NOTES.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VIII, Issue 370, 26 August 1897, Page 10

NOTES.

The annual meeting of the Nelson Trotting Club was held on the 18th inst, Dr. Roberts in the chair. The balance-sheet presented by the secretary, Mr Glen, showed a profit of £25 19s 7d on the last meeting, and assets valued at £55 0s 2d. Officers were elected as follows :—President, Dr. Roberts; vice-presidents, Messrs Tatton and W. Douglas ; committee, Messrs Trolose, Coleman, J. Chisnall, G. Noble, Mergate, Andrews, A. Trask, R. Watson, Moeller, D. Barnett, E. Boyce, Cave, and C. Bird, junr.; judge, Mr J. E. Bartlett; starter, Mr A. Trask ; clerk of course, Mr Kraghan; clerk of scales, Mr J. H. Leonard ; timekeepers, Messrs R. Hunter and L. Kerr ; treasurer, Mr R. Watson; secretary, Mr J. Glen. It was resolved to hold the next trotting meeting on the Ist of July, and to offer £l5O in stakes. The committee was authorised to prepare a programme. The Lancaster Park Trotting Club has drawn up a programme for the November meeting. The sum of £llOO will be given in stakes. On the first day there will be two events worth £lOO each, and on the second day there will be two events worth £125 each. One of these events will have a limit of lOsec. “ Sentinel,” in the Hawera Star, is sorry to hear that Mr John Heslop has resigned from active duty on the committee of the Normanby Trotting Club. He has been one of the pillars of the club since its inception, and deserves all the praise that was bestowed on him fqr the able manner in which he has carried out his duties. Mr Heslop may act as j udge at the next meeting. Mr Bagby, who comes from America with excellent credentials as a driver of trotters, has just arrived in New Zealand from Honolulu. He intends to settle down in our midst if sufficient inducement in the way of training and driving trotters is offered to him. It was Bagby’s intention to have brought a trotter with him, but the animal met with an accident and had to be left behind.

During the afternoon John R. Gentry had several work out miles preparatory to starting to heat Johnston’s record of 2.06£ to a high-wheeled sulky, the last mile being in 2.16 i and the last quarter in 0.31. After the second heat in the pacing, the champion came out for his effort, and was warmly greeted by the immense audience. He was accompanied by a thoroughbred as pacemaker. They scored down once and took a recall. The second time down they got the word, Gentry moving like clock-work. He negotiated the first quarter in 0.311, a 2.06 clip. When he reached the half in 1.02, a 2.04 gait, it was confidently expected that he would do the trick, but the third quarter he struck soft, cuppy going, and it took him 0.33 to reach the three-quarter pole in 1.35. Coming the last quarter at a more rapid gate he increased his speed very perceptibly until he struck half way down the stretch, where the crowd occupied so much of the track that the game little fellow hesitated, and as a result he finished his mile in 2.074, a second behind the record. The death of the well-known stallion, Eolus, which occurred at the Overton Stud, Overton, Va., on Tuesday, July 13, removed from the world the most deservedly popular stallion of the country. Eolus had grown old in service, having been in the stud for more than twenty years, during which time his progeny have won the greatest- and richest .races on the American turf, the Futurity, Suburban, and Brooklyn Handicaps all having fallen to his get. Yearlings by this sire were always in demand, as they inherited speed and stamina, the great majority of them proving racehorses of a high class. Asa racehorse Iroquois takes precedence over all the sons of imp. Leamington, but to Eolus must be awarded the palm as a stallion. The best son of Eolus was Morello, whose gallant win in the Futurity is still a subject of conversation whenever the great deeds of racehorses are discussed. Morello, as will be remembered, died within the past year, hence Eon, Knight of Ellerslie and St. Saviour must now be considered the best living representative of Eolua in the stud, and as they inherit the good qualities of their sire, they will doubtless add to the fame of the family from which they are descended.