TURF CLUB RACES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18253, 23 November 1933, Page 6

TURF CLUB RACES

THREE DAYS IN FEBRUARY SUNDERLAND STAKES CUP PURSES MORE LIBERAL Three days’ racing in February, under the auspices of the Poverty Bay Turf Club, should induce the attendance of many more owners with headquarters outside Poverty Bay, and ensure an improvement in the fields of recent meetings in the district. The three-day programme drawn up by the dub for submission to the district committee of the Racing Conference • provides for racing on February 3. 8 and 10, and it is understood that the stake-money allocated for each of the three days ■ is considerably more liberal than at any recent meeting held by the club. The object of the committee in applying for three days in February is obviously to give owners of horses trained outside the district an inducement to race their horses here. It has been recognised that with only two days of competition, the inducement to outsiders has not been sufficient to keep the lields at the desired strength and standard of quality, especially in view of the difficulties of transport in ' these days Transport by se.l should be less difficult for the summer meeting than for the winter and spring fixtures conducted by the elub, of'course, and this may assist in securing a good representation of Auckland horses during the. February races, as well as a good dumber from Hawke’s Bay.

The Poverty Bay Turf Club’s threeday races will help to make the East Coast circuit for .January and February more interesting to horse-racing enthusiasts generally, and, no doubt, will give the Coast clubs some assistance in filling their nomination and acceptance lists. The Wairoa meeting late in January will he followed by the Poverty Bay Turf. Club fixture, after which will come the Tolnga Bay Jockey Club and the Waiapu Racing Club fixtures. Owners and trainers are naturally keen to keep their horses in competition while they show form, and the circuit of four centres should give opportunities for many owners’ representatives to pay their feed bills, and show- a profit. An interesting feature of the races at Mnkaraka will be the attaching of a silver cup, valued at £35. to the race for the Sunderland Stakes, on February 8. The trophy has been furnished by Mr. W. Barrington Miller, who has given many other indications of his anxiety to assist sporting associations in his home district. It is a handsome specimen of the silversmith’s art, and should be of particular interest to those sportsmen who have not yet added a cup to their race winnings.