NOTES AND COMMENTS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2572, 21 September 1915, Page 9

NOTES AND COMMENTS

IBt Qlencob.l

The Wanganiii Jockey Club's spring meeting will be held on Thursday and Saturday of this week. Tho Guineas will ba run on thoopening day. Local sportsmen, who intend being present at tho meeting can leave by the Main. Trunk express on Wednesday night' and can iiavo their choice of two trains onThursduy from- Palmerston North. . The Trcnthaia-traiued Seadown, Tai'iugamutr.. and Ahirsinali are to bo railed to Wanganui to-day. A private cablegram received iu Wellington states that Killaloo^finished just outside tho placed division in the Empire Hurdles (two miles) at the Finclon Harriers' Hunt Club meeting on Saturday. The raceliorso T'oki is still in Wellington, and his trainer lias so far been unable to ship , him to Gisborne. It is thought that i/s Spurn is a iive-y'ear-olil no further attempt will be made to traili her after her two years' disqualification has elapsed. Probably sho 'will go to the stud this year, and will bo ,mated with Charlemagne 11. It-has appeared in several papers that there i-s every chance of the Wellington Racing Club holding its spring meeting on tiie Slasterton course. Nothing 'could bo further from the club's mind than to race anywhere but nt Trenthain. The attitude taken up is that the Wellington meeting is primarily for tho Wellington people, and this would not bo tho ease wcro the meeting held on any other course. . .On tho Rimuttika, which arrived on Saturday, was the imported English siro Solferijuo, purchased by Mr. J. B. Reid in England. Solferino is a fine type <)f a thoroughbred, and lias lots to recommend him to breeders. He is by Soliman, a son of St. Simon from Little Red Spinner, .by Bonnet Rouge. ' Ho is a strongly-built bay, standing about 16.1, and has a very masculino head, well Set on, with a wido iowl and a good length of rein. .-Ho is a splendid boned horse, and though lie is ten years of age his legs are to-day as clean, as when, he was foaled. A back like a table and hocks straight and well down are features of the horse's . make-up. . Solferino, who won .£2650 in stakes 'during his racing career, has also proved a success at tho stud, and at tho last July sales at Newmarket one of his yearlings brought top price. Solferino did well on the turf, aud .will land at Lyttelton in excellent condition. J. H. Prosser has recently taken in hand;a fiva-year-old gelding, by Ghoorka'. After- lie gets some condition ho is to bo tried at hurdle-racing. Kew was a starter in the Brush Steeplechase at Randwick on September 11, but ho-over-jumped himself at the first fence, aji.d uuseatcd his rider.' The chestnut gelding is still owned by llr. "J. Hcnnah. Apparently the showing of Reputation in tho ...Chelmsford Stakes at Randwick pleased the betting publio in Sydney, for tho black son of Martian, now ranks with" • St. Carwynne and Cargou as equal favourite for tho Metropolitan Handicap. B. Deeley is to ride Mr. G. D. Greenwood's horses in their Wanganui engage- 1 ments.

Discussing the ex-New Zealand jAckey, L. H. Hewitt, wlio is now in Australia after a lengthy stay in England, Germany, and.Austria, a Sydney paper says: "It will be remembered that Hewitt was a very pronounced exponent of the American seat, but ho stated at Randwick tho other morning that he now rides two or three holes longer than when he won tho Epsom Handicap on Maximize and the Metropolitan on' Solution. Discussing jockeys at present riding in England, he remarked that S. Donogliue was good, without approaching tho standard of D. Mahcr, whom ho regards as the most finished horseman ho ever saw. 'Once Maher got to tho front on any horse, it was a most unusual occurrence for him to be beaten,' added Hewit, in emphasising that rider's judgment. 'He credits AV. Huxley with being quite the equal of any other jockey now in the Old Country. 'Your horses look small by comparison with English horses, f commented w'owitt, as he noted them filing .on to the training-tracks, and he adhered to tho correctness of that idea notwithstanding .it was combated by a trainer who spent somo timo in England. English horses are not as a rule trained as lino as ours, and tho extra beef they carry in consequence would naturally give Hie impression that they are framed on a much larger scale."

The New Zealand Jjoan and Mercantile Agency. Co., Ltd., sold by auction on Saturday tho privileges for tho forthcoming meeting of tho Horowhcnua Kaciiig .Club. Tho prices realised wero as follow:—Outside gate, John Cameron, Oliau, ,£55; correct race cards, same purchaser, £25; publican's booth. At. ,T. Suban, Levin, ,£3B; horso paddock; Hy. Hook, Levin, £1 15s.