CANTERBURY NEWS

Southland Times, Issue 23376, 7 December 1937, Page 10

CANTERBURY NEWS

STRONG TEAM FOR ELLERSLIE

ARGENTIC’S CUP CHANCE FAVOURED (Special to The Times) CHRISTCHURCH, December 4. After threatening all the week, rain fell early last night and continued until well into this morning. It interfered

greatly with the attendance at New I Brighton today. Trainers of horses that are engaged in the Auckland Cup are not at all upset about the weights allotted their ' charges. As a matter of fact they are all very satisfied. They will leave for Ellerslie towards the end of next week. J. W. Jennings will ride Wild Chase and A. E. Ellis will be up on Argentic. It has not yet been decided who will ride Willie Win. Either Jenkins or L. J. Ellis will have the ride. Ponty, who is trained at Yaldhurst, may be ridden by the stable apprentice, Masters, if he goes north. The Riccarton representatives are all doing well and will be hard to beat. Cerne Abbas will, of course, be ridden by C. Goldsbro. J. W. Jennings will ride most of Sir Charles Clifford’s horses at Auckland, ■ but L. J. Ellis will be up on Paper Slipper. This should be a good ride, as the Paper Money sprinter has done well since the New Zealand Cup carnival, before which he had an enforced spell at a critical time. Wild Chase has carried on the right way since he raced at Riccarton. A badkneed horse, the uu and down grades on the course at Ellerslie may not suit him. If they do not cause him trouble he will run a great race in the Auckland Cup. A. E. ELLIS’S CUP RIDE _A. E. Ellis is very satisfied with his ride on Argentic in the Auckland Cup. He stated during the week that the only thing he had to do to win the Metropolitan Handicap on the Silverado gelding was to slacken his hold of him in the straight. He won in record time. Willie Win arrived on the track early in the week after his successful trip to Melbourne. His trainer, Mrs Campbell, stated that he only did well in patches while away. He was just recovering from one of his delicate feeding attacks when the Melbourne Cup meeting began. In the Melbourne Cup Willie Win got a great run right to the turn into the straight. Then he had bad luck. The leaders collapsed and left him to it in front, too far from the winning post. Sarcherie tackled him and the pair battled at each other and were only just passed on the post. Willie Win looks bright and muscular behind, but his back and loin muscles are much slighter than when he left here, however. He did not do well on the journev home, but since getting back to his own box everything has been right with him. He has been kept at light pacing all the week. Short Circuit looks all the better for the race she had at Ashburton when she ran third without much luck in running. A. Parsorfe will ride her again next Saturday. He will have to put up some overweight. A little overweight at the bottom of the handicaps is not, of course, such a disadvantage as it is high up in the weight. She should run a good race at Hororata. Cerne Abbas and Royal Chief have done as well as their trainer could wish since the New Zealand Cup meeting, but Protector has not been so satisfactory. Before today horses have won the New Zealand and Auckland Cups in the same season. On looks Ceme Abbas also has an excellent chance of doing the same. HAEREPO FOR ELLERSLIE P. V. Mason has practically decided to take his Nightmarch gelding Haerepo to Ellerslie for some of the minor class races. Haerepo stayed on well when he won at Ashburton. He is never likely to achieve great things on the courses but he may develop into a very useful hack. When C. C. McCarthy travels north to Ellerslie next week with Argentic he will take Royal Limond along. He will hand the old steeplechaser over to Mrs McDonald at Palmerston North. When McCarthy goes north Rabble will start a holiday likely to last a good month. Rabble is a very useful gelding, and one likely to do good things later on. McCarthy’s team will be reduced next week, as Owlsgleam is being leased by the Riccarton trainer, E. McLennan. She will do the West

Coast meetings during the holidays. Dictate is engaged in the Railway Handicap at Ellerslie, but he is a very

doubtful starter in that race or at the meetings. Trainer A. McAulay does not consider Dictate would begin well enough to win a Railway Handicap. He thinks that the middle distance races at the Manawatu meeting would suit his gelding much better, both because of the distance and the class.

As he did not suffer any reaction from riding work, G. Humphries, who broke his leg recently, hopes to be riding in races by the end of January. Sovereign Lady is still on the easy list. Her damaged hoof is growing down. Her owner thinks she may be ready to race at the Canterbury midsummer meeting, but is not very confident. She will not be hurried, however, and if the hoof is not perfectly sound in time for the midsummer meeting the mare will not race again until the autumn.

H. Nurse will have a fairly big team down south during the holidays. Several of them will be as green as grass, and the older division may have to pay their way. Cottingham is looking even better than he did during Carnival Week, when he won two hack races. Pelmet is causing her trainer, T. H. Gillett, a lot of trouble, and she may not be racing again for some time. As a matter of fact Gillett may not do any travelling during the holidays. He

will have a few jumpers coming in after the holidays. Lady Graceful will not be racing during the holidays. She has developed a joint in front and has been blistered. Silver Sight, another member of Martin’s team, is also on the easy list. He has been up a fairly long time, and a spell before it is time to get him ready for winter racing should do him good.