SPORTING.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1918, Page 3

SPORTING.

RACING FIXTURES. December 28, January 1, 4—Auckland R.C, Summer. December 30 —Ashlmrst R.C. Annual January I—Stratford K.C. Annual. January I—Marton J.C. bummer. January 1, 2—Hawke's Bay J.C. Summer January 11—Feildirig J.C. Spring.

THE STRATFORD MEETING. The Stratford Racing Club is under the necessity of providing extensive improvements and additions to its property .and building in order to cope with the ever-increasing attendance of the public at its meetings. Last year the attendance wa3 well over five thousand, and the club's existing accommodation for its patrons is becoming more and more inadequate every year. The committee wishes to cater for the comfort and convenience of the racing public in very possible way, and, in order to do so, is faced with a heavy expenditure in the future. Furthermore, for two meetings it has been deprived of half of its racing days and the revenue, under these conditions, is not sufficient to justify a large expenditure upon improvements. However, the position has to be faced and the situation met S3 far as possible, and, for these reasons the club has decided to issue absolutely no complimentary tickets except to racing club officials and, of course, horseowners. A large increase m the gate revenue will, it is anticipated, result from the new policy- No doubt the raping public, realising the difficulty which the Club has to labor under, especially with regard to the reduction of its days of racing, will accept the new order of things philosophically, like good ' sports." It is not generally known that by ilie Rules of Racing the Club cannot use, for improvements or working expenses, the profit it makes through the totalisator All such profits liaye to be returned to the horse owners in full by way of stakes, the following vear.

TURF TOPICS. (By "Moturoa") Ellerslie to-day. Ashliurst on Monday. Keep "plugging" at Silver Link. Depredation was sixth in the Auckland Cup. . Surveyor "lined" the northern two-year-olds badly Rewipoto's share of the Manawatu Cup prize was a century. The Auckland double was a "skinner" for the bar vons.

Snub was bustled along in the early stages of the Auckland Cup, but the wight anchored him in the last halfmile.

After a long string of disappointments Nemaline broke her maiden on Thursday, but the price she paid was a poor recompense for previous failures. The Taranaki Jockey Club is to be congratulated on the success of its Christmas meeting. The T.J.C. was the only club racing on Boxing Day to show an increased turnover.

Year alter year the Huatoki Plate results in a boil-over, and Thursday's rr.ee was no exception. It is a bad race to plunge on, and leaves punters "scratching" all through the day Although beaten into second place in the Tokomaru Hurdles Zola was not disgraced. He carried his 11.0 well, and just falied to give 261bs to Waipunoa, who had to run 3.13 1-5 to win.

All Wanganui waited in front of the telegraph oflW on Thursday evening to •see what Vance paid in the Tikorangi Slakes, and there was a flow of language when the crowd realised that the moral had "missed."

Simple Sam is a useful sort of horse to have in one's stable, and his owner deserves all his success for the way he turns the old chestnut out, and for his careful "placing"—which, after all, is "'the art of billiards."

Movement seems to have a mortgage on our Stewards' Handicap. She has won it twice in "concussion," and the previous year she was second to Golden Grafton.

•'hose who were greedy enough to back bracketed horses at Ellerslie on Thursday came out on top, Mascot (coupled with Menclaus) and Nanna (coupled with Hymestra) winning the chief heat 3. In both easw the winners were less favored than their defeated stablematps. Madam Kistori must hold the record for running seconds on the local course, but she improved on that this year. It was up to her to win the Borough Stakes, as she had twice previously suffered narrow defeats in the event.

Sasanof is a champion, sure enough. Burdened with his 9.6 he made a great effort to overhaul Mascot in the last quarter of the Auckland Cup, but a difference of two and a half stones proved too big an obstacle. It was a game effort, and deserved better success.

Mascot was alleged to have been under n cloud lately, and her track form was poor, but she simply made no race of the Auckland Cup. At the end of a furlong she was two lengths clear, find that was the nearest they got to her. These raci.it! rumors are mostly mere camouflage

King Lupin led tha Railway Handicap field until well in the straight" where Silver Link, Nanna and Gazique challenged. Nanna got the best run, but with ordinary luck Gazique would have been "home and dried." Silver-Link ran a great race, and her backers should get their coin back with interest very soon. Just behind the placed division were Onslaught and Birkenvale. The former came from a long way back, and may win a race before he returns home.

Madam Ristori seems to be sticking to hack company well. If the Turf Register is not prevaricating she won £350 in stakes last season, and £235 the previous year, making a total of £585. The writer lias got brain fag trying to reconcile the above with Rule 2 of Part XI of the Rules of Racing, which defines'a hack as a, horse that has not won £4OO at time of starting. Both Madam Ristori and Movement appear to have won more than that amount.

Karo, who ran a good second in the New Zealand Oaks last month, was allowed to pay a false price in the Shortland Plate on Boxing Day. How she came to be thrown in at 7.2—the minimum weight of the starters—puzzled most people.

Nobleman's party got another good "price" on Thursday, when the brown son of Sir Laddo annexed his second Manawatu Cup. Away from the course there was more money for him than for 'Client, and the Tommies received a blow on tha region of their Christmas dinner when the div. came through. Kilmoon is reported to have looked! very light when saddled up for the Auckland Cup, and the public went right off hira at the eleventh hour. Half a mile from home he was a good way behind, hut at the finish he ran up to fifth place, just behind Red Ribbon. Then came Depredation, Meaelaus, Cvcie. Bawv

Mangamahoe,.. Glendower and Heathercote. Old Blackall viewed the finish from afar, while Colonel Soult, who took no part in the race, held a review from the side-line.

During the war many racing clubs adopted the very laudable practice of handing over the catering to the ladies of the Red Cross, who put on a sort of tea-and-bun affair that is all very well in its way, but is no earthly use to a hungry individual. Nowadays sporting folk motor long distances to race meetings, often leaving their homes at early hours of the morning. The subsequent rush through the keen morning air whets the appetite, and if a person isn't looking both ways at once for a good, square meal after that ordeal he ought really to go and see a doctor. Racing clubs must now look beyond their own little parochial crowd, and cater for, and encourage, the visitor. Your own you have always with you, but the outsider (who spells foreign capital) requires to be templed. Nowadays it is the habit of sporting scribes to refer to trials, scurries, etc., as "hurry-ups," and just to prove that there is something in a name after all a nag named Hurry Up grabbed the Trial Plate at Awapuni on Thursday, paying a rattling good dividend, too. In fact, he acted so well up to his name that he caught the official timekeeper napping.

Hyginas went within a few inches of paying a thumping dividend in the Grandstand Handicap at Awnp'ini, but just as liis dwindling"army of lowers were getting ready to "whoop" Hydrus stole up and cut him out of first money. Somebody spread the tale about that the Waverley horse could only act in soft -going, but this statement must be accepted with a good deal of reservation. When Martian topped the winning sires list last season he had only a few hundred pounds to spare over Finland, but this season Sasanof (New Zealand Cup) and Mascot (Auckland Cup) have given him a commanding lead. Surveyor and Gloaming are booked to measure strides in the Royal Stakes to"day, but the two-year-old should hold his rival safe at the weights and distance. Gloaming carries 8.1 to Surveyor's 0.9, and probably the youngsters—Surveyor, Ermine and Warplsine—will have the "finish to themselves.

Henry Clay has shown good form this season, and if started at Ashliurst on Monday he should give the Cup a good "shake."

Tigritiya is now at the top of her form, and before long she should improve upon her recent "seconds." She won't meet 4 Karo every day The rules regarding penalties covering the Stratford meeting road as follows: "The winner of any flat race after declaration of weights to Carry Tibs penalty, and for every additional race a further penalty of Tibs, or, if he thinks fit, the liandicapper may re-handicap the winner of any race after the declaration of weights." Th winner of any hurdle race after the declaration of weights will carry lOlbs extra, and for two or more races lTlbs penalty.