Many Surprises and Fast Times: Abbeyfield, Glenfield and Leadership Beaten Glorious weather and the absence: many other attractions on the holiday programme accounted for the big crowd at Kiangwan_on Saturday, probably a record, both the members and the public stands being comfortably filled. Grifins land "subs" were generously provid-fed for in the card of 11 events and ith big folds out for most of the races punters had by no means an easy time. The course was very hard and fast oimes were made, with fame remarkably close finishes. in several of the events. The Harrier was the big fancy for the opening] event, the Maiden. Steeplecha: failed to bring off the good 1 Fashion went cue with his customary lead and for some distance was lengths in fron: of the field of 12, with Avwful Bold in close attendance, At half the distance, Archer went up rapidly' and was in front at the bend' for' the final jump, Fashion gain fa stay and fading ov of the race. The Harrier was brought up with a rush, Dut too late to make any impression on cher, who passed the post an easy inner' by four lengths from Set trington, with The Harrier half. length away. In the Novices Race, Picaroon, nicely handled by.
Wells-Henderson, fully' justified his previous running by an easy three and in excellent time! for his class. good deal of dissatisfaction fi ay Plate, in which was expressed at the start for the
interesting field of the day went out, and there were two other later in the afternoon on Which the starters came in for strong eritietsm.
Tu the sprint, Ataman was among! those who had the advantage of and, keeping well to the front, louked all over a wine hier, but was out of the race at the Bands. Abbeyfield hada great deal of ground to make up and. was lengths behind in the last furlong, where Censorship came up to head Ataman, He was closely. followed Green "Chrysanthemum, who won a great race by a head, with -xiean Money only half a length away. Announcement, as expected, won' the Griffins" Chazee Cup, but nly by'a_short head from the well-fancied Churchdom. Vestbor won the April selling: race, but there was only one bid for him at the auction, and he went to Mr. Toe for Tis 400. ttleship showed—convincing form in the faster Criterion stakes taking the ead well down the straight and maintaining a fine even pace on which Leadership and Glenfield made but little impression. The closest finish of the day ws seen in the Nursery handicap, Diometes getting home by a hend fom Commanding General, who turn beat Dare Devil by 'a. neck. There was a "turn up" in the Easter; Selling Plate, three outside candi: dates fighting out the finish with the rest of the big eld well fveaten. Dinna Ken established a }good lead but was strongly challenge ed by White Prince, the latter winning by a neck after a great, struggle. The sub-griffins handicap provided another interesting finish, Happy Choice, Dignity and Battus going out from the field in the last furlong and contesting yet another close finish, Happy Choice securing the verdict by a neck from Dignity If, while Battus was only just] beaten into third place. Warren-field was a red hot favourite for the last race of the day, which he won with the greatest ease.
The Second Day There was another big attendance Monday and those _pre-_ sent had plenty of excite. ment, for much of the racing was very close, whilst on the hard going the times generally were unusually fast and in one in-[stance a record was broken.
The card opened with a field of seven going out to contest the two mile Easter' Steeplechase and they seemed a very level lot, At the Bungalow_ fence Easy Money repeated his fault of Saturday and came down, giving Baker a bad shaking, but fortunately not ca ing any serious injury. The ponies! then were close bunched, except for Captain Cuttle, who was about three lengths behind. Settrington " was the first to show up during the run in, He was at once challenged by Archer, and the two fought it out, to the flags, but Settrington never lost the stride and won by a neck, with Wyvlesfield beaten another two lengths. W.'ls-Henderson, Jagain took Piearoon out for the set Race and the pair also repeated their Saturday performance, winning by three-quarters of a length in close finish from Kingdom and another head from Little Drummer, the others being a long. Way behind. It is to be hoped that Wells-Henderson now will turn out where regularly for racing, for he is a useful weight, and a quiet yet enterprising rider of no mean ability, who would be unlikely to starve for mounts.
An additional 5 Ib. did not prevent Announcement "winning the China Cup, apparently without any effort, from Comedy Gener the stili_more heavily-weigh Diomedes. The three-quarter mile race for the Red House Plate prow duced the bizgpst sensation of the day. There wax a big field and the start was delayed some while through An Ding (late Merry-go-round) bolting. He did a round of the course and then his jocko looking decidedly pumped, took hi off. After that the starter soon of the rest off and Don Alphonso, with up, promptly went out to several lengths lead, He crack-a terrific pace and though Censorship and Ataman got. to within challenging distance, they could not outrun the big cream, who finished in 1 min, 284 sec. (one-fifth better than Wynona's record), half a length in front of Censorship, who was as much better than Ataman. Green Chrysanthemum lost a place by a head and Indiana was next, but the rest were well Pine Apple won the one mile sell-plate very easily and. ought in for $750. The famous far and wide. Frequently have we heard of complaints, when our staffs cannot execute orders with sufi cient despatch, that the delay may cause the breaking off of engagements." (Laughter).
Chairman regretted that] such a successful career should be confronted with this unfortunate crisis. He hoped share holders would do their level best to help the firm out of the difficulties.
'The resolution was put to the meeting and was carried, on the Froposal of Mr. Lai Yee-chan, seconded by Mr. Wong Wing, Mr. Wong Kwok-sun was appointed associate liquidator for the comvany. Several' shareholders. were appointed to intercede with the creditors with a view to accepting: such a compromise a* to enable the firm to re-open.
The statement of accounts of the company shows a evedit balance of 8209, 0.70. The assets amount tol aod the Tabilites ip had to take 165 1b. with the mile and five furlongs the Pari-Mutuel Stakes, but he made light of it and won in handsome fashion from Polydamus ud Young Bill in very fast time. Dignity 11, as a sub-griffin, was Jsomewhat ignored for the Far' East Plate, one mile, for. which he had to meet some fairly good auction griffins, but Heard did not over: estimate him and scored a very smart win by three lengths from Commanding General and another three from Advancement, in 2 min. 34 sec, which must be counted as distinctly creditable, for the winner had a 5 Ib, penalty.
'The Champions distance race for the Easter Totalisator Cup was regarded as little more than a match between Valiant Star and Fellowship, but to the surprise of every: tone, including the stable connexions, Mr. Sheng's' second string, Horsemanship, after getting in front at the half-mile, held on to win by a short head from Valiant Star after fighting st out all down che straight. Fellowship was a somewhat poor: bird. It was impossible to weight ant Old Bil, as usual, did his bes taking the lead on entering the straight and stretching out in his best style, but Leadership caught him 'a the stands Jand won by two lengths in one-fifth Jof a second over the record. South Down was third. Little Drummer won the three-quarter mile Sub-Griffin Handicap after making all the ronning.
The 14. mile race for|$ he Nit Desperandam Plate went to
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.