, and the experiment, though a success at Wingatui from its inception, was not followed by other leading clubs for some reasons. Now nearly every programme published includes one or more of these races. At the forthcoming winter fixture a race over 10& furlongs has been included on each day's programme, for which stakes of £4OO, £3OO, and £250 have been provided. Only one of them, the General MacArthur Handicap, to be run on the second day, carries a stake which will pub the winner out of hack class. These races promise to be one of the features of .the meeting, and are sure to attract good fields. (Four steeplechases were run at the Riverton meeting last month, and though the starters only provided 20 betting chances £7,681 was invested on the totatisators, despite the fact that in two of the races there was only one dividend, and in another only two place dividends. But steeplechases on a programme are a ,good draw to the public, and though they may not be individually profitable to a club they attract crowds who would not otherwise attend, and who help to swell not only the gate returns, but also betting on the other races. In the past these jumping events have made the Dunedin winter meetings the club's most popular fixtures of the season, and promise to do so again next month.