ENGLISH RACING.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 146, 20 June 1906, Page 6

ENGLISH RACING.

SPORT IN THE OLD COUNTUT. (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON. May UThe firet of Uie "classic" rates ot 1306 } provided many diilu-uUies lor backers. i What with doubts as to Whether the ■"cracks" of last season like Admirable j Crictuon and Black Arrow had recovered : the form they lost toward the end of their , two-year-old days, the relative amount ol , improvement that the- last few weeks liail ' made in such recent winners as Gingal, Beppo, and Ramrod, the uncertainty as to whether Bill of the Play could stay tUo mile, and the lack of knowledge of the racing abilities of the rest of the dozea that made up the field for the Two Thousand Guineas, the punters were hard set to know how to place their money. Of auti*post betting then* had been very little, but whfii the numbers went up weight o* stabie uioiior quickly save M.r I>ioi!ei Boblnsou'sWingal the call Iα the utarUci, 10U to 80 sou being tho best price tUu fielders woud lay. Bill of the Play. Admirable Crfchion. atJd Beppo were fancied most |of the remainder, and were well backed at the finish at from fives to sevens. Frustration, also found friends at 10 to 1, as did the Dame Agueta volt, aud the vlciou* Blank Arrow at 100 to S. Ramrod at VX> to 7, and Gortfos at 20 to 1. As the race showed, the "talent" went abont as rar astray in their attempts to "spot the wiuuer" as it was possible for them to have done. BUI ol the Piay was the first of the favourites "out of It,"' lor he was looking the wrong way when the tapes went up, and had no chance of catching tlie flying field. Black Arrow was done v/itu at the Bushes, and Gingal never seemed able tx> get on itrras with the leaders, which at this point were Kamioit and Admirable Criohton. They both swerved badly, leaving Uorgos ut the head <>' affairs, with the Dame Airaeta colt and Beppo in close pursuit. Kamrwt was strslgateaeJ again in tirrn? to take part' in as pretty a finul set-to as the Guineas has produced for some years. Inches only separated the quartette as they rose from the dip. and It was only by a short neck that (Jorgros claimed victory from the Dame Agueta colt, which in -turn l>eat Ramrod by a nose; for secoud honours, Beppo being close up fourth.

The winner is a colt by Ladas out of The Gorgon, owned by Mr A. James, who Brutl him. Gorgos is engaged in the Derby and Leger, but is not likely to win these events. He was indeed distinctly lucky to win at Newmarket, for but for swers-ing Ramrod— a son of Carbine —must have beaten him easily.

The valiw of the Two Thousand Guineas tbib year was £3TUO, but the Oue Thousand Guineas, decided over the same couist?, was more valuable still, £4000 being at ls.'ue. This race Is for three-year-old fillies only, and though the field numbered a dozen, the race was not the "open" affair the colts' event seemed. On paper, indeed, the race seemed a gift for Sir Daniel Cooper"s flying St. Frusquin filly Flair, tile winner of the Middle Park Plate last backend. And backers were quite content to go by the book; Indeed, they considered the bookmakers quite generous in being content to take 11 to 10 about her. The only competitors backed seriously were Victorious, flahime, and Snow Glory, but nelthey they nor any of the others could make Flair extend herself. She was content to canter in the van till passing the Bushes, and then drew clear away from the field, winning with ears pricked in a hack canter by three long lengths, In the fast time of 1.40 3-5.

Flair is engaged in all the 'principal three-year-old events of the year, including the Derby, Oaks and St. Leger. and if she keeps well ■will very likely prove superior to the colts of her age in the great races. Already Flair ha? won Sir Daniel Cooper some £8000. asd bids fair to add as much more during the remainder 'of her three-year-old career. Possibly, indeed, ahe will prove to the Australian knight what Pretty Polly has to Major Eustace Loder—a real gold mine. "PoHy." by the uay had an outing at Newmarket, the first of her five-year-old career. This was in the March Stakes of £465, a weight-for-age event. decided over a mile and a quarter. Her appearance frightened away all opposition, save that of His Majesty, who carried the same weight as the Major'e famous mare; St. Wulfram, a four-year-old, to whom •'Polly" was conceding a mere 31bs, .id<l Mondamin, who had. 171b the best of the weight with Galliuule's great daughter The betting was 1000 to 35 on Pretty Pollr. who ambled alongside her rival* till the Bushes, and tuep drew away to win ia a canter l>y a couple of, lengths from Mondamin. You couldn't call the event a race, for the mare was never called upon to *stead lienself at any part of the journey.