Topics of the Turf

Grey River Argus, 21 April 1928, Page 3 (Supplement)

Topics of the Turf

By

“LIMERICK”

RACING.

FIXTUBES. April 21, 23—Marlborough R.C. April 27, 28—S. Canterbury J.C. April 27, 28—Hawke's Bay J.C April 28. 30—Waikato R.C. May 3, s—Nelson R.C. May 10. 12—Egmont R.C. May 12—Ashburton Ctv. R.C. May 17, 19—Wanganui J.C. May 26—Amberley R.C. LIMEUCICSWINNINGS ,'VOW OVER £3O 000. * s victorious care r in Sydney nted on Saturday in a brilliant win -. i the King’s Cup, a trophy presented by His Majesty the King accompanying the stake, which New Zea-, hinders will be delighted to see coming to this country and one of which Mr H. A. Knight will be justifiably proud. It has fallen to the lot of several New Zealand owners to own good horses who ' have earned valuable stakes and also, incidentally, valuable trophies, both here and in Australia, including a Melbourne* Cup, but a King’s Cup is a unique event, and it is fitting that it should go to Limerick, the undisputed weigh t-for-age and handicap champion of Australia and N w Zealand. His stake earnings have now topped the £30,000 mark. The King’s Cup was first instituted in Australia last year to mark the visit oi the Duke of York. It was run at Flemington and was waa by Spear Maiden. Mark Mint should not be long in winning a race or two for Mr W..Higgins. He was very unlucky at Feilding. Two great disappointments at Riccarton were Thorndale and Barryanda. Both of them raced very badly, and never looked like winning. Rotor is very well just now and is worth keeping in mind for future events.

It was reported that I’uki ln"ke clown whilst racing at the Riverl-1. meeting. Such is fortunately not the rase He was struck above one of ni> | fetlocks when Blazing Light fell in front of him, but the mishap _ caused onlv temporary lameness. Tuki will probable be raced at the Vanganut, Auckland, and Well.ngton meetings prior to the Grand National meeting. It came as no nurpri.-e to learn that Rapier’s trip to Awapunl had been abandoned. On his form he bad small nrosnects of success. Rapier will pio bably be given a good spell during the winter months. The committee of the Dunedin Jockey Club, after advertising recently for a ne w handicapper, decided not to make „ ..ermanent appointment until the beginning of next season, but has arranged with Mr C. E. Hassall, of 1 imi.ru, to do the handicapping for the wintei meeting extending over three days, in June Mr Hassall has had a good deal Of experience as a handicapper, having acted 1 for a number of clubs in Canterbury and Otago, especially during the last vear. He did the second day handifor the Aamnru Jockey Club h feting, held at Wingatui last month Tnd probably his good work at that fixture brought him favourably under +ho notice of the Duuedin Jockey Xb’s officials- He is well-known m racing circles, also, in other directions, w acts as judge to several clubs ™ SoVh CanterUv - d North Otago, ■. !„ he is the assistant to the judge % the Canterbury Jockey Club and ? h f e NewZealand' Metropolitan Trotting Club. ■ The Franklin Cup winner Sir Archie, h _, sufficiently recovered from the in- . „„ he received in a railway aeeilast month to resume work. The a Listown gelding has lost some of but on the whole he has come I,lwtll conB,der,ng lus jurie- F . A Ajff -k’lble feature about the re ~iLTf the first day’s racing at Avonhorses eanyi g war(?ro 9.0 and “ 92 were top-weight win Xe Chou Stranger suffered a Sw al defeat when carrying 10.1 with a 7.0 minimum.

The Wingatui trainer, F. Shaw, paid . visit to Wellington last week, after Ti, Canterbury Jockey Club’s meeting, th a mirthaseii for one of his patrons, Mr d A P w! Douglas, and Australian-bred A r ve-ir old by Biplane from Crystalfl The youngster is untried but he £ to be a promising sort.

TROTTING.

FIXTURES. April 21.—Te Aroha T.C. April 21. —Ashburton T.C. April 28.—Wellington T.C. May .3, s.—Forbury Park T.C. May s.—Cambridge T.C. May 19.—Oamaru T.C. June 2 4. —Canterbury Park T.C. June 9.—Ashburton T.C. Juno 23, 27. —Auckland T.C. B. Jarden is booked to leave .at the en.l of the month for Western Australia, and will hold a clearing sale at the end of the week. The American-bred trotting horse Maxegin. recently imported from Western Australia by J. Bryce, the Hornsby owner trainer, made his debut at Hawera, and created a favourable impression. There is no disputing his speed, but the manner in which he stopped at the nd of a journey suggests that he is not ready for hard racing over such courses. The son of Judge MaxeyRheim Lass is a great beginner, and if he steps out in a 12 or 13 furlong trot will give the opposition something to do to beat him. A mile race among th • pacers would be within his reach at present. On his return to Adelaide after a two months’ holiday spent in New Zealand, Mr 11. Lewis, the owner of a number of race-horses, recently stated, to a representative of the Adelaide Advertiser that he saw nothing in the conduct of racing in the Dominion which might, with advantage, be adopted by the metropolitan clubs in that State. Mr Lewis was amazed at the extent to which trotting races, with the assistance of the totalisator. were held in New Zealand. There was just as much trotting there as horse racing, and the racing public was much better catered for in regard to the number ol races than in South Australia. The stakes for trotting were larger than ( these for racing, and all leading clubs held two-day meetings —on Saturday

and Monday or Thursday and Saturday. All the trotting and racing programmes contained eight races, a start being made at noon and the last race about 5.30 p.m. He witnessed a trotting meeting of the Otahuhu Club, at Auckland, and the stakes for the eight races on one day ranged from £3OO to £lOOO, and the totalisor investments for the two days totalled £97,000. The stand erected on the Epsom course, where the trotting was held, was larger than that at Morphettville. Bookmakers were not allowed to operate, but it was easy t osee, said Mr Lewis, that money was passing through other channels. “On all the New Zealand courses, provision is made for receiving big commissions in th? totalisator,’’ said Mr Lewis. “The Commissioner with £5O or £2OO goes to a small cilice, fills in a voucher, and hands in his money. That money is not put through the totalisator at the time, but is held until the machine is about to be closed three minutes .tyofore the start of a race. Then all the big money is recorded, and the general public has no chance <jf following the money. If the public has not com* plet (I its investments a race is delayed, but even in that cage the machine closes three minutes before the start:” At the disposal of Mr J. R. Corrigan ’s stud, which went under the hammer last week, Bingen Spear, a colt by Nelson Bingen, was passed at 500 guineas and subsequently placed under off r at 750 guineas. Bingen Spear’s dam, Miss Spear, was got by Peter the Great, and is also the dam of Herblwyn Joan Spear and Nelson M ’Elwyn.