TALK OF THE DAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3334, 6 February 1918, Page 40

TALK OF THE DAY.

By Sentinel. THE DUNEDIN CUP MEETING. There is not likely to bo much movement in connection with the Dunedin Cup until the declaration of acceptances on Friday next The will probably result in a liberal weeding of the present list engaged, and already the. pen has been struok through the names of Wishful and Winter Cherry, and the. North Islanders are regarded as very doubtful starters. It was hoped that the northerners would journey south, and help to build up the interest in the race} but it is not hkaly that we will see the best qf them in Chortle and/ Nobleman saddled at Wingatui. It is to' be hoped, however, that the writer is a false prophet in that respect. In the C.J.O. Metropolitan Handicap Adjutant was handicapped to give Rorke's Drift 81b, and after showing a return to form at , Trentham the Chokebore horse is nicely treated in coming in on 61b better terms in the Dunedin Cup. Adjutant has to allow Margerine 101 b, or lib more than the margin placed between them in the Midsummer Handicap, in which the latter made such a Eoor show that she could not consistently ave been brought closer to the son of Discipline. Adjutant beat Nobleman in the W.R.C. Handicap, and now meets him on 71b. worse terms. Adjutant_ should beat Devotion, who wa3 unplaced in the same race, as she goes up slb for being unplaced whilst the other goes up 111 b for running a fair second. Rorke's Drift meeta Margerine on 71b better terms than when the latter beat him in the Otago Handi-. cap. Wardancer meets Multicipal on 131 b, Roso Pink on 151 b, Margerine on 141 b, iSpangle on 91b, and Harlequin on 21b worse terms than in the Midsummer. Apparently Wardancer won in rather impressive stylo. Miss De Val meets Nobleman on 111 b better terms than in the Wellington Cup, in which she ran third after a bad passage, and- at the present stage nothing under Marsa at 7.10 appeals to any great extent. She meets Margerine on 81b and Rorke's Drift at lib better terms than in the Otago Handicap, when her run suggested that she would have been very ckngerous had she got away on terms with them. | THE FORBURY PARK MEETING. % Despite chops and- changes of weather ranging from heavy rain to a gale of wind, with accompanying clouds of dust, the Forbury Park meeting was a big success. -The attendance on the first day was really good for an off day, and on the second the enclosures were so crowded that progress in front of the totalisators was a matter ,of difnotilty. Some fairly attractive stakes drew patronage from widespread patrons of the sport, and it is obvious that where the purse is rich the public will be sure to follow. Splendid fields turned out in the principal events, and had it not been for the fact that track and atmospheric conditions did anythin or but contribute towards success it would have been a most enjoyable gathering. Even with ftdverse conditions, the meeting stands as the best ever held at Forbury Park, and the result is sure to stimulate the chib to make further efforts towards catering for high-class pacers and trotters. For the first time in the history of light harness racing in Otago a 4.40 class figured on the programme, and the result must bo very gratifying to the club. So much so is that the case that a lOOOsovs stake is sure to be hung up on the track before very long if all goes well. The plum of the programme goes, of course, to tho paoers, but there is no doubt that the great racing spectacle of last week was the Crescent Handicap contest for unhoppled trotters, and the winner was the only one to receive a well-deserved round of cheers for a meritorious success. There is no doubt that the Forbury Park meetings stand in high favour with the racing piiblio, and it requires only attractive programmes and well-controlled running to make further progress rapid and assured. Therein lies the basis of the success achieved last week, despite a restricted railway service that is a big stumblingblock to racing at the present time. WARDANCER'S WIN. War-dancer's wim in the Midsummer Handicap is the third he has scored up to date. Ho won the City Handicap as a two-year-old in 1916, and the Dunedin Guineas the following season. The best race he has put up vsras in the Otago Handicap, run last -season, when he finished second to Rorke's Drift (who was giving away 161 b) in 2.34, Wardancer and Snub collidpd as they jumped away to do their preliminary for the race, and the former was decidedly lame when pulling up. Since then Rorke's Drift has won several races, and also put up excellent performances in addition to his wipa, and Wardancer has none the beet of it in the Dunedin Cup weights in meeting the Calibre gelding on 9lb worse terms than when the latter beat him in the Otago Handicap. Further woight is lent to that opinion by the running m the Metropolitan Hancjicap at tho last New Zealand, Cup meeting, when Rorke's Drift finished a good fourth in the smart time of 2.32 4-5, whilst Wardancer, carrying .the featherweight of 0.11, and in receipt of 21ib from Rorke's Drift, finished well outside the money. Stljl, wardanoer is a young and apparently* improving horse, and on that account his ohance in the Dunedin Cup is better than it appears on paper. Looked at in another way, Wardancer's success in a moderate field in the Midsummer Handicap means that he has been made to improve about 141 b, and that It would have paid handsomely to have kept him in his box last week. Wardancer has to allow Multicipal 131 b, Rose Pink 151 b, Margerine

141 b, and Spangle 91b for his success. Those are very liberal margins (except in tho case of Spangle), and should make a material difference at the end of a mile and a-half. Margerine's run seems too bad to bo true, but she has been allowed 141 b for the performance, and a repetition of her last win at Wingatui, where she won the Otago Handicap with 8.5 in 2.38 2-5, shows that she has been well treated in comparison with Wardancer. A DESIRABLE COMBINATION. Various reasons have been advanced a 3 to why the Dunedin Cup meeting at Wingatui and tho principal fixture at Forbury should not be held during the same week, as in Christchuich, Auckland, Wellington, and Wanganui. _ The strongest reason against the sporting amalgamation is that Dunedin could not stand up to it, and that Forbury Park would suffer becase it would lose the half-holiday deemed so essential to succcess. 'That contention, is completely wiped out by the fact that without the half-holiday the first day at Forbury Park saw £18,784 10s go through the totalisator, as against £17,495 , 10s handled at Wingatui on Boxing Day, when all the world has "downed tools." On last Dunedin Cup Day the total records ran to £18.137, or considerably less than what was registered on an off day at Forbury Park. The figures are something to ponder over, and, in fact, make one fear that Forbury Park will beat Wingatui unless the D.J.O. wake up to the. situation. Perish the thought that Wingatui does not mind being overshadowed by Forbury Park I Tho fact that an off-day attendance at Forbury Park can put through more money than a Boxing Day crowd at Wingatui is surely a matter worthy of j deep consideration, particularly when ones sporting sympathy leans very much towards the thoroughbred rather than to the game j which principally cateni for the artificial , racer in the shape of the much-be geared j pacer. The big trotting meetings in Christj church have grown from matters of little i importance to strong rivals to Riccarton J ' and we are travelling In the same direo- | tion. In fact, it now seems fairly obvious ! that a sporting amalgamation would be to ! the mutual advantage of our racing and j trotting clubs. Several gentlemen act as j stewards tp both clubs, and the old ques--1 tion occasionally crops up about serving I two masters; but in this case there is n 6 I reason why two masters should not bo served wtih equal strength. At different times and places discussions take place as to an alleged need of now blood, but in the writer's opinion there is ho necessity for a change if the present stewards woulq "gird up their'loins" as far as Wingatui is concerned in order to make it, as we all want to see it, the dominating sporting hub of Otago and Southland. And a big stride towards that desirable end would bo the holding of the principal meetings at Wingatui and Forbury Park during the same week.

THEN AND NOW. Old-time sports who participated in 'the sporting events_ linked with the early history of racing in Otagd always take a far deeper interest in a Dunedin Cup meeting than in any'other fixture oh the calendar. A Dunedin Cup meeting carries them bads with pleasant memories to those good old days of devil-may-care freedom that turned night > into day or mingled both with a beautiful disregard as to what "folk might say." Dunedin Cup meetings ones ranked; second to none in the Dominion. Owners and horses travelled from all parts, of both islands to take part '•in the gathering, and the Cup formed the basis of operations of some of the biggest be'ts and books identified with the early racing in this country. Some of the old sports gather a twinkle in the eye and wax eloquent about this and that when So-and-so and so. on occurred in such and such a year. "Why, you fellows that go racing 'to-day don't know what sport isf Why, damme, a race meeting nowadays is as tame as a Sunday school picnio 1" burst forth an old friend of the writer's when comparing the past with the present. Pen and picture records show that the old-time sports were inclined to "out themselves' loose " when in holiday mood, and did anything_ but curb their vitality when the big rafting carnival was in progress. They dressed and. demonstrated that they were out for .the day, took the odds openly, called the card, and were obviously on earth, and willing to share in anything that was going. Fancy a man landing at Wingatui on Dunedin Cup Day with a pugaree-bedecked topper! He would create more sensation than a dead heat between half a dozen in the big race, and probably have to be removed from the course because he kept the crowd from gazing in the usual way at the totalisator. An offer to bet "on the running" whilst the Cup was in progress would" probably be tantamount to a request to be fired off the course, and the three cheers for the winner, owner, rider, and trainee are as silent and dead as the historically eloquent Demosthenes. We take our sport In graver mood nowadays; but the old-time cheers still ring in the memories of sports, whose tales make some of us wish we had tjeen there to participate in the sporting joys of a bygone day.