THE Racing World.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 230, 26 September 1903, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE Racing World.

b> " Wfealebeao."

RACING FIXTURES,

October I—Kurow J.C. October 1, 2—Waugauui J.C. October I—Ohoko and Eyreton J.C. October 7, B—Hawke's Bay J.C. October ,13, 14—Napier Park J.C. October 14, 17—Otalii Maori it.C. October 14, 15—IJunedln J.C. October 15—North Cauterbury J.C. October 21, 24—Wellington R.C. October 27, 26—Dannevirke J.C. October 28, 29—Gore R.C. October 20, 30—Poverty Bay T.C. October 29, 30—Masterton K.C. November 7—C.J.C Metropolitan (New Zealand Cup)

The Tasinanian House of Assembly has negatived the proposal to set apart "Tattersall's" unclaimed moneys for the maintenance of the New Norfolk Hospital.

A prize of lOsovs for the best amateur handicap, presented by the Irish Turf Club in connection with the Royal Plate at the Curragh, was won toy a Dublin sporting journalist

It is reported from England that Friar Tuck, who ran third to Ard Patrick in the Derby and occupied a similar. position behind Sceptre in the St. Legor, has been sold to an Indian sportsman, with a view to the Viceroy's Cup.

The metallicians fielding at the Aehburton meeting created a good impression (says ttte editor of the "Otago, Witness") by the liberality of the prices laid and quoted on the various races, and more than one prominent who had in the past been antaXS to the bookmaker, is now inclined to look with an indulgent eye at the presence of a ring at Riccarton.

There is nothing like odds, Pa^fJ" 1 / SRSS a on la reS » Ipek "bout a horse's chance in-the next New Zealand Cup. Whilst Journeymß to the Ashburton meeting the sporting editor of the Otago "Witness" formed one of a Jarty who were discussing the chancesm* the different horses engaged in the »"»« pal event decided at Riecarton in Nwenber next, and Benzoin's name cropped np. The well known metallieian, .T. Loughlln. offered £100 to a cigarette against the son of Friar's Balsam. This the writer nt once accepted for the sake of the odds, and ho adds at latest reports the horse is alive and doing well. The odds must be quite as long against several others as well 0.3 the English bred horse.

It ifl useless, in effect, to talk about tne establishment of a training school foi jockey? says a Home writer. The only tSSinJng institute likely to do them any good is , a training stable, where beginning at an early age, they are thoroughly taught their business in every department. If they "shape" well, are small, and do not promise to grow heavy, if they have pluc-U nnd strength enough, and are extremely fond of the saddle, being also gifted with intelligence,' they will not want for anything in the matter of education or opportunities. Trainers,' with fat fees in view, as earned by apprentices, are glad to pusti them on. A clever light weight apprentice can bring in a lot of money for his master; what is left over for himself does not startle him by its magnitude.

In the course of an interesting article in the "Pioneer" on the opening of . tnfi* Poona racing season, a correspondent or the Sydney "Referee" remarks: ' There are, as I 'have said, already a number of itnusually good class horses at Poona. Mr Bass' new Viceroy Cup horse, Carabine is under the care of G. Bleach, a trainer who has made a lot of headway in the last yeai or two. Mr Apcar's horse Great Scot, cost a couple of thousand guineas; Carabine cost as many pounds, and as there is no, line as to their comparative, merits, the issue of the next Viceroy's Cup race will remain In interesting doubt until the race is over Nothing conld be( better than this for the sport. While Great Scot represents the cream of Australian three-year-old form, according to Australian time the horse becomes a four-year-old next month. Carabine is immediately descended from perhaps the best horse Austtralla ever boasted. Carbine in his racing dnvs wan as an authority wrote, 'a good, quiet old fellow.' His son, Carabine, now at Poona, is a model of good manners. This is an excellent augury for his racing prospects in India, and even at this early stage I would prophecy that the horse will start first favourite for the Cup race at Calcutta next December.

Mr TrV. P. Crick, a prominent politician, who Js reputed to have backed Ossian to win £42,000 for the next Melbourne Cup, is an opponent of the totalisator, and'recently in 'speaking against its legalisation , in N.S. Wales, said:—"lt is surprising fae ' army of loafers and useless -wretches tlie sport of horse racing has got together in Sydney, as I suppose in every city, who live on the game. They/work in with the shops. A man has a shop and eight or nine runners, who get a list of horses en- i tered to a race, but some of which are i perhaps not running in it, but are in a ' paddock. These men go round, and say, ' can tell you a good thing for < Saturday; you must keep it to ; yourself.' They say that great horse belonging to Crick is certain to win : on Saturday at last; it is 6 to 1; get your ■ live" "bob" on.' That is passed along. The . chances are that this horse is out in a ; paddock ruralising, or has been entered ; simply to give him a run if in work, or to . see the weight. The horse, naturally, is scratched, aqd then the unfortunate dupes fall in and lose their money; but the regular army of pimps are still going on as they have been doing for years; and it is extraordinary that the police put forward the wretched contention that they are unable to secure a conviction when you can go any afternoon racing is going on and see people going into the shops so extensively that there arc 50, 60, or a hundred waiting the tip to go in. So great is the traffic that they go in at the front door arid have to come out at the back. There is a coutinnous stream of them. It is a discredit to us that we cannot put down the system In Sydney, when it was done in one evening in Melbourne." This speech, says . the "Australasian," was referred to when the select committee appointed to inquire into the prevalence of gambling took evidence in Sydney, on Tuesday. Nicholas Larkin, superintendent of police, said that he had sent a statement to the inspectorgeneral of police with reference to what Mr Crick had said iv Parliament, that the whole of the totalisator shops could be shut up in one afternoon, as had been the case iv Melbourne. In regard to that statement, he said it became more and more difficult to secure the class of evidence by which a conviction could be obtained, as nothing short of the absolute sale of a ticket on a certain contingency would satisfy the Court. The same niachi- ' nery existed here for the suppression of betting houses as in Melbourne, where the evil- had been minimised, thanks to those magistrates who had the courage to send the offenders to gaol without the option of a fine. If that example were followed the totalisator and betting shops in Sydney would soon cease to exist.

The July number of the "Badminton Magazine" contains an article of much interest on the subject of "Breeders and Breeding," from which the following is taken:— I "As « rale the best hor&ss have been bred by their owners, and this is because they ihave generally been brought up in a more natural and less artificial manner than those destined to be sold by auction. Young horses (of course having the besf of crashed oats and hay) should have much more liberty than they usually enjoy. Shade on a stud farm is most desirable, and the water should be absolutely pure. The pasture must not have been overdone with horses — it should have been grazed by cattle. It is reason-

I able to expect that a high-class mare on the turf will produce a better animal than a moderate performer, a notion, however, that is far from being universally entertaineu uy breeders, many 01: wuuiu regard only breeding and mauo and siiaue, caring noI thing lor now tuo mares nave run wuea lv training;; and it is true enough tuat some notaole hoivses—<e.g., Victor Wuu —nave Oceu cue pxoauce oc moderate mares. 1 should liKo to breed lor preiereuee from v mare wno has won races, but nas not beeu trained too long or too severely, aud whose vain nas wool ruces, as, lor instance, Koek baud's; l>ut here again we have notable exceptions to tnis tueory in the cases of Jieeswmg, Alice Hawtnorn, Liiy Agues, and .\iowerina—names tnat will be remembered as long as tne tnoroughbred horse exists—all or whom were severely run, yet produc« ed winners of classic events. Aβ to the mare herself, 1 snould select a long, wide mure, wun, of course, quality and good ureeuing, rather than a large mare, and. should ciioo.se a stallion of suitable blood aud cO'nrormation. Some sires sefcin to gei everything- to race, wnlle otners are fail* UiOtf. Kome, again, may get one good hoarae, aim then prove a consistent uisuppolntiaent —facts wdiit'h tend to emphasise tue luck, ana, it may ue sum, acciueaits, of producing racehorses. It Iβ a' great nuataHu to keep; too 'many mares at one scua; produce dete-riorau-s in an alarming manner irom overstoejiing. An essential to success is a good laanajier and a, good etud groom. A question tuat i have oxten endeavoured to solve is tne eulect o£ a loster-mo'tuer on the colt. What set me tnimung about tnis matter was that Blink Donny, who Jiad bred tbe . mignty jcslair Athoi, vied alter giving birth to nis own brother lireadaUjaue, wno was Drought up by a cart-mare. Blair Athoi was a game horse, which could mot be said of lireadalbaue, aiwl the latter's stock were soft. Was 'madaxne' to be blamed for this? 1 have often wondered, when seeing foals gallop, if they really go faster when they are older; some of the young ones hare wonderful speed, and they will ialso perform the most extraordinary feats of jumping. I remember seeing a foal that I bred gallop in a mad way from one end of a long meadow, to the other, her 'dam galloping beside her. The paddock was bounded by.a high hedge, with a drop into a roud. This the foal jumped. The mare followed, and to my great surprise neither was hurt; yet this was a fence that no one would hay« jumped out .hunting."

Famous won the Epsom Handicap in a style which left no room for the suggestion that there was anything lucky about it, though he had to be vigorously handled to beat Faithful by a short neck. It was a Tie tory in which his rider, F. Fielder, was entitled to a fair share of the credit, for he had to display his very best finishing ability to account for Faithful. When Famous ( began to win races on the subuiban courses after the Epsoni weights had ■ been de-. claied, he got into favour, and it became apparent that his form was rather too jruod , for a horse handicapped at Bst. Still, there were no penalties, and S. Fielder, keepiiig his horse up to concert pitch, duly, v\i>n this coveted stake. It was (he victory of a big favourite, and was popular. Both straight-out and in doubles Famous was a stioug order, and he gave the layers a decided knock, being backed right up to. the last solidly at 4 to 1. There were no new features in the course betting, excepting that Faithful and Ibex were very strong orders at C to, 1. , Air Motor was very solidly backed, and the admirers of Sir Leonard, Marvel Loch, Lanoliue, and St. Mais were not wavering, others to get fair attention being Purser and Benevenuto.

"Umpire" has the following interesting remarks re the spring meeting at Kaudwick, iv the "Keferee":— Belah has earned fame as winner of the A..1.C. Derby, and though, ■he was not generally deemed capable of beating Duke of Graf ton,. he executed t'ae ■order in ti style 'that leaves no room for doubt about thc^fsef&t v of the performance.. The last acceptiinees left five engaged, and they all started. It' was mainly on tho Rawson Stakes running- that Duke of Grafton was made a hot favourite. It was recent form, and suggested that the Haribyi- ,- nong Plate, winner had got back to his best form. In addition, his galloping on the track was attractive. But, despite the fact that he beat horses like Cyanide, Famous, and Ibex in that event, carrying a 101b penalty, the form did not work out. Badly beaten in the Itawsoii Stakes, (too, was Belab, who was well backed, and expected to make a far better show than he did. With this running to guide them, it was difficult to backers to.come to any other conclusion ■than that Bclali was something over a stone inferior to Payten's colt. But the Stakes running has proved quite delusive, especially considering that Famous hae since, won the Epsom Handicap. This circumstance weigaed as additional testimony to the 'abilities of Diike of Graf ton. As much- as sto 2 was laid on him. Sweet Nell was second favourite at 6 to 1, whilst 8 to 1 was goiag about Belah and Dumont, and Postulate was the outsider. The new, ciceuDj'etanees to be taken into consideration were thai - the journey was (longer, and that Belah had a different rider. Barden rode the favourite,. W.. EL Smith had tne. mount on Belah, and Sweet Nell had tie services of It. Lewis. Smith took no chances of getting Belah mixed up in any scrimmage, and no doubt he was riding to in* etructions when he went out in front promptly and set a sound pace. Ait the mile post he led Sweet Nell and Dumont, side by side, about a length, with the favourite and Postulate close behind. At the back of the course the. order changed to Indian file, and Duke of Grafton moved up into second position later on, with a length between each. Not until they had made the home turn did Barden try to get on terms with the leade-r, and Duke of Grafton was then apparently going well enough to put in a challenge. But when he attempted to move up, Smith shifted B-elah along, and refused to be challenged. In a few strides it was seen that the favourite was in trouble, and Belah drew right away. Then, Sweet Nell was called upon, and she responded gamely enough. With about three lengths to make up she closed the gap, but it was only on sufferance, that she finished within "a fength, for Belah was going in fine style, and finished with his mouth open v apparently relishing his task and eager to go on. The time was fast—2.392 —and as Duke of Grafton was six lengths away, in third place, and still a couple in front of Dumont and Postulate, the winner's performance may be set down as particularly, attractive.

Wakefnl and Cruciform provided an Intercolonial tussle in the Spring Stakes (writes "Umpire"), which was looked upon as one of the special features of the meetin?. They were opposed by The Victory and Postillion, but nearly all the betting -was confined to the two mares. It was 7 to 4 on Wakeful and 2 to 1 against Cruciform, both heavily backed. In seeing that the pace was solid, the tactics adopted with Cruciform were sound, for Wakeful is generally a better mare when she has had a race. The New Zealander was soon in front, going fast, with Postilliorf and Wakeful following, and The Victory behind. Dunn allowed Postillion to take second position along the back, but kept Wakefnl- fairly close up. He shot #-W ■the leader at the turn, and got through on the inside. Getting on terms, the two were together, but Hewitt was not showing anxiety and Wakeful was being shaken up Postillion created a diversion by daehIμ m> on the outside at the Legev, going soweU that lie looked like joining serious* Buthe failed inside the distance, and thftwo cracks were left lighting ft nut Wakeful hard ridden, could never ,uiie get up a nd Cruciform got home by ? long head amidst great excitement. I beard It remarked that Mr Stead's mare Sad something In hand, but I think she tvas about all out. Postillion was .only * couple of lengths away, four in front o< The Victory, and it was a rattling good Cup gallop for him, one that will get him lots of admirers for the Victorian, event*