THE MANIOTOTO MEETING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2604, 10 February 1904, Page 45

THE MANIOTOTO MEETING.

This year's annual meeting of the Maniototo Jockey Club must be deemed one of the most successful gatherings held by the club in recent yeart. The attendance each day was fairly large, fnd speculation on th© machine compared favourably with the business done at any of tho preceding meetings held during the past nine or ten years. The total investments reached £2379, which doe-s not fall far short of tho record of £2955 which nas registered lasi year. Tha course. wa 3 very rough, and furnished decent going in one place onlj' where continual galloping had worked the ground into what resembled a plough gallop. When one of the field got into the best of the going he had a decided ad\antago o\ er the horses which had to rare outride of it. where ths going wes exceedingly hard and rough. The writer has attended th° last three meetings held by the club, and apparently they makelittle or no effort to keep tho track in order. The bairen nature of tho giound is partly responsible for this state ot things, and, under certain conditions, such as when a fairly lnoli wind is. blowinc. one. can put

in a very unpleasant afternoon owing to the presence of the dust, \»lucli is aroused into an undesirable niomincnco by the breeze. The club should mako an effort to level off and sow down the in=ide of the track, as many owners would be- extremely loth to race tneir hor-cs on the going as it is at present. Once the came_on the track it could be protected, and if rolled after rain, or when s>oft, good going would be on hand when the meeting came round. Many clubs make tho mistake of neglecting their tracks unril a few days befoie the meeting, and then, owing to the hardness of the ground, it is almost impossible to make a track in good order. At last week's meeting, after a St. C.air gelding named St. Simon H had won the Maiden Plate from three other moderates, a field of three saddled up for the Naseby Cup. In the light of his form this season, punters did not display any great hesitation about making Bula/wayo favourite for the race, and, although ridden a bad race, he. justified their confidence by winning very easily. The Perkin Warbe-ck gelding ran wide at each of the turns, and his rider, who is one of the latest additions to the crouch riders, appeared to have his work cut out to keep on the horse's back. He rode on tho re-ins throughout the race, and bumped about a good deal whe.n he made an effort to control iiis mount At the finish, when ho had the race won, he east a look back to see- if there were any danger about, but the others were apparently; beaten before they turned into the straight. Bulawayo ran the 10 furlongs of the race in the smart time of 2min llsec, but that time has to be discounted by the nature of the track, to run a mile and a-quarter on which fully six furlongs have to be run down hill and the .best part of the balance up hill. Iv ruxi.hing over this distance tho horses jump off ''at the top of the course, and from flic starting-post the first three furlongs and a-half are down hill Going along the .'back there is an up grade of about three Surlongs, and then a finish down hill. Skegger easily accounted for the Two-mile Trot, and Ave-mae did not leave the. "Welter long in doubt, a3 h© made every post a ,winning--post, and none of his opponents got near Jhim in the race. La Russe, the. *isfcer to Tsaritsa and Petrovna, got chopped 'out at th& start, and was never dangerous. Patron won the Selling Race easily, and there was some spirited bidding (on a small ecale) for his possession after the race. His new owner paid £36 for the horse, and the boy in charge demonstrated his annoyanoe at losing the winner by pulling the bridle off before he left the sale ring. Gwynne was made the favourite for the Mile Trot, and, ridden by Pringle, she won easily in 2min 47see. Patron came out again in -the Hack Race, and unexpectedly downed Southerly Buster, who we<3 de-em-ed one of the best of good things for the race. Southerly Buster was in front until turning into the straight, and when Patron got on terms, a little over 100 yards from the post, !he could- not shake off the challenge, and jwent under by a short head. Toney was closely attended to the horns turn i>y Quagga, who had lost ground at the start. in the District Handicap, and then thelatter ran. wide. This allowed Toncy to win easily from Metford, whilst Quagga came again with a late run and finished third.