RACING ON AND OFF THE TRACK

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21735, 17 August 1940, Page 12

RACING ON AND OFF THE TRACK

A Budget of News And Views FIXTURES Racing Aug. 17—Grand National Aug. 20—Egmont-Wanganui H.C. Aug. 24—Pakuranga Hunt Club. Aug 31—Taranaki Hunt Club. Aug. 31—Otago Hunt Club. Sep 5. 7 —Wanganui J.C. Sep. 14—Ashburton C.R.C. Sep. 14, 16—Avondale J.C. Sep 19, 21—Geraldine R.C. Sep. 21—Marton J.C. Sep. 28— Kurow J.C. Trotting Aug. 31-Auckland T.C. Sep. 7—New Brighton T.C. Sep. 18, 21—Wellington T.C The Grand National meeting will conclude to-day. After the Grand National Hurdles, Clarion Call was sr: 'itched for the Lincoln Steeplechase and the Sydenham Hurdles. Last year there were only three starters in the £7OO Lincoln Steeplechase and four in the £6OO Sydenham Hurdles. Ballybrit is credited with being an impeccable jumper, he has fallen three times in his last seven starts. He has never impressed at Riccarton. Pleading gave evidence that he was not happy in soft going, and it was not good business to send him out favourite in the Aylesbury Handicap. Lactose was travelling like a winner ] when he toppled over three fences from ! home in the Beaufort. As he failed to j get round in the Grand National also ; he does not look a Riccarton horse. I C. S. Donald’s injured arm prevented . him from driving at Addington this 1 week, and the horses from his stable were handled by R. Donald and G. S. Smith. Greenbank, a big four-year gelding by Paladin, attracted some attention by his progress from last to third in the Woolston Handicap. He was having only his third run with the colours up, and he should win races later on. Limbohm appeared to crowd Jewelled / , Girdle when he ranged alongside at | the stand hurdle in the Grand National i Hurdles, and probably was responsible | for the bad jump which took so j much steam out of the Paeroa gelding An early winner should be All Night, a Nightly-Clorane four-year gelding owned by Mr W. Payne, of Orari. After one riin at three years he was put aside, but he had shown a lot of pace in work prior to his second in the 1 Aylesbury Handicap. Thermidor, who had been in retire- I ment since she w’on the Oamaru Cup | in the autumn, appeared among the i : sprinters at Riccarton on Thursday, '

and was prominent for a good part of the trip. It was a useful effort for a slayer. Almost as soon as L. A. Maidens resumed training last season he had a remarkable run of successes, and knov ked up a score of 25 wins in a very short time. Then the ebb set in and the Winchmore stable experienced a lean time until Roan Duke turned the tide yesterday. Dusky Sound’s win in the National Handicap represented his tenth success. He earned £350 at the meeting, and raised his total winnings to £2417. It is seldom that a big race at Addington is won so easily, and the Washdyke gelding should be a strong contender if he is sound and well on Trotting Cup Day. When heavy rain was falling on Wednesday night at Addington, everybody was thinking of Marsceres, but by the time the National Handicap came up for decision the track was really fast, and the Kerrytown pacer receded in favour. Sister Mary won the opening event at Addington yesterday very easily, but she would have been called upon to trot faster if Bush Laddie had not n< ie a bad break after going three furlongs. The Wrack gelding lost 50 r sixty yards, and put in a fine dash to collect second money. Although she had no recent form I to recommend her, Acuity was sent: out a hot favourite for the Heathcote Handicap yesterday. She ran even worse than Stormtost from the same stable had done on the second day. Going off slowly, Acuity steadily lost ground, and with two furlongs to go she was nearly a hundred yards behind the leaders. Padishah's misfortune in the Grand National was regrettable, but at the time he stifled a fence he was not going well, and he would have had no possible chance of beating Clarion Cal’.. Obviously he was not so good as he was a year ago, but at his best he would have failed to concede weight to Clarion Call, who is perhays the best 'chaser that has raced over the Riccarton country. An inquiry was held yesterday into the start of the King’s Handicap on Wednesday, when Horsepower started from the limit instead of 12 yards. The starter was exonerated, but J. Fraser jr. driver, was degraded to a D licence for three months, the sentence to be concurrent with the one imposed on Wednesday for interference. Fraser can still train horses, but he cannot drive until November 16. Tidewaiter was perhaps not seasoned enough as a jumper for a race like the Grand National Hurdles, but it was almost certainly his hard race ir. the Jumpers’ Flat which cost him a victory on Thursday. Nukumai is the only horse which has won the big hurdle race after success in the Jumper's Flat, which is convincing evidence that this flat race is not a good preliminary.