RACING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1320, 17 March 1877, Page 16

RACING NOTES.

Nothing very sensational *has been' •done >at the Forbu^duringthelastfewdays. Monaghan had Delamain's teain^on the course Satur : day morning," and the : whole r four 'worked, 'but nothing •of • any. note- was donel The 1 Bower and Haphazard did , a gallop, on Sunday 'morning, 'but a lot of work was done on Monday.' -Monaghan haJd ! 'his 'four' on"ttie course a little afterfsix,- and after.a lit&eiwalk- T ing, he stripped .Titania 'and. Templeton, and sent .them, together^ or two miie's. "The'fUly'is' a full sister to Elfin King, 'whpm'stie' resembles in colour, but ,is more muscular :tham tha lithe son, of Mountain Nymph. Templeton looked very weU;'.a J triJSe big if ''anything 1 , and is as.different to the-'Templetori of •' last year.'as possible. two, miles, .finishing pretty, fast, 'and the handsome* son of Traaucer, and Belle of the ' Isle; "went beautifully; I'being1 'being apparently able to .run, rhxqs round; the ifilly: He will be|in capital form,. by Oup day, and. I feel convinced that the ."fiorse that beats him will'beas near 'the winner- as any horse'ever was. ■ SprayandoldStprmbird,,whofdidavery long. gallop on Saturday, then appeared/ with hoods, and did a good useful gallop of nearly two inilesanda-halfjthehandsomeoldchestnut'going wonderfully well, though I fancy he tires a little after he has gone about a mile. - The fillylooks very fit, 1 but it is difficult to tell whether she has foot enough, las she seldom goes, with anything but Scormbird, and I am pretty certain the old horse has lest his pace.' My own- impression is that she ia deficient in pace. ' "Pungawerewere and Elfin King were.then stripped, and I had,a good look at them before they left the paddock. The mare has* grown a good deal sinca" I "saw her last year, particularly in length,' and is now a fine raking animal; but she looked dtdl.and is, certainly not in such good form as she* was last year.' I had heard sucha'lot'abdutth'e'way Elfin King had, grown and thickened,' that! felt .quite curious, to see him, and I. must say X felt extremely disappointed, as to me he doesn't seem to have improved a bit. He is the same narrow, lathyi little fellow he always was, and I am certain he will not carry 7st. 6ib. into the front rank in a race of two miles and a distance. _ At any rate, there are' at least half-a-dozeninthe Cup who, hold him quite safe,- in my opinion. The pair went two miles pretty fast, Punga, going in her usual beautiful style! Dead Heat, Cloth of . Gold, arid King Phillip had a serviceable gallop of over two miles,- all three going very well,. particularly the' King, who sweated a little, however, at the finish on the neck and shoulders. ,- Mying Beauty, joined them at the last mile, but the lad was unable to hold her, and she ran away' from the three at a rare rate. She is a mare possessed of plenty of- pace, and in short races will -. have, her way. Fishhook did a two-mile gallop with Eclipse, Dolly Vardeu coming , home the last mile with them. The Hook is going as well as ever, and is certainly the best conditioned horse on the coursel Dolly iVrapidly galloping herself into form, and should be found> useful with her light weight in the Publicans' Handicap. Tadmor and the Maiden Plater Trageagle did two miles on the course,, and ;the 'former is improving rapidly. Tregeagle'is'abig Brown, horse with an awkward 'sprawling style : of going, especially in front, but he seems pretty fast. On Tuesday, the great" event .was. a gallop the King did with Cloth of jGoldand Dead Heat. They went two miles, and, at the finish, the King who was .going as well as he has gone since' landing here, ' ran up to the other two easily. His . backers'were much reassured by the way he went. . Fishhook did slow work, finishing with, a, spurt,^but owing to the work doneon theprevious morning, no fast galloping' was done. Monaghan gave his nags slow work, with occasional spurts. The Bower has been suffering frora a slight attack of rheumatism, I hear, 1 but nothing to interfere with his work. , Puriri and Maroro will probably.be here this week alchg with Guy and Danebury. The improvements at the course are rapidly approaching completion, and as an early train now runs out, the course is well worth a morning visit, MbrljS.