......THE ..... Racing World.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 36, 10 February 1906, Page 11

......THE ..... Racing World.

We take the -following from the "WorlrV* has eomo to th„ *-««* t,„ i„- , i _ —"The Trish <!teenWhn,f>r Rack Wat aV. ™7i _■ . ttle front Dr lea P s aml bounds, _ne insn steepiecnaser, Hack >vatd_, and so fast were his sons and daughters has now won eight races in succession, the scorin-* diirln- «,. i__* *_. uaufeu-ers last being at Leicester a few days age It season" that he wL nll,rf S ° f h the is said that an offer was made to purchase in fir_t nh.ee h_d ?lt "ffJWiif™, beea him ou.behfitlf of His Majesty, but as his time P h&i he had a Uttle lonser owner asked Aye thousand gninras for j him nothing came of Jt." [ -

M. Balza.n. one of the best anvateur- risers Sn France last year, was an officer in' the army, but helng of opinion that his prospects of advancement were not bright, resigned his commission and joined the ranks of the professional Jockeys, among whom he is holding his own. Lord Rosebery*s Derby winner, Cicero, is seldom brought on to the Heath at Newmarket for ei'.rcise purposes now. He is described as being a playful and high spirited animal, and is kept to Lord Durtmm's private- field, where along with "Seyland, he 'Is given trotting and cantering exercise. He Is thickening out, and doing well up to the present. There is net a great deal of racing in Holland, and the standard of the competitors is not high. M. *_\ Bultmann, with 22.-365 florins, heads the register of winning owners. It is rather tnteresting to note the number of old English, racehorses that have scored over there — Stargazer (who heads the list with 5720. florins), Limpsfield Lassie. Twin Cherry, Hallucination, and Cherry Park. The Newmarket (England) sales, which were concluded, last mo_th, were a great success, blood stock to tfce value of 109,668 gs being disposed of. Among the highest figures reached were 4500gs for ; Roque- ; brune On foal to Sainfoin), who. goes to Belgium: SOOOgs for Grand Prix (10 years old); and 2500gs for La Sagesse (14 years). ; Roquebrune is 12 years old. M. F. Brugmann, the gentleman who has been such an assiduous purchaser of bloodstock at Newmarket this week, again tops tne list of winning C/wners in Belgium, his representatives h-Ving carried off races of the value of 352/228 francs, 12,975 francs won at Ma-sons-fiaffittc, making his aggregate for the year 385,201 francs. The record includes J_r T. Southwell, the Birmingham sportsman, who is credited with 9,501 francs won at OsteDde. John Osborne,, the veteran jockey, thinks George Fordhr/ta the best jockey he ever rode against. no t excepting Fred. Archer, and that thoroughbred raciafg cattle of the present day are not up t6 thoso of the r *k **" in bone or stamina. He believes thr/t horses should be treated kindr ? i " JOt rrue, * T punished, after the style t *, r °* ler ' to s< l ueez e the last onnce out of the__. Although thousands of racers have passed through his hands, he has never ouce. been "savaged." The English bedstead was a formidable affair in the old days, and a good story is told of little Billy Pierce, the famous lightweight jockey, who thought there was no woman in the world like his good wife (who could pull down her end of the scales with her Billy and 9st of dead-weight in the other), and no racehorse like one, Borodino, which he often rode to victory. One night, Billy went over to dine and sleep • at the house of his best patron, a Mr Jolitt", and, hearing a noise in Billy's bedroom about 2 a.m., the host went In- and found a queer little figure in a long nightgrown that trailed, on the floor for yards, behind him, , while the wearer vainly tried to climb up into the great towering wooden bed, which Billy swore was more like a grandstand ou a racecourse than a bed. "What's all the trouble about, Billy?" asked Mr Jollff. "Oh," ueplied Billy, "my wife put up one of her six furlong nightdresses for mc by mistrJSe, as a holf-a-furlong one does for' nie k .und you've got such deucedly high beds_eads here I'm hanged if I can get into this 'un. Give mc a leg up, please! This was done with as much solemnity as though the Leger bell was ringing, and when Billy was tucked in safe and snug, he said: "Mr Joliff, you've been very kind to mc, so by way of making a sootable.re- i turn I'll put yoii up to two dead certainties—but, mind, they goes no further—my wife is the best woman In the world, and - Borodino's the best horse. 'Good night, i sir!" " The case of Deeble. the rider of Pierre ] in the Rangltoto Steeplechase last week, ' when he was cautioned by the stewards for 1 continuing in.the race after his mount, re- ' fused a fence, has a parallel In England, as ■ according to "Rapier," the popular writer ' of the London "Dramatic' News,"' the ques- ' tion has cropped up in England over a ' horse named Kolian, -who refused to jump : a fence in a steeplechase. According to the London scribe, the rider sent him repeatedly at the fence, he would not have ; it, and the jockey waited till the other two had been round the course, and came to the jump a second time. Was he justified, or I ought he to have taken the -horse back when he found that he could not get It over? One opinion was to the effect that a jockey so placed ought to have gone back. His chance was destroyed, it was urged, and he had no business to be blocking up the course. Supposing the rider had an- ; other go at the obstacle just as the two again approached It? Kolian would. In all likelihood, have refused again, and, bad examples being contagions. Upset the others, perhaps inducing them to refuse also. But as was argued on tho other side, his chance was not absolutely destroyed. It was possible that he would get over if tbe others gave him a lead, and that in the mile and a half which remained to be covered, both these. might run out, fall, or refuse, so that he might catch them up as they had caught him, and then win after all? This last view seems to mc sound. Races and games are continually lost because riders and players give up too soon. A notable case in point occurred not long since. Mr George Lambton had backed his mare, Bellona, both ways for the big hurdle race at Croydon, and was going so badly a mile from home that he felt temped to pull up. It occurred to him, howewr, that he had better stick to it; something might fall, or get knocked over, and so enable him to struggle into third place; and so, persevering hard, he gradually overhauled the third, passed the sco ond. and. the leader tiring and swerving, Bellona got up and won by a head.i An English exchange, says:—Only the first eight winning sires in the list for the past season have more than £10.000 to • their crodlt, and, as mentioned last week, Isinglass and Gallinule, both by Isono'my, are. first and second, the first two places thus being filled by horses of the Oxford line of BTrdcatcher. Third. fifth, sixth and seventh places have been won by horses of Blacklock descent, fourth place by a horse of the Bend Or. Doncaster. Stockwell line of Birdcatcher, and eighth place by a direct descendant of Newminster, this being Ladas. who is the only representative of Touchstone b'ood who has run into five figures. The four Blacklocks arc St. Simon and three of his sons—St. Frusquin, Persimmon, and Florizel 11.. to wit —and the Stockwell horse is Cyllene: but if we go a little lower down another Stockwell horse- Flying Fox—-Is In ninth place, two more Blacklocks —Desmond and St. Serf —are numbered ten and eleven, while Ayrshire, who, like Ladas, Is of the line of Touchstone, is In twelfth place. Between the first and the twelfth sire there is a difference of some £16,000. Isinglass having won over £24,000 and Ayrshire over £8000; and, if we analyse the breeding, or, rather, the descent, of the leading twelve, we find that Blacklock is the numeric.: winner, exactly half of the first dozen bf-ing of that line, while four come from Birdcatcher and two from Touchstone. As regards figures, Blacklock is also in the ascendant, the six horses descended from him having won £82,501, against £70,433 secured by the Birdcatchers and £18.982 credited to the two To_«_jsro.nes- From this it may be argued that the Blacklocks. though they have been beaten for first place during last season and that of 1"04. are still imbued with great vitality, aria . are quite likely to go to the top again at any moment. During the past season St Frusquin has been the most successful representative of tbe family, and It is a curious fact in connection with -Ma norse that he held a very tow place until the begta-dsg of October; bat __r_ce _____ he

A writer iv "The Field" pens tlie Toilowong interesting article: The question as t» wnether there is or is not too much racing __f„. agaln cr °PPe<l up. aud on this poiut ?r5f n * s /-. waß saicl b >" ,ln y of the speakers at tbe Gmicrack Club dinner, though It had in some quarters been expected that opinions of weight would have been forthcoming-. The fact is that during the last thirty yeai-s the conditions on racing have been entirely changed. Previous to the Advent or the gate-money inclosure some few lessees of racecourses doubtless made some money by their meetings, but a great bulk or the fixtures barely paid their wav, and dozens of little country meetings were only maintained by sending the cap round. Local magnates, members of Parliament, railway companies (after they came into existence', and very often the licensed victuallers of the district were ail expected to subscribe, and a conisderable sum was thus raised. The stands and luclosures on the course made further contribution, but the crowd on the rails paid nothing, though carriages were generally charged for standing room. At Newmarket the Jockey Club managed their own business, and always contrived to make both ends meet; but no individual of the clnb was ever a halfpenny the richer, whatever the revenues of the year might be. At Ascot the money received was always spent on the racing, and, in fact, before the inclosure came in there was little attempt to make money out of the holrlM. of _ races ' Intlee(l - jt is almost certain that the feeling of those in authority was that it was unsportsmanlike for Individuals to profit largely by racing, except by winning money with their horses. Then camo thel inclosures. and since theu the old meetings have dropped away, and there are all over the country people who hold shares in race companies, aud who iv most cases receive big dividends. They may or mar not be racing folk; they may, indeed, never go near a racecourse or spend a penny on racing: hut, still, if they hold share's in a lucrative race company, they are making money out of sport without having earned it in any professional capacity. That is the present state of affairs as regards a huge majority of the existing racecourses, aud how certain racing men areclamouring that racing is being overdone, that tbe fixture list is far too crowded, and that, as a natural result, all sorts of almost worthless screws are kept in training- It is further argued, too, that the thoroughbred is deteriorating, and that this deterioration is in a great meaure due to the fact that there is still too much two-year-old racing. The two subjects—alleged plethora of racing, and deterioration of the thoroughbred—are so much involved that they may in some degree be treated together; but, dealing with the excessive number of meetings first; it is suggested that there is so much competition among tbe race companies that some meetings are run at a loss, the idea being that successful meetings' will pay for the bad ones, and that under no circumstances would it bo policy to do away with, any fixture for which a date has been obtained, as that would be practically admitting that the particular fixture did not pay. In this connection we are, of course, writing very broadly, merely repeating tho remarks of the man in the street,, and ws have no real knowledge as to whether any particular meeting has ever failed to payIts expenses. But it is quite, a common .opinion amongst-people who go racing that at some of the inclosures the goo.djneeting3 pay for tbe bad ones, ana. If this is so, it merely shows that the first object of each race company is to obtaiu as many fixtures as possible—fixtures being absolutely the best advertisement a race meetiug could have. What, however, is not problematical is that racing at the inclosed courses is carried on chiefly in the interests of shareholders, and that the money prizes offered are in many cases nothing like so high as they ought to be. The owner has to race far too much for his own money, and the shareholder, who may never go .near a racecourse, receives the dividend which should go to- the winning owner, who bears the expense of breeding, rearing, and training. And it Is ridiculous to assert that, because there are fewer centres of racing than there used to be, there is less racing. Little country meetings generally bad, two days a year, while the inclosures generally have over a dozen. There are. on the other hand, far more horses bred and trained than than was formerly the case, „ud those who think that racing Is not being overdone have a strong argument in the matter of supply and demand. They contend, rightly enough from their point of view, that as long as there are horses to keep sueta meetings as there are going, no one has a right to complain that there is too much racing. Those who hold the other opinion assert that it is not for the good of the Turf .to maintain suclua low standard in tbe thoroughbred as now exists in the, bottom class of racehorses, and that, If the meetings were fewer in number, the standard, would be quickly raised. It is, of course, natural that with so much racing even the worst of selling platers can be placed to win occasionally, and this to a great extent prove t s the assertion of Mr Beddington and others, who maintain that better horses and better sport would be forthcoming "if there were fewer meetings. If the fixture list was greatly cut down, the lowest class of racehorse, "the horrible crocks with tubes In their throats, and bandages . on one or all of their legs," would have n» chance of earning a living on the Turf, and would be sent to join the ranks of cab horses much sooner than they now are. The plating class would, indeed, gradually rise. But fewer meetings-would in no way affect the breeding part of the question, and th_k one really indisputable fact about the mo_ern racehorse is that only two or three ilk every 'hundred are really good. Year after year some half dozen, or so -stand out, and the rank and file are of little value, and thus It would seem that deterioration (If it really exists) is chiefly a • question for breeders to solve. That less two-year-old -aclng would help to make things better we have always thought, and we are alsc of opinion that the distance of the average race is too shorthand that speed is far more catered for than stamina. Iv Prance two-year-olds do not race before August, and long distance racing is- held in far higher consideration than it is in this country, and the result is that the average French racehorse, as a rule, stays better and lasts longer than the English horse, and we are under the impression that, allowing for the i fact that far fewer are bred, there are more I fair class horses in France every yean than there are in England. The French people only began to race in comparatively recent times, and they began, of course, with English horses, and have constantly been buyers of fresh supplies. They have cmployyed English jockeys and English trainers, and founded their style of racing on ours; but for at least a quarter of a century French racing has been conducted on lines of great common sense, whereas we have drifted away from the old days of great stayers to a plethora of plating aud to endless meetings, at which a really good horse Is rarely seen. That the fixture list is too large we are much inclined to think; but what Is chiefly wanted is further restriction as to the running of two-year-olds and an Increase in tie distance of races. Sprint races run at top speed are not half so pretty to watch as longer races, and, If the former were decreased and the latter Increased in value, owners and trainers would quickly discover that their horsecould stay. It is excessive speed oyer a short course which is at present far too much encouraged, and we should hfce to sea a two-mile race In every not more than one race a day of 'less ttan^a mi ''f' «... the d_te%f S wVve_r-old rfcing -night well be „__._o_e_ until the, Ascot week (except in Sb plate of £100). and should also like ?o scf the -value of all two-year-old races cut down. Something has been done In this direction of late years, but even now a twoveariold cau win a stake of about £4500 in July, and this, we think, is quite ridiculons. We think that £500 is enough for a .youngster to win before August, and that £1000 should be tho limit value of any two-year-old race after August. This would cause owners to save their backward youngsters, and would steady the hands of public breeders in the matter of forcing, and, if some such restrictions were adopted, the tale of costly failures would in all pro* . -_b_tt_jr be nothing like _o large _* it ia, ,

I desire to lift up my voice in protest Against a practice which so far as my ( observation goes is not at all uncommon in the colonies, but is none the less objectionable for that. The other evening the people of Auckland were treated to the spectacle of a body of volunteers in uniform marching along the streets preceded by a brass band—and many of the members of the procession were smoking pipes and cigarettes. I was not one of the witnesses of this extraordinary performance, but I have seen something very like it hefore on a small scale, and I object very strongly. It seems to mc that the least that we can do for the Kind's uniform is to respect it while we •re wearing it, and no one can pretend that a man or a youth sucking at a pipe or puffing at a cigarette is doing Jus best to express a proper degree of reverence for his attire or his military position. I haven't any objection to smoking, if people want to smoke and they are old enough to escape the operation of the Anti-Cigarette Act. But I do think that there is a certain consistency and fitness about things in , general that ought to be carefully ob served. You constantly hear volunteers, or the people who write in *their Jnamc to the papers, complaining that they don't receive enough respect from the public at large. That is quite true, but I wish to suggest that they are not increasing their chances of securing a reasonable degree of consideration by conducting themselves as if they had no particular respect for themselves or their profession or their uniform. I don't see why a volunteer should be permitted to smoke while in uniform or on 'duty any more than I can see why a judge should .be allowed a pipe on the bench. I have great respect for the people who—doubtless at some personal inconvenience to themselves —are training themselves to do battle for my hearth and home against the invading foe, if ever that foe should reach these Branny shores. But my sense of decorum is simply outraged by the spectacle of a young man in the King's uniform closely associated with a cigarette, and I sincerely trust that such a sight will never offend my eyes again. it, ■T■ ITI iT, V. ,T..Ti IVIITI iTi "When,- oh when," cry the harassed police authorities, mag-strates, and perspiring Court officials in this city by the iwaitemata —"when are we to be accommodated with a hall mtet and sufficient rior the dispensing of summary justice the length and breadth of growing Auckland?" And the cry goes up i as of one crying in the wilderness, and '-comes mockingly back in a hollow iecho. Truly, the scales of Police Court •justice in Auckland have a dingy set-' ting, and more than moderately uncomfortable, as all whose business or misfortune carries them within the four •nnlovely walls of our Police Court can amply testify. But why this should be bo passes my comprehension. One would think that the magistrates, Court officials, and police officers who are condemned to spend a great portion of every twenty-four hours -within that draughty, ill-lighted, and badly ventilated building were themselves working out the penalty of some high misdemeanour in being lodged there. The Police Court is a place that the majority of us know •only by repute, vaguely, through the columns of the daily press, and are quite content to have our knowledge remain at that. Neither may we wish to parade our .seamy side by flaunting it in bold architectural characters in the forefront of the perspective. But all that ; is asked by those whose occupation ties 1 them more or less to this abode of sumJ anary jurisdiction is decent and adequate -j accommodation, -which is no more than an up-to-date and well-conducted busi- , mess bouse provides for its employees, TThe authorities, however, probably consider it their duty to hide away the sins ijof so unimportant a city as Auckland in as dingy and inadequate a place as limit will permit. Possibly in a spirit .«f benevolence towards the erringly inclined "that the police may not be unduly encouraged to rope too many of them in. tttTTtttTT -Che use to the citizens of Auckland in general, and Parnell in yaTteular, of the water-front thoroughfare christened "King's Drive," seems yet to be a matter of very indefinite -futurity. True, it is possible on a _ine -day for pedestrians with a grand -disregard for the inconvenience of wading through dust, to effect the passage ;of the present unmetalled track. But to 'the ordinary mortal a journey along it is a worriting experience, and productive of much impoliteness of sentiment towards the parties supposed to be res--ponsible for its ■condition. The unsatisfactory part of it is the fact that the anathema maranatha of the dust besprinkled wayfarer mostly has to vacillate between the Harbour Board and the Parnell Borough Council, thereby losing •much of its effective value as a firstclass invocation. It appears that as things stand at present the latter body rrepudiates any stigma of inertia in tbe matter of getting things put into travelling order, by the plea that it has not ,yet had the road formally handed over to it by the Auckland Harbour Board. Whether or not this is an ignoble endeavour to shirk the responsibility of Ikeeping up,its end of the log I am not to say, but it is very clear that the road is formed and only waiting for the metal covering to emerge from its present embryo incompleteness into the full blown existence of a respectable bighway. In the meantime, however, the work-a-day of summer is rapidly passing, and this unfortunate name of a road remains with nothing more regal to settle on than a bank of. clay, over which, with the coming of the winter, it will be considerably easier to drift than "To drive unless something is done to ! cover a little of its new-born nakedness. 'It may be urged by the local Council i th - at they aTe waiting until the Harbour {Board completes the roadway across the entrance to the Mechanics' Bay intake, 60 _______f 8 - , ri ng the whole water-front ijjr___ej__de jronn the ast-nisaed Axutkm

land public in one stupendous act. But if that be so, I fear it is a vain hope. Not until the harbour mud barges have ruptured their planks in attempting to crawl out of the smellsome basin will that gap be filled on the present face of things; and by that distant date the Parnell Council will probably have gone into the shades of a' phantom past. H only a decent footwalk were made for the convenience of residents fronting the Drive, not to speak of tbe numerous others who would prefer the level road round the sea-front to the hiU-climbing alternative, 'were it practicable, much unpleasant speculation would be shared the wearily, waiting public. •M'».lT'M"l-T-Ministers in the Parliaments of the neighbouring Continent appear to have small regard for the niceties of expression. One day one reads that Mr Bent, the Victorian Premier, says: "We needn't care a button for Canada. Or New Zea- I land either. They talk about New Zealand. Pooh!" (I admire the interjection.) While less than a week later Mr Deakin, the Federal Prime Minister, is "averse to spending any part of the funds of the Commonwealth" on the famine-stricken sufferers in Japan. Mr Deakin's utterance, it is true, is at least more classic than the redoubtable Mr Bent's; hut I cannot quite see why the Federal Premier should say he was "averse" to offering the help of the Commonwealth at such a time. It would surely have been enough to say that he had no statement to make on the subject, or that the Government did not propose to do anything in the matter. I don't mean to say that he did or did not do the right thing; my only trouble is a feeling of irritation at such a clumsy and unnecessarily offensive manner of speech. In private life a man does not tell one that he thinks him a blithering idiot; he says, "I am very sorry that I cannot agree with you." Equally he prefers to say, "I must say good-night now" to "get out," and "Are you sure of your facts?" to "That's a lie." To choose the. more brutal alternative is a resort to savagery. Speech, with its infinite variety of tones and expressions, loses most of its wisdom and all its beauty when it is deprived of its softer effects. With a politician every inflection of the voice, let alone eveiy word, should be carefully weighed, and made to play its part with a certainty that is not the less because the aim is kept out of sight. It does not much matter j to mc, except that whatever the game I j like to see it played according to its proper rules. And it is the game of the politician to say nasty things nicely, and | not innocently-meant things nastily. ■ The reader of "Random Slots" has probably but a remote idea of the pro-: blems that trouble the cable editor of a daily paper. That recent message about Turner and Ruskin, for instance, has> been the occasion of about half a dozen different stories, the authors of all of which were probably equally convinced that their reading of the original message was the only one possible. One paper solemnly asserted that Ruskin concealed the pictures and that the National Gallery people were going to finish them; another that the "so-called unfinished" pictures were going to be "socalled finished"; while a third enunciated the remarkable view that "they were concealed at the late Mr John Rnskin's instance, when they should have been finished." If the last translator had only used the word "would" instead of "should" his account would at least have done justice to the wisdom of the prophet whose name has been so sadly taken in vain by the gentleman who seems to imply that the concealment was little short of malicious. One would certainly think that John Ruskin would prefer to conceal a Turner rather than to have it "finished" by some inferior hand; but as the word "should" has been used one is left to suppose that Ruskin is blamed because he did not encourage the finishing process. Altogether I feel a little mystified by these many interpretations, and it will be really quite interesting to secure the original story by mail. I only hope that the worst fears as to Mr Buskin's behaviour will not have been realised. X__LL___l__wlw_i 'l' 1 !"! I '_''—,' _"_' _ 'A —F. It isn't often that I presume to criticise official authority. For the public official has so many excellent and unexpected opportunities for "getting hack" at one that the delight of criticism is hardly worth the risk. But this week I have come across an instance of —well, what you might call bureaucratic eccentricity that seems to mc too good to be missed. It "takes the form of an "employee's certificate" which a certain potent department has caused to be issued, and which is supposed to be filled in by every employer. The certificate states the date at which employment started, and there is a blank left in which is to be inserted the number of years that the employment lasted, and the date of its conclusion. So far so good. All this information is interesting enough, I daresay, but it is the shape the certificate takes that amused mc. The thing is supplied in large sheets, divisible into three sections, along ruled lines, and it is of course assumed that every man will get one oi these strips and keep it as his most precious and permanent possession. The strips are two inches deep, not more, and I want to know what chance has the average man of finding his scrap of paper and presenting it to his employer or anybody else when the right time comes. A card or a formal document of reasonable dimensions might conceivably be forthcoming. But this 2-inch rag—well, it is not in human nature to remember anything about it for a week together. Then I would like . to point ont that as the headings for the various columns are printed only at , the top of the paper the employees who ! receive the strips torn off the lower part of the sheet haven't any intimation as to what the entries in the . various columns mean. And, further- . more, the forms are "backed," or printed on both sides, whereas it is painfully \ evident that if a man uses up one 'side ■ of his certificate no other man will be ;in a position to use the other. Oh, this is quite an entertaining sort of docw- . ment, I can assure you, and when I . read the footnote at the bottom of the 1 page I was inclined to think that the , whole thing must be meant for a joke. "This certificate," says this oracular legend, "must be retained by the employee, and filled up by each employer when leaving." Are we to understand : that the Factories Act regards the em- ! ployee as getting rid of the employer when a man changes his shop or his factory? But these things are too deep for mc. I only wish to remark that of all the exasperating trifles calculated to worry employers without doing any compensating good, this "certificate of employment" seems to mc about the most iiigcnioT_3;_Hid. thermos- ________yet , dsvisecU __ t ; ~, ~.__„.,....,_. i