Turf Notes

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 466, 22 September 1928, Page 6

Turf Notes

EARLY BIRD.

By

Fakuranga Hunt Meeting Thi* popular annual race fixture is to be held at Ellerslie next Saturday. Weight* are due on Tuesday and acreptsmcee close on Wednesday at midday. Paid Up Ip the Parorangi Steeplechase at Awapuni on Friday the favourite. Scrap Iron, was "pipped” on the post for third place by Hats Off, whose rider slipped up on the rails. Scrap Iron appeared a very tired horse, but that dih not deter the stewards from fining A. McDonald, the rider of the Sir Antrim gelding, £5. Great Star Injured The three-year-old Great Star, who was progressing favourably in his preparation, met with an accident on Monday morning, while being exercised on the Riccarton tracks. He took fright at a tractor on tlio tracks and crashed through the railings, cutting himself about the shoulder and chest. Wants a Little Luck With ordinary luck J. Munro is likely to experience a profitable time <guring the Australian spring meetings. He will be astride Amounis in the Epsom, and W. Kelso has engaged him for Statesman in the Melbourne (jup. He piloted Statesman in the Chelmsford Stakes on Saturday week, and was very pleased with the horse’s performance in that race. It will be a coincidence if Amounis and Karuma fight out the finish of the Epsom, for which they are equal favourites. The crack Melbourne jockey, W. Duncan, is reported to be Karuma’s rider, and it will be remembered that in the Epsom three years ago Munro (Boaster) and Duncan (Metellus) fought out a terrific battle which resulted in a deadheat. (A cable this week said that Karuma was a doubtful runner, having sustained an injury.)

A.J.C. Derby To-day Week Though Australia breeds more horses than New Zealand does, it is significant that Australian racing men hold a high opinion of the Dominion thoroughbred, and at the yearling sales there is always a strong demand for horses bred in this country. In the past proved performers have found new owners across the Tasman, and perhaps the most notable purchases of recent years have been Fool’s Paradise, The Banker, Runnymede, Raasay, Satrap and Perception. The lastnamed three, who have not been long m Australia, and who were sold at high figures, have yet to justify their purchase money, but Raasay and Satrap are bound to win races when they become a little more seasoned. At his first start in Australia Raasay created a good impression on Sydney racegoers, but since then he has failed to gain a place in his outings. He should be improved with racing, though, but as he finished behind Prince Humphrey in the Hill Stakes at Rosehill, won by Limerick, it is Improbable that he ■will finish ahead of tpe Auckland-owned colt in the A.J.C. Derby, run next Saturday. Satrap has shown In his outings in Sydney that he has speed, and it is quite on tfie cards that he will pay his way in handicap events later.

Closely Related to Trivalve Advices from Victoria state that Mr. Ernest Clarke’s grand old mare Teppo has thrown a colt foal to Cyklon. This is an interesting youngster, as the dual Derby winner, Trivalve, was by Cyklon out of Trey, a daughter of Teppo. Teppo, who is 20 years of age, has produced a remarkable succession of winners. Among them Thrice, Three. Elkin, Trey and Deneb. N.Z. Cup Horses Count Cavour, Footfall and Hoylake, three Riccarton candidates for the New Zealand Cup, will be in the field for the Ashburton Handicap this afternoon. They are all m nice order for a race. Probably Hoylake is the most forward. Guineas Winner at the Ponies Celebrities of the racecourse often slip down the ladder of fame until they are asked to earn their keep on the unregistered tracks. Who would have thought, when Cromwell gave the mighty Rampion a bad beating in the Rosehill Guineas in 1926, that two years later the Woorak horse would be relegated to the pony ranks? East week Cromwell was down to make an appearance in the first division of the Flying Handicap at Victoria Park, and he is not even at the top q£ the weights. Cromwell went amiss after his Guineas victory, and had only two later runs during his %hree-year-old career. In his fourth year he proved a great disappointment, and his only placing was a second to Noscitur in the Farewell Handicap, at the V.R.C. Autumn meeting. On the strength of that run he was brought to Sydney with the Doncaster in view, but he shaped so badly there that after the big meeting he was sold for 625gns.

Gimabue’s Form The New Zealander Cimabue hung on so well to secure third money in the Tramway Handicap at Rand wick a fortnight ago that the fielders raised him to the third square on the Epsom charts. The gelding’s countrymen, however, have grave doubts whether he will be dangerous at the end of a. severely run mile. They appear to have good reason for their contention, as the longest distance Cimabue has won over is 6£ furlongs, when he was a two-year-old. At three years he won twice at six, and at seven furlongs was beaten only a neck by Reremoana at scale weights— a good performance. Cimabue showed by the way he stuck to Habashon tjiat he has plenty of pace, and, now that he is a four-year-old, he may possess a little more stamina than he had last season.