TRACK TALK.

Otago Witness, Issue 4048, 13 October 1931, Page 51

TRACK TALK.

By

Adonis

THE OAMARU MEETING. Although in two instances the nominations for the Oamaru Club’s Labour Day meeting are somewhat disappointing, the general" response by owners is very satisfactory, and a good class of horse is engaged in each of the events. Particularly is this the case in the Weston Handicap, for which eight New Zealand Cup horses have been nominated, in addition to suca smart pacers as Meteor, Red Shadow, and Great Logan. The race should not only provide a fine contest, but may throw some light on the New Zealand Cup. lhe Oamaru Club’s meetings are very popular with the public, and the forthcoming fixture will no doiibt attract the usual extensive patronage. PLAIN SILK’S PROSPECTS. Two events for pacers are included in the card for the South Canterbury Jockey Club’s meeting on Saturday, and m the Washdyke Handicap there is little douot that backers will declare solidly for a recent winner in Plain Silk, from D. Withers’s stable. The Silk Thread pacer will be a hard horse to beat if he runs up to the form he showed at Ashburton, and Special Sun may give him the most trouble. A particularly good field has been paid up for in the Hadlow Handicap, and on the limit there are no fewer than six horses with recent winning form to commend them—Gunfire, Fleet Arrow, Logan Fraser, Linella, Onoto, and Royal Chenault —while on the same mark J. Henderson has a very useful pair in Ballade and Nelson Guy. Speculation is likely to take a wide range, with Gunfire, Fleet Arrow, and Royal Chenault having the most supporters. THE THRILLS OF TROTTING. We have always thought that the picture of a high-class trotter or pacer at full speed is a more thrilling spectacle than a similar picture of a thoroughbred (writes J. V. M'Arec, in the Toronto Globe). A visit to Therncliffe track, where the Grand Circuit meeting is being held, confirms this earlier impression. There is absent from the trotter coming down the stretch that impression of fury or desperation which one notes in a hardpressed thoroughbred, but there is communicated to the observer the idea of controlled and disciplined action. It is the controlled movement of a dance by Pavlova, and in comparison the movement of the thoroughbred is the frenzied prancing of a dervish. In the past we have heard the complaint that the scoring tor the start spoils the day for the average spectator. He saw a dozen false starts before the flag fell. This objection has been removed by modern improvements, and trotting races do not suffer by comparison in this respect with thoroughbred racing. We can remember when the trotting record was held by Maude S. and stood at 2.8 J. Maud S. was a contemporary of John L. Sullivan, and her name was perhaps as widely known and honoured. The record has been reduced more than ten seconds since her day, about half ' the improvement being due to the bicycle sulky and better tracks and training methods, and the other half undoubtedly because of improved breeding. Compared with the thoroughbred, the light harness horse is an upstart. We doubt if it has been scientifically trained and bred for a century. Its -gait is artificial. Or at least it was artificial. Now it is as natural for a trotter to trot as for a thoroughbred to canter. One can enter a field of yearling trotters, and if they are alarmed they will take flight at the trot and not in a helter-skelter gallop. It is a sight to delight the heart of a breeder, and we have no doubt that before another hundred years has passed nobody will ever see a trotter under pressure suddenly begin to gallop.

THE FINGER OF FORM. There will be a rush of racing over Labour Day week-end, and the interest of local enthusiasts will be centred in the Oamaru and Gore meetings. At the former place the fields contain horses who have recently shown winning form, and that form vyill no doubt be reflected in the speculation on the various events. In the Oamaru Handicap Ayrmont Chimes is assured of support, and other horses likely to be fancied in their engagements are Honora Bingen, Edna Worthy, Herod, Biddy Parrish, Willie Derby, and Red Shadow. At Gore Speckled Gold and War Paint will have solid support.