WELLINGTON.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XV, Issue 877, 27 December 1906, Page 9

WELLINGTON.

WELLINGTON, December

At the time of penning these lines, local training stables bear a deserted appearance, owing to the whole of the active brigade having been called upon to assist at the varous provincial race gttnerings. Shou d he weather remain as at present capital atetndancfs and racing should result. Th? Manawatu F. cing Club has drawn together most of the t st of the local horses, and no efforts have been spared .0 make the meeting a success from a financial point of view.

The Ashhurst-Pohangina Racing Club, whose racecourse is only a few n iles irom Palmers.on North, hold a day’s racing on the 28th. This meeting : s row sandwiched in bi tween the racing neld by the Manawatu Club. Horses engaged at Manawatu are .aken to Ashhurst on the morning of the races and return to Palmerston the same evening. As a ma;ter of fact the horses and public are ncstly identical with rhose who attend the Mar..--watu Meeting, and the latter club, vl.en they applied to the Racing Conference for a third day, made a suggestion <hat the Manawatu Club should absorb the .-Ash-hurst-Pohangina Club. The argument that it was more convenient for the few residents of Ashhurst to visit Palmerston North than it was for horses, trainers, and the public to proceed to th- suburban course availed nothing, and horses and the public will I ke the Laird of Cockpins men march out to Ashhurst and march back again. Mr “Barclay’s” hurdle horse Sardonyx has gone amiss and will require a resp.te from work ; Sardonyx was trained at the Hutt Park where the tracks are in bad order ; the loss of his services at this stage of the season is a serious matter for his owner, who has nothing else in training at present. The charge against the local bookmakers, Messrs Scott and Martindale, and Arthur Law, resulted in their being committed to the Supreme Court for trial by a jury, Dr.. McArthur, S.M., considering that the higher court was the proper tribuna'. He therefore granted the request of the defendants’ solicitor, Mr Skerrett, that the cases be remitted to the higher court. The nominations received for the W.R.C. Summer Meeting are considered highly satisfactory. The entries for the Wellington Cup are not so numerous as

last year, but they include nearly the whole of the best handicap horses in the colony; the Auckland colt Cambrian, and Mr O’Brien’s Multifid being the only first-class handicap horses that are omitted from the list. The latter, it is reported, is being indulged in a spell, and will probably not be raced until the Wanganui Meeting. The Telegraph Handicap includes the best available sprinters, whilst the minor handicaps and hack races have drawn capital nominations ; Mr Polock’s handicaps are due on Monday, January 7th.