NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10277, 12 May 1919, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS

(By "Tohung.i.")

• The Marlborough Racing- Club c< mmences its three-day meeting to-morrow. Most of the horses from these parts have gone across the straits; the other leave to-day. . ■ ■ , Seven horses are engaged in the Opawa Welter,. with Rienzi and Imaribbon at the head of - affairs. Espearanco (S.C) 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. 4 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 shoit work of those engaged in the Brandon Handicap, of five furlongs. She is an 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 the Ward Handicap as well as the Welter, and mav 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 r™Bdinent 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 rat&e botween them, one allowing *the other to win, and another is that orje 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. AH these schemes were supposed to have been worked out at Trentham, but when the secretary of the Wellington Raoing Club was appealed to for some ofiicia} information he confessed that he knew ' nothing of the trouble whatever. Therefore rumour has lost again. Ever since the.day that Biplane failed to line up against Desert Gold at Awapuni, the champion mare has been, the Idol of. the people of Palmerston. The great demonstration that took place 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 cuts any ica. As a matter of fact roost of the horses competing against Desert Cold in the Stakes will be three-year-olds in a couple of months, and Desert Gold will be seven years old. Surely a 6even 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 bos for a fortnight or so prior to the Palmerston meeting, and had not had a gallop, yet she ran tho Melbourne end 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 n ay 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 Rose[iiß. is the favourite for the V.E.C. St. Leser. -

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

. Acoordine to a Randwick authority more than onoe in fast work, Biplane, when callopinjj on the course proper, has run inside' the hurdles. The reason is attributed to his liking to raoe next to the rails, and as the habit might bring about an accident he is now galloped along 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 deaih is anounced from London of Mr A. W. Cox, one of the most prominent owners of recent years. "Lucky" Cv_ u ha was known in racing circles, his flr6t 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 he accomplished first with Lemberg in 1910, and again with Gav Crusader, two seasons ago. Few owners have had so manv good , horses through their stable as Mr Cox. who raced under the nom de turf of "Mr Fairie." Apart from, his two Derby successes he had the pleasure of seeing his colours carried to victory on Golcottia. in the One Thousand Ouineas. on Bayaxdo in tho St. Leeer and Ascot Gold Cud, on Gay Crusader in the St. Leger, on My Dear in the Oaks, and on Aleppo in tho Ascot Gold Cup.