NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 9900, 20 February 1918, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

(By "ToTmnga/’)

The first day of tho Wanganui Jockey Club's autumn meeting comes up ior decision on Thursday. The fields in each race are excellent tro-m both :♦ quality and quantity viewpoint. Fourteen horses are engaged in the Stewards' Handicap, of a mile and a half and a furlong. Nanna heads trie list with 8.12, but the filly will, in ali probability be reserved for the Flying Handicap, in which she has 8.12 also, but the distance is six furlongs. > oio. who carries Ssl (including a 71b penalty; is bound to carry t.n© support of a lot of sportsmen. The best thing done by Yolo to date was to defeat impediment in the Atkinson Memorial at llawera, run over one mile and a quarter. Y oio carried 7st then, and Impediment carried 8.9. The Husbandman gelding should run. well in the race. Sweet Tipperary (7.7) will probably have an apprentice up, and should do better later in the meeting, if ridden by a seasoned horseman. Square Heal would appear to be the hardest nut that Yolo lias to ©rack. Colorado (7sb) can get the mile. The Petrie Handicap has filled up well with fifteen horses. The field is by no means a strong one excepting the two at th© top of the list. Bon dT)r anu Eobcxur. The top weight. Bon dOr (8.12) must command more respect than any of th© others. The Fordell gelding, -bndur© should run well, and so should Eugaie. A good field of ten Jumpers is set down to contest the Westmere 'Hurdles, of two miles. The distance will take a bit of negotiating by some of the candidates. Arlington has list- (including a 101 b penalty)*. Sir Solo is on the same mark as Arlington. Portland Lady also on the eleven stone mark should run along. The Wanganui Cup, on© of the best known races on the coast, has been well filled, ten horses being down to compete for the trophy. Amongst the nominees appears the name of Sasanou, tho last Melbourne Cup winner. Ho heads the list with Monelaus, each having 9st. Wishful, who has been so successful in the Taranaki district over the past few weeks, has 8.8, hut will meet superior company. No doubt Client nil command quite a lot of respect from tie Wanganui and surrounding district. He has been allotted 8.5, and although he will carry quite a lot of, money, he is quite untrustworthy. Still one never knows what he will do. Snub wo:i a race recently against nothing, but that was not to his credit. An Australian gelding, a son of Antonio, has 7.0, but ho has nothing to recommend him. Dingle has something in his favour, which the others have not. Ho has won all along the line, either in the major, or the minor sense. The rest of the field seems to belong to a class below tho ones mentioned. Menelaus, on reoont performances, looks liko a likely winner, and Wishful's recent successes cannot ho overlooked. Dingle will care for the coin from the northern part ot Taranaki. The Juvenile Handicap, run over five fuitews. haa a field of fourteen. Coolpan should have an excellent chance wilth 8.11. Staccato, with 7.7 (including a 71b Tonality) should run well, and Piano, a recant winner, should not bo overlooked. There is a -very mixed field in the Wirltoa Handicap ran over a mile and half a furlong. Henry Clay should run well with 9.3 Elevate (7.8) may display as much energy aa he did at Palmerston and: surprise th® natives. The Plying Handicap is a puzzle. Some of the heat .sprinters in the country ore engaged .and q good race should result. With 9-5 Croosug should be able to uphold tb2 fine form ha displayed at Trenthaim. His chief would appear to be Nanna (8.13) and Koesian. There is a thick field engaged in the race, the others being Impediment, Waimatao, Monica Queen and Nystaid. It is very hard. The secretary of the Feilding ■ Jockey Club writes correcting a paragraph published in these columns that the distance of the Foildlng Cup "Was to be reduced to a mUo and a quarter. Tho programme sets out that the distance for tjhe Cup will be one mile and a half, tho stake being 500 sovs. A Press Association message from Melbourne States that-Desert Gold performed a good gallop yesterday morning, covering half a mile in SOsec, Kill'cm did a good six furlongs in Imiq 16seo. Tho Victorian Pacing Club and the Victorian Amateur Turf Club have each voted J350Q0 towards the War Council’s appeal for wounded soldiers. During the war tho Victorian Racing Club has distributed .£51,000 and the Victorian Amateur Turf Club =£36,000 towards various war funds.