THE EGMONT MEETING REVIEWED.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1095, 24 February 1893, Page 24

THE EGMONT MEETING REVIEWED.

BY VIGILANT.

The Egmont Summer Meeting appears to have been very successful. In spite of the weather on the first day being wet and unpleasant, rain falling at intervals during the racing, there was a fair attendance, but on the second day when the elements were more propitious the crowd of visitors was exceptionally large, and but for the ‘ facers ’ backers received, things went merry as a marriage bell. The wretched report sent through by the local agent of the Press Association gave such a poor idea of what sort of meeting it was, that I have summarised the following epitome of the sport from the excellent report in the Hawera Star in which the only defect is that the weights carried by the unplaced horses are not given. The opening event, the Waimate Handicap, brought out 9 runners, and Ua, 7st 91b, was made a hot favourite, Ngatioma, 7st 71b, and Tulloch, 7st 71b, being next in demand. The favourite failed to come up to expectations and was nowhere, and although Tulloch ran a good race he had to succumb to the ex-hack Stranger, who, well handled by Baynor, scored a two lengths’ victory, the unplaced horses being Ua, Ngati-oma, Poinsettia, Yivat, Monte Carlo, and Snapcap. Kingan, the rider of Ngati-oma in this race, was fined £2 for disobedience at the start. The First Handicap Hurdles was contested by six runners, and here again the favourite, Marechal Neil, suffered defeat by an outsider, Mr J. Hooker’s Tattler, 9st, who was well ridden by Crocker, and showed the possession of a lot of pace. Gladius, lOst 121 b, was third, and “Whalebone, list 91b, Gondolier, 10st 91b, and Fishmonger, lOst 71b, who on public form should have been the first three, were unplaced. W halebone fell, but Fishmonger seemed beaten on his merits, which does not say much for the Auckland form, and Gondolier, oh, where was he ? Echo answers where ? Tattler, whom I remember seeing run a good race at Feilding in the spring, paid the useful dividend of £l7 11s. Mr D. McLeod and Jack Eae had„ very bad luck with Marechal Neil, who also started favourite the seeond day and got done again, but of this more anon. The First Handicap Hack Hurdles fell to the favourite, Mr J. V. Dingle’s Union Jack, lOst 21b, who just got' home in a great finish from Cingalee, lOst 101 b, and Bespond, list, the unplaced lot being Bradshaw, list 71b, Karewa, 10stJ3trategy lOst, Omahu, 9st 81b, Potargo, 9st slb, and Darebin, 9st. This race had to be run twice in consequence of Mr Powell starting it the first time from the distance instead of the quarter mile post. This time Karewa won, and his backers would have received the useful dividend of £l2 6s had his win been allowed. Mr Powell, I see, was let off with a fine of £1 for his mistake. He was liable to one of £SO. Then came the Egmont Handicap for which only six competitors came to the post. Eosefeldt 7st 131 b was a hot favourite, Morion, Bst 31b (including 51b penalty) and Durus, 6st 71b, being also well backed. The next in demand, St Katherine 7st 61b, turned out the winner. She and the favourite were on terms at the entrance to the straight, but Captain Bussell’s filly outstayed Mr Douglas’ mare and won by a length all out. Musket, 7st, was third, and Boulanger, Morion, and Durus unplaced. The Sapling Stakes was a walk over for Mr Sutton’s filly Eve. The First Handicap Hack Eace fell to the topweight, Mr J. Keswick’s Mutiny, by The Mute Lady Maxwell, who humped home the big weight of 9st 81b from Thunderbolt, 6st 111 b, and the favourite, War Cry, 7st 131 b. The unplaced lot were Melas, 9st 21b,

Shiela, Bst 21b, Stray Shot, 7st 61b, Sunday School, 7st 51b, Bonovoree, 7st 21b, Pennant, 7st lib, Outer, 6st 81b, Sandy, 6st 71b, and Brown Dove, 6st 71b. Mutiny was not much fancied, having only 27 investors who realised £l6 12s for each £1 speculated. Had Thunderbolt, who led into the straight and was only beaten close to the post, succeeded in getting home the dividend would have been between £BO and £9O, for there were only 5 investors on him. The Hawera Welter was contested by six, of which Durus, Bst 121 b, and Fraternite, lOst 111 b, were equally fancied. They finished first and second in the order named with Fleta, 9st, third, and Poinsettia, Bst 91b, Eepeater, Bst 31b, and Prioress, 9st, unplaced. The extra race,, the Handicap Hack Flat Eace, 6 furlongs, produced a field of eight, and the winner turned up in the favourite, Chatterbox, 7st 91b, who was scratched for the race won by Mutiny. Besides Eewa, 7st 21b, and Pennant, 7st 81b, the runnersup, the following started :—Tramore, Thunderbolt, Outer, Cutlass, and Ling. On the second day the running was in most cases at great variance with that of the first day, and in two cases owners were called before the stewards to explain the extraordinary improvement shown by their horses. From the Star’s report it appears to me that the stewards selected the two most easily explained decrepancies to take notice 0f,% and neglected the two most glaring, which were Gondolier’s running in the two Hurdle Eaces, and Boulanger’s in the Egmont Handicap and Atkinson Memorial Stakes. On the first day both these horses were nearly last, on the second day they won, paying large dividends. The first race, the Flying Stakes, was again thought a good thing for Ua, while Fraternite, Tulloch, and Stranger were all backed. Ngatioma, 7st 81b, won by a length from Stranger, Bst 21b, with Prioress, 6st 111 b, third, and the following unplaced : Fraternite, Bst 91b ; Tulloch, 7st 111 b ; Ua, 7st 91b ; Fleta, 7st 31b ; Poinsettia, 6st 131 b; Eepeater, 6st 71b ; and Snapcap, 6st 71b. Mr Kennedy was called before the stewards to explain Ngatioma’s sudden return to form, which he apparently succeeded in doing, for the verdict was not disturbed. The Second Handicap Hurdles brought out all the seven acceptors, including Gondolier, who, by some mistake of the Press Association agent, was not telegraphed in the list. This horse, which had run nearly last on the first day, now occupied a prominent position throughout the race, and got home by a head from the unlucky Marechal Neil, whose party had again hacked him up to the handle. Lady Leger, who was third, is a novice at the game, but ran a very good mare, and at one time looked like winning. The unplaced ones were, Whalebone, list 41b; Gladius, lOst 91b; Fishmonger, lOst; and Tattler, lOst. Karewa’s victory in the Second Hack Hurdle Eace, was quite expected after his form shown in the first heat of the Hack Hurdles on the first day.. He beat the previous day’s winner, Union Jack, by a length at 7?b, and paid £3 3s dividend. Strategy, 9st 111 b, was third, and the unplaced ones were Bespond, lOst 81b; Cingalee, lOsfc 81b; Potango, 9st; and Darebin, 9st. The Atkinson Memorial Stakes Handicap’, of 200 sovs, was put down as a moral for St Katherine’s stable companion, Krina, 7st 91b, who won it last year, but her 225 backers were do Dined to disappointment, for after a rattling finish she had to succumb to Boulanger, Bst 101 b, by a head. ‘Bully’s’ running was in great contrast with the form he showed the day before, when he was a beautiful last in the Egmont Handicap. Of course, the mile and a half was more to his liking than the 2 miles, hut the difference wa3 very startling, and his win was so little expected that he paid the nice dividend of £ls 15s. Fraternity, Bst 31b, was third, and the following seven were behind: Eosefeldt, Bst 31b ; Morion, Bst 21b ; Tit, 7st 21b; Musket, 7st; Durus, 6st 91b; Monte Carlo, 6st 81b ; and Whimsical, 6st 71b. The Nursery Handicap was a soft thing for Eve, Bst 111 b, who could have given another stone to each of her rivals, Banner, 7st, and Gallant, 7st 101 b. The Second Handicap Hack Eace, 1 mile and a half, brought out a field of eight and, certainly not on his previous day’s form, Melas, 9st 21b, was made a boiling hot- -

favourite, and, what’s more, realised his apparently infatuated, but really wellinformed, backers’ aspirations by winning comfortably by a length from War Cry, to whom he was conceding 161 b. Sunday School, 7st, was third, and the unplaced division was composed of Mutiny, lOst 21b ; Shiela, Bst; Chatterbox, 7st 111 b ; Union Jack, 7st 101 b, and Sandy, whose name was not among the telegraphed list of acceptors. The stewards were suspicious that such well-placed confidence on the part of the Melas party betokened ‘ crooked ’ running on the first day, so they asked for an explanation, which of course they received, and as usual all ended happily. Why Gondolier and Boulanger were not put through the same ordeal the stewards know better than I do. The last race of the meeting, the Normanby Handicap, fell to the same horse that won the first race, The Stranger thus proving himself the Alpha and Omega of the meeting. He is evidently a fairish horse, for he gave 31b to Musket and 201 b to Poinsettia over a mile and a distance without difficulty, while the unplaced lot comprised Durus, 7st 91b, and Prioress, 6st 121 b. The Stranger started favourite, and paid only £2 4s. The totalisator investments on the first day totalled £3043, and on the second day £3524, which must b© considered very satisfactory.