DRIFTING OUT OF TOWN

NZ Truth, Issue 1211, 14 February 1929, Page 11

DRIFTING OUT OF TOWN

Owners Prefer Horses Out In The Country

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Representative). Quite a few Ellersiie trainers are sorely troubled of late. The reason is that the trend amongst owners is to have their" horses trained away from northern headquarters, and naturally public mentors are on the edge.

IT is not the ability of the mentors that is causing the growing desire to quit, nor the track conditions, but rather that the question of open spaces enters into the matter. That being so, any trainer who desires to shift north may think. twice .before settling ; too near the . hustle and bustle of Auckland city. At least two northern owners have of late changed from capable mentors over to country conditions, and the writing is on the wall that m a few years only those with some real estate and who cannot shift will be using Ellersiie-. as a training ground for thoroughbreds. . Then it will be •a . paradise for those continually m action there, for there are no fewer than eight tracks available, apajt from the course proper. There, Vis ', the . sand, the tan, , the steeplechase, the hurdle, thY two-year-old, and Tnree different grass tracks.

The tendency at present seems to be to cast eyes towards Takanini, but even that can' be over-run with horses. Generally speaking, Te Aroha, Te Awamutu, Te Rapa, Matamata, Avondale, Paeroa, and Pukekohe are all claiming attention and providing many winners. The main trouble near Ellersiie at present seems to be the scarcity of open paddocks, the risk of increasing traffic, and the fact that the shoe-bill is much greater on hard roads than on country grasses. , It is an ill wind, and those trainers who intend to remain at Ellersiie are smiling inwardly at the thought that the more horses which quit. Ellersiie will make it all the better, for those which will remain. ' Time was when close on three hundred horses used Ellersiie as a training centre, but nowadays there cannot be half that number m regular work.