SPORTING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 261, 14 April 1915, Page 7

SPORTING.

k — EGMONT WINTER MEETING. In another column will be found the detailed programme for the Egmont Racing Club's winter meeting, to be held on Wednesday and Thursday, May 12 and 13. Seven races are carded each day, tw# being open events, and, as no race is worth less than 100 sovs., sufficient inducement is offered to outsiders as well as Taranaki horse-owners to enter their charges for the various heats. The open events on the first day are the Mcltae Memorial Handicap, of 200 sovs., one mile and a quarter, and the Tawhiti Handicap, of 150 sovs., six furlongs. On the second day the chief prizes are the Manaia Handicap, 200 sovs., one mile and a distance, and the Mokoia Handicap, of 150 sovs., six furlongs. In addition, there are two hurdle races of £l2O each; and various hack events] from five furlongs to eight and a half furlongs, each worth 100 sovs. to the placed division. J Nominations for all races, accompanied; by 1 soiv., close to-morrow, Thursday, 15th April, at 9 p.m. TURF TOPICS. (By "Moturoa.") Just as the chap who has his halfholiday in the middle of the week is looking both ways for Saturday, so will punters to-day be looking squint-eyed at two race meetings—at Trentham in the South and Avondalc in the North. Principal interest centres on the Wellington meeting, at which most of the cracks are engaged. Empcrador, Merry Roe, Flying Start, Expect, Bon Rev.i, Pavlova, Chortle, Ladoga, and other top-notchers are billed to sport silk at Twmtham, and the autumn gathering should produce contests worth going a long way to see. At Avondale .Tack Delaval, Colonel Soult, Royal Irish, Goidsize, King Lupin, and Tinopai will bo in action, and "Jervy" George's quartette, Crown Pearl, Royal Arms, Tiro- ] hanga, and Glenroy, are also engaged. Both gatherings are of considerable in-] terest. j Pavlova is top-weight in the Thompson Handicap, and is well up to 0.7. Chortle, Ladoga, and Sauci have friends, but the top-weight may account for all above Bst. The bottom-weights are not a very classy lot. Red Book and Immer looking best in that class. If Leapuki jumps big country safely he should be hard to beat in the steeples at Trentham.- Nita may also run prominently. Taringamutu 1 has only to get out smartly to show up in the Plunket Nursery Handicap, though the public may go more strongly for Hygenias. On Bulls form. Ararat appears well, treated in the Silverstream Handicap,] in which Martyrcss is also daintily j handled. The Railway Handicap looks like pro- j ducing a fine race. Avon Park will carry heaps of Taranaki money, but Pownham may be hard to settle if the going is good. Veroneal, Martyress, and Client are well discussed candidates in the Tinakori Handicap. On Riccarton form, Flying Start and Emperador should fight out the Challenge Stakes, and the two-year-old may again prove victorious. A very ordinary lot figure in the New Zealand St. Leger. Balboa will probably start favorite. The Avondale Handicap, I.J miles, lias attracted eleven horses. Royal Irish may be the favorite on the day, but Tinopai and Goldsize arc both galloping splendidly, and the former may run a big race. I King Lupin is giving away a lot of j weight in the Railway Handicap, but '■ looks head and shoulders above his op-! poncnts. | Big fields will go to the post in the minor events. Glenroy and Kauri King; have form to recommend them in the Maiden; Taj Mahal in the Juvcmle; Soultane in the Oakley Handicap; Tirohanga in the Maiden Hurdles; Sc)t3 Guard in the Stcrple, and Gold Fran in the Welter. But "form" is often as lying a jade as Fate! The day will tell. I The totalisator investments at Ellerslie since the outbreak of the war provide some interesting comparisons. At the spring meeting in November last year the sum of £59.745 10s was hand-. led at the totalisator, compared with] £50,522 for the corresponding fixture; I an increase of £0223 10s. The invest-1 ments at Christmas totalled £244,614,' as against £225,410, showing an increase of £10,204. However, during the Easter fixture, the totalisator re- j ccipts showed a decrease of £1512, the amount invested being £95,370, com- ! pared with £90,882 for the previous] autumn meeting. Taking the total for the three meetings. held since the war I began the investments show an increase of £20.915 10s, when compared with the previous season's gatherings. The Racing Commission has now been to all parts of the Dominion except the West Coast, and Mr. T. H. Davey, one of the members, states that the tour has been a revelation to him. It has given him an opportunity to see scenic beauties of which previously he had no conception. Travelling along country roads in the North Island, he was surprised beyond all measure at the wonderfully beautiful placeß New Zealand possesses. In some districts he saw fertile land that, apparently, would grow almost anything, in other districts he saw vast stretches of land that is utterly useless. There are places where the blackberry, the wild briar and other introduced plants have taken exclusive possession of the soil. The "dirtiest" land he saw was Maori land in the North Island. What Impressed him more than anything else is New Zealand's ruggedncss. Before he was appointed to the Commission he had no idea that this country had been so broken up by convulsions of Nature, and the casual observations he made as he went along convinced him that Now Zealand's geographical history is a unique one.