TURF TOPICS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1451, 14 February 1918, Page 10

TURF TOPICS.

Cynic was amongst the “also started’’ in the Gisborne Cup. * * • * The All Red —Rose Shield 'filly Vermillion won again last week. » * * * There was a substantial increase in the tote turnover at Te Kuiti. W. Ryan is another Auckland horseman who has to go into camp. V** ' * . Matty, who was winning last week, is a four-year-old fuL-sister to Nanna. » * * * The totalisator turnover at the Gisborne meeting amounted to £16,326, against £13,899 last years Riding honours at the Taranaki and Gisborne meetings were pretty weli distributed. * * Whi e Gaycium was winning at Taranaki her fu.l-brother Cleft was in evidence at Gisborne. * * * * Hymestra is said to be doing all right, and is expected to race at the coming meeting at Wanganui. H. Watson did the “hat trick” at Taranaki by winning three consecutive races. * Glenspire, as consistent as ever, had to le conten: with two seconds at Te Kuiti. * * Henry Clay, a winner at Taranaki, is by Signor, and comes of the old Peeress line. • ♦ • * New Zealand, by Marble Arch from General Latour’s sister Lady Neville, had her first win at Te Kuiti. Form seems to have been very consistent at the Taranaki meeting, and backers were pretty well on the spot in some o the races. Gaze'ey’s stock were much in evidence during last week— Gazique, Cleft, Gaycium, Lady Gazeley, and Otara were winners. Acceptances for the Wanganui Trotting Club’s meeting close to-day (Thursday). A few Auckland-trained horses are engaged. * New Zealand horses in Egypt that went out with the early transports are still going strong. They have become used to the climate. * » » * For the two days of the Taranaki meeting the tote turnover was £50,897, an increase of £7749 10s. over last year. * * * ♦ Winners of the Taranaki Stakes since it was installed are Flying Start, Emperador, Estland, and Finmark. * * * * J. Williamson makes country racing a study. He trained three of the winners at Te Kuiti. They were Pendoon. Sylvasco and Garry Owen. C. Emerson got bucked off Keystone at Te Kuiti and badly bruised, and had to te taken to the local hospital. Mr. W. Hall, secretary to the Wanganui Jockey Club, contemplates that his club will have a good meeting next week. * * * • A good many Maoris were in evidence at the Te Kuiti meeting “doing their bit” on the tote like their rakeha brothers and sisters. * * * * The horsemen J. Conquest, H. Turner and J Preston are out patients o ’ the Auckland Hospital, each doing well. a Royal Chel' and Paul Moore, respectively by Coronet and St. Paul, kept .the memory of their sires green at the Taranaki meeting. > * * * Mr G. D. Greenwood’s two “blue ribands” winner, Biplane, is expected to run for the Wanganui Guineas and Jackson Stakes next week. As there was no third horse competing in the Taranaki Stakes, the 50SOVS. allotted for that position goes to the winner, Finmark. ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ The hurdler Record is again in work, and may be given a run on the second day of the Wanganui meeting. He is looking big and fresh. The enquiry into Poi’s running at the Takapuna meeting is to be further gone into on the 19th by the Judicial Committee of the Tekapuna. Jockey Club.

The much-travelled Cheddar was good enough for the opposition in the Mimi Welter at Taranaki in a field of five. ¥** * ■ Though she won two races at Taranaki, it was asking a good deal of the litt’e mare Gaycium to saddle her up four times in two days. ♦ * * * The only two of the progeny of the defunct sire Stepniak to race at Te Kui:i were Tinopai and Last Call. They each won, and certainly represent quality. Rawakore, who won at the Taranaki . meeting, traces back to the same tap root as the grey gelding Iceberg. She was bred at the Ascot Szud, Mangere. » * * » Kohinahina, a winner at the Gisborne meeting, was omitted in the list of acceptances for the race won, and the same thing occurred in the case of another winner, Sarah Grand. * * * * Sarah Grand, who was in winningform at Gisborne, is by All Black from Heavenly Twin, therefore bred to race with some distinction, though she only won twice last season. * * * * Whether Desert Gold will compete in the Newmarket Handicap depends upon how her owner views the situation after she has had a go in the Futurity Stakes at Caulfie’d. G'ad Tidings won at Te Kuiti in a manner indicating that there was more in his recent form than some people imagined. He again paid a fair price.

The totalisator turnover at the Taranaki meeting showed a substantial increase over both days of last year. The same thing is noticeable everywhere in the North Island. ♦ * n- » Movement, who won at Taranaki, is an eight-year-old black daughter* of Advance and an Officer mare unnamed. Mares by The Officer have been producing winners. Nobleman is one so bred. * * * » Coleraine has at last made good over hurdles. He won at Te Kuiti, but more than one of the obstacles got out of his way, which was lucky for him, but nevertheless he should win at the game again. He still has some pace. » ♦ » » Sasanof (Melbourne Cup), Menelaus (New Zealand Cup), Nobleman (Wellington Cup), Toatere and Wishful (Taranaki Cup), Client (Wanganui Cup) and ocher prominent winners figure in the Wanganui Cup this year. * * • * Weights for the Wanganui and Egmont meetings were issued by Mr. H. Coyle on the day following the Taranaki meeting. There is a fair acceptance for the Egmont fixture, and there seems every prospect of a good muster at Wanganui. * * * * The nominations received for the Waipapakauri Racing Club’s meeting, which precedes the Great Northland Fair on March 6th, are excellent in number. They comprise horses from Whangarei, Dargaville, Hokianga, Ohaewai and Auckland.

Garry Owen, who won at Te Kuiti, is by Salvadan, the American-bred son of Salvator, and he will pay his way and no doubt do better as he gets seasoned. * ❖ * * The totalisator turnover at the Poverty Bay Turf Club’s meeting amounted to £20,516, an increase of £3410 over the amount invested last year. 4- V ♦ * It is hard at this stage to say what will go out favourite for the Wanganui Cup, but there are indications already that Client will not be an outsider. There was probably never a more consistent performer th»n old Platypus, dam of Otter, the hurdler, who was amongst the jumping r"*e winne last week. Jp * * * The increase in the tote turnover at the Te Kuiti meeting on Saturday as compared with last year was £2734. The sum of £18,613 was handled. * $ ♦ * Fancy old Cheddar turning up trumps again. He is one of the few gets of de unct Merriwee now lacing, and still races for Mr. C. McLaren and is trained by P. Coffey. * • * « The defunct Lough Enne’.l was handicapped topweight for the Petre Hack Handicap at Wanganui. This should not be, and raises a question whether the weight should not have started at 9.0 with Bon d’Or, who received 21b., no such horse as Lough Ennell being in existence.

J. Lambess, of Ellerslie, had Gaycium, the double winner at Taranaki, in his stables for a few weeks before that mare was sent, to the recent meeting and the change did her no harm. * *4* * » The hurdler Colorado is a fine type of horse, and there are some people who fancy he may win a good race on the flat. It remains to be seen whether the Wanganui Cup will be within his compass. * * * * Mr. E. Rayner Jackson, who has given £l5OO for an aeroplane to be called after Wanganui, is a son of the late Mr. Freeman R. Jackson, auctioneer and popular secretary for some many years to the Wanganui Jockey Club. It is a rare thing in New Zealand, or in any part of the Australasian colonies, to find grey horses competing in important races in these days. The number of grey thoroughbreds lacing in the Dominion just now could probably be counted on one’s fingers. Just before the summer meeting of the Taranaki Jockey Club a pair of greys, Iceberg and White Blaze, ac:ually headed the chief handicap race of that meeting. The same pair of horses were competing last week at the second summer meeting of that club, which is, of course, the chief of the meeting held by the long-established metropolitan club, but the company was more select this time, and in the chief race on the second day the horses named appeared at the bottom of the handicap list. One of them, White Blaze, got second to Wishful in the Paul Memorial Handicap.

Husbandman has left a few useful horses. Huzza, who carried Claude Brown home paying a useful dividend at Taranaki, where the average was small, is by that horse. So is Volo. * ♦ ♦ Rawakore, a winner at Taranaki, is the first by Penury from a Soult mare to score. Madam Soult, her dam, descends from a good old Wanganui family to which Escapade and Shrapnel belonged- * * * * Finmark in his last two successes has had luck with him, in that he was not penalised at Trentham and only had one to meet in the Taranaki Stakes. He may be improving with racing, and should be well seasoned now. * • • » It is considered improbable that Desert Gold will compete for the Australian Cup. There is a possibility of her being run in the Newmarket Handicap with 9.13 up. Good ones have been placed with as much weight as that on occasions. * * * * The Taranaki Jockey Club have not had the encouragement they deserved. In introducing the classic race The Taranaki Stakes they have given breeders and owners a good chance, and they have received very good nominations for the race, but this year only to secure a brace of runners was very disappointing, and it was a pity that no Taranaki horses were on hand to take part in the contest against the brace of visitors, which hailed from Hawke’s Bay and Canterbury, Finmark and Koesian respectively.

Cleft, Otara, Lady Gazeley and Gazique, winners last Thursday at Gisborne, were got by imported Gazeley; Multive and Actifid by Multifid and Kohinahina by Sabretache, sires that stood in the Poverty Bay district. * * * ♦ Wishful always looked a likely winner of the Taranaki Cup from the appearance of the weights, but paid a very fair dividend for a first favourite, other horses being well backed. He won again on the second day in the chief event, the Paul Memorial Stakes, and was again favourite. * * * Gaycium’s double at Taranaki on the opening day was quite overdue, the shapely daughter of Gazeley and the Phoebus Apollo mare Cricium having had no luck for some time previously. She had been a bit harsh'y handicapped at times, too. The company at Taranaki was not top class, and she was well. « * * * Amongst the horses remaining in the Jackson Stakes at Wanganui after the last payment was due are Biplane, Estland, Finmark, Hymestra, Chimera, Acre, Lingerie, Torfreda, Informal, Demagogue, and others that have raced well this season. The race should be a very fine one; indeed, the best between two and three-year-olds seen in New Zealand this season or for many years, if their owners go on with the game instead of using the scratching pen freely, as sometimes happens. A meeting between the three-year-olds alone would be brimful of interest.