RACING & TROTTING.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18539, 9 April 1930, Page 12

RACING & TROTTING.

On and Off the Track. A BUDGET OF NEWS AND VIEWS FIXTURES. Racing: April 11, 12—Hawke’s Bay J.C. April 12—Otautau R.C. April 12—Hororata R.C. April 12, 14—Westport J.C. April 12, 14—Waikato R.C. April 19—Tuapeka County J.C. April 19, 21— Wairarapa R.C. April 19. 21— Feilding J.C. April 19. 21—Auckland R.C. April 19. 21, 22—Riverton R.C. April 21—Beaumont R.C. April 21—Waipukurau J.C. April 21—Kumara R.C. April 21, 22— Canterbury J.C. April 23, 24—Westland R.C. April 26. 28—Greymouth J.C. April 30—Reefton J.C. Trotting: April 10, 12—Wanganui T.C. April 19, 23—Metropolitan T.C. April 19, 21—Hawera T.C. April 26—Ashburton T.C. April 26—Taranaki T.C. Hawke’s Bay Cup on Friday. P. T. Hogan has departed for Riverton with a good-sized team. Oriflamb’s next appearance may be made in a steeplechase at Riverton. Quinopal was considerably on his toes at the barrier in his races at Washdyke, and this may hasten his introduction to the jumping business. Carinthia has been suffering from a poisoned mouth, which was responsible for his non-appearance at the S.C.J.C. meeting. A few weeks ago it was supposed that John Noble was suffering from trouble with his teeth, but it was discovered that a fair-sized piece of wood had become embedded in his mouth. Taragona, a three-year-old brother to Paquito, finished fourth in the Trial Handicap at Washdyke. He does not show any unusual speed, but his trainer is hopeful that he will develop into a stayer. Fair Exchange looks a good proposition for the Tuapeka and Beaumont meetings at Easter. He gave 171 b and a beating to Crossbow at Washdyke. and meets Mr Gerard’s other castoff on practically level terms at Beaumont. Arikiwai’s chance in the Timaru Cup was so little fancied by his trainer that it was almost decided to leave him at home, and his owner did not think it worth while coming from Christchurch to see him run. R. Townley continues his winning way. Since he won with Lady Zephyr at Invercargill, he has won twice at Washdyke, once at New Brighton, three times at Hutt, once at Oamaru, and again at Washdyke. Nine wins in four weeks is rapid going. The Gore mare Gracile was elected favourite for the trotting event on each day of the S.C.J.C. meeting, but failed to return a dividend. She finished in six seconds faster than her handicap time on Thursday, but could get only third, and she failed to go away on the second day.

Interference, the turns in the track, and the hard going, are some of the excuses offered for Hoylake’s defeat in the Timaru Cup. A better reason can be found in the fact that the grey horse was not in a galloping humour, in addition to which he probably met some better horses at the weights.

Queen Balboa has been sent home to her owner’s farm, and it is supposed that the old mare has bid adieu to the racecourse. If this proves to be the case, her Dunedin Cup win was a nice finish to her racing career. Her brother King Balboa is under a cloud, and is onsidered an unlikely starter at near-at-hand meetings. When F. E. Ingram rode Stealth at Gore he appeared to get the best out of the Dunedin-owned three-year-old, but at Oamaru and in the Timaru Cup Stealth did not go well for the apprentice. A change of riders was tried in the South Canterbury Handicap, the Orari lightweight L. Woolford being put up. with very satisfactory results.

F. D. Jones intends to start both First Sight and Arikiwai in the Great Easter, and Paquito and Arikiwai in the Great Autumn. Jones would have liked to give Arikiwai a run on the second day of the South Canterbury meeting, but a second win would nave rendered the Paladin gelding liable to a rehandicap at Riccarton. Topere has done a lot of racing since he won a double in the hack class at Wingatui in February, and he looked a bit light and jaded when he paraded for the South Canterbury Handicap. Topere has a mile and a quarter win to his credit, but he is better at a mile, and at any distance does not travel so easily as his free style of galloping might lead one to believe. The meeting of principal interest this week will be the Hawke’s Bay Jockey Club’s autumn gathering, to be held on Friday and Saturday. The Waikato meeting is calendared for Saturday and Monday. Minor fixtures to be held on Saturday are the Hororata, Otautau and Westport races. The only trotting meeting is the Wanganui autumn fixture, on Thursday and Saturday. There is nothing of any class in the C.J.C. Challenge Stakes. It is rather surprising that Silver Paper was allowed to drop out. seeing that his engagement in the Great Easter has been continued. If this brilliant sprinter is in shape to tackle the Easter problem with any hope of success, he should have had an easy task in the Challenge.

First Sight, despite the fact that he had not had a race for over fifteen months, was a good thing beaten in the Flying Handicap. With anything like ordinary luck at the start Mrs Grigg s gelding would have been an easy winner. First Sight had not appeared in public since he was beaten and had to be spelled in the Manawatu Cup on Boxing Day of 1928. Just prior to that he had won the Riccarton and Fendalton Handicaps at Riccarton, and the Teschemaker Handicap at Washdyke. the last with 9.2. A return to that form would make him a tough proposition in the Great Easter. John Noble’s time in the Washdyke Trot was a record for the course, but, like some other mile and a-half records. It is not the fastest time for the distance. Twelve furlong races are not provided anywhere for the best horses, and there would be a radical change if some of the cracks were timed over the distance. Author Jinks won a twomile race at Washdyke in 4.24 2-5, and in doing so must have travelled a mile and a-half in 3.18.

Nightmarch and Chide met for the first time in the Rawson Stakes, and according to the cable man the former outclassed his fellow New Zealander. The result may be different later on, but there is no apparent reason why it should be. Nightmarch’s performances overshadowed those of Chide, and the only collateral form there was to work on pointed to Nightmarch’s superiority. This was provided by Honour. In the A.J.C. Derby, Phar Lap ran away from Honour. In the Stead Cup, Honour had Chide doing his best, but in the Melbourne Cup Nightmarch cleared from Phar Lap. Nightmarch won the Melbourne Cup with 9.2, while Chide carried only 7.4 in the New Zealand Cup. There is no doubt which was entitled to the higher weight in a handicap.

John Noble and Pink Sugar have been entered for a two-mile race at the Ashburton meeting this month. A mile and a half from her present mark is a bit too far for Lady Antrim, but the 2.19 mile saddle class at Ashburton should suit her admirably. A. E. Didham has applied for a rider's license from the Trotting Association. Didham rode a few times on pacers a season or two ago. Some Dillon, who won a double at the Thames Trotting Club’s meeting, is by the Timaru-owned trotting sire Peter Moko.

C. Emerson will ride Great Star and Seatown at Riccarton. It is probable that A. E. Ellis will ride F. D. Jones's horses when the weights suit.

The Chipping Norton Stakes, the weight-for-age event to be run at the A.J.C. meeting at Warwick Farm this week, is a mile and a quarter race. Author Jinks, who has been off the scene for some months, is engaged In the big race at Addington on Easter Saturday. John Jinks has been handicapped on 4.37 in the 4.40 two mile race on the same day.

High Disdain, who won a division of a handicap at Rosehill on Saturday, was bred in New South Wales, but was bought as a yearling by Mr A. McDonald, and did his early racing in New Zealand.

Three-year-old Willie Derby was featured prior to the S.C.J.C. meeting as Tomkinson’s Sapling Stakes candidate. It is scarcely necessary to point out that the Ashburton classic is restricted to two-year-olds.

Had Chide and Nightmarch clashed in a weight-for-age race in New Zealand they would have carried level weights. In Australia the gelding allowance still rules, and Nightmarch has to concede the other four-year-old 31b. Some apparent certainties have been beaten in the Champagne Stakes at Riccarton, but it would require a considerable amount of courage to select a horse to defeat Gesture on Easter Monday. The Chief Ruler filly appears to stand out as the best of her age up to six furlongs.

R. Townley has several of his team engaged at Addington at Easter, including Kyra, Hector’s Own. Bonny Spec, Engagement and Warepa—three trotters and two pacers. D. Taehen also has a quintette in the lists, Author Jinks, John Jinks. Lady Cello and Len Wood being among them.

It was understood that L. J. Ellis would ride the First Sight-Arikiwai double at Riccarton, but it is unlikely that he will leave Riverton, where F. W. Ellis has several horses engaged. Last year L. J. was suspended at Riverton on the first day (Saturday and lost the rides on Pink Coat at the C.J.C. meeting.

Some members of the Waimate Hunt Club are in favour of erasing the open steeplechase from the programme of the July meeting. Only once in the last eight years have there been sufficient runners in the Waimate Steeplechase to call for two dividends, and the event has never been a profitable one for the Club.

The result of the Rawson Stakes does not throw a great deal of light on prospects for the weight-for-age events at P-andwick. Phar Lap was not nominated for the Rosehill race, and for some reason Amounis did not compete. The Chipping Norton Stakes at Warwick Farm this week-end may provide the first meeting of all four cracks.

H. Gray arrived back in Auckland on Monday, and it is reported that he will settle at Takanini, a training course in great favour near Auckland. Gray’s friends are visibly annoyed at the refusal of the A.J.C. to grant him a license, but there has been plenty of evidence that that body intended his disqualification in connection with the Walalo case to be a life sentence.

There was a rather remarkable increase in the receipts at the outside gate on the Point road last week. A ticket box was installed there, and the result indicated that in the past hundreds of people must have evaded the gatekeepers in rush periods. Part of the increase was due to a diversion of traffic from the Temuka road, but a lot of it was “found" money.

Punchestown, a winner at Washdyke on Saturday is by Thurnham. and in addition is a half-brother to Charlatan. A horse bred in that way should have some aptitude for the jumping business, and it is pretty certain that J. J. Lewis will attempt to develop it. The Ashburton trainer has had some pretty good jumpers through his hands, among them being General Petain and Wharncliffe.

The South Canterbury Jockey Club will be able to show a fair profit over its autumn meeting, which furnished evidence that there is no ground for pessimism concerning the future of racing at Washdyke. A succession of stormy race days had inflicted some heavy losses on the Club in the last couple of years, but these things are inevitable, and on the law of averages, the Timaru meetings should now have a run of fine weather.

Sydney punters expressed very definite views concerning the merits of Nightmarch and Chide. Betting on the Rawson Stakes was confined almost wholly to the two New Zealanders, and if the bookmakers’ starting prices re-, fleeted the amount of money they held. Nightmarch must have carried just twice as much as Chide. To translate it into New Zealand terms, if Nightmarch would have paid a totalisator dividend of £l/10/-, Chide would have given a return cf £3.

Champions of Chide who have exalted him on to a higher pedestal than Nightmarch, have, since the Rawson Stakes, had to fall back on the theory that the nine furlongs was too short for the beaten horse, and now they are predicting a reversal when the pair meet over a longer journey. The fact that Chide challenged Nightmarch and could not hold him at the end of the Rawson Stakes, does not support this view, but a test will come in the Autumn Stakes of 1A miles, on Easter Saturday. It should be a fair test, as Phar Lap is in the Leger and will not be there to complicate matters. V. O’Neill, the ex-New Zealander, who is visiting his native country, recently referred to Nightmarch as overrated. and prophesied that Amounis and Phar Lap would beat him. He may be right, but Eric Connolly is of quite a different opinion, and most Australians would prefer to follow a Connolly tip. it has been claimed for both Phar Lap and Amounis that they have improved since they met Nightmarch. but there is nothing to prove this. All they have done is to beat inferior opponents, and in Amounis’s case it is unlikely that he is improving at his age. With Phar Lap, of course, it may be different.

T. Lloyd (3). and F. P. Claridge (2), were the, only trainers to turn out more than one winner at the S.C.J.C. meeting. Riding honours also were well distributed, as C. Emerson (3) and A. E. Ellis (2) were the only jockeys who were first past the post on more than one occasion. A. Eastwood, though Colonel Quex was his sole winner, drew the biggest cheque, as he had ten mounts during the two days. A. E. Ellis, C. Emerson and L. J. Ellis (who had ten mounts), were the others who collected the largest fees. Among th< apprentices, L. Woolford was most in demand, and a win on Stealth helped to give him a profitable meeting. Seventeen years ago the S.C.J.C. eliminated trotting races from its programmes, apparently as a protest against the Trotting Association reversing its decision in the Lylena case. It was due largely, however, to a feeling

that the public had not been getting a fair run. There was no suspicion that anything was wrong in connection with the two trotting races last week. A number of horses were genuinely backed. and the racing appeared to be on the level. One unplaced horse might have finished third on the first day had the driver persevered, but when he eased up the horse had no chance of returning a dividend. The trotting events proved satisfactory in every way. and no doubt will be kept on the card next season.