RACING.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17982, 29 March 1930, Page 7 (Supplement)

RACING.

FROM TRACK & STABLE

(By “Martian.”)

DATES OF MEETINGS.

April 3, s—Whangarei. April 3, s—South5 —South Cantorbary. April 4, s—Masterton. April 11, 12—Hawke’s Bay, April 12—Otautau. April 12—'Horarata. April 12, 14—Westport. April 12, 14—Waikato April 19—Tuapeka. < April 19, 21—Walrarapa. April 19, 21—Feildlng. April 19, 21—Auckland. April 19, 21, 22—Riverton. April 21: —Beaumont. April 21—Waipukurau. April 21—Kumara. April 21, 22—Canterbury. April 23, 24—Westland. April 26, 28—Greymouth. April 26, 30—Avondale. April 30—Reefton. AUSTRALIAN MEETINGS. The following are dates of coming meetings in Australia:— New South Wales. March 29—Rosehill. April s—Rosehill.5 —Rosehill. April B—Menangle Park. April 12—Warwick Farm. April 19, 21, 23, 26—A.J.C. Victoria. April 6, B—V.R.G. April 15—V.A.T.C. April 22, 24—Moonee Valley.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

‘‘Argument,” Te Aroha.— (i) County 'Cavour won the New Zealand Derby Stakes. 1924 was his year. (2) H. Wiggins has ridden a winner of the Auckland Easter Handicap— Hipo (1924). “Weight,” Fr.ankton. —Spearfelt carried more weight than Windbag in the respective years these horses won the Melbourne Cup. Spearfelt carried 9.3 to victory and Windbag 9.2. ‘Rider,” Waharoa.—lt was H. Dulieu, not L. Dulieu, who won the Matamata Cup of 1926 on Mount Marta. “Curious," Whatawbata. — Ruffles heat King Merv in the Cautldy Handicap at the Takapuna Jockey Club’s Spring meeting on December 1. 1926. The winner was In receipt of 161hs from his rival.

GOSSIP, FROM ALL PARTS.

The Whangarei Club will hold Its Autumn meeting on Thursday and Saturday.

On Thursday and Saturday next the South Canterbury Club will race at Timaru.

The Masterton Club will race on Friday and Saturday of next week.

T. H. Gillett has The Bailiff in great health. Never since the son of Warplane—Lugano came to the South island has he been as well as at present, says a Christchurch writer.

Karangapai, although he did not reach £ place, showed sufficiently good form against the two-year-olds at Te Aroha to anticipate that he will not he long in doing better. The Peach Brandy—'Star Attraction colt is a speedy, juvenile. Me will probably be seen out at the coming meeting at Te Rapa. •Master Roley did not show up prominently in the hurdle race he contested at Paeroa- As it was his first start since he ran unplaced in highweight company at Thames in midJanuary Master Roley will be all the better *for his latest outing. The •Cynic gelding is engaged in hurdle events at the coming meeting of the Waikato Club. The Riccarton jockey E. Shaw came in for hearty congratulations at Oamaru on Saturday when he won the .Trial Stakes on Valuator. It was his second ride in public since his accident at the Auckland Racing Club’s Summer meeting. It is reported that the well-known and popular Christchurch sportsman, •Mr J. S. Barratt, is seriously ill. He will have the best wishes of racing people all over the Dominion for a speedy return to perfect health.

Pendennis, who has been among the regular track workers at Te Rapa of recent weeks, is to be raced at the coming meeting' of the Waikato Club. The Day Comet gelding has not had a start for some time, but he has displayed good form in the past when he has raced fresh.

The three-year-old bay Ally Pure Blend (Tea Tray—Takahau), who is the crack sprinter of West Australia, is being sent over from Perth to J. Holt in Melbourne, where he will race in the future. Like her fellow countryman, Second Wind, Pure Blend has proved good enough for better company than there is in the West.

The Lamb.-was a winner over hurdles at Te Rapa in the spring. The Lord Muitifld gelding, who has had a few starts on the flat of recent weeks, is going ahead favourably and 'his condition will be right when he races over hurdles at the local meeting next month-

Randwick track reports of Thursday of last week state that Vcilmond beat Greeny Mantle by six lengths at the end oi five furlongs in Imin 9-lsec. Green Mantle is the Kilbroney —Mascot three-year-old colt, taken over by George Price on his recent visit for the Wellington sportsman, Mr E. L. Riddiford. Leader ran two fair races at TrenIham. but he never looked a winner. He looks all the better for the trip and will act better when he has lc step out on .a soft track. His fee trouble him a lot.

Hampton Park won in two-year-old company at Takapuna in the spring, when making his first appearance in a race. He has been saddled up on a few subsequent occasions but his form has been disappointing. The Australian bred colt by Tarquin—Marcovara will be racing at Te Rapa next month and it is not unlikely that he will go well on the roomy track at local headquarters.

Meadow Lark, carrying a big weiglit, registered a stylish performance when he won the Flying Handicap at Oamaru (says the •Christchurch writer “Argus”). He was well placed all the way, and he smothered the opposition at the finish. Meadow Lark is at the top of Ills form, and he is worth keeping in mind for the Great Easter Handicap.

Mervette did her most recent racing at the Wellington Club’s meeting at Trentham, but the Lucullus —Brayton ■mare was not in a position to do herself full justice on that occasion. Mervette is entered for leading events at the coming meeting of the Waikato Club and on her home track there may be better results from this member of A. Tinker’s stable-

H. R. Telford, who has returned to Sydney with Phar Lap and other members of his team, has no intention of settling in Melbourne. When the subject was broached to him at Caulfield TeLford remarked: “My patrons all are in Sydney, and would go mad If I shifted quarters to another capital.” Telford’s reason for remaining so long in Melbourne is that he has found the ‘Caulfield tracks perfect for training purposes.

Prior to going to Sydney Hector Gray had received’-a cablegram from W. Booth, one of Sydney’s _ leading trainers, who has 28 horses in work, stating that there seemed a reasonably good chance of Gray receiving his riding ticket there. Booth had been in communication with Gray for some time, and the message was the outcome of the overtures originally made. If Gray is unable to obtain a riding license over there he will return to New Zealand.

•In the Hurdle Race at Waimate, the ex-Te Rapa trained Gala Day hurt himself a' little, but it did not prevent him from winning. He was looked upon as a good bet in the jumping race on the first day at Oamaru, but he did not jump or gallop with, the same dash as he did when he won at Waimate. ’Evidently the damage, he had done himself was more . serious than was thought, for his jumping at two fences was decidedly bad, and he did not gallop with nearly as much fredom as he usually does.

lit speaks well for the high regard in which New Zealand blood is just now held in Australia that a Sydney writer speaks of one _of Limond’s gets as being, in his opinion, the likely winner of the A.J.’C. Sires’ Produce Stakes, the most richly endowed two-year-old event in . Australasia. This is Veilmond, a son of the Absurd —Cowl mare Veil and a member of Geo. Price s team. Strongest opposition is expected from another Sydney-owned youngster in Delwood and from the Victorian, colt Thurlstone.

At a sale of horses in Melbourne last week King Mart 'changed hands for 475 guineas and 'Sir Roy for 450 guineas. King Mart was bought by a' Tasmanian and Sir Roy by -G. T. Godby. King Mart was formerly owned and trained at Wanganui by B. -T. Bennett, and he has done well in Victoria. Sir Roy won several races for his owner-trainer, A. McAulay, before going to Australia. Don Quixote is his half-brother.!

A Christchurch writer says of a Trenlham wanner: When Full Feather’s trainer decided that it was useless to try and race the son oi Auiumnus and Equipment m the middle of a field, that lie _ would not trv there, he came to a wise conclu sion. Now Full Feather’s rider received instructions to get on the outer as soon as possible, and to stop there. Such orders are not usually gnen by trainers, but in the case oi tun Feather their results have been surprising. From being looked upon as a horse that was sour and unreliable, he is now called a good horse, and he is Slims llte one lor ho has «n n lot of races this season, and on looks he will win more; despite his having to cover more ground than his opponents.

At the Belmont Park (W.A.) meeting on March 1 a record dividend for that State was paid out on Mahnoa, winner of the'Trial Stakes. The one investor on the filly on the straight’out tote received for 10s, equal to nearly 400 to i, while the same man s wife received for a 5s ticket on the la-dies’ tote a dividend approximating to over 150 to 1, and these, with some place investments enabled the lucky couple to keep all the money n the family, and to draw nearly £3OO off the totalisator. The owner of Malinoa did not back the lull. I‘ onlv reason the rfucky investors could give for backing Malinoa was because no one else did. Red Heckle was unlucky in the Thompson Handicap. He got stopped badly just when commencing lus final run. Good judges consider that but for this interference, the Warplane •mlding would certainly have beaten Paitonu. He was not started on the second da< which was .lust as well, °, e one, race lightened urn up m ite enough. He has not done any serious work this week, and what, lie will start in at the Riccarton Easter meeting depends entirely upon how he. does in the interim. He s cn -gaged in both the Great Eastei ami Great Autumn Handicaps.

Before taking up residence in Vic toria many years ago, D. J. Price die tinguished himself as a light-weight jockey in New Zealand, and was Australia’s leading driver of trotters. He sat behind Ribbomvood on numerous thrilling occasions. Few trainers have handled such an-imposing list of great gallopers as Price (says a Melbourne writer), lie was partowner of Machine Gun, a peerless sprinter and weight-carrier. On Paper, Pink ’Un and Royal Scotch ought never to have lost their respective Caulfield Cups. Midnight Sun won an Adelaide Cup for one of Price's patrons, and lie landed big jumping events with Bribery and Baliista. The Caulfield Guineas of 1928 was appropriated with Balmerino, while Caramelo now is in line for high handicap honours. The secret of Price’s success has been the employment of the latest and best ideas in training. 11c has an infinite capacity for taking pains. J. McLaughlin and A. Bentley, apprentice horsemen attached to A. Tinker’s stable at Te Rapa, have recently entered the winning ranks. Bentley steered Tetrachate when the Tea Tray—Volopia colt disposed of a big field in the Shaftesbury Hack Handicap at Te Arooha. Prior to that he was associated with Parfait Amour in a double success at the non-lotalisa-tor fixture at Ngaruawahia. McLaughlin was the pilot of Tradesman when the Raeefui gelding loci the two-year-olds home each of the two days at the • Ohinemuri fixture. The results of competent tuition are evident in respect of the riding by the apprentices referred to and they give every promise of further successful efforts in the saddle.

Jim Pike, Bob Lewis and W. Elliott each had turns in riding Phar Lap in Melbourne at the autumn carnival just concluded (says Sporting Globe, Alelbourne). Who will pilot the champion three-year-old in Sydney engagements a- Easter time? Doubtless Pike will have the A.J.C. St. Leger mount, hut a lighter jockey is needed for weight-for-age events. Questioned as to whom he would selfcet, Harry Telford nodded towards his apprentice, H. Martin, and remarked, “I might put that lad up." Martin rode Phar Lap in three juvenile events before the gelding struck form. Overhearing what his master had said, the 17-year-old youth observed: “That seems too good to be true.”

The Sydney Referee writer ‘Vedette’ in selecting the three-year-old gelding Pacemaker for success later on, says: “Tho Sydney, Cup is a race in which good horses invariably do well, and the collection of champions over the 9.0 mark is not to be lightly discarded. But last year a lightly weighted stayer in Crucis prevailed in time only half a second outside the record, and another from that division in Peacemaker appeals to me as one likely to prove a profitable investment at this stage. That colt is by Liinerick’s sire, Limond, from a Martian mare, and is bred to stay. So far he has not been tried over a distance, but Ills finishing effort at six furlongs, when winning a Trial division at Randwick last 'Christmas, gave an inkling of latent stamina. No doubt, Peacemaker will be given opportunities to prove himself at a distance before the Cup. With 7.5 he has a handy enough weight for anything, but, being a big colt, the difficulty may be to get a rider at that weight to do him justice at two miles. •Crucis carried 7.5 when he triumphed twelve months ago, and, up to date, the form of Peacemaker is superior to what Crucis had shown at this stage of his Cup preparation.”

The news that Commendation has hopelessly broken down in Sydney will he read with regret by New Zealanders. It no doubt means that he will not further be persevered with. Commendation was a high-class gelding, and although not so good as Limerick, the absence of the latter in Sydney gave Commendation the opportunity to “clean up" the three-year-old classics in the Dominion. That there was, however, very little between these two great Limond geldings was proved when they met the following year in Sydney -at the commencement of their four-year-old careers. They met in the Warwick Farm Stakes, one mile. In one of the finest races ever seen at the Farm, Limerick downed Amounis by a head, with Commendation another head away, and Valicare beaten out of a place. Valicare made the running, and it was Commendation who first set out to overhaul her, while Limerick had the last run. Apparently that race knocked Commendation out, as, after a couple of failures here, he did not race again for the season. And his few outings at five and six years indicated that he had not recovered his former brilliance. Commendation came back in October to win the Wainui 'Handicap at the Spring meeting of the Wellington Racing Club, and his form and subsequent progress were good enough for Mr Gaisford to •complete arrangements with George Price, in January last, for the Randwick trainer to take him over and prepare him for racing there. A few days ago it was reported that Commendation was lame, but a later message stated that Price did not regard it as serious. The latest, however, shows that he has probably gone for good. Commendation won 16& races, had three seconds _ and three thirds .and earned £9535 in stakes.