EASTER NOMINATIONS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1247, 12 March 1914, Page 12

EASTER NOMINATIONS.

The nominations received by the Auckland Racing Club for their autumn meeting and those received by the Canterbury Jockey Club have been carefully scanned. The Auckland Racing Club’s Easter and St. George’s Handicaps stand in the same relation asi the Canterbury Jockey Club’s Easter and Autumn Handicaps, the only difference being that the C.J.C. Easter is a furlong shorter than that of the A.R.C. For each of these particular events the number of riominaticns is much the same, but there are a few horses engaged at both meetings, and it will be interesting to note how the respective handicappers treat the horses. r I heir weights are due on the same day. The clubs referred to should each have excellent meetings. Nearly all the best horses in the Dominion figure in one or other of the nomination lists, and they are not all likely to be figuring at one meeting.

It is noticeable that the name of Colonel Soult does not appear in the nominations for either the Easter or St. George’s Handicaps at the autumn meeting of the Auckland Racing Club but whether this is due to the fact that he got cast in his box over a week ago or to a previously reported intention that he was to be kept until next season we cannot say. If for the first reason then it is much to bei regretted, as horses worth so much money don’t want to eat the bread of idleness long. A good long rest, however, will do Colonel Soult no harm, as he was going early in the spring with a view to annexing the Avondale double.

Another noticeable absentee from the nominations of both clubs is Postillion, who, up to the last Wellington meeting, was considered good enough to run with the best at weight-for-age over a mile. He fell when racing in Auckland, but came out and ran so well afterwards at the summer meeting that it appeared that the fall had had no ill effects. He almost fell again when working on the Trentham tan track the day after he had been beaten out of a place in the mile weight-for-age race, and his absence is explained, it is said, because it has been deemed advisable to give him a rest. He missed the Jackson Stakes, one of the last, if not the last, of his classic engagements, for this reason, and it was a race which entailed no extra weight for previous wins and run over a distance that many would pick to sjiit him best at this stage of his career, though when the weights suit there is no reason why he should not get a bit further when a bit older.

By running third in the Rosehill Handicap carrying 9.5, Midnight Sun showed that he still retains some form The winner, Iran, had 6.7 and the second horse, Mandowa, 81. Emerson rode Midnight Sun, who, being a young horse, should yet win a good race.