NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 7 June 1923, Page 5

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

(By Maecenas.) Clean Sweep brock a bone m a'fetlock during tne rumiing of the Birtiida>• Handicap at Dimedm on Saturday. As anticipated, Lady Merriwee stspped very badly over the last part v; her races at Otaki. Askari ran a good race in his only start at Otaki, and if sent over to the Hawke's Bay meetings he should have lots of support. In several of the races at Otaki the apprentice riders had a monopoly: lintincidentally it may be mentioned that the advantage of the allowance of weight was lost through.poor riding. The Hawera light-weight, M. 6>nway 3 steered First Born to victory in each of his races at Otaki. As Silent Dick was not a runner v.t the Dunedin. meeting it looks as if he .went amiss. R. J. Mason left for Australia with his team of horses on Friday last. On paper it does not look as formidable as most of the other teams taken over by R. J. M. The Hawera apprentice R. -Flowers rode Equador in both of his races at Otaki. He jumped him out well eaTcli day and gave an iinpi-oved display. As a rule Tar.inaki-tra.ined horse 5* play a leading part at the Otaki winter meetimr, but this year" horses trained in the butter province were not strong numerically or in class ; in fact, Leith-

field and Equador were our sole representatives. ! Bonnie Winkie was not ready to run: a severe twelve furlongs, and ho was in a bad way after his race last Saturday. Keen observers say the contest may send the son of Winkie back many months. '.■> Mr. R. A. McKenzie deserves the . sympathy of all sportsmen over the t €r loss of the £200 stake attacked to the ea _ Taipua Handicap, won by 'Mireusonta in- at Otaki on Saturday, but which stake irs was awarded to Solfaiiello owing to ltd Mireusonta's rider weighing in half a on pound short. Mireusonta won with a c- lot in hand. As Mark Time has a similar tempexaxe) ment to that of his brother (Marqiiert- teur) he should thrive under the care by of trainer Cox 3 who has done remarknd ably well with Marqueteur. I Maurice McCarten was riding in great im form at Otaki, and on the second day, ■rk of the meeting Megan, Tame Pox, and he Patuki might easily have met defeat in ie, the hands of a less experienced rider. >w The dividend paid by First Born on 'a- the first day at Otaki was a dieapee pomtment to the owner of the geiding, ne who. while expecting First Born to run a good race, did not look on his <*) chance as extra good. s« After beinjr spelled since last Februdl ary, Mark Time has been brought in, "> and in the course of a day or two will *~ be sent to lie trained by 0. Cqx at >> Hawera, Mark Time should be useful - next season. *> Mam-ice McCarten rode a perfect' ' race on Tame Fox in the Raukawa Gup , last Saturday, but despite this he was easily beaten by Bitters, which put ia a great ran over the last furlong. \' Q Of eighteen runners' in the chief 5- 1* On c opening day at Otaki, r Witters was last to leave the mark and was still in that position as the field j_ raced up the back; but, finishing like a 4 good one. Bitters won easily. j Although First Born won both hurdle „ races at Otaki in an easy manner it • y does not look as if the son of Thurnnam 3 will take high honours over the small . battens. Next season First Born jmay 3 be raced ov«jc "country" and, being a ; good fencer, he may win a good steeple , chase for his popular owner. . ■ When being exercised on the Horoi whenna track last week. Black Night [ by some mischance broke his foreleg -, and had to be destroyed. Black Night ' gave promise of turning into a useful ' hurdler, and at the Feilding Easter , meeting he defeated a big field in the . KimboJton Hurdles. , The race track on the second day of i the Otaki meeting was nothing but a sea of slush. Fancy horses taking 3.20 to run U miies over hurdles, while the ' six furlongs took 1.29 2-5. Ridden out Inme Fox ran the mile and 55 .yards in 1.6. As.the fields were fairly large in some of the races, ifwas simply miracu g«s that some of the horses did net Secretary. White, of the Wellington Kacmg Club, deserves praise for the ; manner in which he has secured an i extra day s j^cing for his club (he was -also successful last year), when"it was , thought, and has been-stated by those ; controlling such permits, that ther© were no permits available. Considering taat some of the smaller clubs hav<y" heavy liabilities to meet, and have on numerous occasions made application f«r ' an extra day, without success, it certainly appears as if there is Ministerial favouritism. The totaiisator figures at Otaki declined by as compared with tee corresponding meeting last year. Consiclenng the atrocious weather experienced during the meeting the 'club mentioned must think themselves lucky to escape with such a small shrinkage llad tli©-weather been fine tne Utaiii Uub would have had a substantial kuplus. ■ , th« talf^ister to Marquetear and Mark Time, was backed oy i,er conuectious on each-.^r^t'Otaki, Li.t Sherry. ltterCd f SW^>» When running in the paddock recently buimy Vale ricked h;s shoulder and in consequence the trip to Auckland cad to be abandoned, Vaje is now all right and may b> sent to thl .Napier i-ark and Hawke's Buy meetDemos ran two iine races at Oak; and it appears only a matter of \hlL geJdiug standing up to his work a».U • s scr c*wili feit in many ra^es Allan Henderson sent Equador to the post in fine condition at Otaki, and oa both days he always held a winning Position. Equador registered a parties - iarly good performance on the first day, for while Treadwell (7.0) ran six f^l. longs in 1.23 3-5, and Mireusonta (« $) registered 1.24, Equador (9.0, ran \hi , distance in 1.22 1-5.