TURF NEWS AND NOTES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 December 1939, Page 11

TURF NEWS AND NOTES

CURRENT TOPICS FROM STABLE AND COURSE

Candidates from Riccarton PLANS FOR HOLIDAY MEETINGS (BY ‘’CARBINE.”) Most of the Riccarton trainers have made arrangements for travelling to one or more race meetings during the Christmas and New Year holidays. J. C. Tomkinson will have a team to go south, starting at Dunedin, probably with Waikouaiti and Oamaru to follow. Wardress will be included, but as she has just come back to work after a spell, she may not be ready for the chief events, run over long Journeys, so she may do her racing in easier company. Lockit will be another member. He is ready to show good form. Turncoat may go for some of the hack sprints. It is intended to include the two-year-old, Atreus, in the party, but he is not to have much racing; in fact, it would not surprise if he was taken only for the trip. The Beau Pere colt shapes like being good later on, and will not be hurried. Aggravate may go to the West Coast, where he showed good form a year ago, but on this occasion he will have to take on more difficult tasks.

C. Emerson had alternative routes in mind for Nightcalm and Montessa, but plans have been settled finally in favour of a trip to Waikouaiti and Oamaru, states a Southern writer. & '■* F. A. Roberts will go south with the improving three-year-old, Not Out, for the Dunedin meeting, possibly followed by Waikouaiti and Oamaru, while The Dictator may join in for Oamaru. G. Ridgway expects to do the same trip. It will be his first tour since he took on training. Nightdress and Lord Midas look a good pair.. Astronomer has returned to work after a short rest, and Mr D. Spence may do Dunedin, Waikouaiti and Oamaru with his promising three-year-old. J. McLean has Jewish Lad in work again, looking well after a spell. He may do Dunedin and Invercargill, a programme which will provide five hurdle races. F. Holmes may choose Waikouaiti and Oamaru for The Wrecker, but a definite decision has not yet been reached. Dictate’s programme for the holidays will be completed in a day or two. He is an acceptor for the Te Awamutu Cup, at the Waipa meeting, and it is probable that he will fulfil that engagement as a preliminary to the Auckland Cup and other important events at Ellerslie. Half Brother to Ammon Ra. John Peel, who won a maiden handicap at Randwick a week or so ago, is a three-year-old by Foxbridge from Hyades and therefore a half-brother to that great performer Ammon Ra. who won £25,831 in stakes. Where Conditions Are Wrong. When Spearvale, the three-year-old brother to Spear Chief, won the Queensland Cup in 3min 23sec, he was a maiden, and had conditions similar to those for the Wellington Cup been imposed he would have been ineligible for entry. Not to go to Australia. Defaulter is not to make the trip to Australia again until next season, and provided that all goes well in the meantime his next start will be in the Hazlet Cup, at Wingatui next February.

Boomps-a-Daisy Going Well. The bay filly Boomps-a-Daisy, by Bronze Eagle ■ from Orvietta, has settled down nicely under F. E. McManemin’s guidance and is doing well. Being a late foal Boomps-a-Daisy is not as well grown as others of the same age, but she is a solidly built filly and one that is likely to make good progress during the next month or two. Francis Drake May Not Start. The Chief Ruler horse, Francis Drake, who figures in the weights for the Auckland Cup, will probably not be a starter in that event. Reports state that owing to the hardening of the tracks, with the attendant risks of a breakdown, he is to be returned to his owner, Mr F. Armstrong, of Akitio, and will not be produced again until the autumn. At his best Francis Drake proved a good class galloper but during the last few seasons has been difficult to train. A New Stud Farm. The Hons G. R. Hunter and P. C. Webb have purchased 32 acres of land between Riccarton and the city of Christchurch for use as a stud farm. The necessary buildings are now being erected and several mares and young stock owned by the purchasers are now on the property. Win May Come Soon. Ringshot, who is engaged in hurdle events at the Auckland meeting, gave a first-rate jumping display over hurdles at headquarters the other day. So far. Ringshot has not managed to win over the battens, but he has never run a bad race and has been in the money on five occasions. W. Kirk has Ringshot in great order, and a winning turn may soon come his way. Should Be Interesting Race.

Highland Scott is to have his next race in the New Zealand Champion Stakes, to be run at Ashburton on Boxing Day, and he will have an opportunity to make amends for his failure in the New Zealand Derby, in which race he fell before the field had travelled a furlong. Bracketed with Gallant Chief the pair will touch a short price, but with Imperial. Jade, Three Tens, Durability and Betty Boop engaged, the race should prove interesting.

New Zealand Pacers Win. There was a New Zealand touch about the recent meeting of the Tasmanian Metropolitan Trotting Club at Northall Park, four of the six winners being sired by horses from the Dominion. Two or them, Great Chimes and Mystic Hope, were by Great Hope, winner of the New Zealand and Great Northern Derbies and the New Zealand Trotting Cup. Ahuriri. which won the Auckland and New Zealand Trotting Cups (twice), was represented by Ahuriri Rose, while another winner, Prince Emilius, is a son of Emilius, a fine handicap horse and which has been a very successful sire since going, to Tasmania. Great Hope is by Great Audubon from the Harold Dillon mare Sadie Dillon, and he was a brilliant pacer. Ahuriri’s sire. Cathedral Chimes, won both the New Zealand and Auckland Trotting Cups, while his dam, Muricata, has left many good winners.

Desert Chief Surprises. One of the surprises of the EclipseStakes in Melbourne recently was the forward showing of Desert Chief, who was having only his third start after a spell. Desert Chief is a good staying horse by Chief Ruler, owned by Mr G. J. Barton, and trained by H. Wolters at Mentone. At Ascot recently Desert Chief showed a glimpse of returning to his best by running second in a welter over seven and a half furlongs. He then contested the Final Handicap at Flemington won by Geebung, but was not lucky, as another runner came down on him at the start of that race and slightly injured one of his forelegs. Desert Chief was lame after the Final Handicap, but recovered and ran a great race in the Eclipse Stakes. When he ran past Buzalong half-way down the straight the race appeared to be as good as over for Desert Chief, but he was unable to hold off the strong finishing run of Maikai, and went down by half a neck. It is likely now that Desert Chief will be taken across to Adelaide to run in the Port Adelaide Cup. in which he has 8.10. Tis trip depended upon a good performance in the Eclipse Stakes, and his forward running in that race suggests an excellent chance in the Port Adelaide Cup.

Lucullus Lad. The Palmerston North jockey, I. Rohloff, is reported to have left for Sydney, where he has accepted an engagement to ride Lucullus Lad in hurdle events. Lucullus Lad was sent to Sydney at the beginning of last month, and latest reports credit him with having pleased track watchers at Randwick. Tempting Offer Refused. An English exchange reports that the Aga Kahn turned down an offer of £50,000 for Bahram, winner of the Two Thousand, Derby, and St Leger Stakes in 1935. Though it was reported some weeks ago that the Aga Khan intends disposing of his stud, it would appear that he has no intention of doing so at bargain sale prices. The Cardinal. t An early New Zealand Cup boom as a result Of an impressive Avondale Cup victory was The Cardinal, but on the grounds of lack of experience and a not too sound constitution, he was not sent south. He contested the Michelson Cup several weeks ago and did not perform up to expectations, so he has been dismissed by many. However, he is in the Te Awamutu Cup, and if he makes a show in that event he will come into favour for the Auckland Cup. In all his races he has shaped like a stayer, and it will be in his favour that the stable lightweight. O. Evans, will be able to do the weight, FIXTURES. December 16—Waipa. December 23, 26, 27— Manawatu December 26—Waipukura.u, December 26 —Westland. December 26, 27 —Dunedin. December 26. 27—Taranaki. December 26, 28, January 1. 2—Auckland. December .20, January I—Wairarapa. December 30, January I—Greymouth. December 30, January I—Hawke’s Bay. 1940— January I—Waikouaifi. January I—Wyndham.1—Wyndham. January 1, 2 —Stratford.