Sports and Pastimes

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 107, 21 September 1912, Page 7

Sports and Pastimes

SPORTIKC.

RACING FIXTURES. NEW ZEALAND. September 23, 24.-Otaki Maori Racing Club. . fi September 25, 28.—Avondale Jockey Club. J September 20, 27.—Clcraldine Racine Club. September 26, 28.—Wanganui Jockey Club. October 2.—Hawke's Bay Jockey Club. October 20, 28—Wellington * Raein" Club.

TURF TOPICS.

(By ''Moturoa.") )J'i ke * ° a,m before a stor n>, as the re JJgious papers sav tt,„ , - ball will be set rolling b, 'tt o £h meeting, opend on Monday "and conch, ed on Tuesday. Avondale wuT have t yrmg flutter on Wednesday " »« and Geraldine on Thursday, <S dme alone on Friday, and Wang-a'nni anl Avondale will ring down the curtain on Saturday. Acceptances for all ga her TV? ver - v numerous, and there Aould be a few tall dividends kno k ing about next week ° f Bhkda,e for the fZ\ t a ? d Cup came as no surprise weeks that the Karamn horse has been troubled with unsoundness Birkdale has been advertised for lease, ami the dashing son of Birkendale should do well *i V le , S / Ud - As a two-year-old he Jterted four times, winning twice, and the next season he was only twice „" pteed, wmning once, running second five times, and third four times. He was not raced last season.

f A ri Ktt ° B i? nze in the chelmsiord &takos was a disappointment to her many admirers, but accounts of the race show that the Highden fillv ran Sv well, uemg badly placed at" the barrier and one of the last to begin. That she got through a big field-there were twenty-three starters-and finished fifth augurs well for her prospects at Randwick next month.

Bandeira >s spoken of as a likely New Zealand Cup horse, and. judging by his iorward running at Riccarton when he was not nearly ready f or f he f Messrs Steads' chestnut is a really good «wt of a horse. Bern? bv Roval \rtillery out of Curfew Bell, Bandeira is a beautifully bred one. and though he has done v e , y little 6 o far. he is said to be a fine stayer. At two years he started tnrice. winning the Challrn-v Stakes at freiitliain from a warm or,!:-r in Madam -Madcap, and in the Hnvke's Bay Stakes ran >eeo>id t() ~o i. ; |[ the_( I(. lhl ,„, Stakl>Si f Cbffords pa ir . Aittiimnus and Brown Owl. ]„ Ine starts Bandeira was twice •eeo.id, twice tliir.l, and once unplaced. <|n the tn,.-,I ,!:,y „f thk >,a-oA .National ~,,,.(i n„ Bandeira v. a., , mt fancied by his party, but ran second to Crown Fearl. to whom he was conceding 41bs the six furlongs being run in 1.1<?3-5 tllershe touts have lately been finding fault with Prince Soult's track work, the Auckland champion showfn? a distaste for hard work. In consequence La Reina and Blcnot are both more favoured than the three-year-old for next week's Avondale Cup. Prince Soult is a lazv track horse but can move some when the whalebone whistles in the air and Charlie crown will stir him up properly on Wednesday, and possibly confound the 'know-alls." •

The ..farton Jockey Club made a profit of £S4G on their recent one-day meetiii", and in characteristic go-ahead stvle has lumped up the stakes for the New Year gathering by £2.50. Quite a crowd of Taranaki horses have been railed to Otaki this week, and on Monday Mulga Bill, Patriotic, Katua St Serf, Lady Mildred and others should run well in their respective fcn«a«"v ments. c °

A strong counter-attraction in the shape of the Taranaki-Manawatu lopaided Rugby game on Thursday spoiled the attendance at the Hunt Club meeting, and fields were hardlv \\n to the average. Piola gathered in the HackHandicap in good style and should keep his opponents busy next start. Karela h won after a good race with White Crane, the latter mare running a couple of seconds during the dav. Maiapin won a double, and is evidently a fair sort of a horse, and should wiii a better race for Mr. B. Chaney before the season closes. Rua. as usual, performed consistently, but Otaraoa had too mu-h for the little fellow in the Hunt Club Steeple. The Club's gathering deserved better support, but. of co'urse. "lien football rages in Taranaki everything" oisri can go to Timbuctoo! Royal Marine is coming on under Trainer 0. Cox's rat;, at llauera. and the horse« DaM)<:v- r ' K ,. f(jrm snoll!(l soon be improved Upon.

A returned visitor from Melbourne. Who saw Ireland working at Caufiekl, lays that a New Zealander going over there would not recognise the Kilcheran horse now. as he has put on a lot of condition, and has built up everywhere. He is likely to win a cood handicap at either the Caulfield or Flemk-gton spring meetings.

FOOTBALL

THE TARANAKI TEAM. RESULTS TO DATE. June 3.—v. Wanganui, won by 10 points to 3. June 12.—v. Wellington, lost bv 12 points to 10. June 15. —v. Wanganui, won by 0 points to nil. July 25.—v. South Island country team, won by 31 points to 3. Auckland 17.—v. Auckland, lost by 0 points to 5. August 22.—v. Wairarapa, lost by 17 points to 13. August 20.—v. Wellington, won by 0 points to 5. , Sept. 4.—v. Otago, lost by 18 points to 11. Sept. 12. —v. Canterbury, won by 21 points to nil. Sept. 19. —Manawatu. won by 32 points to nil.

taranaki wound up the season in a very meritorious fashion on Thursday when they defeated Manawatu by 32 | to nil. This is the severest defeat that Taranaki has indicted upon any of its opponents. Manawatu. minus several of their best men, were hardly up to first grade form, and, though they put up a very plucky fight, Taranaki should have inflicted a much severer defeat on them. [The Taranaki forwards did not seem to get moving as speedily as usual, whilst the backs lacked precision. Certainly they were in scoring humor, at? the points compiled show, but the work in many instances was not clean. There were far too many dropped passes and other mistakes made, but fortunately they were up against a team that did not know enough to take advantage of them. Manawatu contains many young players, who show great promise. They certainly had the worst of the luck. Whittaker was tried at full back, but the selectors have yet to solve the problem, as on the day he was bv no means ideal. Nervousness or something troubled him in the early stages, but he improved later on. Still, he will need to improve a lot to be an ideal rep. fullback.

Stohr at centre three-quarter was not in his usual form. He missed many passes. His kicking was brilliant as of yore.

Cameron was in good nick. He scored one try, and had hard luck is not scoring others, being crowded into touch just on the nick of time on.several occasions. Bertram!, on the other wing, was a success. He takes a ball beautifully, and is fairly licet. He also kicks well and makes good use of the touch line. Roberts and S. Cameron at five-eighths were in good form, particularly the former. He did a tremendous amount of work, and made some openings. His two trier, were beauties, his side-stepping making his opponents look like schoolboys. Still, the tendency to go on his own was in evidence.

Brown, at half, put in a lot of defensive work. He was rather slow in getting the ball out to his backs. Taylor, at wing forward was as usual always on the ball, and was rewarded by scorjng a try. Of the forwards, Dewar was always prominent. He opened up the game time and again. Cain and Whittington were playing with great dash. The two big fellows Tamu and Pini, were of incalculable assistance and it is safe to gay that Pini's try will linger long in the memory of those present. It was a treat to see the big fellow heading for the line from just outside his own twenty-five, , with his opponents in chase. He just reached the line completely exhausted. He should have Been rewarded witll the kick at goal, as Taranaki was doing some experimenting in this respect.

Taranaki's record for the year is as follows:—Matches played ten. won six, lost four. Points scored for, 1.51, against 04. Taranaki's score consisted of 30 tries, 1(! of which were converted, 7 goals from penalty kicks or marks and two potted goals. Their opponents' score comprised 14 tries, i of which were converted, and six goals from marks or penalties. For Taranaki the most prolific scorer was Stohr, with ~>9 points, viz.. five tries, eleven converted tries, six penalty goal'.-, and one potted goal; Roberts was next with 2.5 point-, made up of 'six tries, two converted tries .and one penalty goal. Don Cameron, 21 points, made "up of five tries, one converted and one penalty goal. Then there is a liig drop. Bert rami and Young coming next with nine point-, (three tries each). Pini and S. Cameron six points (two tries each). Taylor. McLcnd, Hawkins and Dewar (one try each). Cain and Franklyn two points (converted try each). ' ... •