SPORTING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 241, 11 April 1912, Page 7

SPORTING.

TURF TOPICS. ('By "iMoturoa.") Now that the Easter meetings are a thing of the past the' sportsman can breathe freely again. With horse racing in full blast all over the Dominion it was almost impossible to follow the doings of our fancied ones. One would have needed, a mint of money to back them all.

The feature of the Ka-ter gathering's was the big proportion of successes which went to the credit of Taranaki horses, and the good dividends attached thereto caused joy in our midst. In Auckland the locally trained Sandy Paul scored a meritorious win in the Brighton Hurdles, and his performance was easily his best to date. The opinion has been frequently expressed in these columns that the chestnut son of St. Pa*l would show to advantage in long-dis-tance stick events, and the prediction was verified on Saturday. At Feilding on Monday Cornelian got away with the Hack Hurdles in good style, while Manawakaha and Uhlando performed creditably in the Cup race. On the second day Taranaki horses had a great innings, St. Toney, Silva and Clemency winning races. At Wanganui, Erin's Traeey, Oolden Rose and Pukekura were invincible amongst the trotters. Compared with other provinces Taranaki-'trained horses are few in number, but we still manage to win a big number o.f races..

Perhaps the most' remarkable happenings of the week were the defeat of Ermengarde and Bronze at Riccarton, the false price paid by Royal Scotch in the .Great Easter, Lady Medallist's great bid for victory in the Doncaster Handicap, and the splendid winning efforts of Los Angelos and Undecided at Riccarton and Feilding respectively. Ermengarde got away first in the Champagne Stakes, and ran well until well inside the distance, where she stopped to a walk. Many good judges argued that Autumnus would avenge his Wanganui defeat when the pair met on a straight-away track, but the public favored the liighden filly on the day and lost its money. Autumnus "flow in."

Bronze was asked too much by the handicapper at Riccarton, and at the weights the crack three-year-old filly could have had no chance with the winner. Sir George Clifford's judgment received a good advertisement when he preferred his chance at Ellerslie, though most of us said bitter things of hint when he allowed Counterfeit to drop out of the Easter Autumn. Bronze finished close up in the Easter—just outside a place and she could do no better on the second day. If anyone had stated last week that Royal Scotch would return his supporters a "limit" dividend in the Great Easter he would have been written down as a fool, but once again the unexpected happened. The Hawke's Bay horse narlowly escaped disaster while being railed to Wellington, and undoubtedly showed signs of lameness at Riccarton. From "hot-stuff" he receded to "cold pudden," and eventually started seventh in the list of favoritism. Royal Scotch ran all over the opposition from the distance home, and won by half a length. It was a well-deserved win, and the time recorded was only one-fifth of a second slower than Armlet's record registered three years ago. Although Lady Medallist did not win the Doncaster Handicap, the honors of the race were easily hers. She has hardly had enough racing of late to get her into the pink of condition, and her great effort under 9.7—top weight—was. under the circumstances, a fine performance. The load told its tale in the final rush, an'd the three-year-old Loehano, in receipt of nearly 3.0, got up nn-1 bca: the mare on the post. Los Angelos and Undecided added to their laurels this week, and 'it is pleasing to record the victories of old favorites amongst the heavier-weighted division. Both horses showed brilliancy in their races, and their wins were popular. A queer thing happened at TauheriniJcau on Saturday. A dozen horses faced the starter in the Makahi Hack Handicap, and when the field straggled off in disorder few took it for a proper start. Nine horses were pulled up at various stages, and Amber and White, Foreshot and Dogfish were the only ones to finish. This trio were little fancied, and there was a terrible fuss when the public heard that the field had -been officially started and that the race would not be run again.

Aherbrothock went sore a few days ago, and consequently ('id not sport silk in the Feilding Cup. T!ie trouble is said to be in the shoulder, and probably when the tracks become softer the Awapuni horse will come into his own once more. Overtime has been th-eatening to win a race for such a long time that most of his followers have tired of losing their money and desertnl him. He returned a handsome dividend at Tauherinikau on Saturday, and won his race in good time—lmin. 27 2-ssec for the seven furlongs. His second to Full Hate in the Rototawai Handicap on the second day was also a good gallop. The old chestnut is not done yet! The proudest man at the Wanganui Trots was our old friend Mr. J. C. Montefiore, and judging by results he had all the argument on his side. Trainer Barraclough turned out the three horses, Erin's Tracey, .Pukekura and Golden Rose, in the best of fe'Me, and they cleared the "plums" of the meeting. Erin's Tracey, a sterling pony cob, trotted like a machine each daand landed the Wttnganui Cup and President's Handicap, paying good prices. Golden Rose ran in an easy winner in the Tramway Handicap after a ding-dong battle with John H. to the straight, and Pukekura showed a pretty turn of speed when she won 'the Ballance Stakes. The public were not slow to recognise the honest running of the Taranaki horses, and they were loudly cheered on returning to scale. Mr. Montefiore made no secret of the fact that he expected his horses to win, and at the good prices paid his winning must have been "royal." •When the weights of the A.R.C. Easter Handicap appeared, punters sorted out Kakama as the best of good things, and the brown daughter of Soult has been a firm favorite throughout the piece. The confidence was well placed, as it turned out, but the mare had to stretch her neck to 'beat General Latour over the last stage. The last-named put up a great race with 8.8 in the saddle, and when you come to consider that he was j conceding 161b and two years to the win-' ner, he was not disgraced. As happened last year, .progeny of Soult filled the three places in the Easter Handicap—a remarkable coincidence, surely! Golden Loop, Master Sylvia and Silver Fox raced without success a"t Tauherinikau. It was a case of horses going stale, and too much weight. The pony Jack Delaval ran off with two races at Ellerslie in the simplest possible fashion. Six furlongs in lmin. 15 4-osec., and seven in lmin. 27 4-osec., were great gallops for a lilliputian.