THE TURF

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 42, 14 November 1918, Page 3

THE TURF

NOTES AND COMMENTS The Ashhurst Meeting is set down for Wednesday next. Nominations for the Woodville Jockey Club's Summer Meeting close on Friday, and the Jlclhven nominations close on the following day. The Takapuui handicaps ore duo tomorrow. South Canterbury acceptances arc due on Friday, and i'eildmg acceptances on Saturday. ; Owners and trainers concerned with nominations or acceptances this week should leave nothing to ciiance. Anyone wno fails to get in early in thsse times of holiday ana temporary disorganisation may find that his -or«es have missed a meeting for which liiey were beias prepared. Punka, registered a- fine performance when she ran third in the Stead Memorial States.' After Punka had carried Gloaming along at a fast pace all the way, , KiEanof came on the scene at the busings end and won very nicely, and it was only in the Itisi. haii-dozeu strides tnat Gloaming shook Punka eft". The time was a record for nu cvuiit. Three of Sir George Clifford's cast-offs won during the Kev Zealand Cup Meeting. Good Hopo won the liurdles on the opening day, and Olaverhouse and Spygiase each won a, flat race. Mr. H. Coylo the handicapper, is one of the sufferers from inilueui , .; , .. He was taken ill alter -tho Avoudale Meeting. . Mr. T. it. Lowry'a team-Desert Gold, Estland, Finmurk, and hilloweu—should bo back in iVew Zealand snortly. Perjiaps tneir lirst reiippeawiwe in tho DomuLlon will bo at tha Auckland Summer Meeting. The Maslerton sportsman, Mr. W. E. Kemball, is reported to have purchased the three-year-old Scornful and his two-year-old-half-brother, Kebuff, from Mr. C. Balgety. Kebuff is a brother to Snub, winner of the Canterbury Handicap. He hits not raced, but he is a good Eort. It is reported that the injuries received by H. Gray when Good Day came down pu the loot day at Riccarton include a . broken thigh.

Aaiythas, ivho won the tvro-year-old race on iho second day of the U.J.C. Spnng SlCitJDs, is br^Ueinosthcjies—Gold Trcosuio, and, therefore, hall-brother to the iii-fattd Demotic. Amythae, wlio is owned by llr. i\ S. Easton, is stated to be a, niofil. proraieiug colt.

This Soldi horse Elysian has the honour or" having won the Avoiidalc,Guineas, aiid also siring the winner of itv \Bly3ian won the eveui iu 1939, and thiß season Oyrisian aoAounled tot it.

Parisian Diamond was tlie most heavily supported noree that started at Eiccarton on Monday, being entrusted' with £2t&5 in the Stewards' Handicap, as against £1577 carried by the Biddiford bracket in tho Oup.' Old Captain Jack was produced at Avondale, when ho contested the Mount Albert Steeplechase. The veteran tailed off from the start, and some of those who saw the race reckon him a light of the past.

According to a Ohrietchurch exchange, the -working of the totalis&tor on tno opening day of the C.J.C. Spring Meeting I was not what it should have been. TcdiI ou3 delays between closing time ami the -1 "all clear" signal evidently gut on the j public's nerves, and when tlie balloon . I mudo its belated appearance, sometimes . I hiiif an hour behind time, it wa-s greeted ; with ironical applause. Unaccountable I delay in tlie receiving and paying-out <ie--1 I partmente led to a- lot of money being -! shut out. Under more up-to-date eondii tions, it is certain that the day's total .! would have greatly exceeded the £48,026 I recorded, though it had no chance of coin- * J ing up to last year's line total of £53,016. * J The postponing of the Auckland Bacing ■! Club's Spring Meeting will nroably have ■ I a. cll'ect on the gathering (says tho t! "Star'), for quite a number of southern r ■. horses are likely to be taken home again, x I whilo practically all the visitors have -, J taken their departure. The date for tho ? (holding of the meeting is still indefinite, I ; but immediately tiie embargo is lifted by -1 tho health authorities the date will bo I 1 fixed and duo notice given. B Tho Avondalo Guineas winner, Cyrisian, i was bred by Mr. 11. K. MacKenzie at his f A«cot stud. Jle is by Elysian from j Cyirma, and as a, yearling was sold at ' auction for 180 guineas. Mr. 0. L. Stead ■ was the purchaser. As a two-yoa.r-old he » started on five occasions for one win, ono - second, ant! one third, liis success being ■ ?r am f d , in the Nurrery Handicap «t the 1 Jlawke a Bay Jockey Club Autumn Meetr ing. Last August Mr. Stead sent him [into the ring again, and at 425 guineas * I Mr. 11. V. J3 row n, of Wellington, secu'-cd i ! mm. Cyrisian won nicely, and it is un--3 fortunate for his owner ho is not engaged , in the Great Northern Guineas. 3 Sir Ralph, who scored on the second . day of the Avondale Mpeting, was duo for a win. Last season he started on sixteen occasions without first catching the _ judge s eye once, and the season beforo ■ was saddled, up twenty-tbree times, win- - ning the Waihi Handicap and the Opeko j Handicap at the Kgmont Winter Meeting s ?f 1 17, ?'}' Ralph ran «-'eood race in ~ the Avondnle Cup,- when ho liuished third , and Ins run on Wednesday was a cou- ' sistent effort. Sir lialph looke like improving with age, and should be seen to ? iurther advantage- before the season ! closes.