NOTES AND COMMENTS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2873, 11 September 1916, Page 9

NOTES AND COMMENTS

IBr .Glekcoe.l

Ihoro will be •plentj of racing for enthusiasts of the galloper this week. On Wednesday the Avondale meeting opens, when the Stakes, four furlongs, for two-year-olds, and the Avondale Cup, one mile and a-quarter, will be decided. 'Die same day tho Pahiatua meeting will be held. On Thursday the Woodlands Hunt Club will hold its totalisator fixture on tho Pahiatua course, and the Ashburton meeting will open, and will be concluded on Friday. On Saturday the Avondale ineetjng will be concluded.. The principal item of interest on this day will be the Avondale Guineas.

Weights for the Wanganui and Otaki meetings are due-on Friday. Entries for the spring meetings of the Hawke's Bay Jockey Club aud Napier Park Racing Club close on Friday next: The news of Sasanof's victory in the' Chelmsford Stakes will be well received throughout' the Dominion, and in beat, ing the flying Woorak the Martian gelding has put up a very attractive performance, and easily his best to date. ,What the future programme of Sasanof will be is not known, but it is freely rumoured that he is to return for the C.J'.C. Derby. The Martian gelding Was bred by Mr. T. M.,Wilford, M.P., who still owns Ukraine, and has a yearling filly a full-sister to Sasanof.' So far no arrangements .have been made for mating the mare this year, biit it is safe to conclude that any of the .fashionable sires will.be available for her. The mare and her yearling were recently' offered in Sydney for 500gns., but to-day it would require more than this sum to effect the purchase of the yearling.

With Sea Pink and Blackall failing to survive the first acceptance,' Mr. -E. J. Watt is left without a representative in the New Zealand Cup, a race *in which he has played a prominent part during the last four years. •' He was successful with Midnight Sun in 1912 ; while a year later Sea Pink and Midnight Sun chased Sinapis home. In 19U Sea Pink was third to the dead-heaters. Warstep and Indigo, and last year Blackall beat everything but Tangilibu.

Mr. W. Richmond's Australian-bred colt by Poseidon—Pleasant Surprise, for whom the rather lengthy cognomen of Glorious Uncertainty has been suggested, has recently been added to tho list. .

Sicily has been i returned • to her owner, Mr. Geo. Hunter,' M.P., and will probably form' one' of the Porangahau stud matrons'this season. The daughter of Formative—Miss St. Cecilia, has bcon suffering from muscular rheumatism for some time, and the attempt to train her has been abandoned.

Mr. E. ,T.' Watt had the bad luck to lose the brood mare Ventura two or three days ago. The daughter of Traquair (imp.)—Sonoma, broke a bloodvessel while foaling. Ventura was an exceptionally brilliant mare on the turf. As a two-year-old she won, amongst other events, the rich Breeders' Plato at Kandwick, while -in .'this country she landed both the Great Easter Handicap at Eiccarton, and'the Easter: 'Handicap at Ellerslie.the former in 1913, and the Auckland event in 1914. She was.'tho only animal to capture this particular double. Her loss wiU.be a severe one to Mr. Watt, as she' was just the sort to .have made.a very successful stud matron. The foal died. ' Tararu Jack, who was one ■ of the prime fancies for the' Grand National Hurdles, is - amongst the acceptors for the Grey Lynn Hurdles, to bo run at Avondale on Wednesday. The class opposed to him is nothing like as strong as at Eiccarton. Bliss (Stepiak—Faraway) Ims foaled a colt to Mystification at Porangahau. She is shortly duo at Crissoge, where she will jho associated with ' Demosthenes this season...

FIXTURES. Sept. 13.—Pahiatua B.C. Annual. Sept. 13 and IG.—Avondale J.C. Spring. Sept. 14.—Woodlands Hunt Annual. . Sept. 14 and 15.—Ashbmrton E.C. Spring. SBpt. 21 ! and 23.—Wanganni J.C. Spring. Sept. 25.—Amberley E.C. Annual.. Sopt. 25 and 26.-Otaki Maori E.C. Spring. Sept. 28 and 29.—Geraldine B.C. Spring. Sept: 30—Napier Park E'C. Spring. Oot. 7.—Hawke's Bay J.C. Spring. Oct. 12.—Masterton R.C. Spring. Oct. 13—Dunedin J.C. Spring. Oct. 23.—Waipawa County E.G. Annual. Oct. 26 and 27.-Poyerty. Bay T.C. Spring. Nov- 4—New Zealand Cup.