WINTER RACING.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 May 1930, Page 5

WINTER RACING.

Editorial.

Taranaki sportsmen are in the happy position of being able to witness the first of the winter race meetings, that,which opens at Hawera this week, and so may get a line on the prospects of horses likely to. be very much in (or..out of) the limelight during the winter months. The weights for the Great'Northerns and for Wanganui have ■already appeared, and though re-handicaps may alter present adjustments, the running of the leading lights in the jumping world at the Egmont R.C. winter meeting .will be followed with exceptional interest. Each- May sees old-timers reproduced, the tracks being softer then, and more tb the liking of legs which have hammered the • tracks until the mere task of hitting out freely has become painful. , And much as sportsmen welcome “old equine faces,” interest is 1 particularly keen when new aspirants for jumping honours make ! their bow to the public.' From the hunting field—the cradle of most of our best leppers —-come fresh batches of bold jumpers, many of them lacking in the , pace necessary to shine in good company but exceptions turning out trumps,” some going far in the game. In fact, past records show that. most of our leading winners over obstacles, at Ellerslie, at ' ‘Ti’entham, at Riccarton and in minor centres, have at one time, or • another been in the hunting field. ; Then there are the fiat racers—those built on jumping lines, • .whose owners are not loth to .give their favourites chances to. add \ further distinction to honoured Turf careers (or otherwise) in new avenues, such, as hurdling and steeplechasing. And there are many horses that .prove themselves as much at home “in the air” as on the flat. • " Instances could be quoted, also, where horses that were wretched failures on the flat found their true vocations in the , world of jumpers. The latter feature is one of the uncertainties of racing without which the sport would be automatic, dull and lifeless, Hawera “country” is not hard, though sufficiently formidable tQ test fencers —old and new—at the beginning of the winter season. . Several minor steeplechases have already been run in the late .• autumn, it is true, and quite a number of our best,hurdlers have already renewed acquaintance with the batten, but the serious business has yet to be undertaken, and this weeks gathering is general ly looked upon as a dress rehearsal for Wanganui, Ellerslie, .Trentham and Riccarton. A glance over the entries received for the principal forthcoming cross-country events shows that most of the old brigade have been re-comihissioned, amongst the number of proved ones being Wiltshire, Kawini, Brigadier Bill, Matu, Maunga, Passin’ Through, Wedding March, Pouri, Pompeius and Roffian Abbey. The older division of hurdlers includes Elysianor, Mister Gamp, Red Fuchsia, Elicit, Siaosi, Brght Land and Mangani. New aspirants to steeplechasing are Elysianor, Omeo and Airtight. On the whole they are a very promising lot, and both steeples and hurdles this winter should be full of interest. The southern division, has yet to come into the picture, and. possibly a top-notcher or two will come from them. In past years there has been a tendency to decry the dearth of good jumpers, but this winter the class appears to be quite up to, if not ahead of, the standard