AVONDALE JOCKEY CLUBS AUTUMN MEETING.

Observer, Volume XVI, Issue 950, 13 March 1897, Page 15

AVONDALE JOCKEY CLUBS AUTUMN MEETING.

There will be two days' racing at Avondale next week— Wednesday 17th., and 20th inst ; these being the dates of the Autumn fixture of the Avondale Jockey Club. Eight events will be run on each day, and as the entries for all these events have filled well, I have no doubt that, favoured with fine weather, the Club's fixture will be "well attended. A good class of horses will be competing Tne - management at Avondale J. C's. meetings has always been of a high order, and visitors can rely on witnessing good sport, and being well cared for. Owing to the non-appearance of the weights for the first day's events at the time of writing, 1 am unable to record mv opinion of the various items.

Gold Medallist is to have a spell. Multiform xaceß at Hawkesßay next week. Fifteen soys. a 3'ear ago would have purchased Headford, winner of the two Hack Hardies at Wanganai last week. Becentlyhe was- purchased for 100fld\p., and his present owner is ahead of the line.

The Avondale Autumn Meeting commences next Wednesday, March 17th. . Skirmisher must be quite done, and will, I fancy, be tried at lower games in the future. I am told that JDoone has been sent, back to his owner, an item of news which will probably be quite agreeable to punters. a Castashore won the South A uckland Cup; ffairylegs the Hurdles; and Magpie the Steeple. St. Edith was thought a good thing for the Plying, which Snip won. What I said of Newhaven last week seems now to have been near the mark. Recent gallops have shown improvement, and Newhaven's first effort at the V.R O. Autumn Meeting could not' have been true form. The Doctor and Sandfly match was no match. The i octor Bimply refused to make it interesting by incessant breaking! 1 let the Doctor can move when he gets into his correct stride, but he is not of the sort to make an owner. The Auckland Polo Club's Sports take place next Saturday, 13ch inst. The rendezvous will be itllerslie. The A.R.C authorities have kindly placed their racecourse at the dispoaal of the Auckland Polo Club for next Saturday There should be a good attendance, as these sports are deservedly popular. Silkworm s recent adhesion to what is vow called the Potter's brigade has been quickly profitable to her owners. Silkworm has had a good many tries at Eilerslie, at Takapuna and other places, but for a very long time has been unable to get her head in tront at the right time. Her victory in the Otahuhn Pony Cup last Saturday was full of merit, albeit it was hard luck for some older hands to have the chief pony prize taken from them by a new-comer. Doone, from the Coast, has, during his short Bbjourn here, lightened' the pockets of those who ran him, and many a punter besides. Doone is credited with Demg a champion in private, and his people were confident of scooping iv a stake or two by his aid. But I believe his party are full up of the gelding, whose effort last Saturday seemed almost ludicrous, when considered in the light of the strong sapport awarded him. Helena's consistency as a pony hurdler has long been an accredited fact ; but on the tew occasions on which this little mare has been put at the stone walls for steeplechasing, bne has shown little aptitude for that game. But last Saturday the support accorded her for the Steeplechase proved that with more recent trying she had shown proficiency. And Saturday's' race was to her an easy victory, for from nearly start to finish she led the way. .Letts' riding in this eveut was excellent, and hid nuraing ot Helena all through the race proof 01 good judgment. St. Paul, although he won one good race at Manawatu, has not recently altogether satisfied his big army oi admirers. ±Jut when one comes to consider that St. Paul is only a handful, and scarcely up to much more than pony weight, he can hardly be expected, whilst but a three-year-old, to shine brilliantly over all distances with anything much over eat to carry. Amongst bigger and better seasoned horses, I feel certain St. Paul will prove a good stayer, though I may be almost alone in that opinion, but 1 do not expect his stamina to be at three year old equal to what it may be with more age. Daystar's reputation is somewhat shaded He was supposed to be one of the best the stable has trained. He may be yet. At Xmas time very strong reason was given for the extensive backing of the Caßtor colt, but the record of his marvellous training gallop was not sustained in public. In fact, his private gallop must nave marked the iiue of transient fitness. Since then, I have not heard of auy marked good form, and although he ran a fairly good race each day at Wanganui, his form there \ias not up to the private opinions entertained of him. Horn vow on he may improve, for it doeß seem as if he is but now recovering from the lost loan of the summer. Mr Donald McKinnon's genial countenance would beam on all and bundry after the race for the Wanganui Stakes. No sportsman gains more genuine enjoyment out of a win than does the Waikato sportsman of that ilk. And as no horse of bis ever leaves the starter's handa without a bright gold 'un or two of his owuer'B being invested on his chance, Haria's popular owner would be well satisfied with tjae result of his trjp South. Mr McKiunon has a high opinion of this horse, and certainly Haria has occasionally treated us to a few glimpses of something approachiug brilliancy. But through a most peculiarinconsistency in not giving us a consecutive number of gopd runs, he had but few constant admirers. The few wno did bang on will be satisfied with a £26 dividend.

The Possible leaves for England next month. "

Dromedary has started work at the Hntt, in view of Winter Steeplechases.

Mr Reid has parted with Skir misher, MrH. Lunn having purchased him

A party of five Waipawa printers drew Coil m Tatterßalls' Consnltation Newmarket Handicap, and drew £900.

Both Mutiny and Donald McKinnon have been treated tolongspells, and are now to be put into work for Winter racing Bany.puhi is troubled with a leg ailment, and Crimson Streak was galloped on at Manawatn, the result of a swollen hind-leg.

Orion's Belt has been running lately in Car shoes all round, owing to the o^rjters of Ms hoofs having given away some time since.

'The restoration of a license for the dispensing of liquor on the Forbury was much appreciated, on Onp Day especially. Being in a position to ask a friend to 'give it a name,' was cause of rejoicing.'— Christchurch Referee.

It will be news to New Zealanders to learn that dividends in this colony are paid out in pence, but they will wonder what amount is supposed to constitute the investment when the dividend is 3s Id. I gather this news from a Sydney paper.

Lena performed the second day at the Otahuhu Trotting Cluk's meeting very similarly as on the first day. Both days she ran in the first and last events of the day, placing herself in the former, and winning in the latter. There was no inconsistency in any of these performances, her running in each case being true-

Kesponse continues unlucky, the losb of the Place Handicap stake of 250 BOVB apparently being brought about by sheer ill-luck of O'Brien'B mare. Response appears to have been blocked several times when attempting a run, and was then only beaten a fong neck by Mischief in 2m 38Jsec.

Hurricane, of whom I spoke last week, bore out my opinion of him last Saturday. In Chatteria' hands the old horse has improved wonderfully. Manipulated well also in his racing, Hurricane would have beaten something better than he had opposed to him on Saturday, for his victory was gained without apparent effort.

Horses are now so cheap in Adelaide that they are used as food for pigs, and the Zoo has given over paying for the old derelicts which are driven down there for the carnivora to eat. The steeds so treated are not Carbines, although the lions have been regaled on the carcases of such racehorses which ha?e conje to grief on the Adelaide course. Probably the people who swallow horse-fattened pork are not aware of the fact, or they would turn Jews —Sydney Bulletin.. -

There were two causes for the fall of punters at Wanganni. First, the Brook. Her form at Manawatu looked good enough for a good run at Wanganui, but she did not finish in a place. Then Secrecy, for whom the Ist Hurdle 3 was voted a moral, was the cause of another big disappointment. But when horses are constantly racing the way coastal horseflesh is put to it, the wonder is that some horses retain their form so long as they do. What with constant travelling and racing, only the beat constitutioned ones can possibly keep going all the time.

A too close adherence to book form iB at all times dangerous, and the most experienced of race-goers know it well. And with them is their impatience most apparent when green students of racing lore expound in the most decided manner their views of closely approaching eveuts. To these green ones is each succeeding disappointment just another lesson on the precarioußnesa of the betting game, and though it takes time to ingrain upon their minds the fact that uncertainty is the certainty in racing, it still comes in time. Where are the ' morals ' of the past ? A few, certainly, do prove snch during a season, but the many failures stand out like finger posts, pointing the moral that has led to the hackneyed saying, • You never can tell till the numbers go up.'

It is curious, when looking back on past opinions of various horses and ofracing, bow those opinions have perforce to be altered by the mere weight of matter of fact. Blarney, for instance. Not long ago, any follower of racing would have pooh-poohed the idea of Aprement's son ever getting to the end of a strongly ran 1£ mile race, or even als mile. Bat from racing over short distances his recent essays, first at a mile, then at a mile and a half, have culminated in his acquiring as good staying ability as any, and in his name being recorded amongst the winners of past WaDganui Caps Bte'fs «*n instance of many, cases which go a long way towards proving" that, with age, properly trained, most horses learn to stay well.