CAP AND JACKET

Observer, Volume XXXV, Issue 49, 14 August 1915, Page 14

CAP AND JACKET

[By the Early Bird.]

The new racing opens next week with the Canterbury Jockey Club spring meeting and contiues on the 12th and finishes on the. 14th. Everything promises success with big fields and visitors from all parts of the Dominion to assist at the gathering. ; Quite a number of sportsmen, pressmen, trainers, jockeys, and the usual rank and file of sportdom left by express and boat for the old rendezvous at Riccarton. . If all the acceptors on the opening day go to the post the starter will handle no less than one hundred and twenty-one horses. Auckland has sent Golden Glow, Admiral Souit, Bluestone, Loloma, Ngatoa and Nimblefoot to represent this end, and the horse® had all undergone a careful preparation prior to leaving. Besides these, three trotters, Prince Rufus, Syrie and Kirikiriroa. ~ Among those who left for Christchurch the writer noticed Messrs C. Coleman, J. E. Thorpe, B. Deely, J. Buchanan, A. J. McFlynn, E. W. Alison, Jas. Gleeson, J. Ohadwick, Jas. FaTquharson and others. Last week some schooling # took place at headquarters. Hima. jumped the timber alone and in company with Genevieve. The latter was in one of her ungenerous moods. Both Tenacious and Inspector gave two good exhibitions 1 of hurdle jumping on Tuesday and Thursday, and look like being useful. Glutinous 1 shows signs of where sh© was galloped on in the Sylvia Park Handicap at the P.H.C. meeting. The mare is all right again, and will be ready for the Avondale meeting. Maxwell, the full brother to that good horse Soultline, now in India, recently was found dead in a creek at Hedjekin's, Whangarei. He was a big topped horse and never too sound. Mr W. Patterson, the Otahuhu owner, has sent Santa Rosa to Hawera, where the son of Souit will stand the season. The same owner has also sent his trotting horse Proud Child Junior on a similar mission to the same district. Two well known figures in the local sporting world, Messrs Jack Stockley and C. H. Hodder, went to the front. The former was killed andl the latter is missing. They are regretted by a large circle of friend®. Report says that the owner of the successful Spalpeen-Waimangu mare Fionnula had a good win when the chestnut popr>ed up with a big dividend in the Auckland Welter Handicap. Sir George Clifford was the biggest winner last season among owners, with £9087, Mr T. H. Lowry coming next with £8499, Mr C. G. Dalgety coming third on the list with £6508. It ia pleasing to chronicle a win for the local owners, Messrs W. J. Ralph, R. Hanmon andl J. Williamson, who bagged £2210, £2092 and £2075 respectively. Little Necktie, formerly raced by the late Mr B. Armitage, has a couple of fine foale, a three-year-old and a two-year-old. The former has been handled 1 , and the latter will probably be started into training at once. Botlh are by the defunct Multifid.

Mr J. Sheppard's Solitary is to be mated! with Kilwinning, and Mr Dan Tye's matron Necktie is to pay a visit to Marble Arch this season. Mr J. Sheppard, of Omana Farm, Northern Wairoa, has a mare with a fine young colt foal to Mr W. Douglass's trotting sire King of Diamonds. The owner has refused a fair price for the young one. There was, a bit of fun the other morning among the talent at Ellerslie when the two horsemen J. O'Shea and A. R. Brown had a side wager about going over the schooling hurdles on Chime and Marconi. Nothing daunted, these riders on the flat mounted and got over the timber in safety. On returning to the sheds the pair came in for a lot of bantering from their friends. Mr J .Hands' colt, in F. Stenning's. care, Mullingar, is back again on the tracks after rather a protracted rest, looking big and fresh. Another colt that has been resting is Arran, which has joined the active division again. The colt does not carry much lumber, and will soon com© back. Master Regal, last week, after giving Genevieve a lead over the pony hurdles, tackled the sod wall, but, pis-ring up, skipped into the take off ditch, giving Hall, the rider, a fal. Mr Fred Hall's good mare Merry Roe has returned to the tracks, to resume work under E. J. Rae. This trainer has thirteen horses in training. Everything for the coming racing season, as far as the local stables are concerned, bears a most roseate hue, with approximately 150 horses to assist and a few that are resting to come in later on. The season looks like being a most successful one. F. Stenning has sixteen horses to commence the season, F. J. Macman em in fourteen!, E. J. Rae thirteen and D. Moraghan eleven. These are the only stables that have ten or over at headquarters. Harbour Light, the useful eon of Sylvia Park-Ran Ran, with 10 stone in the saddle, should put u T > a fcood fight ami the O.J.C. National Hurdle Race, judging by his form at the Ellerslie June meeting. The ex-Aucklandei- T. A. Williams, continues to keep his end up on the Sydney side. He recently won a heat at the Rosehill meeting with Duke of Sparta, a 20 to 1 chance, in the Charleville Handicap. Another Aucklander, J. Gainsford, added another race to his list with th© useful Kahonjii ,a two-year-old that won the week before. A race meeting recently held by the Queensland Turf Club resulted in a profit of £2891 for the Patriotic Fund. The club made up the balance, sending a cheque for £3000 to the P.F.C committee. T. Richards, the Mangere trotting trainer, has his team coming on nicely. One day last week he had two of the team at Alexandra Park putting in useful toil. T. W. Price, the ex-Southerner, luas also a fair team of trotters at the Park going full swing for the coming season. He recently had an addition to his team from the Waikato. Taittersall's Club, Sydney, responded most liberally to Australia Day Fund. Including the bookmakers' donations, the amount given reached £3728 2s 6d. The owners of Avondale Guineas candidates are now burnishing them up for this first classic event of the season. At the present time Taj Mahal, Penrae, Colinnade, Glissando, Gold Lac and Analogue are being sent along as useful pacers in view of that event. The Avondale Stakes juveniles are also doing some smart scrambles on the tracks. Ritasea, Miss Jack, Juanna and Whitehall have so far been the first to find! their feet at the morning sessions. J. Ohaafe also gave his Avondale Stakes candidate Ritasea a shake up in company with the speedy Hima over a few furlongs on the same track. The young one showed plenty of pace. (Continued on Page 23.)