NOTES AND COMMENTS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2652, 24 December 1915, Page 2

NOTES AND COMMENTS

s IBT GtKScoE.l ■ ' I Those who intend being/present at the i iaratalu meeting.on Boxing Day should , note that special, trains stopping where • > required will leave Lunbton Station at ' r 6.40 a.m. and 5.30 a.m. The fields are good' > r and the outing should be. enjoyed by all. 3 l'or the Trial Plate. Nennon may be favE om'ite, and in the Cup Bunting will have r many supporters. Thoughtful may getthe . distance better than the others in the 3 Hack Welter Handicap, and Trials if re- - served for the . Railway Handicap may - prove equal to the task set him. i . So far very few visiting horses have 3 arrived at Awapuni, but a big contingent » is expected to-day. The going, is decided- • ly hard, and a : few good showera would ? do welcomed by trainers. , The gallop pat up. by Warstep and Snub at'EUcrslie, w'lien they got to the end of ' ten furlongs in 2min. 15 l-ssec., is the best of the season on that course. In the' south it is claimed that Snub is the better of the pair at the weights, and' the Martian geldin" is expected to prove'that his J, Eiccart6n--i6rin'was - all -wrongi' 1 Imme'r l will ia'ced F at"'any of the 1 Christmas meetings, but will be reserved ■ for the Tauherenikau meeting, and will > there endeavour to repeat his ''success of • two years ago. T.'Pritchard.-who was iu 1 3 the saddle on that occasion, will again I steer the Martian, .mare., " It is said that Lady Nolan will not be " ft starter in the Hurdles at Awapuni on j: Monday. This will leave only four Tun- ® ners, and if Aruake. is as well as wlien ' he scored at Eiccarton he will have many supporters, but -reports'from Wangamii ? state that he is. veiy sore aul will be un-' able to hit out on'the. firm going.' Glen- " orchy is another-horse that has not been £ shaping well lately, his Woodville form bping very bad. This reduces'the field to j Hikahakeke and Cyna, and the Gisborne- . owned animal will have plenty of sup- [ portersj for in his initial effort over battens he shaped promisingly. J ' The Achillea filly Nenno' has not done f much-fast work since coming to Trentham; but she looks well, and will probably g be fancicd in the-Trinl Plate at tne Taraf tuhi meeting on Boxing Pay. . e Some surprise was expressed locally 1 when Colonel Soult's name was not e amongst the Wellington Cup entries. The y Tflkapuna Cup is run at the end of Janun a'ry, so perhaps the Colonel is intended to e race there. ; High Jinks, who is entered for the hack ' events at Ellerslie, may be taken north after racing at New Plymouth, And given „ a run on the two concluding days of the b meeting. .. t The Eokeby—Tea. Cup filly was yesters day taken out of- the' North' Island Chal- ■- lengo Stakes. Evidently the half-sister to e Be Gama is not showing form enough to i- warrant' her owner continuing her engagernent.' i- "Ansty" (Nelson) is informed, in reply i- to a query, that it was Barloy Sugar, and e not Maorilander, that raced in the.twos year-old handicap on the second day of > the. Spring Meeting at Trentham. Peronilla is not to fulfil her engagements " at Dunedin. The Achilles mare has not -gone wrong, but hor trainer was unable to II get a rider for her. ■' During the week Taringamutu galloped j a mile at Trentham in lmin. i2sec„ and finished well. Though the tracks at head- " quarters are very fast just now, the gen- £ err.l verdict whs that the gallop was a ® good one. v [. J. Stewart, who won the Great Eastg em Steeplechase at Onkaparinga for J. y Ifayward on Matchlock, also a well-known rider some.years ago-in New, Zealand, is now in hospital at Malta. Ho was wounded at the Dardanelles. Glcnorcliy, in company- with Aherooed, was sclioolod over fences at Awapuni yes- ? terday and gave a good display. R. Edwards went to Woodville on Wednesday to j school Lady Nolan, but. the chestnut mare ,y gave anything but a promising display. B A. Oliver is to have the mount , on n Eligible in the Great Northern Derby, s, The following horses claim double enit gagements on the opening.day of the ;e A.R.C. Summer Meeting: St. Elmn, Kerry n i?oe, Plying Start, Wisebird, Good Hope, 11 Wardaucer, Bjoi'ii-jbKg, Gluqian. &an is Sebastian, and Christine. i, Tlio hurdle gelding, Sir Donald, is again s in work at Awapuni. l ~ Papauira, who claimed ah engagement }• in the Fitzherbert Handi «p at Awapuni, '» died on TuestMy last. ° Yesterday Downham was a much-dis-J cussed candidate for the liailvay Handi- , cap at Auckland. His impost this year is "" Bst., against 7st. 91b. with which he tri- ;®. nmphed last Boxing Day. e Horses usually show a decided antiII pathy. to donkeys, but tlio opposite apj pears . to lie • the caso with the hurdle maro Scorch. Tlio mai'o, which is ono of F. LoonibV team,- is at present quartered at J. Eae's, has been running in a paddock alongside the stable'near which B was one of the donkeys purchased at the it recent? floral fete at Ellorslio. So attachj ed did the niai'ebecome to the little.longeared animal that it was put in ths pad--2 dock with her, and the pair aro now such close friends that if any other horse at- • tempts to come neax. Scorch immediately 0 takes to them, while if' the donkoy is '- taken from the paddock sho Tuns up and l, down alongside tlio fence liko a niaro is looking for her foal. 'Tho donkey also n seems upset when Scorch is away, for ir when the marc is taken out for exercise, it will follow hor to tho gate, braying loudly, and does not settle down until she returns. !- Tho "Special Commissioner" in tho v London "Sportsman," in an interesting [1 .irticlo on post' winners of tho Melbourne give* the jjalw to Carbinfi, who wem

in 1890 with lOst. 51b. on his back, but'. lie doubts if his perfdi'jnanco was any ; - better than that of Aurum, Bst.'olb„ who ' .'. finished third to Maulus find The Grafter i J" IS!)7. Aurum was al this time a i • ' an< i he was handicapped mi I'lr w weight for age. There ja" ! , i ci '"® 1 'cnco between a three-year-old ; ana a five-year-old over two miles iii No- 1 em Iter, according to the weight-for-age ; scalo, so to equal Aurum's .performance tai'Uine would have, had to . carry lOst. Ml). Apart from that, it is the almost ' universal opinion among Australian sportsman, that Aurum was above'himself ' ■ nat day, and that he would certainly -_■ if,'?™' 1 , liad , the race been at llie e'mi'-' ?? , wi ;ek, when ho had run three more times each time), and thus got There is sound reason -V-" Zi S it in bis first race at hat. meeting; the V.R.C. Derby, run on V y l) Tu rc m thfi Melbourne Cup , vTI °\ - 6 « T "esday) Aurum wm „ j™ ™ ''oaten by Ambente, to whom, as ' a two-ycar-old m April of the same yiar, KW B ,van Wll). and a three-length f S f furlongs. Moreover,' when Amberite met him in the Melbourne CUJ), and WAS in receipt 0 f 21b., the Derby k form was signally reversed, for Amberite n mf m the, first nine. Gauius and The Grafter, who. finished in front, of Aurum, carried 7st. 81b. and' 7st. 71b respectively I n passing, it may "be w>-• marked that Aurum was set a task which' . no three-yeaMld before or since waa ; asked to do. He was certainly'a great! colt, but he was a gross fellow,' and' wanted racing. C. L. M'Donald, who used ' ; to tram Aurum for the late Mr. W R. - Wilson, was thought to have had the ' colt above himself by design, so that W could run on each of the four days of : tlie ilenungton meeting.' As a matter of " tact, Aurum started five times, in 1897, and won- three races, two of .them being 1 on the fourth- day of the meeting. 7 , ' FIXTURES. Bee. 27.—Taratahi-C'arterton E.C. Annual, : seo"5 eo " f. „ 2 D B -T harae s J.C. Annual. Dec. 27 and 28.-Taranaki J.C. Christina,.; Doc. .7, -S, and 29.—Manawatu R.C, . 4 bummer. " 1 Pec. 27 and 28. —Dunedin J.C. Summer. n CC * ?! J-C. Midsummer, Dec.. 27 and'3o and Jan. 1 and 2.— land R.C. Summer; Dec. 31 and Jan. I.—Greymouth" Xd ilidc : . summer. * : Jan. l.—Wyndham B.C. Annual. Jan. I.—"Wnikouaiti R.C. Annual. :• • Jan. 1. Karamea R.C. Midsummer. 11 Jan. 1 and S.—Hawke's Bay J.C. SummeiL Jan. 1 and 3. -ilarton J.C. Summer, * ■ Jan. 1 and 3.—'Wairarapa B.C. SummeiV Jon ; 1 and 3—Stratford E.C. Annual. . - Jan. 5 and C.-WestUnd E.C. Summer. Feb. 3 ond 5.-Gisbonie B.C. Summer, Feb. 5.-^O.J.C. Summer. .tThe current issue of the "N.Z. Sporfci ing and Dramatic Eeview" reaches' its usual high standard, and is a comprehen- ' sive resume of the week's world' of sport and drama. A fine front piece' 6ho'w3 ■ Miss Florence Young in her famous character as "Paul Jones," while anotherwholo page gives splendid pictures of tho i Auckland Cup candidates. 'Pictures rolaU iiig to the Greek situation, views on the streets and in Egypt, with local pictures - oi .the White Fair held to provide money, ' for the distressed Jews of Poland, and' ' Eussia, provide a splendid pictorial and artistic review of the week's eventa.-" Advt, . "" ' " 1 ■