Big Prizes

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 986, 31 May 1930, Page 12

Big Prizes

THE GREAT NORTHERNS Fixture Opens on Tuesday THE great midwinter racing carnival, the biggest event of its kind on the New Zealand Turf, and conducted by the Auckland Racing Club, is to open at beautiful Ellerslie next Tuesday, King’s Birthday, and will be continued on the following Thursday and Saturday. This gathering always attracts visitors from all parts of the Dominion, while a number of Australian sportsmen trek annually to Auckland to see the Great Northerns run. These races, of course, are the Great Northern Hurdles (first day) and the Great Northern Steeplechase (second day), the rich jumping prizes of the year, worth in all £1,750 and £2,000 respectively. In this respect the two Northerns are easily the most richly endowed events of their class in this country. Is it any wonder then that each winter Ellerslie is the Mecca of sportsmen from far and wide?

It is claimed, and not without reason, that the Great Northern Steeplechase is the most spectacular contest of its kind in the world. That is a tall statement, but there is no gainsaying the fact that the claim is based on a solid foundation. This crosscountry event is run over a course of nearly four miles, over 25 obstacles, comprising ordinary hurdles, brush hurdles, live brush fences, post-and-rails backed with live hedges, stone walls, sod walls, an a brush-fenced water jump. The fences are not very formidable in themselves, although with the ground generally heavy for the fixture, obstacles are rendered much more difficult by the fact that the horses have to take off from bad ground. Then there is the hill, a solid 60ft climb, with a stiff grade of about one in ten, and steeper in parts, and, once surmounted at racing pace, there still remain the two post-and-rail fences to jump on the top before the descent is made. This hill has to be gone over three times in the Great Northern Steeplechase, and it is this factor that

makes the contest a highly spectacular one. At no stage of Ellerslie steeplechases are the horses more than three or four furlongs from the spectators. How vastly different from the English Grand National at Aintree! There the horses go out of sight quickly, and with a fog in evidence as often as not, spectators at Liverpool really see very little of their big jumping race. This year’s Great Northern Steeplechase has attracted the cream of the Dominion’s jumpers, and although the South Island is not represented, the field presents a very cosmopolitan aspect. For instance, the top-weight, Elysianor, hails from a modest country village, Bulls; Omeo comes from New Plymouth; Ponjola, from Hastings; Matu, from Trentham; Maunga, from Hastings; and Aurora Borealis, from Foxton; not to mention the representatives of stables in the Auckland province: Kawini (Papatoetoe), Mangani (Gordonton), Star Comet (Te Rapa), Roman Abbey (Cambridge), Kamehameha (Ellerslie), Odin (Ellerslie), and Wako King (Rotorua). There are 14 horses left in next Thursday’s big steeplechase, and 13 different centres being represented. » On the first day, Tuesday, the big

event is the Great Northern Hurdles, for which a good field has been paid up. They are Elysianor, from Bulls; Mister Gamp (.last year’s winner), from Awapuni; Star Comet, from Tg Rapa; Aurora Borealis, from Foxton; Roman Abbey, from Cambridge; Kawini, from Papatoetoe; King's Jest, from Greenmeadows; Omeo, from New Plymouth; Mountain Guide and Kamehameha, from Ellerslie; Maunga, from Hastings; Wako King, from Rotorua; and Daylight, from Te Rapa. The Great Northern Hurdles is recognised as the hardest event over the sticks to be won in New Zealand. The obstacles are most formidable, and there is little lean to the hurdles. If a horse can negotiate the Ellerslie hurdles it should not experience any difficulty in the steeplechase country here, provided the stamina is there — for the Ellerslie hill calls for staying powers. Although most interest at Ellerslie next week will be focussed on the two Northerns, the supporting races will provide plenty of thrills - for turf lovers. Next week’s big galloping and jumping carnival bids fair to take its place with the best ever staged at Auckland turf headquarters.