In Field and Playground.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3705, 14 December 1912, Page 9

In Field and Playground.

News of the Wee&.

A PAGE. FOR SPORTSMEN.

TURF TOPICS.

FIXTURES. December 26 —Hurunui Turf • Club Annual. December 26. Ta'ratahi-Carterton R-C. Annual. December 26 and 2-7. —Reefton J.C. Midsummer. __ December 26 and 27. — Thames J.C. Summer. December 26 and 27. —Taranaki J.C. Christmas. December 26 and 27. —Cromwell J.C. Annual. December 26 and 2-3. —Dunedin J.C. Summer. December 26, 27 and 28. —Mana- ' watu R-C. Summer. j December 26. —Porangaliau R.C. Annual. December 26. —Kaikoura R. C. Annual. December 26 and 30 and January 1 : and 2 —Auckland R.C. Summer. i

(By " Argus.”} Advices from Hastings state that the Kew Zealand Cup winner. Midnight Sun, lias not been doing as well lately as his admirers could wish, but there is nothing seriously wrong with him, and, so far, there is nothing to indicate that he will not see the post.

Four boxes have been engaged at Green Lane by F. Davis, whose team for the A.R.C. Summer Meeting will consist of Bobrikoff, Soltana, Landrail, and The Hague.

Mr. Selby was- unable to- get a renewal of the lease, which expired last Saturday, of the gelding Hunakaha, and the son of Powerful has been handed over to John Rae to train for future engagements.

lii addition to G-oldfhider. the Gisborne sportsman, Mr. W. S. .Davidson. will be represented at the A.R.C. Summer fleeting by the veteran hurdler Reservoir, and Silverlyte. Boxes have been secured for tin? pair at Green Lane. * * *

Khamsin has changed hands recently, and will no longer know the raeeeourse. It will he remembered that, whilst racing at Otaki in June last, the Quarry man mare was put on the fence and seriously injured in the stifle. She was unfitted for racing by the accident, and, last week, the Waikanae stud acouired her.

J. Buchanan is to have the mount on Waimangu in the Auckland Cup.

The San Fran gelding San AVai, ■which won the Grandstand Hack Handicap on the opening day of the Woodville fleeting, is reported to be something out of the common, but doubts are expressed as to his standing much v acing. ■ ■ • * * The A.R.C. Great Northern Foal Stakes promises to provide the largest field for some years, and of the 16 which have made the final payment at least a dozen should go to the post. The absence of the crack Southern filly Peronilla will rob the race of a lot of interest. * * *

An effort was made to secure the services of the southern lightweight W. Bell for Tangiwai in the A.R.C. Railway Handicap, but he had other engagements, and’ had to decline. Tangiwai will he ridden in the eventunder notice by J. Conquest, who will have to put up about 41b overweight. * * vjfr

R. J. Mason has cancelled the engagement of two boxes at Ellerslie, and will not make the trip to Auckland. This will be the first time for a great many years that the Southern trainer has not been represented at tbs Auckland fixture.

It is stated that there were no fewer than 234 applications from persons willing to act as stipendiary stewards. , It is just about seven weeks since the applications went in, but although news filtered through from Sydney that Mr. J. McMahon had been appointed to one of the positions, nothing has transpired as to the other appointment. * * *

J. George is not having the best of luck with Crown Pearl. The bay sprinter carried a lot of money each day at Feilding. but a second and third was the best be could do, although lie was very close to the winner each time. The weight and the heavy going proved a little too much for the Coronet gelding.

Mr. H. Catherall has a very useful hurdler in Chief Marshal. He is a five-year-old buy gelding by Marsha Soult from Hauito, and is in H. Hickey’s stable. The gelding lias sonic of the pace- of his sire, and is a quick juniper. He ought to more than pa\ his way this season.

A rumor is current in Hawke’s Bay to* the effect that T. Quinlivan will train for Mr. E. J. Matt at Randwick in the near future.

Creoy, whose daughter Ruse de Guerre showed good form at I akapuna, was purchased at the last Christmas sales in Auckland for ob guineas. She was then in foal to Obligado, and had a foal at foot by tho same sire.

Royal Sou It, who still stands Ins ground in the Auckland Cup, is undei going seawater treatment and being exercised over the sandhills at Coiomandel. It is very doubtful whether he will survive a thorough preparation. s # # ~T After a ’engthy retirement from the turf, it is noticeable that Oivoi’s name appears in. the North Otago J.G. s entry list. * * » The Regel gelding Hoanga, which has been spelling for some time, has resumed work at Ellerslie under the

i charge of C. Coleman. Hoanga looks big and well after his rest.

The Soult mare Miss Winsome does not appear to mend her ways, and gives everyone connected with her a lot of trouble. Some mornings it is only with the greatest difficulty she is induced to leave her box, while on the track At is only now and again she will do'her besv.' * * <» Backers of Waimangu for the Auckland Cup will not bo pleased to learn that the son of Soult is giving his trainer some cause for anxiety. Waimangu was galloped on the tan at Ellerslie the other morning, but did not walk away as freely as-his admirers could wish.

I The Wairarapa horses Vocation, Imagination, Exertion, Sir Knox, Sir Solo, and Sinapis will compete at the Manawatu meeting on December 26. 27, and 28.

Leapuki had to forfeit Woodville engagements as the result of a slight mishap last week. By some means the Lethe gelding pulled off the offside front shoe, and the upstanding nails were subsequently trodden on, and penetrated the frog. The injured part was carefully "attended to, and Leapuki should be racing at the .holiday meetings * ’ * * The jumper Continuance has reached home again after his successful trip to Australia, and is to be given a long holiday.

Monoplane has been brought back to Auckland for the Cup, in which she has 7st. Her last engagement in Sydney was in the Moorefield Handicap, in which she finished third under 9st, a length behind Rubecula and Pan Out. The time for ,the mile and a quarter was 2min 91 sec-—very fair going.

The foals at Glenora Park by imported Marble Arch are as fine a looking lot as have ever graced the Papakura Estate, and there is not a weedy one amongst them.

Lord Soult. who was at one time a particularly speedy horse, recently sold at 23 sovs, and is reported to have been resold at a small advance to a South Island owner. * Tf * > The retired champion Trafalgar has started his stud career by .serving two of Messrs P. and W. Mitchell’s mares. When Carbine went off the scene in the spring of 1891 he only served three mares; and he begat a Derby winner —the redoubtable Wallace.

Under the now Australian Rules of Racing, which came into force on 12tli November, no hurdle race can be run over a less distance than two miles. Evidently, however, the rules have not yet been”thoroughly mastered, for the last W- A. T. C. calendar contained programmes which included hurdle events of a mile and three-quarters.

Royal Scotch has had an easy time of it' since Caulfield, and has been withdrawn from his engagements at Perth. * * *

Mr G. H. Saywell has invented an improved form of his starting machine, which was tried in public for tho first time in connection with six-fur-long events at Feilding. Instead of being short and perpendicular, when the tapes are lowered, the arm of the new machine is lengthy and held in position at an angle, the lower end, which carries the tapes, being three or four feet in the rear of the butt to which the coiled spring is attached. This arrangement provides that the tapes are carried down and away from the horses prior to flying upward, the result being that even if a horse actually breasts them he cannot possibly catch them when the starter pulls the lever. A further improvement lias been introduced in the form of a horizontal spring at the top of the rearmost post on each side of the course, which engages the barrier arm at it flies back and causes it to come to rest gradually, thus obviating all risk of strain. The trial made at Feilding conclusively proved that the new machine is all that Mr Saywell claims it to he. Nothing better, in fact, could he wished for.