WELLINGTON NOTES,

Otago Witness, Issue 2565, 13 May 1903, Page 47

WELLINGTON NOTES,

By Onlooekb.

For the opening daj of its wintet mcd™ ing, held on Wednesday last, the Egmont Racj ing Club was favoured with beautiful weather, ; Iv the morning it was dull and threatening 1 , but bafo-ro noon the clouds cleared and th« sun shone out. During the afternoon it got) quite warm. The club studied the convenience I or its patrons by having only seven races on the programme instead of eight. The lessee number is plenty for this time of the year. The illness of the club's secretary (Mr J. A. Turton) caused his unavoidable absence from thef meeting. Fortunately the club possesses an , excellent emergency man in Mr J. W. Hirst, j who formerly held the office, but retired owing to pressure of business. The attendance was 1 large, including a good liumt-cr of visitors from : Taranaki and Wangnnui, who came by special1 train, and returned home tho same evening. • j The totalisator turnover on the seren events • reached £6536, which is £787 more than the ! corresponding day last year. An unfortunate i accident happened during the running of the ! Hack Hurdles. When leading at the. lasfc- ' fence, The Hermit came down, and F Lind! had one of his collarbones fractured. Tha - Hermit walked in, but was found to have hia " spinal cord injured, and was shortly afterwards ' destroyed. He was an aged gelding by Doncaster (son of St. Leger), trained at Wanganui, and ran. second to Hawera in a hurdlq race at Patea. on Easter Monday. Hawera , came down at the second' fence, but got of! 1 with a. shaking, ea also did his rider, R. At* nott. ; C. Jenkins's followers rallied round him all day. He rode four favourites, but only ana got home. This was Black Reynard (Reynard — Brasso'is), who had an easy victory in tha Railway Handicap. Full Cry ran better thanhe did at the Menawatu meeting. The veteran Crusoe was amongst the other runner 3. Ha was a long way out during the first part of it,, but was catching the leaders at the finish. Oracle, who was reported to be a good jumper, was brought over from Napier for the Hack Hurdles, and went out a big favourite. Ho was the first beaten, being in trouble befoT half the distance had baen covered, and , finished last but one. Lady Bell vras going i strong at the last fence, when The Hermit, ; who was tiring, came down. Rags was in the rear for about a mile, and although he ran into second place, had no chance of boating Ladj Bell. Cavalcade (Vanguard — Corisande) is a good cut of a gelling, and Highlow ({3-ipsyi King— Eft. Leger mare) is big enough for steeplechasing. In the Teuhiti Handicap, after Sandy shook off Recoil at the bend, he looked like making; : a win for Mi Fred Watson. Stepson chalI lenged in the straight, and finishing realljj ; [ gamely, beat the Soult gelding a head. Tha; Waipawa-owoed Rapid 3 was a poor third* Stepson, I mentioned last week, is a handsoma colt by Stepniak — Britomarte. Be is owned . by W. Telford, and trained by H. Telford! " at the Hutt. The colt ran unsuccessfully aii ■ tho Nelson, Wellington, antL Manawatu meetings. He should have paid a big price, butf money wired to the course made him second! favourite, and he returned only 4 to 1 in a field of 12. The number of starters for the Cup waa smaller than for any other race. Speculation on' this and the other open race (Railway Handw cap) was Ices than in the other events. Legion of Honour was considered outclassed, butf he finished in front of Hardwork. Blaclcwin&J led right into the straight, where Durable and} Tupara joined in and mode the finish interesting. A bare length separated the Taranaki pair, with Blackwing, who is now trained byi Mr Halberdier Bennett at Wanganui, less! than that distance away. Although best backed' Durable paid £3 33 6d — not a bad price in five runners. The veteran Starlight took the field along for about seven furlongs in the Waihi Handicap, where he was done witE, and coming int«] the straight Pareoro. was proclaimed the winner. The Haere— Strayshot mare won comfortably by two lengths from Sir.mpede, who waa a long way out at the bend, but put in a long, strong run. Stampede beat Pareora aff Feilding, but the latter has evidently improved! since. She is a sister to Otaio, and' is trained! ! nnd ridden by Walter Raynor, of Wunganui; i who li&3 Shrapnel. Moetoropuku, a Wai« I rrerapa-bred mare, by Lothe— Hautiri, filled the other place. Only £9 out of £861 was invested on the chance of G-old Dust 11, an Auckland-bred gelding, by Resurrection > BTown Rose. Ho finished laet. Taura, probably because he had C. Jenkins's services, carried most money in tho Mokoio, j Handicap. He was slew to begin, ran up t«i I tho leaders at the turn, and just missed a j place. Waimoe (Sorauus — Water Colour) made . i the pace all the way, an-d had only to be shaken: up to win by two lengths from Inglewocd, who . beat Dick Turpin a head. Waimoe is owned! by Mr W. Robinson, of Waipawa, whose colours were unsuccessfully carried by Rapids. Wai- ■ moe was well handled Ijy D. Cameron, -rolio • also rode Stepson. This boy was formerly, : associated with E. Cutts. Stepson, who had incurred a penalty, was I the only withdrawal from the Telegraph Han- ! dicap. 17 starting. Silver Star (C. Jenkins's mount) carried most money. She got well away, and was running behind Royal Flushf :at the bend. Here Noneen, on the outside, I came through, and, several others joining in, ■it resulted in a slashing finish. Noneen gob the verdict by a neck from Recoil : Silver Star, a bare neck away, third, and Royal Fhish, a nock away, fourth. Before the start Noneea bolted a couple of furlongs, and repeated tho performance in the onposifce direction after being taken back to the barrier. She is a tlrree-year-old filly by Johnny Faa— Daisy Clipper, and is ownsd by Mr T. O'Neill, a local "publican, who won races with Daisy Clipper when he resided on the We3t Coaet of the other island. It was bad luck for Frank Lind meeting with, an accident just as the steeplechase meatinga are approaching. He would have been riding Otairi and other horses this winter but for the fall to-day. For the concluding day of the Egtnonfe winter meeting the weather was bright and warm — more like summer than winter. The attendance was good, though not quite np to; the previous day. Speculation -was brisk, amounting to £5922. Thii brought the iotal for the meeting up to £19,458, which is £2223 in excess of last yew— a very satisfactory result. C. Jenkins was in great form. He did fhe "hat triok" in the first tihree events on tha card, and also pulled off the last race. T-besa successes "brought his total for the season up to -80. A peculiar accident happened to young Gower, -the T*ranaki light- weight, in the Trial ' Handicap. Cavalcade stumbled about a -furlong from the start. Gower lost his Beat, but; had one foot in the stirrup and hung on to the reins. He vie.c carried some distance like this before getting his foot out, but was no! hurt The big field of 10 contested the Trial Handicap (five furloni's;, Rapids, Maureen, and

Sotban being fancied in that order. The Parkshot and Spendthrift got left, and the favourite never got out. C. Jenkins got a break with Romany Girl, end won all the way. Romany . Girl (Gipsy King — Yattaway) is a four-year-cld. sister to Romany Lad, and half-sistei to The Guard. She paid £7 5s 6d. Mr Crocker *ra» also represented by Toledo and Silver Star. Among the other runners was Lord Baglan (Rebellion— Alma), formerly trained at the Hutt, Aureole (Gold Reef— St. Katherine). Spendthrift is by the American trotting horse Judes Beldon. Although Taura failed to get a place the previous day, she was made favourite for the Stewards' Handicap (one mile). She refused to join the horses, and got left several lengths. She ran through at the bend, and came home a coiafortable winner. The owner of Pareora . entered a protest on the grounds of alleged inconsistency. After hearing the owner, tiainer, and jockey, the objection was dismissed. Tftura (by Chainlink — Georgina) is owned by Mr E. White, secretary of the Porangahau [Racing Club, and is trained by F. Stowe. A good-looking colt named Lord Clive (Lebel— FJying Fish) competed in the race. Highlow bolted with the Hurdle Race. R. Arnott rode him to the front, and, being allowed to set t«o far away, his opponents never got within cooee of him. He rattled through JUie fences — which were not heavy — in great siyla, and was ridden at most of the jumps. Oracle jumped better than on the previous Jftjr, but could only manage to finish a poor •third. H» may, however, do better before th« ■end af t the. jumping season. = Terns' G«orge started a good sort of three-fyear-old gelding named Paritutu (Castor—Yattaghstn), who is new to the racing business, in the Opeke Handicap. He was third favourite, C Jenkins's mount (Starlight) being next in demand a-fter Recoil, who went out a strong order. He was never prominent, and the owner (V. Murtajh) a-sked the btewards to inquire into the way his horse was ridden. Rapids >w<as in front for a bit, when Kid brook took command, and W. Kayr.or, making the most of his advantage, got the Recluse gelding home by a clear length. His supporters received the rice return of £15 8s 6d. Stampede mfi^e up (hi 3 ground in great style at the finish. Lady Scult finished right up among3t them. Louie, ■Little Turk, and Toledo got left at the start, B»d had no chance of getting through. Full Cry was pulled out of the Manaia Han3icap (nine furlongs), only five starting. Oracle, j ■who might have been withdrawn, finished last. I Blackwing made play from the start, and was l>nly beaten half a length by Durable, with | Hardwork close up. Tupara, who was favour- ( ite, was in Iha race at the turn, but failed '. to come on, and just missed a place. Durable (paid the good price of .£3 4s Gd, which was Is more than lie returned the previous day. Six withdrawals reduced the field for the INgamutu Handicap (six furlongs) to nine. Stepson was on the ground, but did not staTt. Heccil. who was one of the least fancied, /aced Jio better with the owner's son up than he idid with W. Fahey. Sandy was a great pot. •Tonkins, as usual, was one of the 6rst away, aßid he had the field in trouble at half way. Kid brook made a good show, carrying Blb «xtra, and was paying £12 15s to win. Mr Watson's gelding paid only £1 14s Gd Maureen i(St. Conon — Juliet), Queen's Guard's half■ister, ran third, which position she occupied 3n the Trial Handicap ep.rlier in ihe day. The meeting was caraljly managed. By next season {the club intands to ertest several improvements . to the buildings. 1