SPORTING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 95, 7 September 1912, Page 7

SPORTING.

RACING FIXTURES. NEW ZEALAND. Sept. 11.—Dannjfirke Racing Club. Sept. 25, 28. —Avondale Jockey Club. Oct. 2. —Hawke's Bay Jockey Ciub. Octo. 26, 28.—Wanganui Jockey Club. AUSTRALIA. Oct. 5, 7, 9, 12.—Australian Jockey Club. Oct. 12, 16, 19.—Victoria Amateur Turf Club. Nov. 2, 5, 7, 9.—Victoria Club. , DATES OF COMING VENTS. NEW ZEALAND. Kept. 25. —Avondale Cup. Sept. 28.—Avondale Guineas. Oct. 2. —Hawke's Bay Guineas. Oct. 26. —Wanganui Guineas. Nov. o.—Great Northern Guineas. AUSTRALIA. Oct. 5. —A.J.C. Derby. Oct. 7.—Metropolitan Stakes. MARTOX NOTES. ' (By "M-ituroa.") Undeterred by a cold and hitter wind tnd an jvercast sky which threatened to bur&t into drenching showers at any n.otnent, a record crowd rolled up at Marton on Wednesday. North and south trains brought crowds, and many thousands of pounds worth of "benzine-wag- ■ gons" wire lined up near the saddling paddock. Big fieMs were t'i3 order of the day and not a fingle favori'.e stored. I&. few Taranaki people scored heavily over St. Serfs victory in the Maiden, and fewer still landed Miriwi's big dividend. jGen ;rally speaking, it was a bad day for punters.

Ae we rattled down in the train we filled ourselves up with the thought that IheTe would be no "waiting for the second day," but there were scores of "waiters," apparently not tempted by the trifling stakes. And another noticeable feature was the marked attention paid to Crown Pearl, and other hot orders by their opponents. The starting was fair, and the judging erratic, though no actual winners were missed. It is a new experience to see a judge hoist the number of a horse that was scratched, and when he takes three shots to correctly place a third horse he can correctly be described as "not seen in his best form."

The general management of (lie meeting was excellent, and the consideration shown to the hard-worked press the bigger the fields the harder the work for the pen-pushers—.vas much appreciated. The new totalizator hou ; e enabled an increased amount of money to be handled comfortably, and though money was •hut out on the Maiden Race it was purely the fault of punters dilly-dally-ing around to see what horses the money was "coming for.'' In these short spring days an pisrht-race programme mean? a lwst'e all tlie way. and backers must get in early if they "don't want to be "shut out."'

Moaliau. Xgote. Iliniitungi and Highden were not taken to the meeting, and Kei-eot was not considered quite recovered from a recent mish.ip to start in Hie Ilaek Hurdles. Golden Loop was a firm favorite, and his .pace kept him in front to the turn for home. The chestnut jumped too carefully, and hit the second last hurdle slinrplv. Acma ran sh«K-k;ngly, and her form is hard to account for. Strathmnirn looked a winner as the field turned for home, but the Feilding-trained Fashion Plate finished full of running, and rasilv disposed of Mr. H. MoMana way's unlucky brown gelding. Timothy fenced slowly, but w.i* fini.-hing fast. Ileybov i> a big chestnut with a hollow back, nis appearance would win him prizes in the show rinjr but he was in 110 condition to run a mile and a half this week, and when he fejl was dead tired.

Eighteen wore saddled up for the Maiden Pl.iK and ilfioi: was voted R stop." moral. The ldaok colt carried a* much money a? the aggregate of tho four next best backed ones and the majority of tho runners were not backed worth mentioning. Postillion essayed to win all the war, but St. Serf, who was confidently Kicked bv Hawera sports easily beat the crack homo. Postillion's connections received a biir (=ize in shocks, end can only conclude that their champion was short of a gallop. St. Serf ran twice last year, and local sports will remember him running second to Moahau •n the Huatoki Plate. ,T. Fryer has had a lot of trouble wit'i the hor=o. and now that he has got him well lie should win again shortly. The poorness of the unplaced division shown bv the fact that Whimper could irain third piaco Black Lupin is a fine looking horse, and was badly bumped at the'turn when tunning well. He should win a race lalci mi, hut looks at present. Master Sylvia and Xgatimaru were wrtlidrawn from the P.aihvay Handicap. Lrown Pearl carrying as mucli monev as Bny three others. Stvx was r.ext best backed, but was badly kicked at the post by the fractions Piriwai. Mt. Victoria pet a solid face, and looked a winner when they straightened up for the run home. Then Piriwai. who generally wins her races from end to end, came front a rear position, and made no race of it. Alcar finished fast, and just beat Mt. \ ictoria. Crown Pearl appeared to !)e twice bumped, and once chopped out Wearing the turn, and did well to get fourth. Patriotic came down with the reputation of beating everything on the Ila.vera tracks, but cried enough after four furlongs. Leapuki failed to show Up, and cannot be much class. Muleteer is not nearly fit. but he was Mt. Victoria's nearest attendant while his condition lasted.

OondoJier carried more money than »\ hcturangi in the Hunt ( nj>. but was made a lot of use nf. and tv,|; done with after Uvo miles. Una fenced splendidly, and led along the h.t-k the la-t time. •The little Waitar.i h.>r-e was no match for Whettirangi and rjro At it when it came to racing. and had {., put ; M i with third place. Whetmansi won y, j'y ilv. and should run well ;ii rsann'eviiko liext week. .Sagamore wa.- brought all the way from OMxirne. nn d showed a lot of pace until he fell. The Chief was anchored by tile weight, but got roand pafelv. Deploy and Uhlando wore withdrawn from the Marion Handicap. Kilrain and I "noictt.'d carrying most money ~f a fairly evenly back'rd lot. When the straight wa< -vached. Th>' I,'ovcr. Sir Tri-drain and Kilrnm looked to be well in it. but Xgatimaru got through on the rail- and won in good stvlc. Sir Tristram might have 'reversed places vitli the winner but for ftt Ijjc di.-la:ir-e. ,[)) d aft--!* he got clear lie came with ~ . .it nil, on'"the outside. Xgatimaru !,:.<! i!,,. i,,„t run cither, and mn-t be aco>niiled a trood lior-e. Olnhu w, 011! dashed, and tailed «Tea1 I_\. iiic Itowr did not appear to _ pushed over the ];! =t furlong. and lini-hed si\th. 1 'iotihli y.1,,... > (bird J'.roun T.":it finMied j n f l)ilrt place, and 'idf- i wt* next. KingV Favorite aiTt were mo-t fancied in the Klr : irl T| lK .i. ; Tfn;iii-aj). and ran well, but the Camplirc mrm\. Lady Louisa, galloped over overvihing at the (loath. An tin tin was imfoH unate at the start, whieh'was a p>jor one, and

and Xodder did well to got the New Plymouth horse so close up after a dispiriting start. Merton got away well, and was prominent all the way, finishing outside a place. The Hack Steeple was a £ood thing for Kelp, although more money was invented on Bonnie Jean. The latter took the wrong course in the first lialf mile, and lost all chance. Rebel ran gamely, lnit jumped erratically, and over the | last live furlongs Kelp had the opposition doing tlieii best. Hakari was rushed to the front passing the stand the second time, and was dropping away fast when he crashed into the hencoop !md landed on hiu neck. Trainer J. Hathaway lias been unlucky with his horses lately, and Hakari was really good horse up to two and a half miles. Rangitane paid a big price for second place. Serenity has long been a puzzle to turf followers, and mis failure in the Tutaenui Welter deepens the mystery. That the horse is speedy is well known, nut he let down a big army of backers on Wednesday, and it remained for Master Laddo (with whom he was bracketed) to save some of his backers' money by running second. The Native ran his race in patches, and when coming fast ut the distance suddenly gave up tlio chase and finished fourth. Blend was splendidly ridden by Jenkins, and led over the last half mile. Coolbeggar is a good horse, and finished up under his big weight like a real game 'ulu Manitau was never dangerous, and the lightweights were all well back at the business end of the journey.