WINTER RACING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 84, Issue 86, 13 April 1940, Page 4

WINTER RACING

I Steeplechase Campaign Starts Soon EGMONT FIRST IN FIELD ATTRACTIVE CIRCUIT The winter racing campaign will soon be under way in the Dominion. Already many of the ’chasers and hurdlers have had their initial outings under silk. Prospects are that the coming season will prove just as interesting as its predecessors, and it is likely tnat several promising reccuics to hurdling and “lepping” will soon be in action. Though the Waverley Racing Club's meeting a fortnight from to-day w. : ll provide an opportunity for some- of the steeplechasers to get in an early run, it is the Egmont Racing Clubs fixture, to be held on Thursday and Saturday, May 2 and 4, wnieh really sets the ball rolling in earnest. It win be followed a week later by the Otaki Maori Racing Club's one-day May fixture, after which the Manawatu Racing Club- will stage a two-day meeting on Friday and Saturday, May 17 and 18. A week later the roxlcn Racing Club will furnish the attraction, ail these activities leading up to the Wanganui Jockey Club’s winter meeting on Saturday and Monday, June 1 and 3. These meetings, lurnishing nine days of racing, provide a winter circuit which should prove highly attractive to owners and trainers of potential cross-country champions. Stakes for the Egmont and Wanganui meetings have been announced, and both programmes have attractive features. At Hawera the Egmont Racing Club will offer a £4OO stake for the Egmont Steeplechase and a like amount for the Mcßae Cup. In addition there will be three £3OO events on the second day of the meeting, these being the Adamson Steeplechase, the Champion Hack Plate and the Davidson Handicap. In the hack event a trophy valued at £25 is being offered. The sprints at Hawera will be worth £2OO each, and the two hurdle races will carry stakes of £175 each. A similar stake is offered in each of the sevenfurlong hack races, and in no instance is the stake less than £l5O. Nominations for the Egmont meeting will close on Friday next, April 19, and already the secretary, Mr. A. K. Fyson, has been active in making contacts at recent meetings, with a view to interesting owners in this meeting. The Manawatu Steeplechase, to be run on the second day of the Manawatu Racing Club’s meeting, will be worth £350, and on the same day there will be the £250 Hokowhitu Handicap, which will give another chance for contestants of the Manawatu Winter Cup. the first-day £3OO fiat feature. The Rangitira Hurdles on the opening day will be worth £250. The sprinters will be catered for with two £2OO events, the Rongotea Handicap (six furlongs) and the Mcßae Handicap (seven furlongs) on the respective days. On the opening day the Akitio Hack and Hunters’ Steeplechase will be worth £2OO, providing a stake of £l4O for the winner. The minimum stake is £lOO for the second-day Makerua Bracelet, for gentlemen riders. The success of the recent autumn meeting suggests that the secretary, Miss M. Buchanan, will have a busytime before nominations close on Monday, April 29. The feature event at the Wanganui Jockey Club’s meeting will be the Wanganui Steeplechase, which carries a stake of £5OO, the winner’s share being £350. This event, which is run over a distance of about three miles, will be decided on the second day oi the meeting, the King’s Birthday holiday, and in spite of the fact that a clash with the Great Northern Steeplechase at Ellerslie cannot be avoided it is expected to draw a useful field. At any rate, it will be agreed that the club is providing a generous stake. On the opening day of the meeting the Century Hurdles will have a stake of £4OO, the share for the winner being £3OO. The Grandstand Steeplechase will be another first-day event for the jumpers, and it will be worth £350. On the same day the Connolly Handicap will be worth £3OO, the winner receiving £230. These are attractive events, and in addi-ion there are two sprint races worth £2OO each, the second-day Empire Handicap. with a stake of £250, and a hack distance race, the River Hack Handicap, worth £250, the winner's share being £l9O. Another hack event is worth £175, and the hack sprints carry stakes of £l5O each. The minimum stake is the £l3O attached to the two maiden races, each of which is worth £95 to the winner, this enabling the winners to be eligible for events restricted to horses that have not won races worth £lOO or more to the winner. Nominations for the Wanganui meeting are to be taken on Monday, May 13, following the Otaki meeting, and the secretary, Mr. S. R. McCallum, who attended the Awapuni fixture last week, is at present on a visit to Hastings for the Hawke’s BayJockey Club’s fixture, with a view to interesting ’Bay owners in the Wanganui programme. Though petrol restrictions and the war situation have brought about a halt in the general increase of tntalisator turnovers, it would appear that the winter programmes already announced should attract excellent fields for the steeplechasing campaign on the west coast of the North Island.