GRAND NATIONAL MEETING.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IV, Issue 199, 17 May 1894, Page 6

GRAND NATIONAL MEETING.

The elimination from the North New Zealand Grand National Meeting of Mr W. Douglas’s string has affected the outlook of the races at that meeting, and as a week has elapsed since my last comments appeared I shall give my subsequent deliberations. Couranto and Kapua out of the Hurdle Race and Mutiny out of the cross-country event, alters the prospects of those two races considerably, and the work some other jumpers have been doing this week at Ellerslie shows they will have to make marked improvement if they are to have any show at the National Meeting. And rumour has it that Liberator will not come, so that will leave old Despised at the top of the weights for . both the Hurdles and Steeples. Pill is out of the question now, and Coalscuttle and Marechal Neil have lately been, doing some baulking work, which does not augur well for their pro-, spects. In taking the seven best last week I named as one Fright, and I still retain that opinion. Ingorina is freed from the ban of disqualification, and may have to be reckoned with, but the next named, Flukem, I don’t care for. Getting down to Belmont, it is hard to know what to think. His running of late has been terribly disappointing, and if one went at

that he would have to discard him altogether. Last week I wrote, “ Belmont, 10.3, will have to be watched, notwithstanding recent unsatisfactory form,” andthen I find I named him as one of the best five. So I think I will again stick to him, and class him as dangerous and likely to crop up at the finish. Now about the light weights. I hear big things of Cyrus, and although personally I know nothing of his chance, the accounts given me are from a source so reliablethat I cannot help taking prominent r notice of what is said. He should be as good as any below him, and shall have to be watched. The mare Skittles does great work on the track, but it does not always come off on the race day. I have always liked her, and would be glad ,to see her come off in this race. The Irish t named Killaloe is a horse I have a great leaning towards since the day he went off and took the field along at such a pace when Fright won, and I shall have him and also Chatterbox on my side. Since • last writing on this race, developments and later news make me incline towards Liberator (if he starts), Ingorina, Belmont, Cyrus, Fright, Chatterbox and Killaloe. I shall have something more definite to say later on. In speaking of the Steeplechase, I , passed by the chance of Couranto, and his owner does not appear to have been j more enamoured of the weight, 12.9, than I was. Old Despised tops the list at 12.3, and I won’t pass him. He’s a horse I fancied greatly before his virtues became so well known as they are now, and I had the pleasure of forecasting his early triumphs. In this race I won’t pass him, weight and all, and v ill unhesitatingly put him down as a dangerous starter and a horse well worth backing. Gondolier, who won last year’s Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase, must not be left out of consideration, but Flukem I think may. I wrote last week that fit and well, and with J. B. Williamson’s best polish on' him, Shillelagh would be a hard one to beat, and I still say the same. Crazy Kate und Potentate are a good pair. Of Kaimanawa, Booties and Union Jack, I prefer the latter and consider he will run a good horse and be well up at the finish. • Scaltheen was prominent in last year’s race and may be again, and so was Nero, . ’who finished third. ' Fishmonger is in good order, and may be marked a likely > one, and those lower down in the list are not to my fancy. Speaking at this stage I think Despised, Union Jack, Fishmonger, Potentate, Crazy Kate and Shillelagh are a good half dozen. . But more of this race anon.