GOOD QUALITY FIELDS

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 93, 16 October 1940, Page 15

GOOD QUALITY FIELDS

MASTERTON RACES

HORSES IN LIKELY FORM

I Fields of excellent quality and dimensions have been secured for the opening day of the Masterton Racing Club's Annual Meeting tomorrow, and the form over the two days promises to provide an instructive line on the Wellington Meeting next week. No provincial fixture in the spring so regularly throws valuable light on the big meetings following as the Masterton, both/in the open grade and in the minor grade. The Opaki course is one of the best testing grounds in the Dominion. It is a mile and a quarter round and very spacious, and there is a very long straight of nearly three furlongs. Such a track calls on stamina, and it is there- ■ fore not surprising that the form in the past has worked out so well at Trentham and Riccarion. The track this year is in splendid order. The meeting is within comfortable range of Wellington by road and rail. For railway patrons special fares are available by train leaving Wellington! at 7:50 a.m. each day, arriving at the, racecourse gates at 11.30 a.m. Return! [train leaves, racecourse at 5.35 p.m.j 'each day. : The betting will be under the win-and-plaee system, and it will be interesting to see what difference this makes to the totalisator returns. mmr OPEN HANDICAP ISSUES. The main attraction of the first day Jwill be the Masterton Handicap. This iwas formerly the Masterton Cup and |was usually run over a distance of jli miles, but four years ago the disItance was shortened to a mile, leaving the longer journey for the second day. .The favourites tomorrow promise to be :Yogi and Trench Law, who appear to ; overshadow their opposition and will ; be suited by the dry track. The likeliest | of the others are probably Lambourn land White Rajah. ; The Grandstand Handicap, the open sprint, has drawn only a small acceptance, and it is difficult to pass by the •Jtopweight, Duncannon, a winner at his i only outing this season. Nigger Boy j looks best of the others on form, i though' Enrich and Vascones are form •horses also worthy of notice. BIG JUVENILE FIELD. i There is one of the largest fields yet secured by the club for the Nursery Handicap, which now figures halfway down the card instead of first event, as in the past. Not a deal is (known of the form, but Erin's Court looks the logical favourite on what has ;been seen to date, and The Whipper, Gunyah, Nisus, and Merry Fox are ,'ilikely improvers. T. R. George has five 'representatives in the race, The Whip■per, Corn Prince, Lord Defoe, Dunigloe, and Olein. : The best of the Maiden Stakes field imay be Cheerful Lady, Hamish,- Singapore, and Batsman. In the Electric I Handicap those best supported will be Don Quex, Last Acre, and Serenata. L|ikely sorts in the Highweight Handiicap are Anita Foe, Raeburn, Ruling (Star, and Great Fair. In the Lawn i Handicap the prospects include Arabic,, 'Counter, Acrobat, and Gemara, and in ithe Lansdowne Handicap the public ]may prefer Kadina, Pas de Cheval, and Phaleron Song. FORM AND CARD.