Waikato Horses At Country Fixtures

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 276, 11 February 1928, Page 6

Waikato Horses At Country Fixtures

CIRCUIT PROSPECTS LOOK GOOD (From, Our Waikato Correspondent). THE second and concluding portion of the country circuit for the season'is now entered upon. With the Rotorua fixture out of the way there will be a “breather” for two weeks when the Te Aroha Club will fly its flags. Its days are February 25 and 27, Saturday and Monday. In the following week are the trots at Claudelands. Then Pukekohe will be the centre of two days’ racing and the pendulum will move in this direction once more when the popular fixture of the Ohinemuri Club will he conducted at Paeroa. That will bring the calendar to March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day) and March 19.

Branson did not reach the acceptance list for the opening day at Rotorua which leaves the reasonable inference that he been showing some illeffects after galloping on the hard surfaces at Takapuna and Matamata. Pat Scally has been absent from Te Rapa with his charge since the latter fixture. He has the Greyspear gelding entered at Te Aroha, so it shall not be long before his followers get the opportunity of evening-up affairs following the cup defeat at Matamata. While Branson is not by any means ineffective on a turning track, the bigger they are the better he likes the galloping circuits. Te Aroha will attain sufficiently close to the ideal and Branson is going to be very near the top, if not actually there, when the order of favouritism is being chronicled. \ HE WON FIRST TIME OUT Romford’s name has been missing from the racing fields for some time. It has bobbed up at last. His present training preparation is directed at Te Aroha. The galloper referred to is the chestnut son of Nassau and Fallwin who was sent from Cambridge

in the spring to win at Ellerslie at ■ the first time of starting. Perhaps * more surprising still was the short ’ price he returned for a candidate with no public form. The confidence rei posed in Romford was not misplaced ; and it wasn’t a poor crowd he beat either. The public have short mem- ; ories so this reminder should be ’ appreciated. The last time Romford | was out was on the occasion of the ! Labour Day meeting of the Waikato .Hunt Club. His complete failure in L moderate hack company occurred on * that occasion but that showing is not l likely to stand against him perman- , ently. HURDLING AND HIGH-WEIGHTS Ted Wilson knows his training book ’ pretty thoroughly. When the Te Rapa ’ mentor looks upon the prospects as faourable he is very seldom far wrong. With only Bright Day to work on, Wilson’s opportunities are limited. The chestnut is not a sound horse altogether but Wilson has him standing up to the needs in good style. The Day [ Comet* gelding doesn’t begin quite , so ; well these days. That’s what kept him out of victory at the Matamata meeting. With high-weight and r hurdling avenues available to him Mr. 1 Steven Tapp’s gelding has further stake-earning opportunity. He has the ability to drive the attack right * home when keyed up. A PAYABLE PROPOSITION : “He's sparking up again!” This ■ applies to Day Guard who goes regui larly to the starting post at provincial 1 fixtures. He has his ups and downs but the punters invariably get a price which more than balances the “misses.” Owner Jack Zimmerman has had to put a stamp on sufficient cheques from the racing clubs to warrant the Day Comet—Keep Watch gelding being characterised as a very payable proposition. His recent form points to Day Guard having the lever in ton gear once again. QUALITY INVARIABLY TELLS That quality will tell (there are exceptions) is being borne out by Mervette, who is at “Bert” Tinker’s stables on the Racing Club’s property at Te Rapa. The daughter of Lucullus and Brayton, is one of Gerald Stead’s breeding, but it has taken a lot of patience to get some return on the » 300gns that her owner parted with * when he purchased her as a yearling , at a sale at Dick Hannon’s at Cam* ; bridge. On top of the capital cost has » to be added the fees of keep during the fairly long interval. Since her L double win at TaumariThui in December, i Mervette won a hack event at Ellerslie s and dead-heated for the second prize in an earlier item at the same fixture. She was unlucky not to have done better than third in the Cup at aMtai mata, her next start. Mervette is improving all the time, which is the pleasing part about affairs. No one will begrudge that good sport, Fraser Smith, something worth while with Mervette. The prospects are it will arrive! “RUFFLES WILL RUFFLE ’EM” Ruffles , and Orchus have been “booked in” at the quarters at Te Aroha, where Albert Cox already has a team which has added well to the banking accounts of its many followers this season. Ruffles has had a couple of months* regular work at Te Aroha, which has advanced him sufficiently for a beginning to be made. Albert Cox can bring a horse to his best better than many of the racing mentors and when Ruffles is asked to take his. place in the field again the opposition will be required to do their best. WAIT AND SEE Musketoon, the English-bred galloper who has had a term of stud duty in the Thames Valley district, is among the latest to be called upon to stage a “come-back.” He has been in work only a few weeks, but he is putting I the furlongs back of him each morning i at Te Aroha. After three weeks’ 1 work he is starting to put the glint of 1 the galloper on his hide. It is going j to take many more weeks of solid work i before Musketoon will be galloping to < any extent worth taking notice of. 1 That he will eventually be brought to ] the desired pitch there seems no rea- J son to doubt. Musketoon always did < best on the winter surfaces and when < that period of the present year is ( reached, one will be permitted to gauge ]

better whether he will be equal to the occasion. The wait and see policy can’t harm anyone. KING LU BUILDS BANKING ACCOUNTS The investing public have nothing to cavil at in the treatment they have had from King Lu during the past 12 months. He was a winner in the winter, and he kept on “dong it” in the spring and has been in front several times so far as the summer racing has gone. The Te Araho galloper had a breather after racing at the Auckland meeting but is back in work once again. He has been entered in thesprint and distance races for his home course in a fortnight, and whichever department is decided upon will find Bob Hines’s galloper a force to be. reckoned with. GONE AFTER THE JACKSON Paganelli has trekked off to Wanganui with his trainer. Mick Carroll, and the course set for the Jackson Stakes at the river town on Saturday next. Paganelli will also be started with the sprinters on Thursday and those who are serenely looking upon this gallop as merely a pipe-opener may be left lamenting. There are many who are of the opinion that the final bit of six furlongs is not exactly relished by Lord Quex’s descendant. Farmers Crawford and Roberts, who divide the incomings and share the outgoings of the revenue and expenditure account of the Te Rapa-prepared three-year-old, are due t*> be paying more into their joint racing account before very long. If the work and attention Carroll has bestowed on Paganelli in recent weeks are to count for anything, then the brilliant three-year-old will be tough. TRIP NOT WITHOUT SUCCESS All sportsmen this way were pleased to learn that Phil Brady, who took two horses on the latest Taranaki trip, is to return with some of the foreign capital. Ned Kelly was the stake-earn-ing medium, and it was on the flat , that “the bushranger” proved the goods. This is the initial success since the Hamilton lady owner, Mrs. R. I. Caro, who also races Wenday (who, too, was in the south), purchased Ned, after his double jumping victory at Whangarei in the spring. Trainer Brady has not had an over measure of the fruits of victory since he took up the calling, after a long period among the knights of the pigskin, at which he steered many a winner. A retrospective survey of New Zealand turfdom will present Phil Brady as the pilot first past the post of many of the best horses who have been saddled up during the last quarter of a century. WILL BE ON HAND AGAIN Twelve months ago Pegaway was in the front as the judge took his siz-ing-up look at the field in the Herries* Memorial Cup, the chief attraction of the well-provided stake list in the two days at Te Aroha. Day Guard and Transformer were in the places that sunny afternoon. A glance at the list of nominations for the mile and aquarter handicap less than two full weeks away will show the trio as again to be given the opportunity to “do things.” Alf Cook has Pegaway doing the daily round on the tracks at Te Awamutu, and while the weight adjuster must allot the Lucullus gelding a respectable poundage, Mr. Prangley’s galloper is certain to be among the “seriously considered.” Pegaway

can be relied on to give his followers a great run for their renewed confidence. He is well up to weight, the distance will suit him, and his condition will be as near good on the day as it would be possible to have him. “BY THEIR DEEDS ” The Lord Quex stock have established a creditable name during the short period they have been before the public in this country. Paganelli was the first to make a successful appearance from this district. He has been followed by Liaison, who came North from Hawke’s Bay traning quarters, and placed his name on the winning list at Takapuna last month. In both these instances it is not going beyond the v mark of reason to prophesy enhanced results with the colours up. Next season the Waikato shall have a third member of the same family prepared to face the starting barrier, all going well in the meantime. The recruit is the rising two-year-old, who was purchased at Trentham for 225

guineas, and who is now domiciled at Carroll’s stables. No second survey is essential to remind the student that the youngster and Paganelli are related. Salvette, the former’s dam, is a grand-daughter of Ringdove, the dam of Paganelli. The latest purchase has settled down in his new quarters, and the success inseparable from introduction to a galloping career is now on its way. The juvenile has taken to the requirements like the proverbial duck to water. It’s risky to do the inventing before the hatching, but if he fails to gallop fast it will be surprising. The breeding is there and the handling will be provided to fully equip the thoroughbred for the future plans. THERE’S HOPE YET On what it has to guide it so far as Dick Hannon’s gelding, York Abbey, is concerned, a reluctance among the investing public would be warranted. If the Quin Abbey jumper is going; to stay on better you can rest assur ed that his Cambridge ownertrainer will achieve the desired end. It has to be remembered, that York Abbey was mainly a sprinter. He’s a hurdler by compulsion, more or less. Still neither argument proves conclu-

sively that he will extend the distance he ean compass over the sticks. At anyrate he’s back in the working brigade of the big team at Waikato central headquarters. If the prospects were hopeless it appears as if York Abbey would hardly have been asked to partake of a full oat menu again. MEMORIES OF THE PAST The grinning fixture at Te Aroha wftl mark the 12 months exactly since Town Bank’s hoofs last clattered along the back, across the top, and through the final stretch of the journey, that racehorses have set down for them from time to time. After a long spell on the grass lands (since out of commission), within handy reach of the old course at Claudelands, Town Bank came out rolling fat to enter on a further preparation. Billy Woods was given the job this time, and Town Bank has been consistently in action at Te Rapa for eight or nine weeks. The Archiestown—Lilybank gelding made some fame on the track at Te Aroha in his two-year-old days, and has not been unknown as a dividend payer since that time. He figures among the entrants for this month’s gathering, but he may be ruled out before race days unless good rains fall., in the interval. Town Bank likes to get; Into the turf—a little at least. BACK TO THE BATTEN BUSINESS Kawa, who was first introduced to training at Te Awamutu, has been back at that centre since he was taken in hand a short time prior to the holiday fixtures. The Quin Abbey hurdler won one race last season, but he disappointed too often to make his party feel on good terms with themselves. He gave the impression that he had “a way of his own,” and horses of that type would feend a millionaire broke. It’s all a matter of time. Kawa went over the battens at the last Waipa meeting, bht he was. not long in from the pastures then. His racing needs have been advanced considerably in the gap since mid*December, and he is to go against the last of the jumpers at Te Aroha. On his day, Kawa is handy, but “der tag” hardly arrives often enough on past performances. SPRINTER THAT WAS OFF COLOUR The Cambridge sprinter, Kingfield, has a debit this season, and will require to freshen up considerably if the liability is to be fully met before the 1927-28 term is closed. The descendant of King Lupin gave sufficient evidence last season to class him as a galloper quite within the useful grade, to say th el east of him. Which all makes his latest form the more surprising. Kingfield had none of the luck in the running of the two events he participated in at Ellerslie in the summer, but, with everything in his favour, he was a long-odds shot, taking a line through his preceding gallops this season. He had been spelling since New Year until a short time ago, but is now well under way with his tuning-up for Te Aroha engagements. Kingfield will be down at the bottom of the weights, or should be. Even that won’t make him win, unless he has improved considerably. Most people this way will be content to let Kingfield run against them until he proves that he is back to the standard he has been known to attain.

RACING FIXTURES February IL—Dunedin J.C. February 11.—Taranaki J.C. February IL—Poverty Bay T.C. February 11, 13.-—Rotorua R.C. February 15.—Clifden R.C. February 16.—Tolaga Bay J.C. February 16, 18.—Wanganui J.C. February 18.—Canterbury J.C. February 22. 23.—Gore R.C. February 23, 25.—Nelson J.C. February 24, 25.—Woodville J.C. February 23.—Waiapu R.C. February 25, 27.—Te Aroha J.C. February 29, March I.—Dannevirke R.C. March 1, 3.—Marlborough R.C. March Banks Peninsula R.C. March 2, s.—Te Kuiti R.C. March 7.—OpotikJ J.C. March 9, 10.—Napier Park R.C. March 10, 12.—Franklin R.C. March 15, 17.—Wellington R.C. March 17.—Opunake R.C. March 17, 19.—Ohinemuri J.C. March 21.—Otautau R.C. March 21. 22.—Rangitikei R.C. March 23. 24.—Oamaru J.C. March 24.—Bay of Plenty J.C. March 24, 26.—Westport J.C. March 28, 29.—Southland R.C. March 30. 31.—Masterton R.C.