TURF GOSSIP

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 177, 25 July 1908, Page 13

TURF GOSSIP

(BY WHALEBONE.)

No fewer than GO.OOO people are officially | t-eorded as having been present at Hurst , n aces recently. This is a record lor tin: H ourse, j J A prominent American owner, in E. Cor- ; A igan, of I'hicago, is retiring from the dirt, ;*) ml will shortly Bell all his horses, luclu'l- , v ig mares and foals, they total -UO. It is Ktatcd that what led up to the de- | acle in the Oaks was that French Part- j, id-e struck a cab horse, which hail his | v cad over the rails, and, coming Uowt., i() Chodora fell over her. I y ! i' When the latest mail to hand left Eng- ] b and on .luue Tith, h\ Wootou was second d n this season's winning jockey's list, hay- .J' ni; passed Maher. who was out of the sad-," He lor nearly three weeks owing to van- j £ :ose veins. j ~ I a Says a Melbourne exchange: — "It op- i f ■ned the eyes of some of the New /ea- ! t a riders at present on a visit to Melbourne, ; c he amount of inouey to be won over a: I uinor handicap, and It is likely some or I ;hem will send a horse or two along to be ■aced here iv the near future." i i Signorina, dam of the Derby winner Slg- , lorinetta, was one of the most brilliant wn-year-oklK this world ever saw. "Come ;nto this bank here." said Mr Crakaui, of I'ariiley. to the Chevalier (Jintstrelli. "and •ount out for yourself -JO.uOU sovereigns-, iml yon shall have them for her." Tlie bank, relates Mr John (.'orbctt. in the "Sporting rimes." was Hammond's, at Newmarket. The Chevalier "loved his children," and would not sell. In commenting on the running of the Reilfern Two-year-old I'late, run in Eugiaud recently, a writer in the "Sporting Chronicle" — Vitrix, the winner, is but a pony, for she sUiuds only about 14.'.'. But her length and her great wide quarters are out of all proportion to her height, and ill galloping she is never off the ground, hence lhe effectiveness of her work. She is one of the first progeny of the Melbourne Cup winner The Victory, for which, as a sire, she is a capital advertisement. The dual success of fr-ignorinetta at Kpsom. has naturally been hailed with great delight in Italy, where her grand-dam, Star of Tortici, was most popular. What Is more, Signorino. the half-brother of the Derby winner, was purchased in MOB !>y the Italian Government, and is at present at the Haras de Cestellazzo. ills value as a stallion will have greatly increased hy reason of the triumphs of hie illustrious relative. In a training establishment snen as that presided over by Klchard Marsh, everything (says an English -writeri is well done, auo those who can claim the privilege of golnp lo the private chapel on a. Sunday evening and hearing some of lhe lads sin-, wiij know that the spirit pervading the stable is not one of mere display. One of the most satisfactory indications of the turf ot the present day is the greatly improved social status of those connected with -i training stuhle. and Mr Marsh has done a great deal to put a spirit of emulation In all lhe lads who have come under his care And (says the writer) that many of the youngsters lake the master of Egertot House us a pretty-good model on which to n'oTiul themselves i s a pleasing fact to be ■According to the New York correspondent of the London "Sportsman," the jockeys in that city are making an effort to draw the culour-liiic. A young Western negro J. Lee. recently went to New York to ride amd it was announced that the white jockeys intended giving him .i bad time of it. However, the stewards and the i'inkertons got hold of the little conspiracy, and so far Lee. who is a line rider, has not been interfered with. Personally, he seems able to tike care of himself, as. meeting Jockey Nicoll, he said: "See, hetih. you Nlcoll, I heah as how you'se goiu' to put mc over de rails. Wall. 1 doa't want no trouble on the track, but if you or any of you white boys try lo hurt dis heah coon, he meets you outside and twists every bone in you' body, see." Readers of racehorse history have often peon mention, made of "TJhe Prophet's Maree," but perhaps have not happened across their origin. It is said in the liast that llaiiomiued set great store by the readiness of horses to obey any signal to which they had become accustomed, ana le selected mares for breeding purposes toy a test of their obedience, tie shut up a drove of mares within sight of water, and kept them without a drink till they were almost famished with tuirst. Tnen the drove was released, and natnrally started at a gallop for the water. When they were In full flight a trumpet sounded the "halt." Only five, some say three, obeyed the call and etopped, the rest being bent on assuaging their thirst. The obedient ones were cli-osen as dams, and honoured, by the title, "The Fronhet'-s Mares." ' The following items anent the recent Lsjglish .Derby are from the "Sporting Life :—Very few. people were "on" the winner of the Derby, but one of the lucky ones, we hear, was Dr. KcCabc, who used to train Mr Croker's horses. A member of a well known club drew Slgnoriuetta in the annual sweepstake, but so little did he fancy Chevalier GinistreiLr's mare that he presented the ticket to the hall poctex before leaving in his motor for Epsom. His feelings when witnessing the ready victory of Slgnorinetta can be easier imagined than described. W. Bullock, who rode such an excellent race on Signorinetta. would have tieeu on the previous year's winner, Orby, but for Mr Richard Crokec, against Dr. McCahe's advice, selecting J. Iteiff to wear the YaJe blue ja-cke-t. and it must ha.ye been doubly gratifying to the Irish lad to have so well justified his present «m----ployer's good opinion. In writing of amateur riders an English, exchange quotes an anecdote which happeued iv Ireland. A certain crowd had a mare in a race, and she had so much in hand that in order to get a price abont her the Curragh dlvisiou decided to run the risk of putting up the "Baron," am amateur rider, who, instead of taking no chaji<:es, was so full of himself that he essayed to ride a finish with the late Jock Jones, an awkward enstomer for a "mug" amateur to take a liberty with. It was only by the grace of Providence that he got home by a head, although he had stones in hand. Bnt the crowd took it into their heads somehow or other that he toad been trying to stop the favourite, and they hooted him vigorously when he returned to the paddock. The poor "Baron's" self-complacency was ruffled by the demonstration, and, white with passion, the moment he weighed in he threw the saddle to the ground and shouted, "Ah, ye sanguinary pigs, when Fred Archer he win by a head they say 'Grand, magnificent'; when I win by a head they say 'Tamned fool -and worse- than ■&. tamned fool.' " After Signorinetta had registerea victory in the Derby and Oaks, her ownei sent the following letter to the "Sportinf Chronicle":—"Sir,—lt having been the wist of many of my friends and well-wishers that I should take my filly, Signorinetta to run In the Grand Prix de Paris, 1 desln hereby to make it known that I have conn to the conclusion not to do so. I have no) the slightest doubt about having v cordial reception from the French people, and the Grand Prix is a tempting prize, but I prefer not to run the risk of the journey, and to give my well-deserving {Illy n rest, fror can I let this occasion pass .without lug the people of this grent nation, loa oj Ills Gracious Mii.lef.ty Kins Edward VII.. Kingdom ct Jt.-tly."

The "Special Commissioner" thinks, that f Slguoriuu had not beeu so niueh petted t tlio stud and hud been allowed to rough 1 Willi other mares she would not have ■missed" or had dead foals so fretiueatly. is a matter of fact, however. In this repece Signorhm took very much after her. , liim, Star of I'ortiei. says a writer in the ■Sporting Times." for we read, in the ITtU olnrue of the Stud Bool;, that she slipped o:il in ISS."i, ami "S!l. was not covered In M.sri, "87, !>5". and '90, and was barren in .SW, "ill. 'ft!, '!M, and '■.10. Whatever she nay have done in Italy, we have no record >f her at the stud he.re until sh-e was 13 •ours old. 11 i< clear from thin that here was something very imieli in common letweeu Star of l'oriici and her great laughter. There are not many breeders vlio would hive stood out against snch a ong run of disasters, and it would aJmost ilipin as though tile Chovnller Ginistrelll i:id iihoin exhausted his patience, as an advertisement appeared iv the last "Calendar" idvcrtisliig his esuililishment at Newmarket for sale, the whole lot not ooverln" more tban twelve acres. All this must given encouragement to the '•little men." whe were being swamped by the great breeders. Thus an English Exchange: Tlierp were reasou.s iv plenty why hundreds of punters Iloppeil it down on Slgnorlna's daughter, and one of them was j;in*u to a rnn'iiigeload of dusty race-goers— bold, pert, itud dirty as London eparrowß—returning fruin the Hurst on Monday. The speaker was a youth of abont nve-and-twenty, and with all the self-asserliveness of a stove bottle of elngei'pop, be said. "Well, any chup at all well up in raein* who couldn't see that Siguorlnetta was a bully cert ought to bring his nurse nut wltli him. One only has to exercise n little discretion to see these bally pinches literally stickin' out in the programmes. As soon as 1 saw she had 'arrived" at Epsom I bunged my bit down. niiyTvny, and then lined up near the bookie till they called ■All right!'" "Well." said the man in the corner, pityingly, "I'm tmnsered if 1 see how her havin' 'arrived' at Kpsom made her out a good tiling!" "Don't you really?' , chortled the boy. "Yet that's Just the point. Great Scott, yon don't think they'd seDd n mare all the bally way from Italy If they didn't know. something, do you?" In the matter of riding winners of the English Derby the famous old-time jockey, .1. Kobinson, comes out tirst. lie rode Iα sill sis winners on Adr (ism, Cezorie. 1182-1), Middletou (1825) Mameluke (1527), Cadlaud (IS2SI, find Bay Middleton (183S). Both (.'lift and F. Archer rode five winners, the former on (17T13). Champion 1S00). Ditto (1.503). Whalebone (1810), and Tiresias (1S10). and the latter was tip on Silvio (18771 Bend Or (1880), Iroquois (1SS1), Melton (188Ti), and Ormonde (1S&J). Altogether sL\ jockeys have ridden four win-ners—-W. Arnull, S. Arnull. J. Arnull. F. Buckle, W. Scott, and J. Watts: the latter had the leg up on Merry Hampton (1S87), Sainfoin (1800), Ladas tISSM), and Persimmon (1SOG). Of the jockeys now riding r>. Maher stands above all rivals, with three successes, on Rooksand (1iH). , ,), Cicero (lilO'i), and Spearmint (1!HI6). Of trainers John Porter, the late "Master of Kingselere." Holds a unique record, as he sent out iroui his famous Hampshire stables no fewer than seven winners, including Blue' Cxowu OSUSi. Shotover <IHK>K St. Blaise (18S3) Ormonde US-SGi. Sainfoin (a£pO), CommoQ OSIli. and Flying Fox (1890). "Matt" Dawson trained six winners—Thormanhy (I860), Kingcraft (1S70). Silvio (1577). Melton (ISSui, (ISTM), and Sir Visto (IS3SV. In recent years R. Marsh has sent out Persimmon flS9fi), Jeddah (1S98), and.i Diamond Jubilee (1000). That It Is possible for a bookmaker to recover on a betting transaction under certain conditions was decided in an English court of appeal recently. In October last Ihe sum of £10S 10/ was due to Mr H. Hyarus, a bookmaker (the plaintiff), from Messrs Stuart King in respect of betting transactions. On November 4th they sent him a elieque signed in the name of the lirra. The next day they requested Mm not to present it. but to hold it over for a couple of days. He complied, and agreed to grant a further extension of time for payment. Subsequently he received, at different times, sums which, amounted altogether to £GO, and eventually ißsued a writ claiming £4S 10/, the balance, and on January 16th, 190 S. obtained judgment by default against the firm. Later tan judgment was set aside by a Master. Tne case eventually came hefore 111 - .Tnstiee Darling, and he, after giving the plaintnT leave to amend, gave judgment for him for the amount sued for, with, costs, holding that, in the circumstances of the case, the forbearance of the plaintiff constituted a good consideration of the debs. Sir Gorell Barnes upheld this view, and was supported by Ixird Justice ParweU. Lord Justice Moulton dissented. He declined to think that such a flaw existed In the law which could legalise sricfa a transaction as that in question. The--appeal, by; a majority of, the court, was, thprpforftj dismissed. Says an exchange; The-'dDuMe""rii*&>ij9"fcß! Signorinetta at Kpsom last wenk prows that it is possihle to have the- best borseuSn the world and gallop him tray by day nz Newmarket in the presence- of the cJeveeest touts iv the world withoutanyupe being--the wiser. It has been said that at Hevmunv ket it is impossible to keep a secret, !aa eviii'.v man's business is known,.-and one had the slightest suspicion tba±..a BDy that was destined to rival the jrnsrt.BlliiJc Bonny feat of winning the-Deriiy asdOaki was doing her work under lite "nrt&i The reason for all this -was that -Qxere ira> no secret to keep. You may tave the best horse in the world but not be ln»« posttinn to find it out without running the in public The moment--an attempt fe.xmaile to make the atecovery hi private the tonta are on it at once. It has been said, oxril very truly, of smalt-stables In which there are ordinarily only a few piaters, that, ffl by chance a horse is dlsco-pered fln»t caa gallop at all he is. at once magnified into a second Eclipse. He .runs in pubUc, and; as a rule, is fonnd to be one-af the -veriest of commoners. In the case-of Signoxlnetta there was absolutely nothing Ibr the touts to go upon, for the simple was on which the. owner himself could act. He could run nfa horse and trust to Pro-rfdence, and that Is wimt 1M« Gtntstrein did. He-hDpe& !, tO'-wm--Chfi: i l>eiby, but cnuW give no reason -why 'he should have snch hope. II everynow and again Slgnortnetta had run the Derby distanceled by a useful horse that -couloT stay, a sound opinion might, and probably woaH, have been formed; trat MT GinistreUl had ! no such animal to lead *M* splendid fiQy la her work. A plater led her*in the. first half : of it, and then another Jumped' In and. came 'on to the end. There is one "fiitog,\b> r oe ; said, however, and that is thafc-thoSnniie ' galloped the distance frequently.