RACEHORSES BURNED

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 81, 17 March 1934, Page 8

RACEHORSES BURNED

Mana Gift and White Fang HASTINGS OWNERS’ LOSSES Fire which broke out in Mr. W. C. Griffiths’ stables in Karamu road north at 2.30 o’clock this morning destroyed two well known racehorses, Mana Gift and White Fang. Three other horses stabled in the building were removed to safety, but two of them, Tareha and Limbolun, were slightly injured. Hunting Jay, which is down from Gisborne for the Easter races in Hastings, escaped quite unhurt. Mr. Griffiths, who was training all five horses, was Unfortunately without assistance, and was slightly burned in the course of trying to save his charges. Neither the horses nor the stable carried any insurance. White Fang was owned by Mr. Griffiths and Mana Gift by Mr. E. 0. Little, of Hastings. The Fire Brigade was called out, and speedily arrived on the scene. The firemen soon had the flames under control, and were largely instrumental in saving the three rescued horses. Though the stable building was not totally destroyed, it was damaged to a very considerable extent. White Fang, who was an 11-yeav-old horse, was to have raced in Hastings at Easter, and was then to have been pensioned off. The cause of the fire is not definitely’ known, but it may possibly be attributable to the fact that Mr. Griffiths, while treating one of the horses for a cold, had been burning sulphur in the stables. A racing authority states that thia is the first occasion on which a race- * horse has been destroyed by lire Hi Hastings.