JUMPERS AGAIN IN TROUBLE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 386, 21 June 1928, Page 6

JUMPERS AGAIN IN TROUBLE

CASUALTIES AT NAPIER PUWHERO AND SON O' MINE ( Special to THE SUN) HASTINGS, Wednesday. There is no shortage of bad jumpers about this season, and Hawke’s Bay has its share of them. This observation applies to both steeplechasers and hurdlers. - The class in the Napier Steeplechase mav be gauged from the fact that Puwhero had to carry 12.9. Puwhero has usually impressed, everyone by his great jumping, but he is a poor stayer, and is always tiring at the end of a couple of miles. Even then only four contested the race notwithsandmg that the chance of picking up a stake looked fairly simple. The task was easier than it appeared on paper to be, for Puwhero was XQVy much below his best, and gave an ordinary display prior to falling. One of the chief causes of his failure to take his fences with his usual freedom and dash was that he was hampered by a bad leg, which has been giving trouble for some time past. When he returned to the enclosure after the fall he was perceptibly lame in the off foreleg. It might be a while before he is seen at his best again. His Turn Will Come Son o’ Mine was just behind Puwhero when the latter fell, and he, too. came down. Those standing near the fence say that he absolutely failed to rise at all at the obstacle. He could have been in front at the time, and had he escaped trouble on the journey he would have won comfortably, as far as

could be judged from the way the ‘ horses were travelling. Son o’ Mine also is a cot case, and has had to be sent home to Awapuni without fulfilling engagements at the Hawke’s Bay meetings. He came in contact with a wire fence after the fall, and has a very nasty knee. He has been under veterinary treatment, and an effort is being made to get him ready for the coming Wellington winter fixture. Another of the steeplechasers who is doing the Napier-Hastings circuit, and is intended for the Wellington meeting, is Garzon. and he too has struck trouble. Tie was motored to Hastings immediately after the Napier Steeplechase ar»d when being* unloaded tried to jump out of the vehicle, with the result that he somersaulted and fell heavily on the road. Too Much Pace The best of the hack steeplechasers seen at the meeting was Radiate, who won his race decisively at the right end. At Napier he did not jump so well as at Wanganui, but once the last fence was cleared he gathered the leader, Royal Heather, as though the latter were anchored, and it seems quite possible that Radiate will continue to make his presence felt in his own class, and that later on when more seasoned he will do better still. There was a lot of talk about a new one to the racing public—a horse called Hollycombe, who has done a lot of hunting and gained a reputation among the hunters and the point to point steeplechasers. But Hollycombe was a great failure at Napier. Tie did not show a great deal of pace between the fences and he jumped so slowly that he was losing ground the wholetime. He cannot be reckoned on as an acquisition to the ranks of the jumpers at present, but so many good ones come out of the hunting field that he might come right with experience. He won the Hunt Cup to-day, but it was •only through the mistakes of his opponents. Maunga Sole Hope It might be gathered from this that the only hope the East Coast has in the way of a. steeplechaser is Maunga., and that is the case. Maunga is very well, and has thriven since he returned from the Great Northern meeting, and all the old hands admit that if one of the good steeplechases is credited to Hawke’s Bay this winter Maunga will be the horse to confer the honour. The Bay has a fair sort of steeplechaser in Maunga, but it is difficult to find one of its hurdlers to whom a similar compliment can be paid.