SPORTING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 104, 23 October 1911, Page 7

SPORTING.

TURF TOPICS. j (By "Moturoa.") j For Taranaki sportsmen tlio principal attraction to-day will In' the WaverleyWaitotara annual race meeting. and with every promise of fine weather there , should be a big attendance at the country meeting to-day. Acceptances are quite formidable, there being 20 in the Wilson Stakes, 25 in the Jackson Memorial, 1G in the Maiden, and 14 in each of three other events. Proceedings will ■ open at noon with the Morton Memorial Maiden, Tun over seven furlongs, at w.f.a. The following horses have been entered:—Government 9.0, Muleteer 9.0, Glen Tullock 0.0, Sylvan Clinic !).0, Alnre 0.0, St. Laup 9.0, Jargon 0.0, Mavis 8.12, St. Prior 8.12, Carnation 8.11, Royal Arms 8.11, Pikitaeapa 8.11. Lady Mildred 8.0, Kiwitahi 8.9, St. Serf 7.10, and Topic 7.8. The race bears a very open appearancp, but Taranaki people will be most interested in the running of Mr. J. Georg-s's Royal Arms, by Royal Artillery—Barley Bree. Fourteen have paid up for the Flying, including the well-performed sprinters Labor Day, CrQwn Pearl, and Om the Shaughran, and a like number figure in the Handicap Hurdles. In the latter race Pukctotara, Ambergris and Pleiades have been showing the most promising form j of late. j Of the nine horses likely to sport silk i in the Waverlev Cup not more than, two or three have, up to the present, proved their ability to get to the end of a mile and a quarter. Sandy Paul ran a sterling race on the second day at Wanganui, and it is quite on the cards that the unlucky chestnut will run a "good horse" to-dav. Weight-carriers j have generally had a good run in the Cup, the best performances to date being those of Irish Twist (1804) and HotBpur (1895), both horses carrying 9st 51b to the fore. With twenty-nine engaged in the Wilson Stakes, a four-furlong scramble,' ft punter would hardly "go nap" on anything. Some smart beginners likely to ibe amongst the runners, arc St. Gate, .Tackpin, Bow Bells and Katua. Mr. A. Hall has St. Gate in great form, and it is likely that the full brother to St. Bill will carry a lot of money on the machine. The majority of those carded for the | Brewer Handicap and Momahaki Stakes i have other engagements during the day,' and scratchings may reduce these fields j considerably, but the Jackson Memorial j Stakes, for which 25 have been entered, l should provide interesting sport. Mr. I R. H. Skipworth will slip the fields in j his usual proficient manner. The Wellington R.C. spring meeting' will be concluded at Trentham this afternoon, the principal events being the Champion Plate (one mile and a quarter), and the Pearce Handicap (one mile). Principal interest centres in the meeting between Bobrikoff and Miscount in the Plate. . j _ Euroco is in great heart an<l will be given a flutter in flat races at WaverleV. Judging bv his fast gallops at Marton; la>t month, he should give a'good ac-! count of himself to-day. | Mr. Carmichael, the Opposition candi- [ date for Wallace, speaking at Riverton last week, said hn was not a racing ma.n, but he felt that there was not very much difference between buying £1 worth of totalisator tickets ,and buying I £1 worth of opera tickets. In one i case a certain percentage of revenue; went to the State. lie thotight it would be a very fair thing for the Government to pay out through the A. and P. Societies a certain proportion of that levy for the encouragement of horse breeding. He could not reconcile all the grants that had been made in favor of racecourses, etc.. with the legislation that was aimed against "side shows." One mijrlit almost think that the legislation was intended to stop horse racing. The country could not afford to do that, in view of the thousands of pounds that 1 had been invested in horse.-breeding. England's pride was in her. blciod .stock,' and New Zealand was similarly the j home of the horse in, the southern hemisphere. It was his belief that Carbine and the "All Blaqks" had advertised New Zealand more effectively than the famous Dreadnought gift. He honed the time would never come When this' country would be run by faddists, who wished to stop manly sports and pastimes, but that New Zealand would go on breeding Carbines and "All Blacks."