On and Off the Track

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20679, 18 March 1937, Page 8

On and Off the Track

A BUDGET OF NEWS AND VIEWS FIXTURES Racing: March 19, 20—Pahiatua R.C. March 20—Stratford R.C. March 20—Otautau R.C. March 20, 22—Westport J.C. March 20, 22—Bay of Plenty J.C. March 27—Greymouth J.C. March 27—Tuapeka County J.C. March 27, 29—Auckland R.C. March 27, 29—Feilding J.C. March 27, 29—Wairarapa R.C. March 27, 29, 30—Riverton R.C. March 29, 30—Canterbury J.C. Trotting: larch 18 or 20—Wyndham T.C. March 27, 29, 31—Metropolitan T.O C.J.C. weights will appear to-morrow. » • • • The present season must be a record one for wins by New Zealand two-year-olds in Australia, the total now exceeding twenty in races of this class. The Great Northern St. Leger is to be run on the second day of the Auckland meeting, the Oaks being on the first day card. This will give Mwtara a chance to tackle the Easter Handicap with 8.8. A feature of the racing in the first day of the Ohirenuri meeting was the success of three-year-olds, Gay Talkie, King, Neptune and Orate winning outright and Bronzette dead-heating for first. It is rumoured that the Owners’ and Breeders’ Association intends to discuss a judge’s decision at a trotting meeting not long ago, with the idea of making recommendations to the club concerned.

Half a dozen which appear to have good prospects in the Auckland Easter Handicap are Martara, Royal Dance, Haut Monde, Debham, Kilonsa and Adalene. Martara, however, is in the President’s Handicap also. Chief Ranger, winner of the Hutt Handicap, at Trentham, has accepted for his engagements at Riccarton at Easter. Though his name also appears in the Auckland lists, he is to race at Riccarton and P. Atkins will ride him.

Silver Ring, on his performances at the Wellington meeting, does not appeal as likely to reach his best form in the near future. He gallops decidedly short, and it is no secret that his trainer was averse to putting him back into serious work so soon, let alone racing.

Smoke Screen came through the Wellington meeting with credit and had he received a better run home in the Challenge Stakes might have won. Apart from anything that he may do before the close of the flat season he has first-class three-year-old prospects.

The King Lu mare Queen Nona, who received a fractured fetlock some months ago, and who had been successfully treated by Mr R. Burke, of Waihou, was kicked by a horse recently, and her leg broken below the forearm, and this time she had to be destroyed. Mr J. S. McLeod’s Limond colt Only One, who was narrowly defeated by Smoke Screen in the Pacific Handicap on the opening day of the Wellington meeting, will return to Sydney shortly for further racing. It is likely that trainer J. M. Cameron will take another horse also.

The Champion Hack Handicap at Riverton is confined to horses other than maidens at time of starting, the restriction being designed to keep out horses with no chance of winning. Two of the entrants at present lack the necessary qualification and at least five others of the 29 are booked for other meetings.

The effect of the 7.7 minimum is evident in the weights for the four flat handicaps on the first day of the Auckland Easter meeting. In the President’s Handicap, 17 of the 33 horses nominated are on the minimum; in the Easter Handicap, 27 out of 46; in the Onslow Stakes 8 out of 16; and in the Eden Handicap 15 out of 35. Over the four races 55 per cent, of the entrants are weighted on 7.7

The Riverton Cup candidate Ocean Singer pulled his bridle off while being attended to in a smithy near the Invercargill course. He bolted along the road, and after narrowly missing a bus he collided with a motor-car and sustained injuries which will lay him aside for some time. Ocean Singer has been a disappointment since his Wyndham Cup win, but he was expected to show improved form at Easter.

After Miss Te Koura had been narrowly beaten by Llangollen in the second division of the Awaiti Handicap at Paeroa, her rider,. L. Duheu, failed to weigh in with the breastplate, and she was disqualified for the race, Stormy Weather being placed second and Hymel third. Dulieu was fined two guineas for the omission. Rule 272 states that any muzzle, martingale, breastplate, etc., In which a horse runs shall be disqualified for the race. The Queensland champion Pamelus, who has been unlucky enough to run second in several important races this season in Victoria, remains a pronounced favourite for the Doncaster Handicap to be run at Randwick on Saturday week. The Sydney Cup favourites are Wotan and Silver Standard. The last-named was second in the Metropolitan, Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup, and on figures is entitled to be at a shorter price than the New Zealander.

Rarely has any visiting trainer to Trentham, especially on the eve of a meeting, expressed greater confidence in his candidate to win a race than G. W. New did in Martara when ask?u what he thought of his charge’s chance. New made no secret of the fact that he thought Martara would win the St. Leger Stakes with ease. He was not worried about what the going might be like, nor by the fact that Martara would probably have to make his own running. On what Martara had shown him, he believed that no three-year-old in the Dominion this season could stand up to Martara ovc any distance at level weights.

Vantoon is to be given a let up befor being schooled over hurdles. W. T. Kitto has again been granted a jockey’s license, and has accompanied P. T. Hogan to Southland. A three-year-old half sister to Ashaway is being educated at Invercargill by T. E. Pankhurst. Over twenty new members were elected at the monthly meeting of the C.J.C. committee this week. An addition to S. Barr’s team at Riccarton is Mazzini (Chief RulerDignified), who has raced in the hack class in the north. • • • • Silver Laddie, who won his first race with his owner in the sulky, succeeded again at Wyndham, paying a very big dividend. This was his third win, and he has now made amends for the many occasions on which he failed to begin. A sweepstake of £5 for starters has to be paid at scale for the Riverton Cup. This goes to the owner of the winner, and makers a nice addition to the first prize of £420. In the Champion Hack Handicap on Monday there is a sweepstake of £3 for starters. Harold Wrack was slow off the mark in his race at Washdyke and although he raced round the big field and was in the front line witfi a lap to go he was beaten out of a place. The Washdyke gelding atoned by annexing the last race at Wyndham, and appears to have regained his best form. The three-year-old Coherto paced another solid race in the Wyndham Trotting Cup, but met one just too good at the handicaps in the Winton mare Belle Grattan. There is no doubt concerning Coherto's ability to see out two miles, and he will run out of Southland classes before very long.