IN SADDLE AND SULKY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3889, 25 September 1928, Page 57

IN SADDLE AND SULKY.

Ivy Audubon is in foal to Author Dillon, and has- been booked to Wrack. Acceptances for the two events on the Kurdw programme are due on Wednesday. The stallion Drusus is now -located in Gore, where he should not lack patronage. Nominations for the Auckland Club’s spring meeting are due on Friday of this week. White Sun is coming on nicely in his work, and he will soon be in his best racing condition. Trix Pointer has foaled a filly by Wrack, consequently a full sister to Wrackler, the Ashburton winner. Great Delight ran well enough at the recent Wellington meeting to suggest that he will soon be a winner on the North Island country circuit. Katute has not mended her manners, and she is not likely to be in demand for trotters’ races until she shows improvement in that respect.

The three-year-old brother to .Great Bingen by Nelson Bingen has been named Great Nelson. He carries many of the characteristics of his champion relative.

Merry Bingen is past his best, and his owner will find it difficult to place him for another win. He does not carry his speed very far now. A two-year-old pacer by Matchlight from Alpha Bingen is showing promise under J. Henderson’s care. The younger is owned by Mr J. M. Samson. For the benefit of a correspondent it is stated that last season Jewel Pointer startd on 27 occasions and was placed 16 times. Hakari, who is on the front of the two events at Geraldine, is an aged gelding by Wildwood Jun. from Lady Child. He is not likely to improve much. Linkman, the Matchlight four-year-old, has his share of speed, but as yet does not move out too well. He could do with plenty of barrier practice. . Reta M'Kinney, who touched 3.39 2-5 when she ran second to Sunshade at the Invercargill meeting last season, does not look harshly treated in being placed on 3.42 at Kurow. Curfew Boy, who won in his only start last season, is doing good work, and is dose to the top of his form. The Rey de Oro gelding gives every promise of eventually being a high class performer. Epigram is standing up to bis work well, and is not at present showing any signs of unsoundness. He is a speedy sprinter, and will show up during the season when the tracks suit him.

The Dunedin-owned pacer Prince Bingen is being worked at Forbury Park by J. Pollock, and is striding out well. He will probably be started at the Oamaru Club’s Labour Day meeting J. Henderson has in work a four-year-old mare by Logan Pointer from a Rothschild mare. She is shaping well, and should develop into a winner for her owner, Mr W. Quirk, of Dunedin. lone, a winger at Ashburton on Saturday, is a five-year-old by Brent Locanda from an Experience mare. E. C. M’Dermott has her very well at present, and should win again with her before long. The Harold Dillon mare Adios did not step into a place in any one of her eight starts last season, but in some of her races she showed a nice turn of speed. She should be useful at the southern country meetings this season. According to a northern exchange there is a possibility of Warplane and Koro Peter changing ownership, but so far no deal has been made. If a sale does eventuate, both the horses will remain in J. Shaw’s stable. There are no fewer than 98 horses on Mr H. F. Nicoll’s farm at Ashburton. Among the budding champions of this number one that takes the eye is a particularly nice two-year-old by Wrack from Nell Pointer.

Wrackler won the Rakaia Handicap at Ashburton on Saturday handsomely, and D. Warren did not appear to be concerned when Sunfish threw out a challenge. The betting on this race, by the way, was the most even ever seen on the course. The cards for the Gore Racing Club*s spring meeting on October 20 and 22 contain four events for pacers and trotters, three being in harness and one in saddle. Nominations are due on Monday of next week. Nelson M'Elwyn, who has not struck his true form since going into J.' J. Kennerley's stable, is in steady woi k, but will not be ready to race for some time. When Kennerley does get him right he will win good races. Sailor Boy. who did not race well at the recent Wellington meeting, has filled out a lot during the last few months. The Man o’ War gelding is a useful pacer when properly right, and he should win races at North Island meetings this season. Mercury has been fancied in some of his recent races, but he has let his supporters down badly. When he won at Carterton last December he showed plenty of dash, but since then he has been a disappointment. Real best on a firm track, and so was not suited by the conditions at Wellington. The Nelson Bingen pacer is in nice condition for meetings ahead, and should be found among the season’s winners. Dan Logan looks an improved horse, and is in nice order for the country circuit. He goes well in saddle, but in the Dash Handicap at Kurow he looks rather close to Harold Logan at a difference of 12 yards. After having had a spell since at the winter meeting of the Auckland Club that fine trotter Waikaha has been put into work again. The son of Gold Bell is a very consistent trottar, and has twice won the Rowe Handicap, the richest event for trotters in the North Island. That good trotter Betty Moko has been kept going during the winter and she is in capital condition to be hurried aldng for early, engagements. has been a somewhat unlucky mare, uad several

times has just been beaten bj 7 horses more favourably handicapped than she has been. It is difficult to say just how good " Jackie Audubon is, but there is little reason to doubt that he will step further back in the "handicaps than he is at present. The Great Audubon gelding, who ' is in work at Addington, can go any distance and on any kind of going. Apparently some of the starters in America have very little control of their fields. Thirteen colts started in the Matron Stakes at Toledo on July 12, and although they were called up to the barrier at 3.35, it was 4.5 before they were sent on their way. Half an hour to get 13 horses away! The Auckland filly Medusa paced well in the Borough Handicap at the Wellington meeting, and it was just the last little bit that found her out. She will be improved by the race, and should be in capital condition the next time she carries silk. One of the best performers at the Wellington meeting was that of Loch Moigh in the mile saddle race, in which he stepped 2.13 2-5 to finish third. Most of the placed horses in the other races were not getting anywhere near their handicap times. Harold Logan won very easily at the Waimate Hunt Club's meeting, and was not required to do anything like his best over the last little bit. The Logan Pointer gelding has done well since then, and looks nicely placed iu the Dash Trot at Kurow.

A sensation was caused in Western Australia a fortnight ago when the Western Australian Trotting Association disqualified four men prominently connected with the sport. The reason for this is not stated in the report to hand, but at least 25 horses will be thrown out of training when the disqualification takes effect. John Gilbert, who was started only once last season, is a long way from being a good pacer, but he has recently been doing work that suggests he might win a loose class race. O. E. Hooper certainly has him better than he has ever been previously, and has him engaged in both the events at Kurow. A copy of the Otahuhu Club’s programme for the season is to hand, and it reveals the fact that the club is travelling the street of progress. The stakes for the two meetings in November and February range in value from 300sovs to lOOOsovs, and it is safe to say that they will attract a big contingent of horses from the South Island. The appointments.and the track on the Oamaru course are well forward, and everything will be ready for the club’s meeting on Labour Day. The material from the terrace on the old course has been transported to the new course, and is now being built up in front of the grand stand. It is claimed that the nominations for the Methven meeting constitute a record, but at one of the Ashburton meetings the nominations averaged 48 for each of seven races. While on the subject of records it might be said that on one occasion the nominations for the Sapling Stakes totalled 98. Mr T. B. Louisson, the owner of the Cup candidate Imprint, has a couple of good-looking three-year-olds in work—one a chestnut filly by Travis Axworthy from Muriel Dillon that has been named Dilworth, and the other a bay colt by Guy Parrish from Louisiana. If breeding counts for anything, the youngsters should develop into winners. Elzear is in steady work, and should be at the top of her form for the New Zealand Cup meeting in November. The Petereta mare is a brilliant trotter, and has been a paying proposition for the Dunedin owner Mr G. J. Barton since he bought her from the late Mr T. Wilkins a couple of seasons ago. R. Townley is a specialist with straightout trotters, and his methods of training may result in the Dunedin-owned Swiftbine being steadied down into a reliable trotter. Swiftbine has the speed to win several races from the mark he is on, but. in addition to being a doubtful proposition at the barrier, he is liable to tangle at any stage of a race. In a high-class field Padlock does not fill the eye as a champion, but his is a case of speed belying looks. The Hal Zolock gelding is regarded in some quarters as being unbeatable in the New Zealand Cup, and the confidence has become greater since he won the Cup Trial, but it was a race from which a false impression might easily be gathered. He was much nearer the top of his form than was either Great Bingen or Jack Potts. Amongst the—advertisements appearing in a recent issue of the Chicago Horse Review is one of interest to New Zea* landers. Advertised for sale is a chestnut yearling colt by Etawah, 2.3, sire of Peterwah, 4.23.4-5, from Fair Virginia, the latter a full-sister to imported Drusus by Zombro—Frieka, and dam of Berry the Great, 2.0}. The advertisement states that themrst cheque for lOOOdol will get the colt, no less, and no trades. He is

naturally fast, and a pure-gaited trotter. On breeding alone he should not be dear at lOOOdol. The ever-present prejudice against a trotter when he is racing against pacers will probably keep Peterwah from being one of the favourites for the New Zealand Cup, but his brilliant win at the recent Metropolitan meeting and his great performance in the National Cup, in which he was fairly flying in the straight and rapidly working up to the front when he went to a break, have found for him many warm supporters for the season’s biggest race. The American horse has a daisy clipper action, wasting little of his energy in the air, and is a most attractive mover when in full flight.