TALK OF THE DAY

Otago Witness, Issue 2660, 8 March 1905, Page 54

TALK OF THE DAY

THE FORBURY PARK MEETING

The Forbury Park Racing C'lu'"; ippcais to ha\e justified its cxi/rte jc \ ;••-. each of u^s meetings has attracted excellent attendances of tho public, and also furnished sport of no mean order ; but v, hether the gatherings held at the. pretty and popular convincing ground have been financially successful is > a tiorse of another colour. To a great extent they have been, and la«t week's meeting, despite the tact that sirong- opposition Lvcl to ric: contended against, it is satisfactory to note, will show something en. tho right side of the ledger. The club has been, extremely fcrtunate in the matter of weather, as ea.ch meeting has had a powerful auxiliary in the. shape of an ideal day, which alone would be instrumental in attracting people to the course. The attendance on Saturday compared favourably with that which ha.-, been present at any of the previous meetings he'd by the club, whilst the sporf, although somewhat inconsistent, nevei'theles«s appeared to be honest, and contested' in a sporting spirit. The prices obtainable from the fielders at Hag-fall were of a fairly liberal nature, particularly in the case of tii« favourites, non? of whom started at less thin even money with the leaders of the- ring. More than one good judge was of opinion, that supporting Brighton at under evens was good business ; still, only in one or two place® did the writer hear the Euroclyclon horse touch sto 4- on. Avenal, who went out a good favourite at evens, opened at s's and 4's, whilst about Heirloom, wliowni the Flying, rherc was -a good deal of money to be picked up at 3's, and in some cases a shade better, befcre he> finally tightened to s's tc 2. Backers were a bit puzzled in the Welter. a.nd as proof of that, no less ihan three horses were quoted at o's at the rise of the barrier, owing to the punters being so divded in their opinion as to what would catch the judge's eye as the winner. As it ultimately turned out, Redstart did not carry near so much money as either Koputai Of Tugela. Reverting to the previously mentioned apparent inconsistency cf the racing, it 'will be noted in the report; thai Paparoa, who finished out of the places in the Trial Handicap, subsequently won the. Hack Handicap with not a little to spare : but \h& latter race was run at a much* slower pace than that of the initial item en tba card, which was probably the reason why Trump and Mariposa. apparently ran much bette-r tEan they did in tkeir first effort of the day. Redstart, who won the Welter, also ran. below expectations in the Trial, but she had 161b off her back in her winning effort, and no doubt that materially assisted her to gallop bette-* than she did in the Tria 1 . '-Sarchedon. however, in the Trial Handicap, was a better hor?e than 1 c proved to be in the Welter, as he is not forward 1 enough to run out two racs in the one day, although it rnuet be -raid his effort in the Welter w.is not devoid of merit, as ./bo -was disputing the lead with Redstart over the first fho furlongs, although he \ as meeting her on 161b worse terms than when tin GaiJcet filly finished third to h'nu Brighton and Koputai ran good races, but failed to catch the judge's eye; but Regiment ran below form, which might reasonably be expected by anyone who had seen him race at Fome of our country meetings. _

The track looked pleasing to the. eye, but is getting very wavy on the surface, and many horse.s will not act on it up to their test form, as ther naturally evince a tendency to change their stride on such going. The meeting was capably managed by the offic-fcearers of th.= chib. and the various events got off promptly and without the- slightest hitoh. The handicapping of Mr H. J. Gourley was x»roductive of some exc^llem racing — in fact, the race and -finish of the Flying Handicap provided as fine a contest bs one could wish to see, as it railed forth all .he ibilities of the riders who were in the saddle, whilst as evidence that +he field was well brought togethei', it, need only he remarked 1 that the proverbial sheet would have covered the -field as the horses oonwrising it raced passed the post. Mr li. C. Hazlett got his fields away from the barrier in good style. and the horses were invariably well in line when the tapes were released. Mr Hazlett also earned an additional word of praise by undertaking theduties of lion, treasurer in addition to those of starter, and clubs which can enlist the sympathies and assistance of such men are fortunate. Mr J. Jeffs was also r busy msin, and the rest of the officials who were present appeared to be k-eeuly alive to their duties ; whilst it was noticeable , that Dr Stanley Batchelor, one of the . honorary surgeons of the club, was on the course prior to the first race, and remained •.» throughout -the day. Mr R. Ewing, hon. iudge of the Dunodin Jockey Club, imbued, no doubt, with a sportsmanlike" spirit, which could be copied with ! advantage by others, acted as judge, owing to the absence of Mr W. J. Gore, who was unable to be present : whilst in Mr E. L. Maeassey the club has a ve>'y energetic- secretary, who does a jno-juir^nt of ( work in getting off the meetings as | pleasantly as passible to the patrons of the club, and also to those whose duty it is to be present at these gatherings.