NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1669, 8 February 1913, Page 7

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

[lit Gim-oa.] ' ■ ' Nominations -for. tho Da'nnovirke meetlug closo ,at 9 o'clock to-night., - Weights for tho Dunedin Cup ore due on Monday next. Bjctor. Girl showed all her former pace ; . in the Hack Race at'Egmoiit on Thurs- ' gw but s >«> ' could Dot Withstand tho hnal run of Tetikura. Tho race should work a big improvement in the Obtigailo, v.-. ...mare, who was reported to liave dono'a i;' twlongs before leaving Strat-: ' Hacing seems to be improving I'ostillion, •: and there is every liopo .that tho black ■ : ■ colt will yet turn out to be as good as his admirers at first thought ho would. He stiU ol.imb3- badly at different parts of I his races, and also holds his head very . nigh. : Various cheeks have been tried, but without success, and his owner now i Intends to run him with just the plain /• bridle and no, martingale, to see if this "I will effect an improvement. ' ~ Generally speaking, the first day's form worked out very well on tho concluding day at Egmont, Ngatiruhnui won again, Alluro second tho first day, won tho Hack Hurdles, in tho absence of tlio winner of I Wednesday's race. Mira' was third to I Undecided in the Cup, and, with the'latter put; tho prey horso Avon the Atkinson Memorial. Totikura was behind Phroso on tho first day, and won on Thursday. was leased from' Mr. E. J. Watt eomo littlo time back by a. patron cf W. Kirk's. The latter did not tnko long in winning a race with him. After Tunning 6econd to Auldearn 6n the first day he s«ired yesterday. ' Bobrikpf! (9st. 131b.) and Ins Angeios (flat. 01b.) will probably both be missing irora the acceptances' for the Wanganur Oup. The former lias been moro Bore than usual of late, and hi 9 owner may not risk.a break-down. Los Angelo3 is generally believed to be under orders for lninedin. Golden .Cairn. a winner at Aspendale ; Park on AYc(lj'£*'la.y, must bo a good

now. His sucoess shows how easily t ' poor performer can bo placed to win ii Australia. A feature of the Poverty Bay meeting ' was the success of Mr. H. cle Latour'i colours, which /were borno to victory bj Scorch twico and Monorail in tho thrci principal events. for the first day's events al tho Woodville Jockey Club's meeting clos; on Thursday next. It has been decided not to send Mnxwel south for the Taranaki meeting, but th< l'er son u 't w iH probably bo seen out al ; (-j. some of tho Auckland country fixtures. S7l Tho Takapuna-trained horses Allegatior ar- ? n< *, -liresomo wero to be shipped sc-utl ng to Now Plymouth yosterday to fulfil theii ;ho engagements at tho Taranaki meeting, ir which they will probably bo ridden by J TBj 0 Shea. . P^P' 0 17616 under the impression 1 that Stardancer won the Post llandicar 2 easily by h nock at Kiccarton last Saf '3 urday. Backers of tho filly would, how fl eyor, bo interested to know that the offi. cial verdict credited Stardancer with vie >rt tory by the barest possible margin, le, Statistics' show that, of the total stake money (.£540,832 135.) won on the English 70 turf in 1912, 88.70 per cent, was won bj . tail male descendants from Eclipse; 3.2 C 1 P. er . t i en ' i i hy tail male descendants from 2 Matcham; 1.53 per cent, by till male 3 descendants from Herod; 0.57 per cent, by 5 horses abroad or sired by imported horses of foreign breeding, who, without a singU ! P* exception, 'trnco back to either Eclipse, :s.' Matcham, or Herod, but mostly belong to lines which are extinct in England, of Midnight Sun has gone into D. J; Prioo's stable at Caulfield. 2 i V s ' X '? n made (says the Auck--1 * star') with tho new entrances j from tho Greenlano side of the Ellerslie raoecourso, and the work is estimated to . ™ko anything from six to.twelvo months. ' I'our or -five entrances are to be put in, nf the roada to be made will be 187 ft. in width, which will give some idea of the magnitude-'of*the work. Between each road will be planted an avenue of trees, ' and when completed the entrances will be \ easily the best in Mew Zealand. This is t the first of the important works which r' are-being undertaken by the club, and which'it is" estimated will cost about • JC20,000 to put in hand. ' e ' i Mr. J. E. Henrys will act as judge at the trotting meeting in Christchurch today. . ' ,j, Once . again the question ,of . the merits 2 and demerits of the old, and tho present 3 style of race-riding is occupying attention g (says "Vigilant" in the London "Sports--3 man'. Undoubtedly tho obsolete "sit--1 up" seat-had a far more attractive appearance than the method-one can hard- ; Iy call it,a.seat—introduced in the 'nineie ties, and exploited with such success by ■ Tod Sloan. That tho old stylo will ever j, bo reverted to is not conceivable,, for the 2 simple reason that horses can gallop faster g under tho,present; of placing the 1 saddle on (he withers, or in other words ■J shifting the weight forward, which results in increased longth of stride., What a few ' inches for every .stride a horse makes iii a tl race means at tho finish is so obvious as/to. render, demonstration unnecessary; V Nor is it needful to once more point out 2 that the greatest of the old school of joc- „ keys, George Fordham, vaguely realised the benefit of the forwardseat,: always .■*- crouching when it. came to a close finish. A writer in, a contemporary laments tho shortcomings of tho crouch, which, he !' claims, "reduces tho sure teaching of < horsemanship to a minimum," What he „ means is, presumably, that tho crouch d knocks the bottom out of the old style of °, riding, but horsemanship and jockeyship '} are : t;vo different. things. • .Neither., is ; it i; necessary for a jockey to bo a- Maher or , a Wootton for his mount to run faster under tho present than under the old * style. As already pointed 'out y'it is'tho ' shifting of 'the. burden forward'' to-the place' where a horse caA.best carry it that results in acceleration of speed, j Then as to the further statement that 'with ; Maher or Woatton up, a horse "will run ■ kinder than under tho 1 pre-American ' style"—well,' it all depends.on, the horse'. I FIXTURES. ■ Febi -12 and 13—'Taranaki J.C. Autumn.; ' • Feb. 13 and 14—Gisborne R.C. Summer.' ■ Feb. 19 and 20—Woodville District J.C. } j?. .v,. } mm-r 20, and 22~DunediO.C»JMittii*£u : -Febi-21 and 22-Thames J.C. Feb. 27 and March I—Wanganul J.C. ' ' Autumn. March 12 and 18—Nelson J.C. .Annual.