ABOUT FACE!

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 199, 24 August 1936, Page 4

ABOUT FACE!

SURPRISING DECISION HUNTS’ POSTPONEMENT ! WANGANUI RAISES NO OBJECTION The decision of the Wanganui Jockey Club committee, as announced on Saturday, to raise no objection to the postponement of the combined hunt clubs’ meeting at New Plymouth, must have come as a surprise to many interested observers. It appears that the Pakuranga Hunt Club, on finding that the Ellerslie course was partly under water on Saturday, wanted to postpone their annual meeting till Wednesday, August 26, and appealed to the combined Egmont - Wanganui and Taranaki Hunt Clubs to find if they had any •objection to the suggestion. The combined hunts’ meeting was set down for Thursday and Saturday of this week, and there were four horses at both Pakuranga and New Plymouth. These would no doubt forfeit one or other of their engagements if the original dates for the combined meeting were adhered to. The Taranaki officials, in turn, appealed to the Wanganui Jockey Club to ascertain if there would be any objection to the combined hunts’ meeting being postponed for a week, till Thursday and Saturday of next week. This would bring the New Plymouth fixture within a few days of the Wanganui Jockey Club’s spring meeting, scheduled for Thursday and Saturday, September 10 and 12. With about thirty horses engaged at the combined hunts’ meeting also nominated for Wanganui, it could be expected that in objection would be offered, for if he suggestion is carried out there j will be four days’ racing in a little >ver a week—from September 3 to September 12. Hitherto it has been :he policy of the Wanganui Jockey Club to object to any intrusion on the dates of its meetings if there is a likelihood of the fixture being adversely affected. Yet on Saturday an intimation that no objection would be raised was conveyed to Taranaki, whereupon it was announced that the New Plymouth meeting would be postponed to September 3 and 5. That mabled the Pakuranga Hunt Club o carry on with their original proposal as there was no objection, in turn, from New Plymouth. Certainly some explicit explanation of the Wanganui Jockey Club's decision may be ?xpected. Had the Taranaki officials suggested :hat their meeting be postponed from ' kugust 27 and 29 to August 29 anc?■ H. thus making the meeting on Sat- : urday and Monday next, no objection could be expected, and there would be plenty of time to entrain the four Auckland horses on Wednesday night so that they could fulfil their New Plymouth engagements on Saturday and Monday. Not many of the 30 Taranaki horses claiming engagements at Wanganui also could be expected to race on the two days at New Plymouth and then, a week later, have two more races at Wanganui. At the opening of the season, when so many horses are not ready for a strenuous campaign, it is unusual to make such an exacting demand of them. Thus the Wanganui fields, not too strong on the nominations, may now be expected to thin out still more as a result of the committee’s surprising decision. Horses engaged at the Pakuranga meeting and also at New Plymouth are Flower Bag, Illuminagh. Indiscretion and Prince Acre. Those claiming engagements at New Plymouth and Wanganui are Glenation, Airing, Shemseh, War Ace, Don Erma. Beau Star, Stroller, Lady Voyonne, Wahine Nui, La Femme Noire, Red Sand, Fersen, Royal Secret, Gold Mission, Ngatarahiri. Fast Acre, Bantry, Oriel, Notium, Brilliancy, Kia Tere, Merior, Artful Dodger, Brigadore. Court Xrma. Prince Reno, The Ark, Tuaheihe and Golden Rill. One horse. Delrain, who is engaged at Pakuranga, s also in the six-horse field for the Marangai Handicap at Wanganui. It would be interesting to know how the Pakuranga Hunt Club can announce a postponement from Saturday to Wednesday, whereas the Rules of Racing stipulate that postponement must be from day to day only. The =ame, of course, applies to the combined hunts’ position. And finally, i: would be interesting to learn how the Wanganui Jockey Club committee squares its reported decision to raise no objection with its accepted policy of lodging objections to infringements by other clubs on its racing dates.