SPORTING.

Shannon News, 4 October 1929, Page 4

SPORTING.

y;-' - (By Silken Hein). 1 A Useful Sprinter.

V' Havering 1 , (who is engaged in the Shorts’ Handicap'at Ellerslie, has been (:?■' given solid 'work, 'the reverse way -".round at Hawera and is reported to be £' in good order for ’the trip.

A Likely Outsider.

If- A light weight aspirant for Mitchelson Cup honours, Talisker, is not being 1 very seriously considered for that event, probably on- account of the fact that he has only had one race this season, a fourth to Cashier, Otairi and ■f/. Blimp at Wanganui. There is also . some doubt expressed as to his ability I" of staying the distance but if he can 1 run as good a race on Saturday as he did in the Wellington Cup miles) & at Trentham in January he will be a very troublesome one. On the occasion % referred to he ran fourth to Yertigern, fL 'with whom he was coupled, The Hawk '■ and Papatu, the distance being eover- ' ed in one second outside the New Zcai land record. Talisker has 7.1 in the principal handicap at Ellerslie on Saturday as against 8.2 at Wanganui. Was a Good Two-year-old.

„ Polyxena, whose form as a. two-year-j- . old was, to say the least, consistent, 'y is expected to develop into a useful r < performer this season. The three-year-f old daughter of Chief Ruler —Podokes is engaged at Ellerslie on Saturday and is weighted .on the minimum in the Shorts’ Handicap. The filly’s most r brilliant performance last year was perhaps when she ran second to Gay Ballerina in the G.N. Champagne, bcatr; 'ing among others Eaglet and SupremV i . aey and if she has improved to the same extent as Eaglet she will have \ -.to be considered oh Saturday.

; A Promising Hack. ■ Prince Val registered two good performances at Avondale, making an ex- ' liibititn of the. field in the Swanson Handicap on the .opening day. In his .' second start he scored very impressively in the Mount; Albert Handicap, f.ov .he was badly placed early, in the race and also got anything but a good passage. He finished on very gamely at .the right end of the race and is one '. -of the,.most promising hacks seen out for some time. . ‘{' -Hard Words. Hard Words, fhe tWo-yeaa-old, t by *.-.Diacqucnad srqm, Alazabuka, showed .* 1 lot of speed/in the Two-year-old Parade ' at Wanganui, for: after getting away *'• badly, he' finished almost on terms with Chi-f Link, who, although in Auckland was not a started at the Avondale meeting. Hard Words ran well in the A\cndale Stakes for half a mile, and i when a little. more seasoned should

win a good two-year-old race. There ! is no doubt about his pace, an d P rs sent he only lacks experience. He is worth keeping in mind. ■-»

• Otaki Sportsman in Ausjtralia.

- "Like many of his fellow New Zealanders, owner-trainer A. D. Webster is finding Australia a happy hunting ground for his . horses, and, although

he was a long time getting into his stride on the current trip, two wins in 'successive, meetings have turned the venture -into an extremely profitable - . one, even if he fails to win -another race. First Acre.was well backed for the race he won-at Randwick on September 14th,. and a good deal of his winnings were played up on his smaller stablemate, Moutoa Wonder, in the’ Ascot 10.2, second division. To win, Mou,vtoa Wonder put up an attractive per- - formanee*- His backers regarded his

:v chance as hopeless when they noticed fT...him near the rear of a strungout field ■1 after a couple of furlongs, and this ' opinion *was shared by his owner, who remarked to a friend, “lie's not in the race." But Moutoa Wonder made ' up ground ii\ fine style approaching ,the turn, and sustained his run, to win narrowly from Saloon. On a previous ' , visit to Sydney First Acre won the - Menangle Cap, and Mcutoa Wonder was successful at the ponies., Webster,V ■ success this year has been equally shar; ,ed by his son, TuVoa, who rode both, winners. He also won 1 the Tramway Handicap at Randwick on Ceremony,' and scored on Lord Kennaquliair at Rosehill recently.

A Stud Bargain.

Night Raid, a comparatively young stallion, sire of Night March and Phar Lap, whose running at Randwick recently 7 so distinguished .them, is another illustration of what a gamble is the buying of thoroughbreds (remarks “Poseidon"). For all’his ' excellent breeding, Night Raid could •win only two races in Sydney, a Madden Handicap at Canterbury Park and the Chelmsford Handicap at Randwiek, when P. Brown rode him to dead-heat with Tremolo. He ran so disappointingly in more important races than Mr A. P. Wade sold him for stud purposes in New Zealand, and two or three years afterwards purchased the highly-per-formed Top Gallant for his stud at Borambola, where he has got useful

winners. He probably would not mind having Night Raid there now. Mr Wade's luck with Night Raid was no better than that with Amounis. He gave £3OOO and a contingency to J. W. Cook for the Magpie gelding, hoping to win the Derbies with him. After he had failed he let the horse go at auction for only 1800gns., and has seen him run brilliantly since, to win £22,- : 301 10s for Mr W. Pearson. A. Sydney owner, Mr H. G. Kirkpatrick, who', dur-

ing sr trip to New Zealand, gave £2OOO

for Gay Ballerina, and. got his money r back in stakes in a few weeks, had previously offered £SOOO for Night March, after he had won the New Zealand Derby, but the colt was not for sale.