RACING

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10822, 11 February 1921, Page 8

RACING

FIXTURES

Feb. 12 —Dunedin J.C. Feb. 12—Poverty Bay Turf Club. Feb. 12 —Te Kuiti R.C. Feb. 16, 17 —Woodyille District J.C. Feb. 16, 17 —Hamilton R.C. Feb. 17. 18—North Otago J.C. . Feb. 23 R.C. Feb. 24 —Dpotiki J.C. Feb. 24, 26 —Wanganui J.C. Feb. 26—Toloffa Bay J« C, Feb. 26, 28 —Thames J.C. Mar. 2, 3 —Dannevirke R.C. Mar. 2» 3 —Gore K.C. Mar. 3, s—Nelson5 —Nelson J.C. Mar. 5 Akaxoa County R.OMar. 5. 7-—Te Aroha J.C. Mar. 9, 10—Southland R.C. Mxr. 9, 11—Marlborough K,C.

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

(By

"Carbine.”)

Dannevirke nominations close to-day. IvipUng did not take- to get on the winning list as a hurdlor. After giving promise at New Plymouth, he ran second on the opening day at- Hawera and won there on the second day. The well-bred, high-prioed chestnut jumps weM, and will more than pay expenses if he gallops kindly. Sweet Memory was galloped on during the running of the Publicans* Handicap «t Hunedin, and will not start there tomorrow. Two Wellington residents have received word that a four-figure price in a valuable sweep has been drawn by them. Income was strongly fancied for his engagement at Hawera yesterday, but was beaten by„both Solrknella and Inah. Two firsts, a second and two thirds in hi 9 last five starts is his reoent record. The Flying Handicap at Hawera on Wednesday saw the complete breakdown of a great horse in Warplane. Those who witnessed the racing at the Taranaki meeting, where Warplane won the Cup, considered the Hferaonfc Flying a good thing for him. and had he kept sound to the end of the raoe he would have won. . In the early stages of the race J}d gave the leader, Inah, a tremendous start, but when Clarke called on him he made a sensational effort and for three furlongs cut down the field at such a rate that victory for the burlv but brilliant son of Martian looked certain. He had got within striking distance of Inah and was travelling at such a rate that in a very little while he would have been In front, when suddenly his leg went. He hobbled on gamely to the post, and even in these circumstances was fourth. Warplane's breakdown is regarded by his trainer as complete, and the finelooking bay will now be retired from the race tracks, y and after a while will go to the stud. It is bad luck for his party that they did not get a few more races out of him, but he has been regarded as liable to crack up at any nine. The strange thing is that in the race at Hawera it was his hitherto good. foreleg that failed hnm. It is a. pity that Warplane had to be raced in the summer as the tracks have been very hard for weeks past, and altogether against an unsound horse. After a period of retirement Warplane reappeared in public at Christmas time, when he ran second to Blackmail in the .Stakes at Manawatu. On the last day N of the same meeting he won the open six furlong event. Coming on to Wellington he ran a great second to Statuette in the Telegraph Handicap, finishing with a remarkable run. On the final day at Trentham he was very unlucky to be beaten in the • principal - middle distance event. From there he went to Taranaki and was given swimming exercises at the New Plymouth beach. He was turned out well for the racing there and in the hands of the vigorous Clarke won the Taranaki Cup j in capital style. So. in his six starts since his reappearance he has run two firsts, three seconds, and one fourth. To establish this record against the best company is more than creditable, but to do it on. the light .preparation that Warplane had to be restricted to goes further to prove that he is a remarkable horse. We have hardly another horse that would have registered these performances while in such condition. A great Horse is lost to the race track, but he should do well at the stud. “The prominent New Zealand trainer, B. J. Ilason, was riding and winning races in the late go's" (observes an exchange). R. Derrett, once a leading : horseman in New Zealand, and now a trainer, recently mentioned that his first mount in a race' was on Lady HHen, at Christchurch, in 1869, and that mare was beaten by a horse ridden by Mason. The latter's activity and general bearing would certainly not fend itself to the idea that he rode winners well over half a century back. It is, by the way, also. half a century since Mason's particular Sydney friend, the much-respected J. Burton, trained his first A.J.C. Derby winner, Javelin (1871). He, too, refuses to allow time to get a grip of him.”