THE TAKAPUNA MEETING.

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 230, 7 February 1885, Page 4

THE TAKAPUNA MEETING.

The Tak'apuna Jockey Club brought off iiheir postponed meeting on Saturday. I .. •can't honestly congratulate the Club on the ■conduct of its meeting. For one thing, eight . i-aces are. far too many to pull off on one ' afternoon'; and. next, the colours on the card were' in so few cases adhered tp as to render " it almost ! impossible to tell brie horse from another, \vhile' punctuality was never dreamt ' of " apparently. The' 'first race was to' hav,e 'started at I' 2 noon, but did not get away till half-past p'lie'd'blockj'and the Steeples, which should have started at 4;45, did hot get under way till 6.'3o.;' The consequence of this was that people were 'wearied,' : and : got sick/bfthe long waits and the, lateness of' the hour' when they could' arrive' 'home! The attendance was very good, and the totalizator did an excellent business. ' Mr Peel,' the honorary secretary, did all in 1 his 'power to make things go smoothly, but one man can't, do everything. If a few of the 'loitering owners had their J hbrs6s distanced a time or two, they would learn a wrinkle about keeping a field, half -an -hour parading. The first race was the Hack Hurdles. It was won by, Tim after a slashing race with LilHe Langtry.' Barney fell and flattened out his rider, whose shoulder was dislocated. Rikorarigi got third, and Pearl ran 6ff'(?j) at the first hurdle. . The Fetry Plate Handicap resolved itself into a match between Mitrailleuse and Ee- . volver, all the others being scratched. The mare won easily, the colt dying away terribly at the finish. The Hack Race brought out the splendid field of 12, and Phoebe was made a hot favourite as soon as it was known that Wattie was going up. A.8., of course, should, and would have been favourite but for his known propensity to bolt and kick up .generally. The brute went out with blinkers ■on, but, when asked at the finish, came and won easily from Lillie Langtry and Phoebe. Wattie made a desperate effort on the lattf r, and at the abbatoirs had all but headed the then leader, Langtry, but the chestnut prad. tired, and could only get third. The T.J.C. Handicap brought out Kalo, "7st lOlbs'; Larry, 7st lOlbs; Revolver, 7st; Victoria, 6stl2lbs; Mystery, 6st 121bs ; aiad A.8., 6st, Libeller, Fishgirl, Carbineer, and Pipi being scratched. Mystery was made a liot favourite, and justified, this opinion by, winning whenever she was asked. After : ■ iracing her^hard twice round, Kalo turned it up like the '■ cur he is, and Revolver and, Larry found -the: pace too sultry very soon, while A.Bi was 1 distanced. Victoria was a ■ iair second, 'and Larry a bad third. . The; Handicap- Hurdles brought but Minuet . <10st : 21bs); Whalebone ; (9st 21bs); Nigger -.(9st),' Southern Chief. (9st), and Pearl (9st). Nigger 'looked a' picture, while Minuet 1 also looked very fit. Aziny Exchange, Linwqod, 'Pipi, Fisherb'oy, and Julia Ann were scratched... Pearl's rider stood oh his ! headatthe second hurdle, and looked' very bad when he was "taken into 'the' stewards' room." The three ' - placed horses 'had' a nice ' little ■ race alii to < "themselves^ but' Nigger had all. the best' of it. and won foiir lengths from' Minuet, who pulled np very lame, and Whalebone. ! c :' The Flat Selling Race brought out Wornv , tDapKne^ Nannie, Tim, and Polly. Worm 1 won '['■ -<2asily : 'by a length' from Nannie and Daphne. .Uvivc-'j The Steeplechase was a splendidly contested ■\ : -race, ; and ! alni6st made up for long waits and •-^Mnixeid 'colours; "Julia Ann l was a reid-hot tdM^'-^hV 'started were ! ' Julia ;; '* 21b); ' f! NdW ' -Year ' f lOst ftJtslbV.V! taxa^^bWe ;K(9st- f WM «J?6urM «J(«fet fpßanana^9st 71b), and Rlkorangi (9st 71b). . ., 'j :^-v-tsii:-. #-J.i. V:'.. . . '■ .■ , '■ ■":.■". -•..

?3ta: ' A,j/tud« Uyfta. .^" ? «^e p|,ce was very through, and gegery* hor^se-^juifipecj* a, Ifll^takei 1 '^oung L&ing,;who rides- JuliapjAnri^ike any' -^ieran^k§p;tftj|e:Jsand|pme:liitie mire in a good position all '"through", and Tourist and Banana made the Tunning in turn. At the second tinie bver the ' flat some-bf "the jocks evidently though tit : was 1 the finish; for the . ; rider, of Tourist,.,and, Laing,' on; Julia, were hard -at -.work;, on their prads, . and. though, , they , went right I think, they must haye been . told at the : turn.; : . But , the, spepd . , they hadon and the bat at the hill took a .heap out of both, find no. doubt lost the mare the rac& 'Tfie. ! third"' time on the' flat Frewin, , who rode Whalebone with good- judgment, took him to the front, and was never caught. . The mare hit ' the • last hurdle; arid nearly came down, but' arid rah ■ home an excellent second, though very distressed, while : Whalebone, who is a riuggety little brown; looked , and raced as fresh as paint. New Year was a good third. Bannana. came ; •down at the last hurdle,, and Williams had a narrow escape of, being jumped on by the tail of the hunt* The horse was dead beat, and could not be got on its feet for some minutes:. The' machine paid the good dividend of £10 '8s on Whalebone. A Free Handicap, won by Larry, Bst. . 71bs, Kalo, Bst 31bs, 2nd, and Nannie, 7st, 3rd, closed the performance, but it was very late before this came off. Mr E. P. Donnelly is to be heartily congratulated on the splendid starts he gave in every event. . It is not often we see such good work made with fields much smaller than Mr Donnelly had to tackle. Lily Langtry was recognised at the North Shore races as Dianthus, erstwhile well known in the Taranaki district.

On January 21st, Hales, the crack Victorian jockey, was lying at death's door with a bad attack of congestion of the lungs. Tom's lungs have always been weak, and he suffers constantly from asthma, and so would be a bad subject for any such attacks as the present. lam glad to say that Hales has since improved, and is on a fair way to recovery. He " just did the old grey on the post." "Sterling," in the .Melbourne Sportsman, is lately giving it very hot to those owners and trainer's, unfortunately becoming numerous, who systematically indulge in the practices of roping, " ' ' shunting, "and stable confederating. Horses that run nowhere to-day, romp home in front to-morrow, and so on. It would seem that .the Melbourne turf is getting very dirty of late. We haven't got ; all that sort of thing to ourselves down here it would appear. The result of the Gold Cup was one of the biggest surprises ever known in New Zealand. To think that Administrator, after the wretched form displayed in Auckland so lately, could win the big > event of the next meeting was more than the wildest fancy could imagine. I was told by one who claimed to know that it was entirely owing to his having gone off that the roan made such an exhibition of himself here ; and that shortly before the Auckland Cup "Welcome Jack and Administrator ran a trial at Ellerslie Racecourse at 11 o'clock one day, Cup weights up, and the roan buried Jack. This was sworn to as authentic, and my informant also said that the stable well knew he had gone off, and could hardly hope to win the Auckland Cup. The following is the result of the race : —