RACING NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18188, 22 June 1927, Page 2

RACING NOTES.

Indications point to an amicable arrangement being arrived at by which the clashing of dates between the spring meetings at Ellerslie and Riccarton will in future be obviated. The Auckland Racing Club, in proposing to race next spring on October 8 and 20. has chosen dates which would permit North Island horses to race at Ellerslie, with Wanganui, Trentham and Riccarton to follow. This would provide opportunities for the best two and three-vear-olds, from all parts of the Dominion, to compete for the good stakes available in classic events, while it would tend towards more representative fields in the important handicaps and weight-for-age races. It is pleasing to find the officials of the Auckland Club in a mood for friendly settlement, which is much to be preferred to a wrangle among the delegates at the Racing Conference.

S. Waddell has taken Beacon Light in hand again. Last spring he won the Iliggie Handicap at Wanganui, the Avondale Cup and the Wellington Champion Plate. He was then brought to Riccarton. but he pulled up lame after a gallop and went into retirement, from which he has only now emerged. A good galloper and a proved stayer, he should play his part well in important, events next season, provided he remains sound.

The hurdler Relic, by Calibre from Lady Talbot, has been purchased by the Wingatui trainer, C. Christie, who will probably take the gelding to Trentham as a mate for the steeplechaser Cartoon.

Gaze made his reappearance on the race track on Saturday after an absence of over twelve months, and a good deal of interest attached to his showing. He looked, fairly well forward and he ran a very creditable race into fifth place. Gaze has done practically no track work, but has been hacked about and conditioned for some time, with the result that it is not going to take much fast work to have him at his best. He is to run in the hurdle races at Hastings this week and will be ridden by E. Warner.

The nominations for the Wellington Steeplechase include Pamplona, Tulci and Cartoon, from Wingatui, in addition to the Southland crack Scamp. This quartette of southern performers should keep the North Island crosscountry horses very busy over the Trentham country.

Crown Coin, the winner of the Napier Steeplechase on Saturday, has started rather well this season. At the recent Wanganui meeting he finished a good second to Peter Maxwell, and was going on very strongly at the finish, and improved on that performance with a win at his next attempt. Although the field he beat was not very strong, it will assist him to gain experience, which is most essential over big country, and as he stays well further improvement can be looked forward to.

J. M. Cameron has The Hawk in steady work at Hastings, and if the

old fellow shows promise of striking form again he will leave for Sydney next month. Goshawk and Egyptian Flower are pottering about.

Commendation is looking wonderfully well at the present time. According to Hawke’s Bay reports, he has not yet been near the track, but he has done a lot of steady road and hill work, and

is in great order to commence fast work in a week or two. Nothing definite has been arranged regarding his Australian trip, except entering him for events on the other side. Mr Gaisford was in Napier recently, and he informed his trainer that he would not be able to go to Australia himself. His three-year-old purchase, Atareria, is being used as a hunter.

The English colt Greengrocer ran a very good race into third place in the hack scurry at Napier on Saturday, finishing on from the back, and it may not be long before he is a winner. His stablemate, Piperenzo, was much better fancied, but did not run nearly so well as Greengrocer, although she did show good speed in the early stages. However, she should soon be doing better.

Arataura, who won the Hack Hurdles race at Napier Park, had done a good deal of hunting since he last ran in a hurdle race, and the experience gained in the field was greatly in his favour, as apart from getting too close to one fence, he gave a fine display of fast, clean jumping. Arataura might improve into a very useful horse over the jumps, and is big enough to carry weight.

Prince Otto, who formed one of the team taken across to Sydney recently by J. T. Jamieson, figured among the starters for the Nursery Handicap run at Randwick on June 6. The son of Nassau came home in fourth position, and according to the ‘'Referee,” he will not require to improve a great deal to score a win.

The Accident Fund of the New Zealand Racing Conference is in a very sound position, there being a bank balance of £3OOI Is 9d, to which has to be added investments totalling £7912 10s. The position of the fund has improved during the year by £1665 11s 30d. Accident fees brought in £3602 10s, trainers’ license fees £998, jockeys’ license fees £668 10s, apprentice jockeys’ fees £133 10s, gentlemen riders’ fees £JS2, and emergency riders’ fees £3O 10s. Claims paid on account of accidents absorbed £3348 8s 6d.

Salaries, deputies’ fees and travelling expenses of racecourse inspectors cost the New Zealand Racing Conference £3879 17s lid during the past year. This was met by a levy of one-twenty-second per cent on totalisator investments, which produced £2651 16s Id from racing clubs and £1047 2s Sd from trotting clubs, with £134 14s 4d due from previous years.

The stipendiary stewards’ account of the New Zealand Racing Conference shows that salaries, deputies’ fees and travelling expenses involved an expenditure oi £4686 17s lid during the past year. A levy of one-twentv-first per cent on totalisator investments produced £2708 3s Id, to which had to be added payments of £257 13s 4d from previous years and a balance of £2SO7 Is fid brought forward.

The demand that exists for the New Stud Book is shown by the fact that the Racing Conference received nearly £IOO during the past year for sales of back numbers, eacli of the nine volumes having purchasers. Already £226 14s 2d has been received for copies of volume X., which will be published shortly.

There is a movement in the raising of the minimum weight in handicap events from 6.7 7.0 and at recent meeting of the Victorian Breeders’, Owners’, and Trainers’ Association, a deputation was appointed to wait .upon the committee of the Victoria Racing Club with a view to furthering the suggested alteration.