NOTES AND COMMENTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 363, 25 May 1928, Page 7

NOTES AND COMMENTS

OAMARU REFLECTIONS HARRY AUDUBON’S SUCCESS An Expensive Acre The Wellington sportsman, Mr. S. W. Kelly, has purchased Acre, who will form one of B. Jardcn's team. It is understood that th 6 price; was £I,OOO. Unbalanced Early Erin’s Koyal. one of J. Bryce’s team, was one of the well-backed runners in the mile saddle race at Oamaru on Saturday, but he never got near the front. He was unbalanced during the shuffle for places just after the start and did not pace with any determination after that. One To Remember Transport was one of the unlucky horses in the Electric Handicap on Saturday, and with a better run he would probably have linished closer up than third. Two furlongs from home lie was moving well, but his rider was disappointed when trying to get him through on the rails, and the Logan Pointer gelding consequently lost ground at a vital stage of the race. Unfair Tactics Some edging out tactics were used at Oamaru on Saturday which warranted at least a mild reprimand, comments a Dunedin writer. On a small track it makes all the difference in the world and as the offender could not be charged with lacking experience he should have been warned to drive his own horse and let others alone. America’s Leading Sire According to the latest statistics, the defunct trotting stallion Peter the Great, 2.07 J, is the leading sire of standard performers in America, being credited with 661 representatives: Guy Axworthy, 2.082, is second, with 330; Allerton. 2.00;. is third with 271; Trampfast, 2.12*, is fourth with 257; San Francisco, 2.072, is fifth with 254; and Bingen, 2.06 i, is sixth with 252. Putting Her By Th© Waimate sportsman, J. Dench, has decided not to race his two-year-old filly by Wrack from Tatsy Dillon this season. She is a growing filly and her owner thinks it best to give her more time to mature. He has a yearling sister to the youngster, and a colt foal by Nelson Bingen from his old favourite. Tatsy Dillon was not bred to this season. No Thoroughfare! R. B. Berry Is a clever reinsman, but in the Stewards’ Handicap at Oamaru ho drove Great Triumph a peculiar race, and frequently changed his line of running, allowing him to be hemmed in on the rails when it would have been better policy to keep to “the open road.’’ The three-year-old colt is a fine pacer, and should develop into a good winner. Owner’s Fall Mr. g. Curling, the owner of Hawkesbury’s Pride, had a bad fall on the morning of the Oamaru Trotting Club's meeting. He was working his trotter when a rein broke and the mare got away, her owner being thrown out. Mr. Curling was present at the meeting, but was feeling the effects of his fall. Hawkesbury’s Pride was driven by R. B. Berry. Biej Races in America Fifty -two entries have been received for each of th© two biggest races on the American Grand Circuit»for pacing horses. These events are the 25,000 dollars (£5,000) Kalamazoo Derby, known as the H. O. Reno American Pacing Derby, and the 25,000 dollars Page Dairy Purse. These 2.0 S class pacing races will be run on the usual American three-heat plan, but if more thitn 15 starters turn out preliminary beats will be necessary for the latter iace, to be run at Toledo. Ohio. Taking Things Easy W. I*. Moreland’s young pacer by Rey de Oro from the bay mare Relate, is a regular attendant at Addington, but he is not being asked to do any severe tasks. He does not favour his dam in colour, as do all the rest of her progeny, being a dark bay.

Ho is built also on much stouter lines than most of Belette’s stock, and looks like furnishing into a very fine pacer. He is not likely to be raced till next season. Trotting At Samoa A meeting of the Apia Turf Club was held at Apia, Samoa, on Easter Monday, the programme including a couple of trotting races. Forest Chimes appears to be the Great Bingen of Samoa as in the Trotting Handicap, of 15 L'urltmgs, she was asked to concede 770 yards. After making up ground rapidly in the first round, Forest Chimes continued to break and was withdrawn. The winner’s time was 6.54, so some of our “roughies” would be veritable champions up in Samoa. Unfortunately, however, the stakes are not sufficiently attractive to induce their owners to send them out of the country. Concession For Amateurs Although Mr. R. Miller does not own any trotters these times, he still takes an interest in the sport with which he was so long and largely connected (says the Australian ’’Trotting Record.’’) In the early days of the New South Wales Trotting Club, Robert Miller was a successful horseman, both in the saddle and the sulky. Under the then extraordinary rules of the club a horse trained by a professional could be ridden by an amateur, and receive a 3sec. concession in a mile, cr ssec in a mile and a-half. Thus a horse on a professional mark could be ridden or driven by Miller, who held an amateur licence, and get the concession. The afterwards two miles Australasian champion, Denver ITuon, then a tliree-year-old named C.W., was ridden by R. Miller when he won the Flying Mile in 2.19 L and the Epping Handicap, two miles, in 4.422, performances that fo:.* some time stood as records for the Epping track. The Sapling Stakes Generally the New Zealand SaplingStakes, to be decided at Ashburton next month, was regarded as a good thing for one of Mr. H. F. Nicoll’s two-year-olds by Wrack, but that there is going to be another to make it interesting was shown on Saturday, when J. Bryce produced a tine two-year-old colt in Grand Light to contest the Advance Handicap. Grand Light was beaten by a smart tliree-year-old in Return Voyage, who had had some racing experience, while the colt was making his first appearance. Grand Light behaved like a seasoned racehorse, hopped out smartly and was racing as game as a pebble at the finish. J. Bryce is a master of his art with young horses, and Grand Light is a credit to him. This colt is by Matchlight, and in colour and markings resembles Taurekareka, who is given as being by Cathedral Chimes or Matchlight. Grand Light’s dam is the Irish-bred mare, Our Aggie, whom J. Bryce brought with him when he first came to New Zealand in 1913. A Nice Present At the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club’s August meeting in 1.924 Harry Audubon won the Queen Mary Handicap, of two miles, in 4.37 2-5, and the Lincoln Handicap, of two miles, in 4.30 1-5, and finished third to Onyx and Great Bingen in the National Cup, his time being 4.30 4-5. ►Since then the Great Audubon gelding has been started on numerous occasions. mostly in two-mile races, but a fourth placing was the nearest lie ever got to the money, although he had shown great speed in his races. Several trainers had tried their hands on Harry Audubon, and eventually his owner, Mrs. G. W. Watkins, tired of him and presented him to the Belfast trainer, C. S. Donald. It is the luck of the sport that Donald should win a race at the first time of asking, but he must be given credit for selecting a race to suit his charge. He chose the Enfield Handicap, of nine furlongs, at Oamaru. in place of the hard two-mile races Harry Audubon had previously raced in. The result was extremely satisfactory, and the remarkable thing about it is that the gelding, with a reputation of being faint-hearted, lought out the issue as gamely as ever a horse did. He was under a hard drive over the last quarter and stuck to his task like a tradesman. Now that Harry Audubon has again struck a winning vein there is no knowing what he might do, although he is rising 12 years old, an age at which few horses may be expected to show improvement.