FEILDING J.C. SPRING MEETING.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVI, Issue 926, 5 December 1907, Page 5

FEILDING J.C. SPRING MEETING.

(From Our Wanganui Correspondent) The spring meeting of the Feilding Jockey Club, which was held last Friday and Saturday, was most successful. The weather on the opening day was not so good as it might have been, as a heavy gale blew all the afternoon and made things rather uncomfortable for the large number of spectators who attended. The racing on both days was exceedingly good, the fields being large all through, whilst the class of horses competing was of the best. The fact that the gathering was l the first on the coast since the coming into force of the new Gaming Act made it very noteworthy, and much curiosity was evinced throughout North Island sporting circles as to the attitude the club would take up in regard to the bookmakers. A num- ;: ber of the latter visited Feilding in readiness to ply their calling if the conditions imposed were considered satisfactory.. The anxiety of the 1 metallicians was not allayed until a late hour on Thursday afternoon, when after a long sitting the committee, who tried every means of keeping the “bookies” off had to give in. They decided that the bookies should be restricted to two special enclosures, and the maximum daily fee of £2O would be imposed for such privileges, bookmakers’ clerks being charged a similar fee. The following were the conditions which the club decided to impose:— (1) No bookmaker’s clerk io be admitted to the racecourse. (2) No holder of a bookmaker’s license shall carry on his calling as a bookmaker except upon that portion of the racecourse specially set aside for that purpose,, and in respect of which he is specially licensed. (3) No bookmaker shall be allowed upon the lawn or grandstand. (4) No bookmaker shall make a bet on any race later than five minutes before the advertised time of starting such race. (5) Any bookmakers committing a breach of these conditions, or of the Gaming and Lotteries Act, shall be liable to have his license cancelled and in the event thereof he shall not be entitled to a refund of any portion of his license fee, and in addition thereto shall be liable to be expelled from the course. The bookmakers decided not to accept the conditions, consequently none took up licenses to bet either inside or outside. Considering the number of outsiders which got home it would probably have paid the bookmakers well had they decided to pay up and fight against the machines. The latter were worked by the club for the first time, and on the first day the sum of £12,789 was handled, as against £13,446 last year, a decrease of £655. The second day the returns were not available at time of writing. The closing of the tote five minutes before the start of a race resulted in the loss , of some hundreds of pounds to the machine on the first day, and again on the second day a lot of money was shut out. The management of the meeting was good, except for a bungle in the last race over the numbers, and taken on the whole it was a most successful gathering and thoroughly enjoyable, !?JU ra + T g brimful of interest T rou sh. The handicapper, Mr «« Henrys, has to be congratulated on the excellent results accruing from his adjustments, which were framed

duced big fields and splendid racing, with big dividends the order. '■ '■ Proceedings started on, the opening day with , the. Flying, Handicap, for which nine started. Moriarty and St. Claimer were in the lead all the way, the latter' getting home by a head after a very, interesting race in I.lb 3-5 secs. Sixteen' lined up for the Aorangi Hack Flat, Severn furlongs. Motor was quickest 'into his stride, and the Cd'd^uerol—M'ariofaette; h£d no trouble in landing the stake or his owner, Mr S-. M’essina f of Foxton, from Daisy Paul, who ’finished half-a-length ahead of Lady’ Disdain. The winner is a fine looking'colt, 4 years old, and as he is in capital nick, should be heard of before' long in more important events, fie carried 7.11 and cut out the'seven furlongs in 1.30 3-ssecs, winning very comfortably.' On the second day he carried 3.13 and won the Nikau Hack, six furlongs, from a big field like a racehorse in 1.15 3-ssecs. In this latter ■ .event San San was expected to run a good race, but he got left at the post. Maniapoto showed by his running m the St. Andrew’s Handicap that he has got back some of his old form, as he won comfortably’at z the finish m 2.30. It was; .a. / PQPJilar win, and Mr H. E. Good on the. "success of, his horse, which appears/quiteLsound -and likely to be ' heard of again before ' long. . Moral ran .second/ and might have seriously troubled the winner had he not been blocked—shut in' on the rails. Irish Rifle, was expected by Wanganuntes to run well, and did so, but it would have been an exceptionally fine performance, had. he stayed in front al the way, as he tried to do. ’Frisco was amongst the also started division, the New Zealand Cup winner quite failing to run up to expectations. Star Rose, last year’s winner of the. big race at Riccarton, was never promin©nt.. The big Hurdles fell to Gold Dust, who beat Asteroid by a couple of lengths. Lilli unseated his rider at the first hurdle. but continued in the race, occupying second position until well • in the straight, when he came away andv f Was firsty H past. the post. McGregor; hiA/rider/was seriously hurt, sustaining a -dislocated shoulder, and having; hfs’spine injured badly.. Showman annexed the Hack Hurd les by a length after a good race, with Liberator ' second, -and Dulcinea third. Five others ran. - Earmark, who had .been-Whispered about as . a good thing, fell at the second last hurdle whilst leading. . ; „ .Ffeetfoot was. the most fancied or the ten starters in the Feilding Stakes, Elevation being for some reason allowed to go out as one of the outsider's: Cambrian, the Auckland representative, Was well backed. He ran 'fairly well in the early stages, but .died right out , of the contest at the ■finish. 'Lord Soult and Aborigine were in front as they raced into the straight, and it. looked as though they were going to have the finish to themwhen ; Elevation came on the scene with a 'meteoric flash, and smothering the rest for pace ran home a winner by a length and a-half in T. - l-ssecs— good ’ time considering that the track was not so fast as it might have been. IL was a real good performance on the part of the son of San Francisco; who is a brilliant colt. Fleetfoot 16st a couple of lengths at the start, and never had a chance, whilst ■. Munjeet.ran disappointedly. The .Kiwitea Welter was won by Chatterer, who was in front all the way, and got home comfortably from Arclight and eleven others. Another serious accident happened in this event, as Sharkeyn fell and brought down Rendrock. W. Young, the rider of the latter, escaped unhurt, but McCombe was badly injured, an examination by Dr, Martin showing that he had had a rib broken and had sustained concussion of the brain. Both he and McGregor were conveyed to the Palmerston Hospital, their condition being very critical. The Hack Flying fell to Mr G. F. Moore’s Catapult (by MusketryPuss), who just beat Nukutihi by a The weather for the second day was delightful,. and, another capital,, day’s snort was witnessed. Eight started in the York Stakes, six furlongs, Moriarity scoring from Oxton and Wainaku... ~ Bunyan, and Contender were the favourites, btit rah disappointedly. As already stated Motoa scored in the next event, the Nikau Hack, Catapult ghod" second. Moral appropriated the Manchester Handicap • in- « which showed that those who contended that he would havejwon the big money the first day had blocked were probably right. Irishßifle was taken to the front from the start, and made the pace a cracker, but had run him-

self out a furlong? from-home,. . S.uch-a;? brilliant customer should not be allowed’ to take so much out of himself • in the early stages,.as were he cheeked a bit he would smother , everything else for pace in the run home.: Moral cut out the mile and a-quarter in 2.8. There were .13 starters,William ran well for; over a .mile, put ■ Maniapoto was not seen much of. ~. . • In the Cheltenham Hurdles Assayer was in the front' uiitil 'the second last hurdle, where he came a cropper, leaving• Sbn' Sim' in the -vany where -he being cut out in 3.17 3-ssecs. Le Beau made a big effort over the last two furlongs, but had to be content with second place. Gold Dust performed very differently to what he did on the previous day. He looked far from the same horse, and was sweating profusely before the start. A great outsider in Pantaloon came to light in the Rongotea Hack Hurdles, in which ten started. The Martini —Enfield gelding put in a tremendous run over the last two furlongs, aand won comfortably from Royal Blue. Belario and Daisy Paul fought out a desperate finish in the.. Hack Welter, in which ten figured, the former gaining the verdict by a head in the good time of 1.57 l-ssecs. Jimmy Peachey has The Officer gelding in fine form. The St. Andrew mare Chatterer scored her second win in the Railway Welter, in which 13 faced the starter, including Wind, who had already scored twice previously in this race. The Stake was in command at first, and then Gawain, but Chatterer came fast at the finish with The Rand, and a close finish resulted in Chatterer’s number being hoisted, with The Stake and The Rand in order. The last race —the Scurry—was an unsatisfactory affair, owing to the horses not being numbered in the books. This led to no end of confusion owing to there being a number of scratchings. Buoyant led for the greater part of the distance, but Ikon then came on the scene and won after an exciting set-to up the straight. Quite a number thought when the numbers went up that Axite had won, and more than one backer of the first and second horse either tore up or threw away their tickets under the belief that their horses were not placed. A lot of dissatisfaction was expressed at the bungling, which should not have been allowed at such an important gathering.