NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1331, 8 January 1912, Page 7

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

[Bi Glencoe.] After nn -absence of five months from the saddle, owing to a. bad fall sustained at Riccnrton in .August, C. Cochrane made his. reappearance in tbo first luirdto race at Stratford, ivhwi he hart the. mount nn Clemency, who finished just outside tlie placed division. ■ First Mate, who has lieen noted in the pa.st for the largo ntimber of comploto surprises which .he lias brought off, broke down /luring tlie run/nn? ot tho Stratford Cup,, and will now know tho racecourse, no more. When the ex-New Zealand gelding Gunboat won tlio Hopet-""u Cup at Caul-

field on Boxing Day ho ran m the nomination nf K. A. Connolly, and started a warm favourite. The Multiform gelding, Lord Kelvin, ran unplaced in the same race, '.it one part of which he had a break of ten lengths. Tho running of Counterfeit and Winning Way during ihe holidays enabled Sir Geo. Clifford to go through the Auckland meeting in li dazzle, of success, null there seems little doubt that the Canterbury sportsman will top the. list of winning owners this season. This is appropriate enough, lor Sir George Clifford is president of the Hacing Conference, the highest position obtainable on the New Xealamt turf, and, in addition, ho is n breeder on :t very extensive scale. Ho,has always a String of. between twenty ami thirty horses in work :il Chukebore liodgv, under the i-upci-vision of the Cutis family. Baring the hieing season ju.-t concluded in liitglum! Ihe c.i-Au.slralinh trainer !!. Wootton saddled the greatest number of winners, viz., forty-eight. Prince Souif, the full-brother to Jfastet' Soiilt, who clime mil with such a flourish of trumpets at the Auckland Cup meeting, anil established himself at the to|) iif tile hro-year-nld IreC, is a. very commanding juvenile, and is thought by many to be the superior of Aiitumnus. Big iiiiil backward, oiliiilf to the fact that he cannot be persuaded to flurry himself on the. track, the brown colt improved frit it every i'tlkt 1 , tint l ' he set tlm seal on his reputation On the concluding day by defeating the Royal Stakes field. That field included the hitherto invincible Winning Way, and the .-•peedy Culprit, He was greatly fancied by his connection, and his win was a very popular one with the Auckland public. A meeting between him and Autunluus, later in the season, will indeed be a Star item for tho club fortunate' enough to get both horses.

The latest horse to come into prominence for the Wellington Cup is the Winter dtp winner Undecided. It. is stated that, oil Saturday, Air. Smarts gelding was freely backed, both straight out and in doubles. ■ . •V juvenile which raced very consist-, en'tlv throughout the A.K.O. meahng was the " .Highdcti-dwned fill.n Ennengarde. who, though failing to nay a.'dh-idend in either, of her. three starts, ,Jct ran. remarkably well under trying circumstances, and showed herself to be possessed of wonderful pace. the righthanded going did not suit her at an, and, at each turn, she lost seveta lengths. 'She was not started oil tho concluding day, but was exercised in tile morning, when she looked «? fresh as paint, and her rider had difhculty in controlling her. From this it is very evident that the youngster is possessed of a very tino constitution, and is not of the 'Ousting" order. Antarctic—thought-by innny to bo the best steeplechaser in the Dominion—is shortlv to bo taken up again after his spell,'and will be hacked about for a couple of 'months before being got ready for cross-country racing. The chestnut is now quite sound, and shows no sigh of the iiijun 1 which Used to occasionally manifest itself last season. Electrnkdff left A. Rllodes's chaw after winnin" the handicap on tho couclndin» day at Bllerslie. It is liis owner's intention to turn him out for a short spell, after which ho doubt he will again join the New Plymouth stable. S. Brerotoit, who presides over a useful team at Waverley* generally gets hold of a smart sprinter or two. At the present time Hiiiekorangi, Ohine. and Ineuruall the progeny of Ivohiha, herself a speedy mare-nre each capable of winning sprint events. Kohina is by Vanguard, and won many races on the H est Coast when owned by A\. H. Keith.

FIXTURES. Jan. 20. 22, and 24- Wellington B.C. Summer. Feb. 1 and 2—Gisborne R.C. Summer. Feb. 1 and 3— Canterbury J.C. Summer.