WESTLAND RACING CLUB.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1379, 28 September 1916, Page 9

WESTLAND RACING CLUB.

ANNUAL MEETING’.

The annual meeting of the Westland Racing Club was held on the 20th inst., Mr. W. E. Williams (president) being in the chair. The annual report disclosed that despite the untoward circumstances of the wai’ the club had well maintained its financial position during the year just closed. During that period the club increased the stakes from £l6OO to £lBOO, and their meeting had proved very popular with owners and public alike. Since the outbreak of war the club has now contributed a total of £471

15s. 9d. to various funds, taking into account the proceeds from the club’s privileges which have been freely devoted for patriotic purposes. In Government war and general taxation the club paid last year, also, £lO7l 12s. sd. to the public account. During the year the Course Account shows an expenditure of £607. This includes the initial portion of the present improvement scheme now in hand. For this purpose £BOO has been raised by debenture, and the work is now going forward. The jubilee of the club is to be celebrated at the meeting to be held on January 8 and 9 next, when a substantial increase in stakes has been provided for, the programme aggregating £2OOO, together with a gold cup valued at lOOsovs. In connection with this much looked forward to gathering, the committee has resolved to effect some further improvements to the grounds. Two additional sections have been purchased, cleared and gravelled, and are being thrown into the paddock, where further stall accommodation will also be provided. The additional area will permit of the galloping and trotting horses competing at the meeting being kept separate, as it is intended to utilise the new portion of the paddock solely for trotting horses. Good stall accommodation and other conveniences will be provided for their use. It has been decided, therefore, to rear as a memorial of the club’s jubilee a stewards’ stand on the site of the present quarters, but enlarged and more convenient. A more roomy birdcage will also be provided, and freer access for public afforded between the lawn and the totalisator. Increased booth accommodation will also be provided for the inside quarters, and more commodious rooms and conveniences will also be provided for jockeys and riders, and generally several matters will have attention in the scheme of improvement now being pushed forward.

It will thus be seen that the club, with its progressive policy of increased stakes, and the improvements being carried out, has undertaken a considerable liability, but is is expected that the jubilee meeting will prove an unqualified success.

The committee have made the following appointments: —Chairman, Mr. W. E. Williams; secretary and treasurer, Mr. D. J. Evans; assistantsecretary, Mr. J. Peake; clerk of scales, Mr. J. Jones; deputy-clerk, Mr. C. J. P. Sellers; judge, Mr. F. McGregor; deputy-judge, Mr. J. Evans; starter, Mr. H. Butland; handicapper, Mr. J. Noble; timekeepers, Messrs. Keller, Houston, and Haussmann; clerk of course, Mr. R. Fane; hon. surgeons, Drs. Teichelmann and Doctor; stewards, the committee; course committee, Messrs. Thompson, Butland, Sellers, and Mclntosh; judicial committee, Messrs. Williams, Houston, Sellers, Mclntosh and Haussmann.

The A.J.C. spring meeting starts on Saturday.

Cagou is still showing form in Australia.

Bee has been backed for the Sydney Metropolitan.

Wolaroi and Thana are voted the best A.J.C. Derby propositions.

Crib, who is the best hurdler in the South Island, won the Jumpers’ Flat Race at Amberley.

Rongoro, winner of the Welter Hack at Otaki, is a son of Toy Gun. He won last in February at Woodville. Wolaroi has won over £BOOO in stakes to-date. He promises to start favourite for the A.J.C. Derby. The brothers V. and E. Riddiford led off with a win at Wanganui with Chakwana and at Otaki with Ayah.

The totalisator turnover on the opening day of the Otaki meeting on Monday showed an increase of £1512.

P. O’Neill will in ell cases when the weights suit ride the horses of Mr. W. G. Stead at Randwick. O’Neill is a Queensland horseman.

It is expected that L. H. Hewitt wLI ride Kliboy in the A.J.C. Derby, in which Mr. J. B. Reid’s colt was thiru fancy when the mail left.

All Red had two winners at the Otaki meeting on the fiist day, and his dam also claimed a winner on the same day.

Cyklon, the Victorian-owned Eng-lish-bred horse in the Sydney Metropolitan, is reported to be much fancied.

Mr. Geo. Currie’s Common Law is talked of as one that may cause a surprise in the Sydney Metropolitan, as his staying pretensions are above the average.

Cetigne’s running in the Chelmsford Stakes was not promising, but he has since run well at Rosehill and is now landed for the Epsom Handicap.

The sum of £9321 was passed through the totalisators at the Amberley meeting on Monday, just half the amount handled on the opening day at Otaki.

It is 11 years since the late Mr. G. G. Stead had such a big innings at the A.J.C. spring meeting with Noctuiform and Co., and twenty-two years since Mr. Gollan won the A.J.C. Derby with Bonnie Scotland.

Eastcourt, winner of the Hawkesbury Guineas, is, or was, a fancied A.J.C. Derby candidate. He is well engaged through the meeting in races up to a mile and a furlong.

Mr. R. Russell, a steward of the Wanganui Jockey Club, who has made a feature of the parading of horses in the paddock before each race, was unavoidably absent last week, but the duties were efficiently carried out by brother stewards.