RAGING NEWS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10272, 6 May 1919, Page 7

RAGING NEWS

FIXTURES. May 7 and B—Manawatu Racine Club. May 13, 11 and 16— Marlborough R.L. NOTES AND COMMENTS (By “Tohunga.”) The Manawatu Racing Olub will commence its autumn mooting at Awapuni to-morrow. The holds engaged are very healthy, and with decent weather conditions (which promise at' the moment, the function should bo Most successful. The first race is the Karere Hurdles, of a mile and three-quarters, for which there aro fifteen runners. Municipal must run a. good race after his two displays at Trentham. Thraco will be a runner, and a good runner too. The Maiden Plate has a field of untried youngsters. Negligee appears to be the best of thorn on paper. Twenty-one horses are engaged in the Autumn Handicap, of a mile and a furlong, but the twenty-one will not start. The top weight i.v Nobleman, who will carry 8.13 and run well on Trentham form. Vagabond, too, must be considered in the race, and another horse with a good chance for honours is Kilrush, who refused to display his best form at Trentham. The Sires Produce Stakes will be a good race for the six furlongs. Nightraider should be one of the hardest horses to beat, and Amythas and Warplane are two other good ones.

There aro eight acceptors for the Linton Hack Welter, of a mile and a distance. The field is not a strong one by any means. If Pretty Bobby starts there caji be little else in It. ’Cello with 9.8 is about the best of the others.

The race for the Awapuni Gold Cup will probably be a memorable one unless some of those who have finally paid up for elect to start in defiance of Sasanof. Of course there is always the place money to consider, and that may tempt some owners. Whatever tackles Sasanof will have a hard thing on, for tho Martian gelding is right at tho top of his form, and appears to be tireless. His Wellington exploits may frighten everything else out of the field. On Star Lady’s running with Afterglow she cannot possibly bo considered as an adversary for Sasanof, and on the same argument there is not one to pit against iho champion who is likely to extend him.

There are fifteen acceptors for the Wbodhey Handicap, of six furlongs. Mandrake (Hyrnottus—Mandola) ran fairly well at Trentham on each day and may do better at Awapunl. Black Mark with 8.4 should not bo the last to .finish.

Another big field is engaged in tho Telegraph Handicap, and most of them have fair records aa sprinters. As form has been working out well of late backers will think hard before they pass over the consistent Chimera. At the weights tho daughter of Finland—■ Landrail would appear to be extremely hard to beat, but there are other sprinters in the race who will have plenty of friends on the day. One of these is Lady General, who ran forward onougji at the last Wairarapa meeting to suggest that she may be again striking form. Demos is Sown to 7.12, and only has to come back in order to make his presence felt. Another who should run a good race is Old Gold, who is only asked to carry 6.13.

When old,-time owners 'had horses they regarded as probable winners, they did not hesitate to make full use of them, no matter what their age. In Australia, in 1867, horses took their age from August Ist, as at present, but notwithstanding she was only two years old, 'Mr O. B. Fisher’s crack filly, Fenella. was a runner for the All-Aged Stakes, one mile, at Flemington, in November of that year. She won, too, beating Mr J. Tait’s Fireworks, on whom 2 to 1 was laid. The latter had fcreviously won the Derby at the meeting. Fenella’s weight-for-age in the All-Aged Stakes was 4.4, but alio carfled 101 b overweight. Three of the five that weighed out on that occasion were {tiro-year-olds, but one of those, Melancholy Jacques, proved too much for the jockey who was riding him at 4.9, and settled his chance by bolting prior to the start. In the autumn of tho same season, Melancholy Jacques was (Second with 5.3 in the A.J.C. Metropolitan Autumn Maiden Plate, one mile and three-quarters—rough on a two-year-old—but was disqualified for interference. Reverting to Fenella, she Won throe of tho five races in which she ran that season subsequent to her All-Aged Stakes’ success. However, though two-year-old racing may 7 not lie quite as harmful ass many people believe, it is just as well that the rules now debar horses of that ago tackling the older division at a milo as early as November. For that matter, even in 1870, tho .A. J.O. rules permitted thorn to race at two miles as early as September, and at throe miles in April.

Charles .15. Brossman, an authority on racing in America, says that in that country Western trainers, as a rule, are more inclined to run their horses frequently, and take a chance, than are the trainers for the wealthy Eastern owners. In 'he West the trainer’s salary is often contingent upon the success of the horses he has in his stable, while in the East a liberal salary and expenses are guaranteed, and naturally the Eastern trainer seeks to keep his hitting average as high as possible in the per cent, of wins fi om the number of starts. Therefore, after winning a desirable stake and swelling the owner all up as to the superiority of the animal, he lays up the horse while it 'la in the best possible condition for jfeur of having it defeated imf • homg Censured for error of judgment. Waiting until, some race comes along whoreuu he will have some little advantage

by the conditions of the race, or ho is assured by other, trainers that they do not intend to start, ho thou goes on and wins another race, and the pubtic proclaims him a great trainer, whereas ho has spent most of his time ducking what ought to have been legitimate engagements. America is not. the only country where trainers do their best to keep owners “built up” regarding their horses. there are many in Australia who have nothing to leant from Americans in that respect, and some wonderful tales must bo told to induce owners to keep such a largo number of bad horses in training. An English writer "says that Lend Or siroci.only six foals in his opening season, and one of these was out of an Arab maro, so that to all intents and purposes he only had five youngsters to run for him at the outset of his stud career, for the Arab dam of Uen- V dora was sufficient to badly' handicap her. The Petrarch, on the other hand, had no fewer than fifteen toals in 1916 as the result of his stud duties in the preceding year, and it is probable he will bring the male line of Herod once more into the forotront. The last Horod-Hno horse that won the Derby was Sir Bavys, in 1879, no fewer than thirty-nine years ago.