ROUND THE MEETINGS.

NZ Truth, Issue 299, 18 March 1911, Page 2

ROUND THE MEETINGS.

At Dannevirke. ;■'..•• First Day. The "Dannevirke, Club had a record meeting, though a flagrant disregard for some of the clauses m the' : Gamj iug Act took place, and-; the officials [would do well to rectify this ;< at ; future meetings. The totalisator aci comrnodatioit was, as m the case of J some other meetings this year, quite i inadequate, and m several races hundreds of pounds were shut, out, and ■ this despite the fact that the times j were put ,back and back till the last race' was ■forty-five minutes late m starting, necessitating a wild ' rush for the trains to Napier and Palmerston North. There was good racing, and had it not been for' the" bungling i referred to above everything would ! have gone off smoothly. -A. strict look-rout was kept f or < anything '■' m the nature of "cronk" running,: and -the stewards were not called upon to adjudicate on any knotty poin,ts during the afternoon's racing. ' : Te Whetu, Waitapu, and -Star-like were the scratching^ m the Hack Hurdles. When doing his preliminary Captain nearly fell over from skin ;. soreness, and on the matter being represented to the stewards, they .allowed his withdrawal. Burton, who now jumps with more confidence, set a very fast pace m the', earlier stages, but after going a. little over a mile, the pace told, and Waikiaraka rah up to him.- Several chaugesvnow took place. Astraea moved up from last to fourth, and Waiputere from fourth to;first, while Martbn ran into third place. At the last'" fence it looked odds, 6n Waikaraka, ftu:t after landing he stopped short, anji' Wai- : putere ran' past him. ' Making:'. a . big jump, Marton now put m. ( a "tlaim, and in' an exciting finish .lie beat | Waiputere by a neck.- Astraea tossed Colemah off at the , second ,f efice firon^ home, after several -bad' jumps; though she showed plenty = of 'pace on the flat. •-.■• •.■£-'-■ '-■ ■.•-•''.: There were numerous, v- defections from the six furlong h'ack'raceV ' Al<> lurem'ent, who stripped well' and had C. Emerson m the saddle-' Wjibting a i sure goer, finished up fa-vonite, Vand she led from end to endi^J" At ' the turn, it looked as if Miss Sylvia might head her, but the Soult fllly.* ■ clapping on the pace m the straight, j won easily at the finish. ■:■■. Birklhifi came very fast m ".he straight undi cut Sun Lass out of third place} <j Fond Memory, who was well fancied:, , showed no pace at any portion of the race. . * . Merrivonia and Parable- were withr drawn from the Cup, and punters fastened on Te Puia, who, on the strength of her good showing behind Lady Medallist at 1 , certainly looked good goods.' Fort William was also m demand, and, the pair finished first and second; j The latter is a hard pulleruand will: never shine over onone _->thajff : .a,. mile, or, at most, ten furlongs, ; ,andi4n the straight Te Puia caught ' and beat him easily. The winner: looked to be pocketed' at the ha,lf. inile, but Lowe cleverly extricated her.- lluaparaha was another horse;- that got a bad run, but; ■•' he ' finished, .well, and wag just outside ■ theplacßd division. V«i was never dangero-u.s, bu^ was run; uing on at the finish. and Teotane were on; the premises, the jyhole way, and, finished third and fourth respectively. - '/ . , ; Sinapis, , who had shown winning

form earlier m the season, was the pea m the . Nursery- Handicap, and Ovation, a full brother, to Provocation, with Our Queen (Birkenhead — Indian Queen), m that order. The latter: shook - herself • clear *-'of the [others at the .barrier....r-ise. —Grandee, Gold Bond and the favorite were the liex^ to inovei but Traill rose the latter very hard, and across the bottom she was running second. The leader 'found the pace too fast by the time the straight was reached, and Sinapsis beat 'her m the run home. Gold Bond was a good third. ' St. Bryde, a St. Ambrose filly with a reputation, ran .green, as did Ovation. Of the others, Abercoed (Sir Dove — Floradora) is a good-looking sort, but is very backward. Floater had been running so consistently of late, that it was not surprising .to find hini favorite m the poor lot that contested the Hack Welter. Oliver was up on the favorite, and with the lesser light m the saddle the good thing" might easily have been defeated, for he appeared ! to be hopelessly boxed m the whole way till the straight, when he came with a rush on the outside and just got up. Stourton went very fast m the first part, and looked to have the race won at the turn, but he stopped m the run down the straight and lcel cut' him out of second money. Backers were divided m their oPin 1 ion of the Flying Handicap, arid went heavily for ' two, vizr., Ascalon, 8.5 (Jenkins) and Irish Rifle, 9.5 (Murtagh). There."" was a delay of seveal minutes at the .start; caused by Tigerine: She slipped oft' smartly at the word go, and led all the way. Ascalon looked as if he cpuld havehave gone with her m the early part, but was steadied. He and Irish Rifle had a go at the Merriwee filly m the straight, but .she won comfortably. Tina Toa, who looked well, and should soon score, was fourth, and Lady Doris last: ■ • , -.It w.as admitted on all sides that outside Avauncee, Jackpin, and Boi*onia, they were a. bad lot m the Electric Hack. The last named, a speedy animal by Merriwee, was ;on her .toes., when the barrier went up, and,:, mailing... every post a winning one, "she just lasted long enough/ to stall off Avauncee, " who hung but badly m the straight. Jackpin looked io have "a chance at "the, two., furlong post, but Avauneee carried him out very wide. The open Welter was the best raceof the day, and resulted m a very exciting finish, m which the three placed horses passed the pole m a line. Daisy Paul, the third horse, was very unlucky and should have won. Peacemaker (Oliver) g6t badly placed m- the early part, but at the turn he fluked through, while Daisy Paul had to go round. Aimwell was another unlucky horse, and was on the. outer the whole way.

Second Day.

The meeting was ■ concluded oil Thursday ' iri warm and windy wea-? tiier. The going was very fast, but the 'course was dusty, and as the field swept up the straight clouds of dust enveloped those present on -the lawn. There was again a bumper attendance, and Secretary Freeman could, not have had a better pick-me-up after his long and painful ; illness/ Fields were fairly numerous, and m most instances the speculation was very animated. , ■ The eleven, acceptors all turned out iii the Hack Hurdles, but the company was very poor- Millenial, Waikaraka, and Te Whetu were all on the 11.3 mark- The* two latter, also Wa'iputere, 9.10, were all trained by the Feilding mentor, '•-.'A. Attwobd. The trainer supported Waiputere, but T« .Whetu and Waikaraka were each doing their best. At the last fonco the trio were together, with the others m trouble. Waiputere made the West jump, and m the run home, she beat. Te Whetu by '• a neck. However, on returning scales, she was unable to draw the weight, being nearly, ?lbs short, so The Officer mare was- disqualified and the race awarded Mr T. Cameron's filly. It was cruel luck . for Attwood, who had half a century on themare. No satisfactory explanation has been arrived at as to how the weight was short." Attwood declares that" he saddled ythe mare himself and put on all the, t>oy weighed out with. : There was a field of five runners m the opening Flying, and . Ascalon, who was meeting Tigefdhe on lOlbs better^ terms, was made a hotter favorite 'than' the first clay's winner, with Moree next m order on the ina- | chine. .At the barrier, the filly was lon her toes, and stepped out .with a three lengths break of • Ascalon. The latter was scratching the .whole I way,, but could not reach the leader, S who was.: .hot headed. She seemed to tiro a bit at -the, .finish, and Jenkins jmade 'a- .filial dash, but the big. chesthut ran m from .the whip. , When straightened- up again vhe post was passed. Moree was oh his quarters, 1 biit Tina To a and Lady Doris were well beaten. Avauncee Was generally reckoned to be unliickyi.to lose the first, day, so, naturally, she was made' favorite m the Telephone Hack,, m which the first day's' winner, Uoronia, was not paid lip foiv The favorite.' failed to leavijj tlie'inarli. Jackpih hopped a\yay-'smeu;tly'; rr and was not caught. Hi.f " Victory" waX a lucky one, as the AdVaMc|; filly. gpt badly chopped out two 'furlongs from homer arid then Only.-sufliere.d-. defeat bya"length. She again Xi^ur^g but m the sti'aight and covered.^ a Jot, of extras ground m consequence.'" Waitoke was right up with Jackpin for half a mile, and is coming on fast", She should be a winner m the hear future. Julian showed a surprising reversal of form m the Hack Welter, for which Kemp"s ;fchree-y ear-old started a good favorite. On the first day he must have been short of a gallop, or suffer-ing:.-from some similar .ailment, which became -widely known. for everybody was- on him. Joe Sceats was .at the wheel, nnd he got the ship to port. lSiit only a.fto.r a very teiTipestiioiis voyage. Queen o' Scots was 1 defeated'-'by only a head, and she; tP9. showed up better than on the ■••first day. ; Kohupabiki, the fall brother, to Ataaliua, looked all over a winner :ih the straight, but he w^is gathei'ed m by the aforesaid pair m the 'nick of tiihe. Stourton again showed a lot of brilliancy, but he does not go on ,with it when tackled. The popular Levin owner. "Mr G. Penfold," scored a win m the big Handicap with the aid .of Teotane, who "took ijiS'hPPJ?' at the 'six furlongs arid gall opVd'>iWay from everything. The - distance was too far for him on the first day ; several who noticed how prominent he was at the turn into the straight m the Cup supported him m the Auckland Handicap, and collected a good fat

divvy. Llanwern. not nearly ready, showed a lot of pace down the back, but Fort William did not give a pleading display for" a favorite, some nasty things being said after "tiKe : race. Before* these lines appear, .he may- have justified the said remarks. Gold Bond finished so well m the Nursery on the first day, and was meeting Sinapsis on 12Ibs better terras, that his chance was highly assessed m the Juvenile Handicap. So, too, was that of Rangiatua, who h^d Oliver m the , saddle, and m a lesser degree the first day's winner was backed. It was a fine race, and culminated m the trio mentioned ■ crossing the line m a close embrace. Oliver got his mount oil" first, but could not go the pace set , by Our Queen. At the turn the latter ran wide and took Gold Bond and Sinapsis with him. This was' what Oliver had been waiting for, and he made his characteristic rush on the fence. Our Queen then retired, and the other three contested every foot of the remaining furlong. The enthusiasm of those present was aroused at the sight of the three m a line. Two strides oft' the post it looked as if Sinapsis would get the verdict / but Oliver got the last kick m and got. the verdict by a nose from Gold Bond, with Sdnapsis a head away. The time, 1.2, shows that there was no loafing on the Way. Floater and San . Lass v carried most money m the 7-f urlong Hack Race. They ".wtere not a classy .lot. Allurement was raised 17lt>s for" her first day's win, making her weight 5.3. The light-weight, R. McDonald, on Fond Memory, went for the doctor as soon as the tapes were released, and at the end of a furlong fie was joined by Allurement. The pa'iv cleared out at a 'break-neck pace and at the turn the filly was done- with. Fond Memory was challenged by Floater m the straight, arid, 'after a good finish, the latter scored by a length. Had Fond Memory and Allurement not cut down each other, Home's horse would assuredly have won. • '. ■ ' • As is often the' ; case at country meetings, the final race was thebest betting event of the meeting. Several causes combine to account fot" this,_ the principal- being that' it is the- last lap and "nearly everything i s try i ng . In this race , Aimwcdl , Peacemaker, Toanga, Daisy Paul and Waipu'nui led for a furlong, when Lethean' and Thetis : took charge. At the straight entrance the two latter were joined by Rover, and a most interesting finish 'resultedi W. Price was seen to most' advantage, and lie squeezed Lethean home, landing a good stake for his connections. The last race was run r exactly one hour after the advertised time of starting, anil, consequently, a large number missed the train home. Curses loud and long were hurled at the management which admits of such a disgraceful state" of -affairs. The club should see that matters are righted m future.