Otahuhu Trots

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 563, 16 January 1929, Page 12

Otahuhu Trots

GOOD STAKES NEXT MONTH Attractive Summer Card THE nest trotting carnival to attract attention will be the summer carnival of the popular Otahuhu Club, which eomes up for decision on Saturday and \N odnesday. February 23 and 27 at Alexandra Park.

The suburban club, which stages two carnivals annually at Alexandra Park, caters liberally for owners and trainers in the spring and summer, and the fixtures are popular with the trot ting-loving- public The summer carnival, at which the Otahuhu Cup is run. eventuates in February, and the schedule prepared by the executive for the 1929 function is well up to the excellent standard set and maintained in the past. For next month’s meeting £7,205 will bo given in prize money, which includes a handsome gold cup to the value of 100 guineas. The main item, the Otahuhu Cup. has been in vogue since 1914. when Reuben won for T. Richards. but from 1900 till the year mentioned the race was known as the Otahuhu Trotting Club Handicap. Australian Successes During the period the Cup event at Otahuhu has figured in the light-har-ness world, it has drawn some of the best possible contestants, such good performers as Sympathy (M. Edwards), Asturio (X. Cunningham), Partner (A. Fleming) and Lord Rose (S. Groat), winning from 1918 to 1922. The following year saw the race won by an Australian in Grand Voyage, driven by P. G. Glasheen, and this was the commencement of a good trot for Commonwealth horses, as Sheik (P. Riddle), Delavan Quest (P. Riddle) Orion (P. Riddle) and Machine Brick (J. O’Shea) followed the lead set by P. Glasheen. The Auckland-owned Sea Pearl stopped the rot in 1927. and last year Terence Dillon won decisively, putting up the record for the race of 4.25. This year’s Cup is for horses that have a record of 4.32 or better, and the limit has been set at 4.30 It is run over the usual two-mile course for a stake of £3,000, on the opening day. On the second day the Dominion Handicap, for a similar stake and under the same conditions, will claim attention. The high-class horses which will be found taking part in the thous-and-pounders have another heat each day over a ten-furlong journey, which will give them a splendid opportunity of picking up expenses, should they fail in the bigger events. Che Myers Handicap and Coates Handicap are endowed with £SOO. and the limit is 2.461, equivalent to 2.13 a mile. Improvers’ Classes Improvers have their say in the Tamaki Handicap (first day) of £3OO, 11 miles, 2.55 class, and Newmarket Handicap (second day), which carries a similar stake, but is run over an extra quarter mile, with a limit of

3.30. Both these heats have , f°Ul limit, being for horses that iC done 2.2 4 to the mile or better v have not cracked the watch at 2it Two Hitlers of a reasonable calthn, but not yet up to Cup form, have chance in the Papnkura HandicJ U.SS). and Mount Albert HaUdS (4.38) on tbe lirst day. an 1 the Rish P mond Handicap 14.36) on tbe final dw tbe prize-money being £4OO. and £ 350 * respectively. \ * - l .° ten-furlong heat, the Farewell Karri; cap. as its name implies, brings the

carnival to a close, and caters for a large section of horses which will be competing in various events. The Otahuhu Club recognises tbe claims of saddle exponents, and this year has added another it -m of this class to the card, the Sylvia Park Handicap of £350, one mile, with a 2.16 limit, being changed from harness to saddle on the concluding day, while the first day the Railway mile of £30.. 2.17 limit, is the attraction for those who like the weight on top. Invitation to Trotters Square-gaiters—Yes the Otahuhu organisation never forgets this class of competitor, and in putting on the President’s Handicap and Alexandra Handicap each day with a stake of £450 and a limit of 4.38 for two miles has catered for the high standard trotter. The improvers in this section are also encouraged in the Trial Handicap £3OO, a mile and a-half, 3.431 limit! and Suburban Handicap, of the same value, but half a mile further, with a limit of 4.58. The latter items are for horses that have not won in faster time than 2.25 to the mile. Secretary R. L. Absolum will be at home to entrants on Friday, February 8, and handicapper C. E. Gooseman will announce the adjustments four days later. Such an appetising menu cannot fail to draw a liberal response from owners and trainers in all parts of the Dominion.