GOSSIP FROM ALL PARTS.

Waikato Times, Volume 102, Issue 17134, 22 June 1927, Page 11

GOSSIP FROM ALL PARTS.

The Hawke's Bay meeting will bo held on Friday and Saturday. There will be racing at Oamaru on Saturday. Freehold is the name bestowed on the full brother to Tamatete, which will represent Mr W. McA. Duncan in two year old 7 events this season. It is reported that the Te Aroha trainer, W. A. McMillan, is going to make Whangarei his headquarters. Blue Autumn, the rising two year old full sister to Ngawati, is said to be showing promise in her work at Gisborne. She recently ran half a mile in 50sec, and great hopes are expressed concerning her racing next season. This gallop is rather remarkable for a rising two year old at this time of the year. Blue Autumn must be well forward at present.

The southern-trained Overhaul may be a starter at Trentham, and his Dunedin running indicates that he should race prominently in whatever race, he is started. Celerity II is another that may visit Trentham. The English mare is a brililant sprinter, and appears in better trim now than ever before. With a clean get away at Dunedin she would have won at least two races (says a southern exchange).

Beacon Light has been taken up again by S. Waddell at Grcenmeadows, but so far he is only pottering about. Shirley is having an easy time and she is thriving well.

F. D. Jones has Battlement in regular work again at Riccarton. The Martian gelding is reported as looking m the best of health, after his short spell, and he may develop into a good performer next season. His stamina has been amply proved, and he should he a belter horse with age.

■fameterangi made a rather sharp improvement from the Otaki meeting to the Napier meting on Saturday. At Otaki Tameterangi ran third in a flvefurlong hack scurry, and improved a good deal on Saturday by winning the Ladies' Bracelet from a fair field. The distance of one mile and a quarter may have suited him better than over sprint courses, writes "The Watcher."

Agrion, the A..T.G. Derby coit, is very well at present, and with one or two gallops into him he will be able to race at a very short notice (says an exchange). Phillipic is also entered in the AJ.C. Derby, but the Demosthenes youngster is more of a working horse for Agrion. It is not likely that he will enter into Derby calculations. Goblin Market, the rising two year old by Absurd —Cherry Mart, is a very determined yearling, and if ho visits Sydney his mission will be the Breeders' Plate.

Grown Coin, the winner of the Napier Steeplechase on Saturday, has started rather well this season. At the recent Wanganui nice ling he finished a good second to Peter Maxwell, and was going on very strongly at the finish, and improved on that performance with, n. win at bis next attempt. Although the field he beat was not very strong, it will assist him to gain experience which is most essential over frig country, and as he stays well further improvement can be Joked for-. feacd t(k

Charlatan's recovery from his mishap in the north has been rather slow (says "Argus" in the Christchurch Star). He is working along nicely but he is not yet right for really strenuous tasks. It was intended to race him at Trentham next month, but according to present indications this programme may have to be dropped.

The Southland owner, Mr W. T. Hazlett, will probably have a strong team racing at Trentham next month. The horses may be sent to Riccarton to finish offtheir preparation, and after racing at Trentham they will return there for the Grand National meeting. Frenchman will be in the party, to compete in steeplechases, while Paris, Irish, and Father O'Flynn may compete in flat races. ,

Footfall is a regular worker on the Riccarton tracks, where he is striding along in fine style, as a start on his preparation for spring racing. From being a mean-looking customer early in his career, he has now thickened out into a very attractive gelding. He showed wonderful improvement this season and it will be no surprise if he attains to even higher form during the coming season.

The colt by Redfern —Ulva's Daughter in F. D. Jones's stable at Riccarton is a promising youngster that should be ready for early two year old racing, and already he has shown some sprinting ability in his work (says the Press). He comes of a great racing family, for his dam, Ulva's Daughter, was by Ulva's Isle (by Positano) from Estafette. Positano is the sire of Poseidon, winner of a Melbourne Cup and two Caulfleld Cups, besides classic races, and Ulva's Isle was also a good class horse, winning many races in Australia, Redfern, sire of this yearling, won close on. £7OOO as a two year old in England, and in Australia proved himself a class performer.

Sir George Clifford had an exceptionally lean time with his two year olds this season, none of his youngsters approaching Uie best standard of recent years. Present indications, however, suggest that next season will produce better results in the juvenile department, as the latest batch of yearlings show more promise than was the case with, the lot broken in a year ago. The three who are being got ready for the spring are by Autumnus. They are Full Feather, a half-brother to Centrepiece, from the Martian mare Equipment; Capercailzie, a sister to Royal Stag and Moorfowl, from the Clanranald mare Kirriemuir; and Childsplay, a sister to Wild Work, from the Antagonist mare Hclter Skelter. These threo have done well since they were broken in, the first-named pair particularly so, and the trio hit out attractively in short sprinting tasks, which they usually do in company.

"Some of the critics in the north are very dubious about Comical developing into a steeplechaser" (says the Dunedin writer, "Sentinel"). "After seeing Fred Shaw convert Windermere into a 'chaser in less than a couple of weeks, the writer is prepared for anything in the way of improvement a horse can make at- timber-topping. Windermere resolutely declined to face the sod wall at Wingalui, and about a week or so before the winter meeting of 1925 Shaw put a halter and rope on the Sunny Lake gelding, and, with A. Ruthven in the saddle, and a stockwhip as a gentle persuader, the wall was scrambled over a couple df times. Windermere afterwards decided that it was better to jump than get the bat about his hide, and the following week he ran second in the St. Clair Steeplechase, and then on the final day of the meeting came ont and won the Tahuna Steeples. It may take years to make a perfect hunter or a 'chaser, but the rough and ready route sometimes i.s just as effc-tive as a lengthy education." , Comical's case is hardly the same. He is not ungenerous, but does his best, which, so far, has included a lot of mistakes.

A Christchurch sporting writer went the rounds of Riccarton trainers and jockeys asking them their opinions of the respective merits of Limerick and Commendation. As only to be expected he obtained some very conflicting ideas. J. Beale, who rode Commendation when L. G. Morris was laid aside in the spring with appendicili3, is very staunch in his nomination for Mr. Gaisford's gelding. He says: "1 rode Commendation in the Great Northern Guineas, in which race he ran a dcad-heat with the brilliant Lysander. Since that time Lysander has gone to pieces, but Commendation has come through with flying colours. No doubt Limerick is a great performer, but in my opinion Commendation is an out-and-out champion. Should they meet at Randwick in the spring, I think that Commendation will easily hold off Limerick. He is such a free goer that his unusual brilliancy will always be a factor towards success. Commend me to commendation." Beale is slightly off the track. It was the Avondalc Guineas in which he rode Commendation. The Great Northern Guineas fell to Lysander, Commendation being at Riccarton, where by the way, he did not exactly come through "with flying colours," losing the Stead Gold Gup to Bapine. The veteran trainer, R. J. Mason, expressed the sound opinion that might be expected of him. He said: "There is no doubt that both geldings are high-class performers, but I think Limerick will defeat Commendation over any distance from a mile upwards. I saw Commendation at Auckland at Christmas time, but of course he met little opposition there, and until I see him opposed to good horses, my opinion is that Limerick is the better three year old. However, they are both good horses, and it is a difficult question to decide which is the greater till thav frAWvmeet fit and

"Sickle i? fit, but is not a second Sansovino. I only wish he was," declared his owner, Lord Derby, at tha Press Club's Derby lunoheon in London on the eve of the great Epsom classic, which was attended by owners, trainers, and jockeys, including B. Carslake, the Australian horseman. Lord Derby added: "I hope I will win. The trainer and the jockey are satisfied, but every owner, trainer, and jockey is equally hopeful." Mr Curzon, owner of the favourite and the subsequent winner, said: "Callboy is all right. I believe he will bo battling over the last furlong, because he is five to seven pounds better than any other three year old." Sir Victor Sassoon, the owner, expressed the opinion: "Hot Night is no longer temperamental or like a well-known film star. Ho is saving up his temperament for Wednesday." Lord Lascclles confessed: "Nothing has ever put the fear of God in me so much as when the Press declared that I was backing Adam's Apple, which I couldn't see losing." Lord Birkenhead said: "We've heard a lot about everyone wanting the best horse to win. People do not want the best horse to win; they want their own horse to win. They don't care a brass farthing whether it is the best or worst. Neither do I." Steve Donoghue, jumping on a chair, exclaimed: "No horse has made greater improvement in the last three months than Lone Knight. I think an outsider will win, and Lone Knight is the best outsider." Like most jockeys Donoghue proved a bad tipster. Ho was well out in his forecast of the result of last year's Derby at the same gathering.