EXCITING RACING

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19453, 12 October 1937, Page 16

EXCITING RACING

THRILLS AT ELLERSLIE MISHAPS IN STEEPLECHASE THREE HORSES LEFT TO RACE Thrills and spills characterised an exciting day's racing at Ellerslie on Saturday, when the course was thronged by an attendance of 13,000, and brilliant sunshine added its share to tlie pleasure of the first day of the Auckland Racing Club’s spring meeting. Several horses fell during steeplechase and hurdle events, none suffer ing injury, although one rider was hurt. Exceptionally close finishes in all but two races also brought thi crowd to its toes. Excitement reached its peak during the running of the Hunters' Steeplechase, in which eight horses started but only three finished. Four fell and another ( ran off. The spills started at the .third 'fence, Rozel unseating her rider. Grantham and Adsum came down at the fourth fence. The remaining horses were bunched as they raced past the stands for the first time, but Mio Lume failed to take the double, running off at the second fence. Spectacular Upset The last of this rapid chapter oi accidents- was staged at the stone wall. • Red Fox, -lying second, fell ana was'> out .of. the .race.. The favourite, Lochiel Lad, All Irish and the outsider Domo ran out the distance. The first two were never widely separated and were only a neck apart at the post, All Irish claiming victory. The scene of the most spectacular upset of the meeting was the last fence in front of the grandstands, where the leaders, Kilberis and Celtic Lad, came to grief in the Trial Hurdle Race. . Kilberis failed to rise and smashed to splinters one section oi the wooden hurdle, which fact made it more surprising that none of the following horses was seriously injured. Kilberis’ fall brought down Celtic Lad, which rolled over on to the ridei of the former, N. Trillo, who suffered slight concussion. Earlier in the race Sporting Song fell. Increased Betting Figures Finishing margins in four events must have had the judge guessing, r. nose, a head and a neck in two instances being the difference between leaders at the post. In two othei races the verdict was only threequarters of a length, while a length and a length and a half were the margins in the remaining events. Equalling the course record of 2min. 32sec. for a mile and a half, the time established by the twelfth favourite Small Boy in the principal race, the Mitchelson Cup, was a race record Another race record was broken by Smoke Screen in the Great Northern Guineas, his time for a mile being lmin. 37 2-ssee. The most handsome dividend of the day was almost a score, paid by Small Boy in the Mitchelson Cup.