RACING

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11159, 15 March 1922, Page 8

RACING

[ FIXTURES. Marcli 16 —Waimate B.C. March 17—Opunake B.C March 17, 18—Oliinemuri J.C. March 18—JIasterton JI.C. March 22, 23 —Kangitikei R.C. March- 24, 25 —Westport J.C. March 30, April I—Wellington R.C. April 1, s—Auckland T.C. April I—Amberley B.C. April 6, B—Manawatu8 —Manawatu B.C. April 7. B—Southland B.C, April B—Hororata B.C. April 15, 17—Auckland EC. April 15, 17—Feilding J.C. April 15, 17—Riverton J.C. April 15. 17 —Wairarapa B.C. NOTES YVND COMMENTS. (By “Carbine.”) The annual njeoting of the Opunake Club will be held on Friday. y The double success of Demoness at Waterlea on Saturday is of interest on account of her bleeding. She is by Demosthenes trpm Mongonui, who is the last of the Carbine mares in New Zealand.

After the Marlborough meeting it was leported that Ahika had changed hands and is now owned by a Blenheim publican. Trentham horses engaged in the Great Autumn are Insurrection, Martial Dawn, Quest and Scion. For the Great Faster Canyon, Backsheesh and Quest hare been entered. ;

A private message states that H. Gray, arrived in England on February 27th, *vell, after a good trip. The New Zealand Cup winner Royal Star is still running in a paddock, and will not race again this 6eason.

It has been computed that during the last five years the stock of The Welkin (sire of“ Gloaming) has won £131,000 in stakes. L. Traill, who 6cored a first and a second at Blenheim, with Lady Renown, is not taking the mare hack to Kaikoura, but is keeping her at Blenheim, where he will also train Ahika, Worth, Dollarpiece and Brown Lady. Island won absolutely on his merits at Waterlea on Saturday. He turned for* home with the odds against him, but coming on the outer with a determined finish lie wore down Jackaroo and won on the post. On a big course he would have been an easy winner. One rider at Blenheim, on Saturday finished with his shirt hanging out about half a yard. In the run up the straight it was floating on the breeze like a sail. The girls shrieked with laughter, and all hands "joined in when the horseman dismounted to weigh in, but as he had steered a good winner the Trentham disciple of Freddy Archer could afford to take it all quite calmly. As he JTa3 failed earlier in the day, Moonstruck was allowed to go out very poorly backed in the final -event at Waterlea.- .In a great finish/ he beat a good favourite, American Beauty, and returned his Wellington owner. Mr W. Higgins, 'a long price. Mr Higgins’s luck with his team is on the improve, and everyone is glad to see it so. Mr J. N. Mitchell, of the Forbury Park Trotting Club, has been appointed to the executive of the New Zealand Trotting Conference to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr D. H. Roberts. The. Ne.w < Zealand Trotting Association has'decided to. hold an inquiry Into the management of the recent meeting of the Inangahua Trotting Club", the stipendiary stewards’ report being unfavourable, while the club put in an explanation. .

• TS£ latest advice from the Thames slate that the apprentice Maskerry is making ■ satisfactory progress toward recovery. , His injuries consisted of depression of the skull and laceration of the brain. 7

Speaking at a northern function, Mr H. R. Mackenzie stated that, seventeen years ago, the total assets of the Otahuhu Trotting .Club were £27, now they were assessed at something like £25,000. The executive of the club recognised that they were only trustees for the public, and the property at Otahuhu would be a park for the people in the years to' come, when he hoped to see athletic sports and gamed of all descriptions taking place on the grounds. , Already the Association footballers had applied for playing areas, and these had been granted, and the game would be in full swing there next season.

The Victoria Amateur Turf Club appears to have stirred up trouble for ffself by endeavouring to secure additional ground at Caulfield. The Caulfield racecourse is a reserve, and there is some talk of the V.A.T.C. having to fight, for its existence so far as Caulfield is concerned. '

THE GREATEST RACEHORSE. CARBINE OR EURYTHMIO? In an article on which was the greatest horse, Carbine or Eurythmic/ a Sydney writer says: —lt may not perhaps be out of place to refer to the race m-which Carbine finished last in a field of four, the only time the champion finished out of a place, due to breaking down with a split hoof, as incidentally it will serve, to illustrate the kind of horse that he had to race and beat in those days. The bury Plate, run on the concluding day of the V.R;C. spring meeting some thirty years back, was a race that, even at this distance of time, remains vividly in memory by reason of a wonderfullysustained finishing run, put up by the winner, Abercorn. The starters were Carbine, Abercorn, Melos, and Sifiecure, who were favoured by punters in that order, the last-named in the same ownership as Abercorn—-being considered such a negligible quantity that the oddß merchants would quite readily have laid hundreds to one against him could they have found anyone to back him.

The race —two .miles —was not,* run at a fasl pace, and while the riders of the three cracks were intent upon watching each other, Huxley, on Sinecure, got a-break on the field, and must havo been half a furlong m the lead when they approached the home stretch. The other jockeys realised the danger, and Bet about the herculean task of bridging the gap. li>was just about this time that Carbine’s bound hoof went back on him, and he fell but or the race. In the meantime, Abercorn had streaked clean away from Melos, and though Sinecure was full of running, and was no slouch at that, Hales essayed and achieved the seemingly impossible, and with a dazzling run caught and passed him a length or two from the winning post to the accompaniment of a scene which can only be described as a little pandemonium. Aberdorn bad almost - as many admirers as Carbine, and in any continuation of the controversy as to which was the greatest Australian racehorse, he is, in my opinion, entitled to quite as much consideration as Eurythmic, Poitrel. or any of the

other champions of the last decade. I, myself, although with by no means an obsession in favour of the crackerjacks of other days, would give pride of place for all-round brilliancy to Carbine, and would leave the admirers of the others to decide among themselves how the other places should be filled.