RACING & TROTTING

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20073, 2 April 1935, Page 8

RACING & TROTTING

On And Off The Tr.ck A BUDGET OF NEWS AND VIEWS FIXTURES Racing: April 4—Waimate R.C. April 4, 6—Dargaville J.C. April 6—South Canterbury J.C. April 9. 10 —Pahiatua J.C. April 11, 13—Whangarei R.C. April 13—Otautau R.C. Trotting: April 5, 6—Greymouth T.C. April 6—Wanganui T.C. April 13—Ashburton T.C. April 13—Wanganui T.C. The first race at Waimate on Thursday is scheduled to start at 12.30. Quietly has been paid up for in three races at the Waimate meeting. A payment for the Great Easter and Great Autumn is required on Friday. Weights for the first day of the Riverton meeting should appear tomorrow. G. Murray Aynsley has broken in a yearling half-sister by Polazel to Silver Ring. Acceptances for the South Canterbury meeting must be lodged by 8 tonight. Racing fixtures this week are Waimate on Thursday, South Canterbury on Saturday and Dargaville on Saturday (and Monday). Trotting meetings for the week are Greymouth on Thursday and Saturday, and Thames and Wanganui on Saturday.

W. Townsend, with Silver Jubilee and Gallant Knight, and G. W. New, with Legatee, left for Sydney by the Wanganella on Friday.

The Quorn is now being trained by J. S. Shaw, whose team of gallopers is outnumbering his string of pacers and trotters.

Totalisator betting at Waimate on Thursday will be conducted on the single pool principle, with two dividends, 75-25, when the numbers are five or more.

The Great Northern and Grand National Steeplechase winner Valpeen missed a trip to Tauranga through cutting himself on a wire fence on his owner’s property.

The three-year-old Kelly, who bolted at Te Aroha the day before the Te Aroha Cup was run, has not raced since contesting that event. However, he appears to have quite recovered from his escapade and is working again at Ellerslie.

Silver Ring is to go to Sydney to run in the Doncaster, in which he has 9.8. The minimum is 6.7, so that the weight is equivalent to almost 10.0 when compared with New Zealand handicaps based on 7.0. In last year’s Great Easter Silver Ring was awarded 9.3 and finished second.

A decent two-year-old is usually a good investment in trial plates at this time of year, and the winner of the Electric Stakes at Washdyke this week may come from that section of the field. Of the eleven juveniles nominated the one with the best public form is the Lord Warden colt Viking, who was runner-up to Kinnoull in the Dunedin Champagne Stakes.

G. W. New took the two-year-old colt Legatee to Sydney via Auckland, and they sailed from there on the Wanganella. Legatee will probably have a race at Warwick Farm on April 13, prior to the important events at the A.J.C. Easier meeting, and he has also been entered for a handicap on the concluding day of the meeting. Arrangements have been made whereby K. Voitre will ride him in his Australian engagements.

Of the five acceptors in the President’s Handicap at Waimate, only Capital and Meadow Lark are not engaged in an earlier race. Grecian Prince is in the Highweight, the first race on the card, and may start twice, but Chotta is in the Cup as well as the President’s and will have to make a choice. Quietly is in the Highweight, the Cup, and the sprint, but if Silver Sight runs in the Cup It will probably be decided to allow Quietly to drop out of this race.

Weight on a horse’s feet will stop it quicker than lead in the saddle bags. The Rules of Racing provide that no horse may run in shoes heavier than racing plates without permission of the stewards, which must be granted before the time for weighing-out. It is alleged that the trainer of one horse at the Birchwood meeting overlooked this formality, but it is unlikely that he will leave his plates at home when he goes to Riverton.

On his looks, the grey pacer Racketeer would not fetch more than a packhorse price, but he has such a big private reputation that buyers fell over one another to get him at £7OO, or £SOO and two £IOO contingencies. He was credited with working a mile on the extreme outside of the track at Addington in 2.15, and when the mathematicians had completed their computations of the equivalent of this on the rails Racketeer on paper almost challenged comparison with the other five-year-old Wrack champion, Indianapolis. So far Racketeer has not delivered the goods.

Owing to a recent ruling of the executive committee of the Racing Conference, on what horses shall be eligible to compete in races termed hack races, it is still being asserted in certain quarters that the Wellington Racing Club stewards acted wrongly in withdrawing Imperial Spear and Haere Tonu from the Champion Hack Cup at Trentham a fortnight ago. The secretary of the Racing Conference advises that it is the official opinion that the Wellington ruling was the correct one, and the only possible one under the circumstances.

It was really fortunate for the Riverton Club that Billy Boy was not nominated for the Great Western Steeplechase. At the last Grand National fixture Billy Boy was weighted in the Lincoln Steeplechase on the final day at 12.3. Among the horses on 9.0 at that meeting was Valves, who had won the Dunedin Steeplechase with 10.11. It is obvious that if Billy Boy was to receive anything less then 13.0 a lot of southern 'chasers would have had to be squeezed out, and while the North Islander would have been an individual attraction he would have spoiled the chances of many lesier lights.

The 27 nominated for the Trial Plate at Waimate have been reduced to 14, and there will be no need to make provision for a division. The Limond-Drastic colt purchased at the yearling sales by Mr W. H. Gaisford has been named Mandamus. He is a brother to Severe. A three-year-old half-brother is owned by Mr T. Lister, and is in F. Shaw’s stable. Steeton has not won a race since the New Zealand Cup, but she has to pay penalty for that success, and in the Great Autumn is on 7.13, a weight which would pull her up on her latest form.

A semi-official announcement by the Conference office states that clubs desiring to vary the amount of stakes covering eligibility, or to exclude maidens (who are ‘'hacks” under the rules even though they have not won a race), or to exclude horses who have won over the special amounts between time of entry and time of starting, etc., may no longer call such races "hack” races. Should by oversight such a qualification escape notice the word “hack” in the title or general conditions will completely override the qualification. On the morning of the Oarnaru Jockey Club's meeting a courtesy letter was received from Mr A. D. Mclvor, which made it plain that he was under the impression that other arrangements had been made for the engagement of a starter. It was stated that it had not been the practice of the club to notify regular officials of appointment, but Mr Mclvor is in possession of a letter from the Oamaru Club formally appointing him for the meeting held last September, and in the absence of similar notification he concluded that his services were not required on this occasion.