SPORTING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 44, 1 June 1910, Page 8

SPORTING.

TURF TOPICS. (By "Moturoa.") Great Northern Hurdles' oil Friday. Ben Jonson is said to be very lit at present. Leonardo lias bum troubled with shoulder soreness, and was sent home last week. • On Wanganui running, Woolloomooloo will be very unlucky if he does not win a race at Ellerslie. For leading the field home in the Grandstand Steeple last week, Bullwortk puts up 71b. extra in the Great Northern Steeplechase. Here we aie again! New Zealand Cup nominations close on Monday next, liow many Taranaki horses are up to N.Z. Qup form this season, I wonder? Wimmera has frightened a lot out of the Great Northern Hurdles. Uf the sixteen to pay the final payment, Taranaki claims three—Paritutu, Waitapi* and Maharanui. Another of the veteran 'chasers, An tlionv, has 1 reappeared at Riccarton and is shaping well over steeplechase country. ! Full Cry has made a speed recovery from the severe accident which uefel him while schooling a couple of weeits ago. Tlie hoTse is now in active training on the Napier Park tracks' once more, and lias ibeen niminated for events at the Hawke's Bay meeting. Manawatu scribes report that Defeat and Prospector went round the big country at Awapuni on Saturday morning, both horses jumping proficiently. "You have passed the shop," is what some of the bookmakers call out to clients! as they go by without having a toet.—Exchange. George Price went north last week with Nyland and Aorangi, of the "Highden"' horses, and he also took up the 'chaser Lovell. Jos. Prosser will be busy at Otaki on the 3rd inst., and could not get away to Ellerslie with the G.N. Steeple candidate. Aorangi is expected to run well in the big hurdles at Ellerslie this' week, but on Wanganui form lie can have tout lew friends. On Thursday he stopped to nothing at the end of a mile and threequarters, and his prospects of seeing out a swiftly run two and a quarter miles do not appear to be very rosy. Nyland is as' lit as a -fiddle, and is certain to run well. His first start will be in the Members' Handicap, run over five furlongs.

With Wimmera in the field for the Great Northern Hurdle Race there promises to be no waiting on the journey. The Merriwee gelding, with a 71b. penalty, hus only lOst. 9lb. to carry and, barring accidents, must be given a great chance. The left-handed way of jumping often disconcerts strange horses, but no doubt Trainer Quhilivan will see that the horse gets plenty of practice at Ellersiie. Both before and after the Wanganui meeting trouble was being experienced with VVimmera's legs, ibut his trainer did not see any cause for alarm. It is to be hoped that Mr. Watt's gelding will be landed at the post fit and well on Friday next. The Epsom Derby will be run, in England to-day. When the last mail left 'Ome ihis nibs Lord Rosebery's colt, Niel Gow, was a staunch favorite, and everything points to the chestnut running a good race for to-days blue riband. As a three-year-old, Lord Rosebery's colt romped .home in the Craven Stakes and Two .Thousand Guineas, and he will be ■piloted by the same remarkable Danny Maher in the Derby.

The Hon. Thomas Reibey, of Tasmania, who can claim the distinction of ■being' one of the oldest turfites in the Commonwealth, never .permits his jockeys to use either whip or spur, and, according to many race followers in the eight little island, lu'.y thereby lost hnumerable races which he might have won. One day during his absence, however, liis trainer started a horse in each] of three races at Carrick, and, per medium of whip and spur, enabled the followers of the stable to land a pile of money. A few days later the veteran sport heard that his orders' had been disobeyed, with the result that the trainer and all the stable hands were summarily dismissed. ] Voca ran a couple of good races at Wanganui last week, and Walter ftaynor is now spelling lier. Shrapnel, WellcaSt, Commander, Minora, floanga, Frcevata, Pukenui and Luscombe dropped out of the Great Northern Hurdles at the final payment, and Lady Patricia has since been scratched. Maiora 'broke down at Takapnna last week, and Lady Patricia shaped very badly at the seaside course. The others mentioned above are not of much consequence, and there still remains'sufficient well backed horses in the race to provide an interesting .contest. More than one Century Hurdles winner has failed at Ellerslie, and the race may not be such a good thing for Wimmera as some sports imagine.