CANTERBURY.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XV, Issue 900, 6 June 1907, Page 7

CANTERBURY.

CANTERBURY, June 5. Buccleugh was sore when he ran in the Tokakahi Handicap at Oamaru, and in addition to his big weight (9.13) hampered him in the heavy going. I very much doubt whether fit and well Btuccleugh could give Lupulite a stone over five furlongs. With a rest Benzoin’s big son will soon be all right again. The Great Easter Handicap-winner Fireiron cut up badly after going about five furlongs in the Oamaru Cup, and did not start in the Mile Handicap on the second day. Fireiron had not run since the C.J.C. autumn fixture, but his party thought he would run much better than he did in the Oamaru Cup. The horse is fit and well and should be a tough one to beat in any race he starts in at the Grand National Meeting. Watershoot, who has not been shaping at all well lately, will be started in the Oamaru Cup, but failed to run up to her owner’s expectations. I have frequently drawn attention to the in and out running of Ivanoff, a Welcome Stakes winner. After winning a mile race in brilliant style the Stepniak colt went down to Oamaru and won the Members’ Handicap from a weak field, but on the second day when nicely treated in the Victoria Handicap (one mile) he was never prominent, and finished a bad last. Ivanoff is a fine free galloper with a nack of going well in his preliminary, but in the race proper he frequently goes all to pieces. It is a risky business backing horses of Ivanoff’s stamp. Harvest strikes me as a horse likely to run well over a distance of ground next season, when he will be five years old. True, the Clanranalds have never been proved stayers, but it is quite on the cards that at least one of the family Harvest to my mind will do beter than some of his near relations. There is likely to be a poor lot of jumpers at Riccarton this winter, and North Island owners should have matters pretty well their own way at the Grand National Meeting. With the exception of Evenlode, Ability, Slow Tom and Leeside there are no jumpers worth considering, and unless some of our flat racers are put to the jumping game North Islanders should have very little difficulty in again carrying off the bulk of the stake money in August. Nominations for both Grand National Hurdles and Steeples, also the Winter Cup are not due till Friday, June 21. It would be interesting to know who are the real owners of Grandstand and The Seer. It is freely reported that the head horseman for a big stable at Yaldhurst is financially interested in the son of Grand Cross, and threw in for a big win over the horse’s victory in the Otekaike Handicap at Oamaru. Jockeys are known to do some queer things at times, and what the man in the street wants to know is, “Who is the real owner of Grandstand?”

A leading Christchurch bookmaker told me that had it not been for the trotting meeting at Plumpton Park on Empire Day he would have lost over £IOOO over Grandstand’s win at

Oamaru. Many of his clients were at the trots and did not hear of the good thing at Oamaru. The same bookmaker also told me that he held some of the Grandstand commission money which was put on by two friends of a well-known jockey. The Grandstand people did not get all their money, one of the smaller bookmakers refusing to pay out. Altogether this bookmaker held £SO of Grandstand money, and before the race was prepared to go on. He was, however, not prepared to pay out on the following day. What a fine hurdler Lupulite would make! He is bred on staying lines and posses a great deal more pace than the average hurdle horse. So far Lupulite has not raced over a mile course, but I shall not be surprised to see him trained for a big race run over a longer course. After running at Ashburton the owner of the son of Lupin was, I am credibly informed, asked to put a price on him, but replied that he was not for sale. From what I can hear one thousand guineas would not buy the horse at the present time. Horses in F. Holme’s stable have not been doing too well lately, and a decent win or two would be much appreciated by those connected with it. Holmes generally scores well at winter meetings.

Talking of Holmes reminds me that I saw the popular trainer in the saddle at the Plumpton Park Trotting meeting. He was up on Peter Allan in the Trial > Handicap, and after a great finish * got his horse home by a head. There are few better riders of trotting horses in the saddle than Free Holmes. I have never seen him drive a sulky. Backers are already inquiring prices for the Grand National double. They want Black Reynard in the Hurdles and Evenlode in the Steeples. I have never heard of an early favourite combination winning the National double.

Those who saw Miss Gal race at Oamaru are sorting her out as a winner of a race next season. Miss Gal is probably unknown to most Sports, who will be surprised to hear that she is by Stepniak out of the New Zealand Cup winner Tortulla and the first of this mare’s progeny to race. That Miss Gal is a good one I have no doubt, and if she only proves half as good as her mother she will pay her way nicely. The sports who lost their tin! —A party of Christchurch sports patronised the Oamaru meeting, and when it came to the last race on the last day they were recommended by a certain jockey to have a good bit on The Seer. They managed to scrape a fiver between them, and meekly did what they were told, but when Grandstand won and The Seer only got third, they—but you will not publish the adjectives, so I’ll stop.