WELLINGTON NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3802, 25 January 1927, Page 58

WELLINGTON NOTES.

(From Our Owx Correspondent.) , r , . , January 20. • lh ®,,°P® ni »8 day of the Wellington Rae L n ni- ‘x s s, , lmmor meeting was held in brilliant weather, a large crowd being present at Trentham. Proceedings opened with the Trentham High-weight Handicap, in which the Trentham representative (Oi'iY as alwa y s prominent, but found (Jutlit too good at the finish of a fastrun mile, considering the weights carried. Inc favourite, Mint Leaf, was doing the i ? vcr . “ 1G couple of furlongs, and should 'vin a race before the meeting concludes. The Trentham-trained Outfit did not win out of his turn, having raced consistently for a considerable time without much luck. At the. spring meeting and at the Masterton meeting, both held at Trentham, he was second on each day, besides being in the money at the Manawatu meeting at Christmas time. All the acceptors for the Wellington Stakes "were paraded. Lysander carrying the full penalty, ran a great race, but tire, best he could do was to get third to another good three-year-old in Limited, who had a stone the best of the weights. Bv filling second place Silver Mine proved the best of the five two-year-olds that started. Prior to the start of the race. High Finance caused some. excitement by bolting off the course, his jockey (I, Green) jumping off. but afterwards he took bis place in the field. Silver Mine also parted company with bis rider. In the next event—the Apprentices’ Plate, Stormy, ridden by the successful apprentice, A. Driscoll, was made favourite. He was always in the leading bunch, but had to do his best to stall off a lato run by Assurance. Queen’s Choice and Battle Colours did the best of the others. After the field had gone about a furlong Pangolin fell. His rider, B. Brown, was suspended. Backers wore fairly on the mark in the Fitzherbert Handicap. The New Plymouthtrained Melissa, runner-up to Doreen in the Mid-summer Handicap at Ellerslie, was the best backed, but was beaten by Thaw, ■who was also in the race mentioned at Ellerslie. . The best of the others was Otairi, who was similarly placed in his only appearance at Marton. Mr V. Riddiford started four in the race. The best of them proved to be. lone. who finished next to the placed division. Thaw is owned by his breeder, Mr Currie, and is by his successful sire, Limond. The Cup looks very open, backers making the Rapine-—Star Stranger bracket the favourite. Probably’ because R. Reed elected to ride the latter, he was thought to be the better of the pair. From the start Frisco and Mask set a solid pace, with the favourites last. They were still at the tail end of the field half-a-mile from home. In a great finish Rapier just beat Te Monanui, with Rapine third. The ivjiiner won the principal handicap in the winter. On his form, it looks as if Novar and Euphonium were lucky to finish in front of him in the Manawatu Cup. , Te Monanui must be regarded as unlucky in important races. Two years' running he has been in the money in the Wellington and Auckland Cups. Like Count Cavour, he failed to* produce his best form in Australia.

'rhe’ Telegraph Handicap was run in Imin lOisee, which would account for the defeat-of all the top-weights, the three J)lace-gctters being all placed within seven pounds of the minimum; Booster caused Jhe ’biggest surprise of the day.. The winner was ridden by A. Didham,. this being his only ride during the afternoon. Another body-blow for backers was the success of Starboard Light in the Ruapehu Handicap. He is trained at Waipukurau, and was among the winners at his own meeting on Boxing Day. Sir George Clifford came up from the south to see his horses race, but was not rewarded with a win to-day. The withdrawal of Haze left R. J. Mason without a representative at the meeting. He came up for the first day’s racing, and to attend the yearling sales. The totalisator turnover was only £lll6 behind last year, which, under the circumstances, must be regarded as satisfactory. The progeny of Absurd have won the Wellington Stakes six times in the last 10 years. The Australian visitors were greatly pleased with the racing at Trentham, but they could not understand the absence of "the roar of the ring.”