WELLINGTON.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIII, Issue 772, 22 December 1904, Page 11

WELLINGTON.

Wellington, December 17. Ere these lines reach your readers, our local Cup and Railway candidates, Ghoorka and Boris, will have been seen at Ellerslie. Their mentor, J. H. Prosser, and the stable’s jockey, C. Jenkins, accompany the horses, there will, therefore, be rio excuses for ’ Porirua reps, should they perform indifferently during the A.R.C’. Meeting. I understand that Ghoorka has only undergone a light preparation. He, however, looks nice to the eye, and may run his best race under these conditions in the Cup. His owner, I learn on undeniable authority, is running his horse for the stake alone, and has not backed the son of Lochiel for a single shilling to win the Cup. Boris is in good nick, and will start in the Railway Handicap. Mr Turnbull’s colt claims engagements in the A.R.C. Derby and the Royal Stakes, but he may, however, take part in the Alexandra, County, and Newmarket Handicap events, in preference to taking on the Classic races. A number of the Porirua stable’s followers are sure to make small investments on the “off-chance” of obtaining a win. A victory for the local horses in some of the handicaps will therefore be warmly welcomed in local sporting circles.

With the exception of the Hon. W. Johnston’s pair, Flamen and Highden (a two-year-old brother to Flamen) Prosser’s charges will remain in their boxes during his absence in the North. Chivalry, Novgorod, and Valois were engaged at Manawatu, but evidently the trio’s prospects were not sufficiently “rosey” to warrant even the short trip to Palmerston North. Those of the Hutt-trained horses that are in racing condition, will take part in either the Manawatu or Lower Valley (Martinborough) Meetings on Boxing Day. W. Davis will probably take Ballarat and St. Winnifred to Manawatu, while Solution and Lissa, in charge of H. Goodman, will fulfil their engagements at the same fixture. Pritchard has some of his charges engaged at both Manawatu and Lower

Valley, and he will be represented at both places. Matuku, Levant, and Sir Ludlam are engaged at Manawatu, whilst Kudu and Matuku appear amongst the list of horses handicapped ior Lower Valley. Shrapnel Shell also claims an engagement at the last-men-tioned meeting, and all going well, he will fulfil it.

A striking instance of how men intrusted with the adjustment oi handicaps diner in their opinions as to the merits of norses that they recently saw racing, is exemplified in the imposts allotted to catspaw and Wet Reef by the respective handicappers for Manawatu and Hawke’s Bay. ihe handicapper for the former’s Club sets Wet Reef to concede Catspaw four pounds, while the adjuster for Hawke’s i-ay considers that Wet Reef should give Catspaw twenty pounds, thus differing from the manawatu handicapper by Ifflb. Both houses ran at the Woodville Meeting, and the distances cf the events under notice are identical, viz., six furlongs, bn vatspaw's recent form, he certainly seems generously treated at Hawke’s Bay. He conceded Mr Richardson’s horse, Whakawhei, two stone and thirteen pound in the Woodville Hack Flying, and defeated him. Mr Richardson’s colt will have to improve a lot in the interim to defeat Catspaw at Hawke’s Bay when set to meet his conqueror on 271 b worse terms.

ihe training notes that reach sporting readers of newspapers outside of Auckland through the medium of the Press Association, are most misleading, and are utterly worthless to those who rely upon such information as a guide with the view of making totalisator investments. The evening papers of Saturday last, under the heading of Press Association, published some alleged training notes, amongst which was the following “Signalman beat Quarrymam over a mile and a-quarter in 2min 25A sec ; Mechanic beat Hohoro from a standing start over six furlongs in lmin 23-Jsec.” No weights are mentioned, and readers are given the impression that Quarryman has so lost form that he cannot do better than 2min 25sec for a ten furlongs, and that the champion sprinter, Hohoro, is clean off, and can be beaten in slow time by a second-rate horse. Of course, those who follow form closely will realise that “finished in front of” was meant when the word “beat” was used, but if so, why does the writer of the training notes lead folks, who may not be close followers of form, to come to absurd conclusions '!