MISCELLANEOUS SPORTING.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4011, 4 August 1931, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS SPORTING.

[By Gleaner.|

RACING. The liioj'C c at the fields tor the "National Steeples and Hurdles the more one realises that Vi iltshire in the former and Nukumai in the latter stand out. They may both be beaten, as all sorts of good things come undone in a jumping race, but on performances, jumping ability and proved staying power there are no other horses in the races to touch them. In the Steeple;* Dark Prince, Luc ess and West Dome are young horses with great possibilities. Tuki has a great jumper’s chance. He may win as Sturdee did when more brilliant horses fell by the wayside, but Wiltshire is really outstanding. In the Hurdles Membo, Wiltshire (it be starts), Conjuror II and Singleton (which isn't too sound), should give Nukumai most trouble, but the old stager is very well and knows the liiccarton course better than most. Wiltshire and Lucess are schooling well at Riccarton.

Wako King looks more of a possibility for a minor steeple than the big 'heat. , .. . Knollraere, Charmeuse and Mahora are ruling favourites for the M intei Cup and are at a short price. Old Kamehameha, which was boomed to win a Great Northern, has won a couple of steeples at Gisborne. The opposition has been very weak, though. ~ , Malshot had a run at the Gisborne meeting, but missed at the Hunt Club’s meeting on Saturday. The Dunedin Club has appointed a new handicap per in Mr A. L. Canter. Lochlaggan, Mr A. Chisholm's* w oodend filly in C. Emerson’s stable, is to resume active work again. She gave great promise as a 2yr old but went amiss and was given a good spell. Royal Love, a quiet tip for the Winter Cup, is striding along well in her work. Kahikatoa, for some reason, has been supported to win a big sum over the Winter .Cup and lias been •extensively coupled up with the fancied brigade in both St ee poles and Hurdles. The Smuggler is still quartered at Washdyke and may make amends at the National meeting for his disappointing showings at Trentham. The firmer going should assist him. It is dificult to understand why the owners of Manifesto keep him lacing on small turning courses when such a big, long striding horse would oe better suited on roomy courses with a decent long straight. He is a better horse than his present form makes him out to be. Stanley T., Colonial Boy, and Major Lind are three imported trotters which are going great guns at present. The former still retains h;c bad habit of refusing to go off evenly at times. Unfortunately he does it when the money is in, as a good get away means everything. Given a suitable track Belindo will win a stake or two at the National Trotting meeting. Native Prince is ii'i‘ll. Logan Park is training on well. Addington touts are waiting to see Black Lion having a try out.

FOOTBALL. Local games seem to be under a weather boodoo. It is unfortunate for Mr Marring that he was unable to see his trial teams in action. However, he can use next Saturday’s game with Vincent as a good try out for the Possible team to play Northern. It is a pity the Ogilvy brothers are not available. Both are solid forwards with a good knowledge of the game. Kaikorai are now one up on Varsity A, as they beat them for the Ainge Shield on Saturday. One of the most exciting games witnessed in Wellington for some time was the Hutt v. 'Wellington game on Saturday. Hutt led 11 to 9 about 10 mins from end of the game, when Wellington strove desperately to obtain the lead, but Lilburne’s men held them out and now lead in the competition with 23pts. Wellington 22 and Poneke 21. A complete upset was Eastbourne’s defeat by Mirimar as Eastbourne has defeated Hutt and were in the running as one of the three leading teams. Varsity, which are playing poor football, had a day out against Berhampore, winning by 52 to 11. Another bottom team Oriental downed Petoue 18 to 3. A northern writer classes Setford (H. 8.) as a live-eighth up to N.Z. standard. If that is so Joe has improved out of all knowledge this past season. One hardily thinks it is possible as Norman McKenzie was going to drop him from the Bay team. Taranaki defeated a weak touring Ayck land team by 11 to 9. The majority of Auckland’s rep. forwards were unable to get leave to travel

Canterbury defeated the touring Wairarapa team on Saturday. The Red and Blacks fielded the same back team as they defeated Southland with. The club half-backs are so poor that Tommy Mullans had to be retainedv Porter, who went away with a great reputation as a full back, came back with that reputation sadly shattered. A pity Frank Anderson hadn’t been selected. He is a better kick than Porter, is very fast and can tackle. He would have held Porter’s job down well S'. S. iDean and Co. have put another one across the football public in the charges fixed for the Australian games-. Unions who really appreciate the fans who roll up week after week to club games should refuse' to take any notice of the Management Committee, which has far ton much say in the control of Rugby Football in N.Z.

Star had their revenge on Pirates last Saturday, when the skull and cross bones brigade went down to defeat. Cockerilh ex Pirate player, played a sterling 'game as half against his old ctub and received: a bad reception from Pirate supporters on the side line.

Mr Arthur Geddes explains away Southland’s defeat by Canterbury by saying “Victory was not to be. Accounts of the game show that the Canterbury men were well drilled at half-time as to the tactics to adopt,

while Southland were simply told to slog in as hard as possible,. The game was lost by lack of itactics in the 2nd spell leading to numerous mistakes which Charlie Oliver and Co. made use of. GENERAL. No basket ball again locally owing owing to frozen ground. St* Joseph’s journeyed to Arrowtown last Wednesday and met defeat at the hands of the Arrow team by 8 goals to 3. Local golfers are having a bad spin this season. Four weeks now .since the course was playable.

Golfing enthusiasts will learn with regret that the local president, Mr A.. H. Cooke, has been laid aside with illness during the week. We wish Mr Cooke a speedy recovery. The social committees of the local Basketball and Football Clubs are to be congratulated on their attempt to run a big ball. The social side of sports clubs should always be strongly encouraged. " The N*Z. cricketers got it where the chicken got the axe in the 2nd test. Dempster was sadly missed but the batting form against Allen’s bowling was really feeble with the exception of Lowry’s. It seems strange that even on an easy wicket Lowry did not make more use of Merritt and Blunt.