SPORTING NOTES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 31 March 1915, Page 3

SPORTING NOTES.

BY SIR SINGLE

There will be plenty of racing all over the cotintry next week, but probably the Auckland and Feilding fixtures will chiefly interest sportsmen from these parts. . Among the locally trained horses engaged at Feilding are Play Off, Ineuru, INita, Captain i)ick, Yestalis, Crawford, Avon Park, Coropet, Welcome Nugget, Iceberg, Veto and Deeside, besides several from New Plymouth, Stratford and Waverley. Astor is to measure strides with some of the best at Ellerslie, but at the time of writing it was not certain who is to ride him there. Tree Luoerne will jiot make the trip to Riccarton, as he went a little sore and was scratched for his Great Easter engagement on Saturday. Tyson won a double at the Rangitikei meeting, and his connections got a fair price on the first occasion. He is one of the* quickest beginners in New Zealand, but needs to be well seasoned to see five furlongs right out, and probably many backers expected him to stop as quickly as he did in New Plymouth. Ineuru was favorite for the Scott Memorial, and just got there by a bare margin. Another locally trained horse, Iceberg, finished second on two occasions at the same meeting. Glacier (a full-brother to Iceberg) and Katua, another of J. Barlow's charges, also filled second berths. King Chiara (New Plymouth), Bivouac (Pate-i), and Tiora (Waverley) each won a race, so Taranaki secured a fair proportion of the stake money. Sylvan Dale (New Plymouth) was placed second and third. Master Sylvia is said to have broken down, and is unlikely to race again. P. Scally has a two-year-old filly in his New Plymouth stable in Festoon (Sylvia, Park—Fancy Work) who is credited with ability to muster up some pace. Croesus will probably be the only Hawke's Bay horse competing at the Canterbury Jockey Club's autumn meeting. It is understood that he will be ridden by W. Ryan. , . F. C. Porter, who was seriously injured at Wairoa in January, has almost recovered, and is at present on a visit to Auckland. Warstep is galloping in great style at Riccarton, and is reported*to be as well as ever she has been. Mr A. G. Wood, of Hawke's Bay, has now so many starting, engagements to fulfil in the South Island that he will probably shortly remove to Christchurch. ' Benvitas and Clontaft, the latter the last V.R.C. Grand National Hurdle Race winner, will shortly arrive in tno Dominion with a view to taking pare in jumping events over here this ,winter This season the five leading three-year-olds in Australia have won *o less than £39,664 between them. Ot this sum Woorak has won £9859, Mountain Knight £9047, Carhta £8770, Traauette £8053, and Blague £5935. As "there are still some important classics to he decided, any ot the leading three may , succeed in passing the £10,000 mark. .. . Warstep will probably be ridden in the Great Autumn Handicap by Emerson, who had the mount on her in the Auckland Cup. — . It is rumored that'F.D. Jones, who until .recently was acting as private trainer to Mr W. E: Bidwell, has been offered the" oosition, of., private trainer to Mr H. A. Knight, a Canterbury owner. Jones has only,been acting as trainer for about a yeaiy but in; that time has don©, remarkably will not" beSseen ;<nrfr at Riccarton. She catightav slight ?^okl at the Napier Park meeting, and is now on the easy list. . Mr N Falkiner, owner of,the imported horse Land o? Song, is reported to have offered 3000 .guineas for Di:Gama, prior to tae^3,C. autumn Tweeting. Although Di Gama failed: to Win a race at the V.R.C. meetang, his place winnings amount to &4UU. seconcl in the Essendon Stakes and third in the Champion Stakes being each worth a couple of hundred. Should Di Gama not change hands there is a probability of him being brought back to New Zealand for the Thompson Handicap and Trentham Gold Cup. „ . . Banksia is amongst the fancied candidates for both the Great Easter and Great Autumn Handicaps.

In reference to +iie race for which Multifual was disqualified at Napier Park, a Gisborne paper is responsible for the statement that the trainer of Multifual cut two long pieces of stirrup leather off after Deeley had weighed out, and this accounted for the 4,1b short weight after the race. ; Mr^H. Hassall, of Hawke's Bay, has purchased the imported stallion, Merry; Moments, from Mr J. O. Hayward. Merry Moments is by Count Scjiomberg—Merry Gal. Merry Momen^ is eleven years old, and brings a new strain ol blood into the Dominion. Merry Moments, in addition to having won some long distance races on the flat, has won some good hurdle races, including the- Grand Hurdle Race, two miies, at Autueil (France), also the New Century Steeplechase, of 1000 soys, 2£ miles, t in England. Invader changed hands at the Rangitikei meeting, and on the second day ran in the'name of Mr P. Donnellan, the West Coast owner, who races' Merton, Waikehua, and others. Invader is to race at the West Coast Easter meetings. ; •■■ >;■'

C. Jenkins met with a nasty accident on the first day of the Rangitikei Meeting. <When he was pulling up Son after, doing his preliminary in the Pukenui Welter Hack the stirrup leather broke, and Jenkins received a bad shaking. He went home, and did not return for the second day. While doing his preliminary for the same race Master Moutoa threw B. Deeley, who, however, escaped unhurt. The Soult horse Marshal McDonald has, under the advice of his trainer, been put under the knife. The operation was performed a few days ago, and he will in future race as a gelding. In Rus?ia mares are not allowed to run in races after six years of age, and the best of them are always chosen to be mated with the Government stallions.

R. Hatch has been engaged to ride Chortle in the Great Easter Handicap. Expect, Bertrada, and Rewi Poto have been withdrawn from all engagements at the C.J.C. Meeting. The absence of Rewi Poto (remarks a Christchurch scribe) is especially regretted, as on his recent form he was a popular fancy with many people. It would have been interesting to see this useful horse racing at Riccarton. As for the other pair, tney had not been much discussed and probably Expect is not yet ready for a hard race. I In Canada last year there were 244 days' racing, of which 90 took place at Vancouver, the prize-money averaging about £320 a day. The other 11 tracks had 14 days each, the prizemoney at Toronto averaging slightly over £1520 a day, though Dorval with an average of £1180, Blue "Bonnet* £1090 and Windsor £1040. also did well. The leading winning own<"- was J. "W. Schorr, of Memnhis, Term., wi*sS £7680, the principal contributor to that