THE THOMSON HANDICAP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2410, 10 May 1900, Page 38

THE THOMSON HANDICAP.

lSQ?— TCupenga. svrs ... 7 0 ] 5U- £15 5 1803— llargmnhi, sji.s 7 7 1 &<'} 818 1 89-I— LottH 4yrs . . 8 2 1 4-JJ 32 10 iSOi— WVuku, 4yrs ... 7 fi 1 47 J . fl 3 IW7— Waiuku, fiyrs ... - 813 145 519 18 n B-Waiuiu, ased .. 3(1 :* 1 4r-1 7 3 IM)P— Amoiu-eiix, ag d « i) 142 ]3 ] 3Poo— Jabber, 4yvs ...-*JS (i 148 !2 2 The figures show thrvt Ihis race has been a remarkable one for dividends, £5 19 being the smallest the winner has ever paid. "This year none of the favourites got a place. Dundas, tho erratic, had no say in (Jie race at all ; '"• either had Sirocco, in whose favour a commission was placed in Dunedin; whiht Tortu I la could not get nearer than fifth. In view of the l^oor time, the heavy qoing-. and the reversal of form afterwards displayed by Mi«s Del'ival, I am inclined to the opinion that thi.- 3 ear's, Thompson wa-f not a truerun lace. At the s-arr.e limp Jabber might have v.on in any ca=e. He is a fairly good hor«e. and possibly we luive not yet seen the be&l of him. Pretty well ail tho ptavters in the Hurdle Race had substantial suppoit in the totalisalor — that was the case, at any rale, with regard to 10 out of the 15, and in that fact I see a hope of good hurdle racing up north during the coming winter. Coin, the winner, was the only one I picked in my Daily Times selections, but as he paid £12 my followers did all right. Derringcotte, winner of the Welter, is engaged in the Birthday Handicap at Dunedin, and it may be noted thai he won as he liked. The surprise of the meeting' was not Formosan's winning the Challenge Stakes, but Advance's decisive defeat. The Laurel colt seemed quito unable to make an effort when asked to chase Formosan. .Very plainly he was n.ot at his best. If ha' had won the dividend Would

have been £1 12s. With 18s more in the machine the price would have been £1 13s. In other words, the club's profit by way of odd money, had Advance got home, would have been £26 8s ! -No doubt clubs ought to split up this fractional money a bit better by paying sixpences. The Shannon beat his oj)ponents in the Railway Handicap rather meritoriously, for he got blocked by accident, and could not get clear till a furlong' from home. He was heavily backed in Dunedin; in fact this result cost the bookmakers all their profits on the earlier races of the day. On the second day Derringcotte failed conpicuously in the open company of the Hutfc Handicap. In the Leger Mr Stead started two, and found Skobeloff better than Sant Hario. That, certainly, was not true form, and I am not disposed to make much of Miss Delaval's victory. Certainly it was a reversal of form on the* filly's part to win at ali after shaping so badly in the Thompson Han-' dicap, but if we had known beforehand that Skobeloff was the one she had to beat she would not have paid £3 7s. What was the 'matter with Sant Ilario I don't know. He has been a dreadful disappointment. Jabber in the Suburban Handicap put up a heavy weight and won again, and St. Denis paid his expenses (likewise the expenses of quite an army of Dunedin backers)- by making a certainty of the Farewell.