TURF TOPICS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 252, 27 November 1914, Page 8

TURF TOPICS.

Racing will be continued at Takapuna to-morrow when the chief attraction will be the Spring Handicap, in which several Auckland Cup candidates claim engagement. The Hororata Racing Club receives acceptances for its annual meeting up to nine o 'clock to-morrow evening. Good fields seem assured in most of the events and there is every indication of : an excellent day's sport on the sth of next month.

Though the fields in the two chief events hardly come up to expectations there is every promise of an excellent day's sport at Feilding to-morrow. Of the half-dozen remaining in the St.. Andrew 's Handicap, Portraiture .; seems well placed on recent form, and if as well as when he won the Parliamentary Handicap, he should certainly keep the j opposition busy. Maniaroa ran a' couple J of fair races at the Cup meeting,:and he"' should acquit himself creditably for the distance will be well within his compass. A speedy lot figure in the Flying Stakes, and if Bold Stroke is caught in a galloping humour, she can be relied ; on to cut out a very merry six furlongs. Though seventeen stand their ground in j the Feilding Stakes, it is improbable that more than three or four ■•-will face the starter. "A good two-year-old, such as Battle Eve undoubtedly is, :can al-1 ways be relied on to more than hold his own with older horses at the weight-for-age scale, and despite a 51b penalty [the Chokebore representative is sure to. run prominently. Other first; day events of interest are the 'Kiwitea Welter and Spring Hurdles in both of; which useful fields are engaged. The Rakaia Racing Club has issued a very attractive programme for its annual" meeting .'to • be held on December 12. Eight events constitute the day's card,the chief being the Rakaia Cup, which, besides the stake of 20 sovs, has a silver cup valued at sgs attached to it. Entries fall due with- Mr J. Oxley on Tuesday next. .. English breeders are looking for a market : outside their Own country, and a large number of yearlings and thoroughbred mares are being sent to America for sale at the end of the year. The racing game, after a period of depression, is recovering its footing in the United States. A recent visitor to Melbourne who saw Carlita, says that she and her fullsister, Bertrada, are very ■much alike, but that the elder -mare is.l)uilt ; burly lines. Despite typical West Coast weather the meeting of the Inangahua Trotting Club on Wednesday last seems to have been quite successful. The track, though holding, afforded very fair going after the first three events had been decided, and as favourites won most of the events, backers were on good terms with themselves. Quite the star performer of the day was Mr J. B. Pearson's colt, Sungod,iwho annexed the Trotting Handicap and Inglewood Handicap, both with comparative ease. The son of Harold Dillonr arid, My Mistake started a staunch favourite in each of his races, and, judging by the way he handled himself, he must be something quite above the average. Another dual winner was the Allerton-Maggie gelding, Goldseeker, who appropriated the Blackwater Handicap and Progress Handicap, with a .good deal to spare. In both events he mixed his gait badly, and liad to run the gauntlet of a protest ;f or galloping after his first win. Amongst the unsuccessful candidates at the Inangahua Trotting Club's meeting on Wednesday last, were three wellknown performers on Canterbury tracks, in Erect Form, lanto, and Stormless. The Forbury Park Trotting Club's meeting will be continued to-morrow, when it is quite probable that Dillon Bell will make an attempt to lower the track record of 2miii 8 3-ssec. It is stated that B. Deeley will have the mount on Jack Delaval in the Auckland Cup. The Highden stable will be represented in the Feilding Stakes by Legal Tender, a full brother to Auratus. On his arrival at Sydney Athenic will go into H. Rayner's stable at Rand wick to be prepared for autumn racing. As W. Bell will be required to ride the Highden representative in the Feilding Stakes to-morrow, it is quite probable that H. Young will have the mount on Battle Eve in that event.

According to a Wellington authority Expect is doing very little on the Awapuni tracks, and G. Price is undecided as to whether to go on with the Advance horse for the Auckland Gup. At Christmas time the tracks at Ellerslie are usually very hard, and this fact may influence the Highden trainer to allow his charge to drop out of his Auckland engagements. As a result of his successes on the first day of the Takapuna .meeting, B. Deeley is Veil ahead in the list of successful jockeys, his total now reading 26. Next on the list come W. Bell and C. Emerson.

The New Zealander, Sir Solo, is to remain in Melbourne for some time. In the Melbourne Cup, says a Sydney writer, he ran a fair race, but was not seen to much advantage in the V.B.C. Handicap, finishing about eighth in a field of 14. He is now in the care of G. Delaney, trainer of Di Gama. Some Americans are buying freely in England, among the number being a sportsman, named Mr Phil Chinn. A boat which recently left the Old Country for America had on board twenty yearlings and seven other horses the property of that owner. ' Iu discussing the breeding of remounts, a London writer says that one hundred years ago the number of thoroughbred sires whose services were available in England and Scotland, and made use of for half-bred mares, was much greater than in recent times. Yorkshire, Lancashire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland, which now are hard set to find work for 15 to 20 thoroughbred sires, in 1914 were traversed-by at least twice that number, in addition to many cocktails which possessed very considerable breeding.

According to statistics compiled for the "Australasian," Linacre, with a total of £7419, is, up to the end of the

first quarter of the season, leading in the winning sires' list of Australia. He is, however, closely followed by Mountain King with £7056, while those nearest the leading pair are: —Malster £6793, St. Alwyne £5333, St. Amant £5247, and Boba'dil £5233.

TBMPLAB.