THE GORE MEETING.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 32, 22 October 1920, Page 7

THE GORE MEETING.

To-morrow ihe racing season in Southland will commence with the opening day of the Gore Racing Club's spring meeting. Excellent aceeptances have been received, and as quite a number of the gallopers performed at Wingatui last week, some idea of their form and chances at Gore pan be obtained. The programme wilL commence at 12.20 p.m. with the First Hack Handicap of seven furlongs, and of the horses engaged Sartolite 7.12 and Etta 7.8 each ran into places at Wingatui. Both are well, and one need not look further than this pair unless it be Cattach, who is in the same stable as Etta. At Wingatui he did not race at all prominently, but that does not say now-a-days that he will not race much better a week afterwards. The Otama Trot, li miles, has attracted a very fine acceptance of twenty-two horses, eight of them being on the limit. It is nearly six months since any of them started last, and at the time of writing it i3 difficult to pick on what will start favourite. Seaward Spot, under a new trainer, on the 36 yards' mark, reads well, but behind her there are a number of fast ones who will make her travel fast all the way. The Waikaka Handicap of a mile and a distance has drawn seven acceptors, and probably on account of hi3 forward running at Wingatui, Bengeroop 7.3; will be made favourite. Silent King 6.12 got a very bad passage at Wingatui last Friday, but waa finishing on fast at tbe end of a mile and a quarter, and I expect him to beat Bengeroop to-morrow. Eleus 8.5 and Tin Soldier 8.5 are making their first appearances on the race track this season and either has only to be well ' to make these light weights look small at the finish. Linden 7.9 is nicely treated after his win at Wingatui, and may be the hardest of the field to beat at the finish. The Dominion Hack Handicap, six furlongs, has the best field of the day in the flat races, and included are a number of maidens. Sunlit 8.12 has a good second at Wingatui to her credit and she may do better on her home track. Sartolite 8.10 is also engaged in this race, and his owner may prefer the shorter distance race of the two. The running in this race will throw light on tho chance of a number of Winton, stakes candidates in that race next month. For the Wantwood Steeplechase, about 2^ miles, Take Down 11.0 showed she was in racing form by her effort in the Hurdle race at Dunedin on Saturday, and if she stands up she should make no race of this eyent. She jumped the country well last autumn and I can see nothing else that will be able to foot it with her on tho flat. The Stewards' Hadicap (six furlongs) will see four horses engaged in the big Stewards' Handicap to be run at Riccarton next month, and as winning this race carries 110 penalty in the big sprint, they may be run out to smarten them up. Taking a line through the handicaps for the Christchurch race Michaela 9.1 has been given a royal chance, and of the topweights I like her chance best, but trouble may come from Redshire 6.13 who has alwavs performed well on this course. Only nine have paid up for the mile trot in saddle, and if all reports are true regarding Mfss O'Neil, limit, she will travel very fast. But she lias also ihe reputation of being fiighty at the start, and in a mile race now-a-days a horse cannot afford to lose much at the start. Eros, 72 yards, will be with the leaders before half the distance is cov.ered and sure to be hard. The Charlton Handicap (one mile) will conclude the day's programme, and Thaddeus 8.12, Kilkee 8.9, and Twinkle 8.3~ all have placed performances at Wingatui to their credit. Of the three Twinkle is the most reliable and should account for the others on recent form. After being left at Wingatui on Saturday he easily won at the finish, but it was not in open company. Kilkee is a horse of moods, and if in a good mood he should add another winr.ing bracket to his credit.

I> TTTTTTTTTtTTTTTT*TTT s'Put" Hogan's team were prominent at the recent Dunedin meeting, but only one of his charges managed to win a race. Billy Robinson had a nice roll when Calma fell with him in the hurdle race on Friday. This mare isn't making good like she promised to early in the season. Silver Peak has been nicely treated in the Stewards' Handicap, but there are several other smart sprinters in this £1500 worth which will trouble her at the finish. Jockey Rowlands has taken over President Hazlett's team of horses. A careful chap, Rowlands, and I hope he will have more luck as a trainer than he had as a jockey. Songbird, by Kilbroney, from Grey Linnet, and belonging to Bill Couser, of Mataura Island, won the two-year-old handicap on Saturday in good style. He goes on to Riccarton to meet the topnotchgrs next month. ; Eric Russell's champion, Listening Post, got into trouble the day before the Dunedin meeting opened, and had to be withdrawn from his engagements. He has , come home for a spell, and will no doubt 1 benefifc by it, as he lias been in work for a long time now. It may be the end of the season before we see him sporting silk again. Hard luck Eric, but it is all in j the game. | Bill Stone has been unlucky with Primum right through the piece, and when this chestnut got astride of the railing at Wingatui on Friday evening it capped the lot. Primum was practically well when the accident happened, and he only wanted to get away in a race and the stake was Bill's. But to get in amongst Kilkee and Kilbrogan, two noted circus horses at the barrier, was bad judgment on Alex's part with a highly strung mustang like Primum. The long rest he will now get may quieteu him. 1 Dave Calder's Sartolite nearly brought off a coup at Wingatui on Saturday and was only pipped off in the last few strides. Jimmy Thistleton has got this horse very well just now, and at the Gore meeting tomorrow or on Monday he is sure to be dangerous. When an owner living in a prohibition town names a horse "Liqueur," he must be prepared for trouble and he got it in the McLean Stakes 011 Friday last. Tom Deegan's colt of that name behaved at the barrier as if he had had more of that potent beverage than he could carry as a thoroughbred _ should. One well-known trainer from Riccarton, who had a team of five horses down to the Wingatui fixture, complained that the Irish question had seriously affected their chances of winning races. They were all McSweeneyites, and had been hungerstriking ever since they left home. One of them evidently got so thin that the saddle slipped back on him when the barrier rose. 1 Amythas is some horse all right, but hi8 performance on Saturday was nothing out of the ordinary. Old Rorke's Drift carried one pound more and covere4 the mile in a second less on the same course. Bengeroop is going to be a useful handicap horse for his owner. He has run very consistently so far this season, but even so his form is scarcely up to | New Zealand Cup form. i Michaela carried 9.8 in the Electric Handicap 011 Friday to Silver Peak s 9.11. The latter ran fiftli, Michaela sixth. In the Stewards' Handicap, Michaela lias been handicapped at 8.9 and Silver Peak at 3.4. Handicapper Henrys must have seen what a lot of others thought tliey saw too.