NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10277, 12 May 1919, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS

(By "Tohunga.")

Th? Marlborough Racing Club «m----raonces its three-day meeting to-morrow. Most of the horses from these parts have goiifccross the straits; the other leave Seven horses are engaged in the Opawa Welter, . with Rienzi and Imaribbon at the head of affairs. Espearance (5.6) should be a hard horse to beat The Marlborough Cup, of a mile and a quarter, boasts a field of eleven. Master Moutoa and Henry Clay look the best of a moderate lot. The field is somewhat o fa medley, sprinters and hurdlers being mixed up'with those -who have been ever the distance in decent company. Beloved has a chance to earn distinction in the'Hillesden Dash Handicap, of five furlongs. Pervolo appears to be the best of 'the others. Comment should be able to make snoit work of those engaged in the Brandon Handicap, >of five furlongs. She is on exceedingly smart beginner, and will have the advantage on the Blenheim course on that account. If Merrie Poto gets away with the barrier rise there may be something doing.

Bsperance has been paid up for in ihe Ward Handicap as well as the Welter, and mar start in both and win. .Although a back number Imaribbon has not much to beat.

All kinds of curious tales are floating round the countryside regarding two -prominent jockeys. One story is that the two riders conspired at Wellington to rcb an owner of some thousands: another is that the two riders agreed to cut up a ratee between them, one allowing Vthe other to win, and another is that oi<e fixed the race and allowed the other to get up on the inside to the detriment of his own chances, and the benefit of his pocket. All these sohemes were supposed to have been worked out at Trentham,; but when the secretary of tho Wellington! Racing Club was appealed to for some official information he confessed that he knew nothing of the trouble whatever. Therefore rumour has lost again. Bver since the day that Biplane failed to line up against Desert Gold at Awapuni, the champion, mare has been tho

Idol of the people of Palmerston. The great demonstration tha t took pi ace on the day the mare . won the Aawapuni Gold Cup last year will not have been forgotten by those who witnessed it; and again on Thursday she received an ovation after winning the Manawatu Stakes. In the last victory she is said, by a lot of sceptics, to have beaten "nothing but a. lot of two-year-olds." That kind of argument is very cheap, and hardly outs any ice. As a matter of fact. most of the horses competing against DeseTt Cold in the Stakes will be three-year-olds in a couple of months, and Desert Gold will be seven years old. Surely a seven year old mare has little on a three-year-old horse" of any description when she is giving away a couple of stone, or even one stone, especially when the going is good.

The efforts of Desert Gold at Palmerston have been discounted by many sportsment, but figures tel 'lagainst their judgment. Desert Gold was in her box for a fortnight or so prior to the Palmerston meeting, and had not had a gallop, yet she ran the Melbourne and New Zealand Cup winner to a neck in the Awapuni Gold Cup, and made him equal the Australasian record to win the race. Had the riders of Sasanog and Desert Gold been reversed tho verdict nay not have been in favour of the gelding, good as he is. • The Wellington Racing Club will commence the erection of the new grandstand ait Trentham after the spring meeting.

Finmark. who is now trained at Rosehill, is the favourite for the V.R.C. St, Lesrer.

Neither Master Lupin nor Sleight of Hand has earned a penalty for the Great Northern Hurdles, but ithe former may be troubled bv the distance. Sleight of Hand's trainer has engaged accommodation for four horses for the Grand National imeetinz at Christchurch.

According to a Randwick authority more than once in fast work, Biplane, when Rallopine on the course proper, has ran inside the hurdles. The reason is attributed to his likine to race next to the rails, and aa the habit might bring about an accident he is now galloped alone the back. Recently he went well Over five furlongs in lmin. 7sec., so that he was not at his top in any part of it. He looks well. The deaith is anouneed from London of Mr A. W. Cox. one of the most prominent owners of recent years. "Lucky" tu. t as he was known in racing circles, utuae his first strike by acquiring original interests in the Broken Hill mine, and from that source alone his income must havo been enormous. On returning to England he spent money lavishly in acquiring the- best of racehorses, his ambition, like that of most wealthy sportsmen, being to win a Derby. This feat ho accomplished first with Lemben? in 1910, and again with Gay Crusader, two seasons ago. Few owners have had so manv good horses through their stable as Mr Cox, who raced under the nom do turf of "Mr Fairie." Apart from his two Derby successes he had the pleasure of seeing his colours carried to victory on Gnlcottia in the One Thousand .Guineas, on Bayardo in the St. Leger and Ascot Gold Cup, on Gay Crusader in the St. Leger, on My Dear in the Oaks, and on Aleppo in the Ascot Gold Cup. '