NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2118, 8 April 1914, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

[Bi Quekcoi.l The Wairarapa Racing Club's Autumn Meeting; commences on Saturday next. Wellington visitors to the meeting will have their choice of two trains to travel by, one leaving Lainbton Station at 6.-10 a.m., and the other at 8.30 ', Final payments- for the Great Easter and Autumn Handicaps and acceptances for tho minor events on , the first day of the C.J.C. -Autunm Meeting close tonight. • : At the Coromandel meeting on Saturday the Clip and Flying Handicaps were won by the Wairiki gelding Yankee Doodle. ■, Stardancer is being used at Riccarton to got Warstep^-reAtfy'for the Great' Autumn Handicap, and it is said that the elder of the sisters is feeling tho strain of the continued galloping. It was intended to uoininatq tho, Karamu two-yeaf-pld Hoy .for the. han- ; dicaps at Riccartbn, but the date 1 of the closing of nominations was overlooked, and Hyettus, who is to contest the I Champagne and Challenge Stakes, will now be tho sole representative of tho ■ Hon. J. D. Ormond's stables, at the ; -C.J.C. meeting. , . There will be a lot of interest for New Zealand sportsmen in the Australian Jockey Club's Autumn Meeting, which opens at Randwick on Saturday. In the Kirst Hurdles, North East, Forest Prince, and Kopaue will do battle for us, while' in the Autumn Stakes, weight for age, one mile and a'half, the Dominion will be represented by Bon ; Ton and Midnight Sun. The pair will 'be up against a good field,.which in- | eludes Cider, Radnor, Wallalo, and Andelosia. The champion three-year-old ! will probably be a good favourite, j There are no New Zealand-bred youngsters in the Sires'' Produce Stakes, but Mr. E. J. Watt has Mountain Knight i engaged. Bon Reve is our sole representative in the Doncaster Handicap. A Sydney scribe states that he lacks ,' nothing in the matter of pace. This wo all know, and-if ho is back to his best form he must have a chance. So far, no horseman, has been secured , for Altcar in the Mangaoue Stakes at Feilding. Several other owners are ina similar predicament.In connection with tho new sprint courses to bo laid down on the Wellington Racing Club's property at Trentham, it has been stated that in order that even the slight elbow in tho course shall givono'adva'ntago to the horse in No. 1 position, the barrier will bo placed at such an angle that his opponent drawn on the extreme outsido will, provided he never leaves the outside rail, have precisely the same distanco t'o traverse. Referring to this a writer in the Sydney "Referee" says: —"From a mathematical point of view this may work out all right on paper, but the impracticability of such a suggestion immediately presents itself in the risks likely to be thus incurred. There is no rule of racing, which provides that a horse has to negotiate the course- over which a race is run at any particular lino of circumference; whilst, on the other hand, provision is made that one horse is entitled to take up the running of another so long aa he is his own length and one other length clear of the horse- or horses to be crossed. And this is exactly what, would cause troublo were the Wellington suggestion to bo adopted. Under such conditions, with a slanting barrier in their favour, good beginners at the extreme outside would soon bo sufficiently far in front to justify their making for the rails, the result of which can bj left to the imagination. A similar theory in connection with tho equalisation of post positions has been expounded here on several occasions, but fortunately no yaciug club has ever been tempted to give a practical demonstration of its alleged efficacy." To prevent any undue crowding on the lines mentioned above it has been suggested locally that the club should erect a railing for about two furlongs down tho centre of the course. This would have the effpctof.keeping the runners well in position until the field had settled down. Tho New Zealand horseman F. Cress, who was injured when Continuance fell with him while schooling at Randwick a fortnight ago, was riding work at Rumlwick again last week. The Pahiatiu Racing Club has selected Wednesday, May 13, ns.the date for its non-totalisator meeting. A meeting of supporters of tho club was held on Monday ovenina:, when further arrangements were made. Tho opinion was expressod that good support would be accorded the venture. Tho Mastorton-owned horse I.eapuki (gays the "FeiWinn; Star"), which was a competitor at the Opaki races last week, lias been purchased by Mr. Ernest Short, of Feilding.