HENDERSON MILL RACES.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume I, Issue 33, 14 March 1891, Page 4

HENDERSON MILL RACES.

The annual meeting of the Henderson’s Mill Turf Club takes place on Tuesday next (St. Patrick’s Day). Having lost their own course, the races will, by the permission of the A.R.C. Cdrilthittfee, be helcl at Avondale. The accept tances and general entries are, on the whole, Vety good. * There are twelve in the Maiden Plate. As they are a moderate lot, it is difficult to pick the winner. Brian Boru and Maccaroni read as well as anything. ‘ The Hurdle Race has an acceptance of niiie ! horses: If Sentinel was to start, one need not look further for the winner, but it is doubttul ifhewill be up from Wanganui in time, so the'fihish bright to be between Cloth of Gold, who is daily improving, and Fishmonger; ' St. Patrick’s Handicap of five furlongs has twelve remaining in. These sprint races are bad'races to touch, even if first-class horses are engaged, blit they are still worse when they are confined to fourth-raters. Master Pat and Maccaroni should fight out the finish. For the Henderson Mill Cup, one mile and a-quarter, the ; principal race, eleven have Ctied content. Antelope, on her running at Ellerslie’ for the Pakuranga Hunt Club Cup, hbldS All the rest safe, but as her form has been dP a, very iri-and-out character, backers must pida’shlhehiselVes about putting their money on her. Here again crops up a beautiful piece of handicapping. Antelope wins over a mile and a-qtiarter at Ellerslie in a canter, now she has only to allow Belmont, who was a bad second, blß'iribfe, and Patchwork, who was a still worse th'ifd; 61b for at least'a stone beating, while Leorina and IngOrina/who Were never in the race, receive respectively lolb. The others are of such wretched quality they can have no chance with’ her. With Antelope out of the way/ Leorina,. Ingorina, and Tamora might fight it out. Minnie is one just up from the West Coast, where she has been doing good service'in hack f races, and she might land a coup for her owner first time of asking. As a final tip I will go for Antelope and Ingorina* as the latter ran very well at Helensville. There are twelve in the Selling, Raed, arid if all is;oh the square Qctopus, ought to add' this to his list of races of this description.

I now come to the Steeplechase, for which there are nine left in. After the exhibition we had at Ellerslie, where four out of the present lot attempted to perform, it must be a bold man who puts his money down. As mentioned before, it is doubtful if Sentinel will be here. If he starts, he would be the best investment, and in his absence I prefer Nap and Hopeful Kate. For the Railway Handicap, six furlongs, there is the large field of seventeen remaining in. As almost all of them have other engagements, it all depends on previous running, and as the Handicap is a very funny one, I will not attempt to pick the winner as I may lead some astray.

The V.R.C. Autumn Meeting concluded last Saturday, in very hot weather. In the AllAged Stakes, one mile, four started, resulting in a win for Carbine, though Penance, zyrs old, by Grand Flaneur —Penitent, ran him very close, the Champion only getting home a neck all orit; Yarran, zyrs, being third. Before putting Penance down as a flyer it would be as well to watch his next performance, as the chances are that Carbine having been trained for long courses may have begun to lose his speed, and another thing Ramage may have been taking things too easy, forgetting that at times a good two-year-old will come with a tremendous rush when called upon. The Place Handicap, one and a-half miles, resulted as follows: —Highborn, gst 31b, ist; Wilga, jst izlb, znd ; Enuc, jst izlb, 3rd. Tarcoola, Jebusite, Wycombe, Swing, Wattie, and Pingara also started. Won by a length ; a neck between second and third. This shows Highborn either a greatly improved horse, or that his owner and trainer narrowly escaped landing a tremendous coup in the Melbourne Cup, and also proves that the Australian Cup was lost by the penalty. The Steeplechase was a series of blunders, Sir Wilfred managing to get home first. The Loch Plate only brought out three runners, and Megaphone had no difficulty in landing the odds on him from The Spot and The Serf, who finished in the order named.

The Helensville Annual Race Meeting took place last Saturday, and calls for little comment as the racing was most uninteresting, and the horses that ran, with one or two exceptions, of the most inferior quality. The day’s racing might be dismissed with very little notice if it had not been for one thing that occurred. In the Maiden Handicap Hurdle Race the owner of the subsequent winner knew that he had no right to run his horse, as he had won a hurdle race since the time of entry, and the new rule says that a “ maiden” means a maiden at the time of start, according to the way it is interpreted by the A.R.C. Committee. The owner, wishing to be certain before he started, asked the stewards if he was eligible, and though warned by several persons that if they allowed Cloth of Gold to start they would' be wrong, agreed that under the circumstances they would pay on him. He accordingly started and won easily. Begorrah, who was second, objected to the winner, and was in his turn objected to, having won a steeplechase. However, the first horse got the stakes and the totalisator money. Now there is a talk of an appeal. There cannot be a question that Rule 4 and Rule 47 are rather conflicting, and it is extraordinary that different Committees and the delegates at the Conference tried to improve on the Newmarket rules, but as this will be the subject of another article, as well as regards passing the programmes of so many country meetings without proper supervision, it had better be left alone for the present. The racing as before mentioned calls for no special comment. The principal race- —tfae Helensville Cup—fell to Ingorina, Priscilla second, and Orakei third, Leorina only finishing fourth. This mare considering the racing and knocking about she has gone through this season must be a wonderfully sound mare; and of great Constitution. Cloth of Gold won both Maiden arid Open Hrirdle Races, but he defeated nothing of any merit, and is a long way off a good one. Full particulars of the racing may be found in the Turf Record column.

Huguenot, who won her races in such a clever manner at the late Dunedin Meeting, was purchased as a yearling for 25 gns. at the Middle Park Sale.