NOTES ON THE RACING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1589, 5 November 1912, Page 4

NOTES ON THE RACING.

(B* Teleeiapb.—SDecial Correspondent.) ! Christchurch, November i. Rain "set in early in, the, morning, and continued throughout the afternoon. The going was fairly good, but the attendance showed a great. tailing■, off . as. compared, with'the. first .day. i . f : All the nine acceptors went out for the Middleton Hurdles. The field included'the Porirua-trained • Hawick, who was not among the runners'on the first day. Jiollin was : nearly- down at the first fence, and at the second Golden Loop lost his rider. The going suited White Cockade—a :•■great'/: "mud-lark"—who carried ou/ the .running . throughout, and was'never headed, fashion- Plate, ,wbo 'Tan a great race under her big 'weight, and Gold Pin joined the leader at the home turn, but :lie' shook ; them off, and won easily. Bollin made up'some ground in the last six 'furlongs. and finished fourth. Hawick was never dangerous; and finished last. : ■ ■ ■■ . ; ■ The were ■ so- .withdrawals . from tlie Criterion Handicap. Bootle, whose first appearance /it' was., at the meeting, got a good break in the first furlong, but the distance was beyond him. When they had settled down, Culprit was. at the head of the ruck, but Merry Prank got his head in front before /the. straight was reached, where Bootl§r,di < ?d,7out,-;!-.At> the distance. Soldiers'. Chorus* came through on ' the rails,' and scored ' comfortably from Peiren'e. ,The Wellington-owned Ceylon just, beat .Heatherbrae, who was a big favourite, for third place.' The runners included Tannhauser (full brother' to Soldiers' Chorus). Gipsy Sell®, was never prominent. The 'success -, of Soldiers' Chorus, who ran a great race in the Cup ■ event on. the previous day,' considering that he has been trained for, and raced in, short distances,-'was very'popular. ■ Warstep was the only scratching for tho Xrwell Handicap, the big field of seventeen starting. , They included the winner and runner-up in the Welcome Stakes. Per.onilla began smartly, and had chaTge for two .furlongs, when she had;to give way to some of the lighter-weighted division. "One of the least fancied and -smallest of /the field—Fender (half-sister'to Inglcneuk and Fireiron, and: full-sister to Fireglow, who 'wis sent to Victoria), scored from Zeus (one. of R. J. Mason's team), and Immer, a first foal of the Victorian mare Everlasting, by Padlock from the imported Azalea. The three placed horses were ,sired/'by the imported 'Martian ' (sire of Soldiers' Chorus), a good performer in the Stead/colours. '.Mr. ,T. H. Lowry, 6tarted a good-looking colt named Soltano, by Soult—Monoquil, by Cyrenian, who finished fourth. Briar Patch—a,full-sister to Heatherbrae—from Ciltts's stable, was expected to run well, but failed to show up prominently. , The Derby .field was-a-thoroughly representative one, including, as it did, tho best of last season's two-year-olds, and the winners of this 'season's Wanganui and Hawko's Bay- Guineas. The stables of Sir Geo. Clifford and Messrs. Stead 6nch started two, and in each case, the horse carrying tlie second colours did the best. Bou Reve began smartly on the rails, and going well-in front was never - headed. For the first half milt Autumnus and Gnome were his ■nearest attendants, but at the half-way Haskayne . moved up and six furlongs from home, appeared likely to catjli the leader. However, the effort to make up the gap proved an ■ impossible one, and he was well beaten in good time, considering the state of the going. 1 Had Haskayne not had ii severe race in the Cup he would probably have put up a better, fight. Haskayne's stable mate was similarly placed last year. .Autumnus had, a light preparation, and was not tlior-' oughly wound up. Brown Owl's form was good enough to make her a fancied candidate', for the Oaks. Bon Ton finished just behind Autumnus. The other pair, were outclassed. It was Oliver's first success -in a New Zealand Derby and also the first time that Messrs. Stead have been represented in the race. Boniform was himself a champion two-year-old, and his sons are keeping up a successful line of winners. Boniform's sire (Multiform) won the race—then known, as the Canterbury; Derby—and two of his ■ progeny ■ (Nightfall and Nochiiforin) were also winners of this important race. The winner was decorated with the Blue Riband, by Mrs. C. G. Dalgefy (wife of the chairman of the .club) assisted by Mrs. G. G. Stead (mother of tho owners of the winner). The Traquair filly, Ventura—winner of the Breeders' Plato and Gimcrack Stakes at the A.J.C. spring mpetinj—made her first appearance iir the iDominion in tho Juvenile Plate, a race for two and three-year-olds with penalties and. allowances. She began smartly and never gave any of her opponents a chance. The Fordeljtrnined filly. Bonny Helen (Boniform—Helen 'Portland), showed a lot of pace,, but ran very green, and just missed second place.: being, beaten I by The Hague (Stepniak—Peace),'a fily of Mr. T. H. Lowry's, that ran second in i 'tho Avondale Stakes. Nightwatch, who was' left at the post in tho AVelcomo Stakes, was again last to leave the mark, and was not able to make up the leeway. Ventura, is brilliant, and may keep Peronilla going in the Electric Plate. Los Arigelos (who is being reserved for the Stead Cup), and Haskayne (who had rii'ced earlier in the day) were the scratehings in the Metropolitan Handicap. Bobrilcoff was lucky 'enough to get a good position on the rails at the start, and carted the fiold along. Brown Trout and Sandstream were unforhmate during the first part, and Mira and Sea Queen were Bobrikoff's nearest attendants. He shook them off before reaching the straight, whero the Gisborne-owned Goldfinder ranged alongside Bobrikoff. Under punishment both hbrsas finished gamely, and Mr. Hartgill was unable to separate them. Two dead-heats in tho principal handicap events had never previously been recorded-at Riccarton. Halfway down the straight Allegory made a dash, but died away again, and finished fpurth.. ..The Wellington horses—Mira, Sea Queen, and' Odessa—were closo up to the placed division. Bobrikoff, whose ! Eiccartcii successes tacMsd .to Stead

Gold Cups, got a great reception on returning to the weighing enclosure. Blue Lake, Aratiatia, and May Dal-l-ymplo were the withdrawals from the Epsom. High-weight Handlicap, twentyone starting.' .None of the Wellington, contingent ."showed up .prominently at any jjurt of it. Crown Pearl was Tinlucky in trying to get 'through ou the rails, being stopped, and then ran fourth just in front of Bracken, 'l'ho Auckland horse, Potoa (full-brother to Wauchope, Hohnngatahi, and Taketuma), who acted as runner-up to Quarantine in the Spring Plate on the previous day, soored comfortably from Query (a stable-niato of Stardancer), and the Dunedin horse, My Lawyer. ■In the concluding event backers went for. a recovery ( on the Wanganui-owned Phroso, on whom-Oliver'had the mount. When well backed on the first day she finished out of . a place in the Spring Plate. She got ■ out well, and led to thofdistaiidc, where Gold Ring challenged, and ; the favourite failed to respond. The winner iis owned by. Mr. John Grigg, of Longbeacli, who does not win out of his' turn.