RACING REVIVAL IN HAWKE'S BAY

Chronicle (Levin), 27 June 1946, Page 6

RACING REVIVAL IN HAWKE'S BAY

SOME ELOQUENT FIGtJRES. The very successful .meeting staged bv the Hawke's 13ay Jockey Club at Hastings on Saturday furnishes a striking illustration of the remarkable recovery racing lias niade from tlie pooi position it was in not so long ago. in the years following the slump aud the great eartliquake tlie Hawke's Bay Club found tlie way liard, but carried on in the hope of bettei! days ahead, and to tliosc wlio atecred the organisation in those ditlicult times credit is due. Gradually the clouds lifted and eyeiituallv prosperity returned. Ten years- ago the total prizc money for tlie" Hawke's Bay Steeplcchaao was £150. On Saturday it was a £1000 raee. At tlie 1935 winter meeting tlie miuoi flat races carried stakes of £70, the opcn Hat races of £80 aml tlie total prize money pcr day was £020, less by £30 tliau the suiu secured by Maatei Meruit wlien lie won last week-end. On tlie iirst day of the winter meeting ten years ago £4317 10s went tlirough the niacliine. Last Saturday 's turnover was £00,123.

An unusual provision in thc llawkc s Bay programme makes. the Juue Stooplechase on the second day cspecially attractive to Master Meruit. The provision is a maximum weight of 12 stone- Master Meruit carried 11.9 wlien he won with ease last week and will have only 51b. more to carry" "if he starts this week. As the Iirst prize is t worth £487 10s and as tlie result oi {•he raee can have no bearing on his wei^'ht in the big steeplechaso at Awa ■ puni/'in which a maximum of 12 stone is stipuiated, it is safe to say he will run if all is well. It is not unusual to find a maximum weight stipuliited for big steeplechases run on the Iirst day of a meeting, but ntost unusual to lind such a provision on the second day. Death of Muraahi A good handieap performer of 20 years ago, Muraahi, died at Mr. W. B rough 's farm, Taihape, recently. Muraahi was a good stayer and his suecesses included the Wanganui Cup of 1925 and a dead-lieat with Te Ivara for Iirst in the Auckland Cup of 1923. Mufaalii was by Campiire, a son of Carbine. Ile was in his 29th year when he died, so enjoyed about the same length of Jife as his sire and grandsire. His dam Ineuru was -by the crack New Zealand galloper Maniapoto from Kohi ua, by Vanguard from Manu. Ineuru was a very useful performer aud Kohina won races round about Taranaki. Muraahi raced in the ownersliip of Mr. Hua M'oetahuna, or Hua Bishop, a well-known Opunake settler, and was trained at Hawera by R. B rough. ;• ' Old Identity Passes ' Many of the oldor goneration of racin'g will. regret to hear of the death , of Mr. T. W. Twist, wlio was well

known in turf cireles and was for years conneete.d with the Sporting and Dramatie Heview. Mr. Twist liad not enjoyed good health of late and'" for some time liad been bedridden. He entered Wellington Hospital this mottth aud' died on Monday. evening.