Recent Form In the South

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 664, 16 May 1929, Page 12

Recent Form In the South

WELLINGTON NOTES (Special to THE SUN) WELLINGTON, Wednesday. A useful sprinter that may be given | a spell shortly is Lady Quex. Her trainer would have put her aside after the first day at Hawera, but she seemed very fit, and her owner desired to see her run. The filly has suffered from dental trouble occasionally latelj-. and when she came back to the birdcage after running second to Keddar on the first day her teeth were bleeding. Mister Gamp has done well since the race he had over hurdles at Hawera | last week, and he will be a very fit horse when he races at Wanganui. If he runs up to expectations, his Great Northern Hurdles engagement will be continued. He should go very close to victory in the Century Hurdles at Wanganui, as he stays nicely, end the distance will suit him. His performance at Hawera greatly pleased his connections, for, though beaten, he ran a great race. The connections of Glangariff are doing the right thing in keeping him [to long distance hurdle races. He has been running on well at the end of all the hurdle races he has contested. He looks a much better horse now j than he did earlier in the season, and if he has the services of a capable j rider, such as he had at Hawera last I week, lie will take beating in any com- 1 pany he encounters. His Wanganui prospects are bright, and he is being j somewhat underrated as a Great Ncr- i them chance. Iloromea went well enough in open : company at Hawera to say that she i has a chance among the hacks at Wanganui or one of the following 1 meetings. The Southern hurdler Unitali looks j a fairly capable sort, and one may sug- 1 gest that the experience he had at ! Hawera will benefit him, and enable him to do better before he is returned I South. On the Up Grade A very considerable improvement i has been noted in St. Melba of late, j and for a while it looked as if he would win a race on the second day of the Egmont meeting. He ran a good second, but Monsogne beat him at the finish. However, as Monsogne was in great form at the meeting, St. Melba was not disgraced, and lie should not be allowed to escape attention during his immediate engagements. He is a good beginner. Having been very unlucky each day at Hawera, Second Thought will have a great array of followers at Wanganui if he draws suitably at the starting barrier. A. D. Webster has him exceedingly well, and his owner is very keen on winning a race with him before the winter season ends. Airway was spoken of by Hawera track-watchers as a certainty for a race at the meeting, but in the heavy going he did not do well under the substantial weight his performances had earned him. However, as his track work was really good, he can be kept in mind for a suitable occasion. Very much improved in every way is Havering, who should be better at Wanganui on Saturday than lie was at Hawera last week. He will be favoured by the turning course at Wanganui, and will not be among the neglected when he competes among the hack sprinters. Monsogne made such a job of the hacks in her last appearance at Hawera that she should not be long in run- ‘ ning out of minor company. She goes ; well in soft ground, and a middle dis- j tance suits her much better than it does the average hack. ( Mountain Crag’s failures at Hawera caused disappointment to a big army of supporters, but in all probability he was upset by the fall he had had at Marton a few days previously. He is regarded by those who know turn best as a good sort, and with care auid time he should come right again. Had the Laugh

When Highwayman arrived here from Tasmania, he came with the reputation of having scarcely ever failed to run into a place in jumping races. He made a fair showing one day at the recent Hawke’s Bay meeting, Dut failed ignominiously on the other day, and he was well and truly counted out by those present. I mean counted out as a possible winner at an early date. One wrote that jumpers in Tasmania must be a poor class, and others wrote equally uncomplimentary things. Next thing, Highwayman won at Hawera among the hack steeplechasers, and, what is more, he won well. Whether he will go on winning is even more problematical than is the case with any horse, as he is unsound, and, in fact, great credit is due to W. Raymond for getting him as well as he was at Hawera. Old Puwhero is not doing too well this season, but he is still a fine jumper. He was never a good stayer, and now he does not seem to stay as well as he did a season or so back. He has lost some of his dash, too. Easily the pick of the steeplechasers seen at Hawera was Roman Abbey, who is to race at Wanganui, where he will contest the big steeplechase, then run at the Great meeting at Ellerslie in June, and then form one of a team his owner, Mr. R. Hannon, of Cambridge, is taking to Australia. Roman Abbey might do well on the other side of the Tasman, as he is a very smart jumper, and takes brush fences particularly well. He has a L ot , ,° r speed, and at Hawera ran the field off its feet. On his running there he should be able to shoulder his penalty and run a great race this week at the river city, where the course and the country will suit a horse of his type. It is understood that, in addition to going to Australia, Mr. Hannon contemplates a trip to England. In his three starts in the southern end of the North Island, Star of the East has jumped indifferently, and even badly at times. This has surprised Aucklanders, wlio say that in his own district lie has earned a reputation as a quick, smart fencer.

One of the winter horses who is coming on nicely is Royal Mint, He ?^ eSt -„ When \ hc mud ls deepest, and 114 will soon be in his element. Any time now Atholspear should account for another race. Soft ground does not stop him, and he plugs Sn in the heavy going better than the average middle distance performer Ihe ex-Aucklander Valkon is coming on nicely. His new trainer K. George, has had to exercise some patience with him, but he was very well pleased with the way the Valkyrian ing a>nS Shaped at the Egmont meet-