TALK OF THE DAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3333, 30 January 1918, Page 41

TALK OF THE DAY.

By Sentinel. THE FORBURY PARK MEETING. Tho Forbury Park Trotting Club's summer meeting will be held on Thursday and Saturday oi this week, and it only requires the -assistance of fine weather to make it one of the most, if not the most, successful gathering, ever held on the course. Exceptionally large fields promise-to be the order of the clay, and as quality is also liberally represented, an excellent attendance should be assured. Since the last meeting the club has carried out an improvement consisting in shifting tho starter'-s stand so that a better view can be obtained of the fields as they line up on the mark. The start of the mile and a-quarter xace at the last meeting made it obvious that some such improvement was necessary, and those most interested will be pleased to note that it has been made. The Duncdin Cup Handicap, of bOQsovs, has attracted a fine field, consisting of some of the best light-harness performers in training, and it should provide a very interesting racing spectacle. Those anticipating the judge's placings are extending their fancy over a wide range, consisting of Agathos, near the back mark, and Harold Junior, on the front; but it is generally regarded as a very open race. Matchlight, Moneymaker, Minston, and Moorland have plenty of friends, and if Moneymaker goes to the post in his best form he should be one of the hardest to beat. Agathos is credited with putting up a splendid performance when running second to Moorland at Ashburton. Ho got badly away, losing, it is said, throe or four seconds, and finally finished three lengths behind Moorland, who won in 4.36. According to that estimate Agathos was giving away about 12 seconds, and thus went around a 4.25 gait. He is meeting Matchlight on tho same terms, and should beat him again if tho Ashburtom running is supplying a correct line. Agathos should also hold the others he beat at Ashburton at his mercy if ho gets a fair run through tho front lot—in fact, he is the pick of the handicap. One thing that will, however, hamper the back-markers is the dust* that is sure to be raised by the large fields unless the club makes far more use of the water-cart than what it has done in the past, when the track has been carrying a dry surface. It is to be hoped that the Grounds Committee Avill see that the track is judiciously watered, and so provide the horses handicapped to go through tho fields every opportunity, as well as ridding the racing of an unnecessary danger that would be created by clouds of dust. The dust evil has so frequently been in unwelcome evidence that a foreword concerning it has become necessary. Taken all round, the card should provide some very fine sport, and the club's patrons should note that the first race is timed to start at 12.30 each day.

DIFFERENCE OF OPINION. Sir George Clifford has at times played a strong hand at the C.J.C. Midsummer meeting; but tho withdrawal of Adjutant, Brambletye, and Gamecock may mean that his colours will only be seen out in the Lyttelton Plate and Middle Park Plate. Adjutant was travelling down in the weights, and carried 8.4 on the second day at Wellington, when running second to Mc-nelaus. That race suggested a return to form, and Adjutant could not escape a fairly solid burden in the weaker class engaged in the Midsummer Handicap. Adjutant was handicapped to give Margerine 271 b in the Metropolitan Handicap, and in the Miclsummer came in on 181 b better terms. Margerine just beat Brambletye in the Fendalton at lib, and at Timaru was unlucky in not giving her a tougher race when conceding 91b over 10 furlongs. Margerine is perhaps a smarter mare over a short course than Brambletye, and should, as an improving sort, have her in safe keeping over seven furlongs at 41b. Gamecock' is. however, the most flattered one of the trio, as ho has been running badly this season, and is harshly placed at 21b from Winter Cherry and in being asked to give,. Disdainful 71b. Gamecock was, however, a fairly good two-year-old, and his early form debars him, no doubt, from coming down with a run in the figures with some handicappors. By way of comparison it is interesting to note that on the second day at Wellington Gamecock was handicapped to receive 61b from Robert Bell over six furlongs, and the latter was allowed 51b from Comely in the January Welter. Hence, on that line, Gamecock should receive about 101 b or 121 b from Comely, whereas there is only 21b between them at Riccarton. It is, of course, the difference of opinion which makes racing; but the treatment of Gamecock by the two leading handicappers of the Dominion covers a fairly wide margin.

SPEED AND STAMINA. The fact that a horse won over a distance and a eprint course in little more than 21 hours recently attracted special notice and comment from the special commissioner of the London Sportsman. Tho aggregate distance covered was three miles and three furlongs, "and yet," said the--' Special Commissioner," "the colt walked quite jauntily from the paddock after his second triumph." It- is rather remarkable that such a thing should create special comment from' such an old practitioner as Mr Allison, because similar performances were once quite common. It is frequently claimed* that horses can win over a distance —say, two miles or more—without being specially trained for a journey; bur if a horse can race a solid two miles on what is generally deemed a light prcpara-

tion then any success achieved stands more as a tribute to the animal's racing merit than anything else. It has in recent years become a common practice to restrict a horse's fast work or galloping near top speed to 10 or 12 furlongs when training lor a race over two miles, but that does not necessarily mean that the horse is undergoing a light preparation. There may be a tremendous lot of long-striding work of a good solid nature between the fast gallops, or a horse may have got through a considerable amount of racing which is really part of a preparation for tho two-mile race. Then, again, some few horses may be exceptionally clean in the wind or thrive beet on light preparations; but as a general rule the trainer who thinks that the average horsu can race over a journey on little work does not know his business, and will lead in very few winners, except in some few cases where a horse races itself fit, instead of being trained to be thoroughly fit and well. It is mistaken ideas as to the so-called light preparations that leads rule-of-thumb trainers astray, and the principal reason why such a largo proportion of a field stops towards the end oi a journey instead of staying on Only just recently we had the Australian critics commenting on" tho tremendous amount of work Mason stuck into Biplane prior to winning the V.R.C Derby. It was thought the colt would not stand up to it. Ho did, and won galloping away from those probably treated to do light preparation. " The tailor makes the man," it is said, and just in the same way a trainer makes the hors-e. The thoroughbred owes its wide-world reputation to thoroughly-proved stamina and ability to stand up_ to work Very few thoroughbreds can display their true merit until thoroughly fit and well, and some of them require a tremendous amount of work to' bring them up to the top of their form. For instance, the late E. Outts frequently galloped Nelson, the hero of three Auckland Cups, twice a day in getting him up to the top of his form. Present-day trainers, however, keep their horses in a glass case, irrespective as to whether they are of light or robust constitution, clean or thick, winded, sound, or unsound. The preeent-day trainer as a general rule trains his horses for speed, and is, of course, not far wrong, when about 90 per cent. o£ the racing is over short courses;, but anyone makes a grave error if they think training for speed will get a horse over a journey. A (food etayer may also have a raro turn of speed, and may show that speed in an occasional race even when trained for a journey; but that is another question. A FEW EXAMPLES. When glancing back over, the records of old-time racing one is frequently struck with the remarkable performances of bygone cracks of the turf. Great speed and stamina was frequently displayed, and no doubt many of the opinions claiming that past champions were better than the'pre-sent-day racers are based on what the oldtimers actually accomplished. Still, with similar training and racing conditions, there would be just as large' a percentage of present-day horses able to put up what seems, through tho eyes of the present generation, most remarkable performances of speed and stamina. Prior to Waiuku winning tho New Zealand Cup he > was well known at Riccarton as a winner of tho Electric Plate, four furlongs, run in 47g; but on that occasion he was. not being trained for the Now Zealand Cup, which he won two years later. When Sir Modred, as a three-year-old, won the Dunedin Cup, two miles and a distance, ho came out with a couple of races intervening, and ran third in the Publicans' Handicap, then run over a mile and a-quarter, and on* tho second day of the meeting he won the Railway Plate, six furlongs. When Vanguard won the Dunedin Cup, two miles and a distanoe, he also won over six furlongs and a mile and a-quarter at tho same meeting. Spade Guinea won the New Zealand Cup, and- on the second day ran a good third in the Dance Memorial Stakes, of 500sovs, six furlongs, and that the mixture of speed and stamina did not is evidenced by her subsequent form during the same season, when she won the Dunedin Cup, Marshall Memorial Stakes, Nelson Cup (two miles), A.R.O. Handicap {one mile and three-quarters), and A.R.C. Autumn Handicap (one mile and a-half). Sandwiched between these performances, she ran in the Napier Cup, and came out again in the same afternoon, and ran second in the Flying .Handicap, run over six furlongs. Many other instances could be emoted where horses mixed their distances with considerable success, and coming down to more recent years, it is worthy of note that Gipsy Grand won the Dunedin Cup, one mile and three-quarters; and, on the last day of the meeting, won the Forbury Handicap, pne mile and a-quarter, and Marshall Memorial, six furlongs—two consecutive events on the card. Earlier in the season Gipsy Grand finished third in the New Zealand Cup after running almost off the course at Cutt's corner. Hundreds of cases occur where horses win a couple of races on the same day over short or middle distances, and Red Lancer was once saddled up. and won three races during the one afternoon at a Gore meeting; but nowadays it is very rare indeed to find where a horse is capable of winning over two miles, and also able to foot with the sprinters. THE MIDSUMMER MEETING. The running at the Canterbury Jockey Club's summer meeting has always been followed with a good deal of interest, not only because of its own sporting attractiveness, but also on account of the fact that the form may throw some liijht on what is? likely to happen at the Dunedip Cup meeting following on a couple of weeks later. The Midsummer Handicap is run over the same distance "as the Dunedin Cup, and supplies an excellent opportunity for a try out in public for the Wingatui race, and in like manner the Craven Plate gives a good line to follow in the Publicans' Handicap. This year tho nominations for the Midsummer meeting are much bettor than usual; but Adjutant has already been withdrawn from the principal event." in which he was allotted 9.9. Margoiine now stands as topwoigh't in a by no means strong field, and although 9.0 is a fairly good weight to carry over 12 furlongs, ' still thoso with any pretensions to form are also well up in the weights. Margerine has boon running well _ this season. She scored a meritorious win in the Fendalton Handicap, and Brambletye was a shade lucky to beat her in the Anniversary Handicap _ at Timaru, whore the Martian mare received a bad passage. Margerine won the Otago Handicap with 8.5 in 2.33 1-5, but there was nothing much to beat, as Rorke's Drift was not quite himself through being staked, Ardenvhor and Marc Antony were nearly ready

to race, and Marsa whipped round at thai riso of tho barrier, so that an analysis of the form docs not supply a great deal, of proved merit. Still, she is not harshly treated in being rated 121 b better than Aecalaphus, or 141 b better than Kose Pink. Wardancer has not ran a good race for over 12 months, when ho ran second to Rorke's Drift in the Otago Handicap. , He, however, put up a fair show in the Metropolitan Handicap, although out of a place at the finish His recent track work suggests that ho may be coming right again, and if that is so he should be found running a good race. Red 13o_ok,- Spangle, and Harlequin all showed winning form during the holiday meetings, and the lastnamed, although sore, stayed on well when' winning over 10 furlongs at Oamaru. Thames has shown poor form since "win? ning a double at the last Wanganui meeting (losing the second stake through short weight), and it should not be difficult to find a favourite in the field that is likely to go to tho post. THE ,W AIM ATE MEETING. Tho Waimato Racing Club's annual programme to be decided on -March 14 will have for its chief feature the Waimate Cup' of 300sovs (including a cup valued at 40sovs), one mile and a quarter. The principal event is supported by tho President's Handicap of 170sovs, six furlongs; Stewards' Welter o£, 120sovs, five furlong 3; and Trial Plate "of lOOsovs for two-year-olds and upwards, special weights, six furlongs. ' In the programme includes the Morve'n Trot of 120sove, 3.54- or better; and Hook Trot of lOOsovs, 2.35' or better. Nominations ar& due on February 18