SPORTING.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 October 1918, Page 7

SPORTING.

RACING FIXTPRE&,

October 20, 28—Wellington R.C. Spring. October 28—Waverley R.C. Annual. November 2, 6—Avondale J.C. Spring. November 4, 0, 9—Canterbury J.C. Metropolitan.

TURF TOPICS.

(By "Moturoa")

Wellington races to-day. Waverley-Waitotara on Monday. New Zealand Cup on Monday week. Trentham tracks will be heavy to-day. Deeley will ride Rose Pink in the Wellington Handicap.

Gwynne pulled up lame at Trentham on Wednesday. R. Hatch has been engaged to ride Parisian Diamond in the Shorts.

Sasanoff is going well at Trentham, and is to contest the Champion Plate on Monday. Stan. Reid will pilot Nocturnal to-day, but the southerner will find Waioture a tough nut to crack. Fred Tilley's team for Trentham comprised Client, Acre, Oratress, Moutoa Ivanovo, and Amythas: With the close proximity of tie New Zealand Cup meeting there have been a lot of "waiters" noticeable at the small gatherings lately. The following horses will put up 71b penalties at Trentham: Volo, Battle Song, Inah, 80-peep, Cyrisian, Black Hill, Royal Star, Tigritiya, Lady Ball, Matatua and Sleepy Head. Gloaming appears to be none the worse for his winning efforts in 'Stralia, and promises to start a very hot favorite in Monday's Champion Plate. Wonder what will be second?

Tnah is freely engaged at the C.J.C. Metropolitan meeting, so it is likely that she will be sent south. Her party should not place too much reliance on Masterton form, which was probably as deceptive as a prohibition argument. The latest about Biplane is that the colt's break-down is not nearly so serious as at first feared. In fact, he may be racing again in the autumn. If Desert Gold gets licked a few more times Biplane may even recover more rapidly. Of the mud-larks engaged in the Rimutaka Hack Handicap to-day none stand out more prominently than Sardinia and Wapping. The former generally runs well at Trentham.

The Fordell pair, Oratress and Moutoa Ivanova, will command respect in the October Hack Handicap, but whatever beats Cooing will have to travel fairly fast. The daughter of Boniform should be all the better for her run at Masterton.

A victory in the Shorts carries a 101b penalty in the C.J.C. Stewards' Handicap, so it is a race well left alone, unless you know something. Probably one of the lightweights—Pennon or Demos—may show up in the mud. Mangamahoe's failure in the Waipipi Handicap at Masterton is accounted for by the fact that his saddle slipped, and his rider had to ease up in order to prevent coming to grief Of the two-year-olds in the Wellesley Stakes, Royal Stag, Marjery, Warplane and Bitholia have all shown speed this season, and whatever beats the Highden pair, Ermine and Warplane, will have to be extra smart.

Kilmoon, who promises to start favorite in the Wellington Handicap, has run all his races this season in Sydney. In the Rosehill Handicap ho carried 0.13, and won by a head in 2min BJsec. He finished within half a dozen lengths of Gloaming in the A.J.C. Derby, run in 2min 33Jsec, and with 7.5 ran Kandos to a head in the Sydney Handicap in 2min 35sec. The Kilbroney colt will be hard to stoush at Trentham, but be will not have much on Volo in the heavy going. It is rumored that Volo may not start in the New Zealand Cup after all, and some color is lent to the report by the fact that the Hawora horse has been entered for the Riccarton Welter Handicap, run on the same day. 'ln that case Depredation will ba our sole representative, and as the Campfire l(orse is steadily regaining his old form he may. beat more than beat him. Final payments are due on Thursday. V , '.',

Considerable rain has fallen at Waverley this week, but being accompanied by high winds the course is not nearly so sloppy as might be expected, and if the raia holds off from now till Monday a record gathering is assured A trip through to Waverley is a pleasant outing, particularly over- the Taranaki roads, and no doubt a large number of Taranaki sports will 'make the journey on Monday. Fields are good all tlirough, and a splendid day's sport is anticipated. In a half-apologetic style "Wayfarer," of The Referee, takes to task those flash horse-owners who chose- "not to try" in it certain spring event at Masterton the other day. The fact that "some horses got away badly, some ran well for four or five furlongs, and some were frankly cased up when in sight of home," appears to amuse "Wayfarer," who adds that "the stewards listened not unsympatheticafly" to the explanations of the carpeted "eminent owners", and merely told them they should not, really, do such naughty things. Now this is all disgraceful. If plain Tom Brown or Bill .Tones ran his horse "for practice" he would probably be bundled out for life, and the "eminent- owners" would shout "hear,.hear", and talk of "preserving the purity of the turf." At Masterton they apparently had the impudence to yawn [lazily in the stewards' faces, arjct«to^p«kij-'

their tongues out at tlie scandalised stipendiary, as much as to say, "Surely you don't imagine that we, all prominent owners, mark you, were chasing a paltry 145 sovs when bigger stakes will be available shortly at Trentham, Ricearton and EllerslieV" The whole busi-i liess calls for a searching inquiry. Details of the Craven Plate contest show that it was in every way a remarkable and stirring race, in which the honors for the pace set are due to Desert Gold, though, unfortunately, she lost the race on the post. Thirty yards from home t Gold, Cetigne, Estland and Wo!-.'. re abreast, and it was only in the i,..,l few strides that Cetigne got his head in front. Each in turn looked like winning, and only a neck separated the quartette. The hoisting of the numbers was awaited with tense excitement, and when it was seen that a New South Wales horse- had triumphed, enthusiasm knew no bounds. The following times were recorded: Two furlongs, 26sec; four furlongs, 48Jsec; six furlongs, lmin 14'Jsec; and the full distance, 2min 4isee. The last mile took lmin 38-Jscc to run. When four horses are so evenly matched luck enters largely into the question, and while some consider that Cetigne was lucky to get up on the rails, others make excuses for the defeat of Desert Gold, Wolaroi and Estland. Desert Gold was, no doubt, feeling the effects of her big struggle with Poitrel over a mile and a. half the first day, and had the races been teversed on the four-days programme there is a chance that she might have been better suited. Wolaroi lost a couple of lengths at the five furlongs post in the Craven Plate, and Estland was not handled to the best advantage, coming right on the outside at the home turn. If another meeting takes place at Flemington next month it will be interesting to see how the betting will go. This is Cetigne's fifth season on the turf, and his 10 firsts, 14 seconds and 5 thirds have built up stakes to the tune of £22,707. His most notable "victories include the A.J.C. Derby, Newmarket Handicap, Craven Plate, A.J.C. December Stakes, Villiers Stakes, C. M. Lloyd Stakes, and Melbourne Stakes. Cetigne has 9.5 in the Melbourne Cup. A Sydney paper states that W. H. McLaehlan will ride Finmark in the V.R.C. Derby, which looks like a fair thing for the New Zealander. McLaehlan has been offered the mount of Estland in the Melbourne Cup, but he may prefer the ride on either Kennaquhair or last year's winner (Westeourt). Estland is improving fast now, but with Ost. against his name he has a good horse's weight at Flemington. A pleasing feature of the committee meeting of the North Taranaki Hunt was the appreciation of the handsome manner in which the club r;as treated by the Egmont Racing Club. There is no doubt that the latter body acted in a generous and sportsman-like manner, and as a result of combining and running racing and hunting events a most successful and enjoyable gathcrincr was served up for the sporting public. The meeting resulted in a profit of £352, one-half of which goes to supplement the Hunt Club's funds, and those who were fortunate enough to be able to attend the recent gathering will wish for many another fixture of the same kind in the future.

There was nothing startling about the opening day of the Poverty Bay meeting, and the weather probably upset calculations somewhat in the various races. Shiela showed a dash of her old speed in the Junction Handicap, and paid a good price, while Hexton returned his backers a nice dividend in the Hurdles. The public then got on to them well, Black Lace, Multive, Sabine, and Tieki being well-supported winners. Perfidy paid a false price in the Flying, and the best dividend of the day was returned by Eheipa in the final event. The most noticeable failures on Thursday were Comment and Actiffid. The latter recently changed hands at 500 guineas, and looks like proving a poor investment.