ON THE TURF

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 4 August 1928, Page 13

ON THE TURF

FIXTURES August 4—Christchurch Hunt Club. August 14, 16, 18—Canterbury, J.C. Grand National. August 25—Hawke's- Bay Hunt. September I—Otago Hunt Club. September s—Marton J.C. Spring Lady Desmond's spell appears to have clone her good. She is back on the tracks again. > . Perhaps it is a good sign for racing

generally that lost week's meeting at Gisborne was as successful as it was. Despite wet weather almost up to {.he time of commencing the meeting and notwithstanding i.he isolation of the ten-

tre, the Gisborne Racing Club had a meeting that was a whole-hearted success in every way. The machine put through nearly £6OOO more than was the case a yeai ; ago, and on all sides tho fixture .was voted the best winter gathering ever held in GisW-ne. The local people were not present, in as big numbers on the first day as would have been, the. case had the weather not been so bad just preceding the meeting, but they turned out in strong force on the second day, and in any case there was an unusually large number of visitors. Episode, the champion two-year-old of the season, is said to have wintered well, and is to be given her first race as a three-year-old in the Wahjanui Guineas. This is a race which her owTn- ■ tr-bveeder, Mr G. M. Currie, has. wo.'i ; upon the last, couple of occasions, Lv- i gander scoring for him in 1926 and Dajinjaris last "September. ; ..Reports from Riccarton credit' First Sight with having been responsible for consistently good trackwork and ho is expected to shape well at the Grand National Meeting. Hurly Burly, a Panmure-Scrimrnnge filly who has not yet raced, is worth keeping in mind as one likely to race prominently early in the new season. Tuahine has been showing some of her old form at Riccarton. The racing at Gisborne cjid not answer the question whether the Paper MoneyImpediment gelding Dishonoured is a good one or not. Dishonoured had shown, form at the Hawkes Bay meeting that warranted the* opinion that he would win on the' Gisborne course, but, though he did so,'he had little to spare at the finish, and at one stage it looked as if he would be beaten. That was on the first day when .the track was somewhat soft. Two days later, on a , drier course, the gelding was beaten, into third place, and on that showing he might turn out "to be somewhat disappointing.

Abisogne raced unluckily at Hastings in June and when he won at Gisborne the success was by no means out of its turn. He showed a lot of speed in his race the first day. and improving the second day won nicely. Now that he has struck form again he should add to his winnings at meetings along the East Coast and perhaps make amends for some of the ill luck which has pursued him. A Useful hack up Gisborne way is Kinsel, by King Mark from ,• Selene, breeding that reminds one of the time when the late Hon. r D. Ormond was a force in the racing world. Kinsel has a nice turn of speed and is expected to very soon improve on the form shown last week. The old jumper, Garzon, has recover cd from the injuries he received on the Hastings trip, when lie hurt a leg through ■' somersaulting out of a lorry, and he led the field home in the big steeplechase on the first day at.Gis. borne. Though Cohesion made a ,good start as a hurdler by winning at Gisborne, ?he nearly made a mistake at the last oh stacle. However, he landed over safeT ly and having a commanding lead came home a, good winner. He did • well enough to encourage the* belief that J.e will win further races over the small sticks. ' Gaze is said to have shaken off the trouble that affected him after winning at Trentham and should be very fit for Riccarton engagements: ' The Dargaville Clulxjias accepted the Avondale Jockey Club's offer of- its course for the 'northern .club's November meeting, free of charge.... Stakes onthe two days will total: 3000 sbvs. Red Fuchsia, Beau Cavalier, Nukumai and Gaze continue to be the popular fancies for the Grand National Hurdles. F. C. Porter, who 1 still "is very lame, as a result of\his fall with Count Cavour at Auckland on New Year's Day, has decided to retire from riding, after being about 25 years at it. He intends to start training, in which branch of £he business he had experience a number of years ago. It is' pleasing to be able to record with some degree, of defin.iteness that Singleton lias regained the form he displayed early last season. He gave a suggestion of this at Hastings some weeks ago, and at Gisborne was much too good for his opponents. The form he showed was good enough to justify his appearance at some of the spring fixtures where the company will be stronger. So far, it seems that Singleton shows his best form in the spring. One of the Gisborne brigade that is expected to win a race soon is Otene, a three year old gelding by Autumnus from Hookah.

The failures of some of the visiting horses at Gisborne, were rather remarkable. Dave looked to have an excellent idiance among the sprinters on the first 'day, but he succumbed to : thie grey Our King gelding, Rewanga. On the second day Huikai ran such a bad race :in the open mile that he was neglected on the machine in the six furlong race with which the meeting ended. Here he again did the punters a bad turn by rolling home a winner and paying a hatful. His was not the only big dividend of the day, Ofchon having returned a- thumper in the mile. Othon was again at liberal double figure odds when he ran second to Huikai in the open sprint.

Now that H. Lorrigan is contemplating a trip to Australia with a team in the coming spring, interest in the doings of Cim'abue and Co. has increased. Cimabue is a first-class sprinter, and perhaps there is not a better in the land. ' Hi= New Zealand successes will ensure lhat if he goes over he will be well looked after by the Australian handicappers, but over short courses he will always be able to put up a great race in any company. His companions on the trip might be Concentrate, if tho two year old does well within the next few weeks, and Oratrix. Concentrate and Oratrix are both of tho staying type and it would not be at all surprising were n good handicap to come their way. How-' ever, none of them will go much before' the end of August. Up till a few flftya ago Matu had been

NOTES AND COMMENTS

ON CAIXQPS AND TROTTING

going along well in his work, but at present he is under treatment for le'' trouble and there ai'e fears thatjhe will have to be withdrawn from this year's Grand National Steeplechase in which he was in a certain amount of favour as a lightweight. Even if he is well enough to start in the race on 14th August, he is not likely to be at his best owing to the interruption, in his preparation. Ring Boy, who has been galloping well lately and would not have disgraced himself at the C.J.C. ■■ winter meeting, lias been sold to a Victorian sportsman for 1000 guineas. No decision has been reached about sending First Money to Australia to race in the Breeders' Plate, and if the trip is made it is not likely to be undertaken until about the last week in August. <

None of the Trentham Winter Cup candidates seems to be doing better than Royal Damon, and he will be a very fit horse when next required to race. The thing that is against him is his weight, as not many of the lOst. division win Winter Cups. • ; As Roi d,e Val lias been sold bv Mr Ebb Simpson to Mr Vivian Rftldiford the plans for the promising three year old are likely to be revised, but nevertheless ho will go south and race at the C.J.C. winter fixture where one of his tasks will be the Cashmere Plate. He is out of that good mare Miss de Val and therefore is a half-brother to the wellperformed D.egage, winne? of a Cornwall Handicap and other good races. Roi de Val has already joined S. J. Reid's team and leaves for Riccarton about the middle of next week. In addition to Roi de Val, S. J. Reid will take to Riccarton. Panther, who is one of the favourites for the Winter; Cup. Panther has done all that has been asked of him since he raced so well at Trentham, and most of those who have seen him working at Trentham like his ciiance better now than they did a week,ago. Historic also is to be a member of Reid's team.

That hardy knight of the turf, Royal Game, has been galloping well, but as he was to be seen in action at the Christchurch Hunt meeting to-day, ten days before the Winter Cup, his chance in the latter event will be measured more in what he does in pubiic than anything he has shown on the tracks He is in the Brabazon Handicap torday, an event jiftwhich ha rah second to Magna Gharta last year.

A further advance in the sport of trotting in Wellington is marked by the decision of the stewards of the Wellington Trotting Club,to make a substantial increase in the stakes for its spring meeting to. be held on September 15th, as compared with the 'similar fixture of last season. Loganwood continues to train, on satisfactorily. In spite of the fact that he has done a lot of racing the brilliant pacer keeps fairly sound and when at his best always has a chance" in sprint events. Avenger looks well and is pacing satisfactorily in his work. He has a fine turn of speed and can stay p.ut two miles if the speed is not too solid over the first halt of the distance. .' -Z~ ~ Kptuku Jack, who was sore some tiipe ago, is all right again and is in slow work. Sadie Huon is still, in work at New Brighton but does not appear to be any too sound at present. . ■-' _ '" *,Author Thorpe, who won a race at Ashburton in April, has-been turned ojat. for some time and will not be:put into work until the summer months. A. E. Bussell is working a .big pacer by Logan Pointer. He looks as though lie has done a. good deal of useful work in training Locanda Mac is doing slow jogging work at New Brighton under G. S. Smith's charge. It will be some time before the pacer is ready to race and it remains to be seen if he will stand another preparation. Prince Pointer has not, ; done much work of late and \vill not be at his best over. two miles. He,will b4.raced in sprint events at the August meeting at Addington. - , Audience is back in work again and G.'W. Dransfield has him well. •«■ Tamerlane has rarely looked better than at present. He did a good deal of racing during the season but seems as well as when he started. He is, however, not a sound horse.and frequently goes sore. ..." Talent is looking really . well. He raced prominently but unsuccessfully at the Auckland Trotting CJub's meeting last month. £Io should be at his best next week. Acron seems to remain, fairly sound and has done plenty of useful work at New Brighton. The mile record holder, however,.'has lost a lot of his brilliancy or else he will not produce it in a race. Myrtle Dillon is in steady work but is not likely to emulate the deeds of her half-brother Loganwood. She will do best over short courses. When the Trotting Conference met last month, tire Auckland Trotting Club was recommended to hold this season's meetings on Saturday and Monday, in place of Saturday and Wednesday, as in the past. The suggestion has beer, agreed to by the committee of the club. In the past the Auckland' Trotting Club has catered very liberally for unhoppled horses, and in addition to the regulation two races a day for unhoppled trotters, it has provided another event ih which either trotters or pacers could compete, provided they went freelegged. It is probable that these races will be missing this season, and that they will 'be replaced by races for straight out trotters, probably with a 4.42 limit.' The efforts of the pacers to race without hopples have, except on rare occasions, proved anything but - a success, and the popular opinion is that the Auckland Trotting Club is actio*; wisely in making the change. x