Racing in the South

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 236, 24 December 1927, Page 5

Racing in the South

At Awapuni and New Plymouth AUCKLAND HORSES SHOULD RUN WELL THEBE are several horses from the Auckland Province claiming engagements at the Taranaki and Manawatu meetings next week, and their presence in the fields lends added interest to those fixtures, brief reviews of which appear belo\y.

While the champions and near champions are fighting for supremacy at Ellerslie on Monday and following days, the next best performers will be found patronising the other meetings, notably at Awapuni and New Plymouth, while in the South Island the Dunedin gathering holds principal interest. Next to Auckland the most important of the holiday fixtures is that of the Manawatu Club at Awapuni on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. There fine fields are engaged, and the racing should be brimful of interest. With Pouri and Potoanui, Auckland has a very strong hand in the hurdle

events at Awapuni. and between them they should do well. Tone was an unlucky performer at Feilding a few weeks back, and so was Le Champ, although it is thought that the latter is not quite so good as is thought. This pair should figure prominently in the non-winners’ classes. After running a great race when left at Feilding, there are a good many who have been waiting for Lady Limond. They will have a chance of seeing her in action in the Tararua Handicap on Monday, in which she will 6e up against a couple of fair sorts in Limosa and Ring Boy. MANAWATU CUP Of £800; 1£ miles.

A small field of eight is left in the Manawatu Cup on Monday, with Piuthair heading the list, and other likely ones engaged in Lady Desmond, Joy Bird, Kilmiss and Assurance. Piuthair is now coming down in the weights and she showed at Woodville by her finishing effort in the sprint that she is coming back. Her most formidable opponent may be Lady Desmond, who has trained on well since the New Zealand Cup. It sometimes takes a lot of weight to stop a good two-year-old, and it remains to be seen if her 9.2 will effectively check Silver Rule, who is a good

filly. Flicker is small and smart, and at a difference of 181 b. she may make it interesting for the Chief Ruler filly. Among tli© hack sprinters to be seen out at the meeting are Cool Card, Arikiwai, Helotis, Talisker, Powhiri and Bracken Abbey, all of whom have shown form recently. The best of them may be Helotis and Talisker, and not forgetting that Bracken Abbey ran quite a good race in the open sprint at the Waipa Meeting last Saturday as a preliminary to this southern campaign. There will be some fine six-furlong horses seen out at Awapuni, chief among them being Kic sk, Civility, Lady Cavendish, Stormy, Licinius, Epistle and Lausanne, and it will be surprising if these events are not shared by some of those named. In tli© Fitzherbert Handicap on Boxing Day Kiosk and Lady Cavendish read to be well treated, and in their present form they should be conspicuous. The concluding event the first day at Awapuni on Monday is the Grandstand Handicap, and this has not drawn the good quality field it has don© in the past. Nevertheless a couple like Wanderlust and Duke Abbey are pretty good sorts if they are given a run. Although Civility figures on Boxing Day as a sprinter, she will be found doing better over middle distances on the second and third days. Generally this brilliant daughter of Elysian is at her best in the autumn.

TARANAKI’S CARD Although a small course nearly i mil© round, good beginners are e>so; tial if they are hate chance at New Plymouth on Boxing Day. T fields are good throughout, and there should be some good racing. A weight-for-age affair without any pretensions *to be a classic opens t o Taranaki programme, this being Hautoki Plate, and under the sc; le and over the seven furlongs a couple th t have shown promise for the event are Whizone and Kyngzonc. Melissa is top weight in the Boron- t Juvenile, for two and three-year-old but she has not raced for a long tint and she may do better with a run m public. Golden Wedding and Tc A? ; - awa are speedy, and if the former only behaves herself at the gate she should be one of the favoured division. It looks as if the hurdle races t New Plymouth will come to Auckland, for with the penalised Highflown and then Uuralla to represent the north they have a strong hand. The former won handsomely at Te Awamutu Inst Saturday, and a seven-pound penalty should not materially affect liis chances. Subdivision ran a sufficiently good race in the hack “classic,” the Takapuna Plate, in which he finished fourth, to warrant the hope that he

will be prominent in his engagements. One of tlies© is the hack sprint the opening day. in which he has the handy weight of 8.6. On the round track he should be able to set a merry pace.

The big event at New Plymouth on Boxing Day is the Xmas Handicap and in this Sleepy Sol and Monoghan are a likely pair. The former needs tho sting out of the ground, and if he gets that way he will be hard to dispose of. It will be remembered that Sleepy Sol ran second to Gala Day the second day at Whangarei. It is not. often that one finds a hack of the quality of Town Bird in a level weight race, but the speedy Arcliiestown sprinter is in one at New Plymouth on Boxing Day. This is the Tikorangi Hack, all eight stone, and Town Bird should show the opposition how to take the many turns at top speed. The Te Atiawa Hack Cup saw a big surprise when it was first run for 3” months ago, and the winner. Bent, will again be on the scene. However, she may not be able to give a repeat performance. Bisox will go a good mile, and the extra half-furlong should not

trouble her. A couple that should be with her for most of the journey are Baby Bun and Bright Glow. Benzora was entered for the Auckland Railway Handicap, but he is to take on something much easier, tbe sprints at Taranaki and Stratford. On Monday at the former place he lias the steadier of 9.6, but the opposition is not of the strongest, and Benzora is such a brilliant sprinter that he will be hard to beat. Partaga and Bonogne are a couple that may bother him a bit.

Piuthair . . 8 10 Novar . . . . 7 2 iLady Desmond 8 7 Wild Pigeon . 7 0 Joy Bird . . S 7 Assurance . . 7 0 Kilmiss ... 8 7 Gaze . . . . 7 0

CHRISTMAS HANDICAP Of £375; 1J miles. Mint Leaf . S 9 Manly ... 7 J1 Hipo .... S 9 LadySleepy Sol . S 5 Anstruther . / 7 Tlie Lamb . S ■* Colder* Kxist 7 « Mono?han . 3 4 ToapaitI ..73 Vivo .... 7 11 Hallow noon . 7 0