TURF GOSSIP

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 161, 9 July 1910, Page 13

TURF GOSSIP

The bulk of the American - daily papers teem with the prediction that American recing is nearly dead ■ • ■

In London last month the committee of •Cattersall's decided, in accordance with - !IT* - .?* tte ■'■Roles-of Betting, that double ?h« *t , 5 eT , ents en. racee which included <?. Jubilee" are void. The. .-Jubilee:- it win. be remembered, was abandoned consequent on King Edward's death. The fact of double bets being declared void would be fortunate for those backers who. had failed to get "a leg-in." The first engagements made for King iwul or Derby (of course) -was at Ascot, for Mane Legraye (4yrs) and Perla (3yrs) were nominated for the Wokingham, .Stakes, to be run on June 17, the last day of the meeting. Other engagemeate made by the Earl of Derby;are in .the Duke -of Cambridge dicap at the Newmarket First July. meet■W the animals nominated in that race being Perrier ami Princesse de GaUes. from "Ftls. jilajesty xo I^^. •"I'M , ]'■ It 01 CI 111 I t i 2»ter«d. i>y Ayrshire—Lady Juggernaut (2yrs), Marie Legraye iiyrs). Royal Escort (4yrs), fb> ■-at. - Serf—Kentlst Cherry (2yrs), Sweet Allsou (2yrs), and'(Lord Chamberlain Qyrs). How tney take it In England: — Sharply disappointed once again, lie city owner of the small' bunch of platers spoke bitterly of Ma absent trainer. "Heaven only knows whether 'I'm - being done or- not," said" he; "for my growing conviction that the fellow can't train horses is tempered only by the' acknowledged fact that he is the biggest liar in Newmarket. And yet I cannot take the: horses away." "And pray, why not?" ."Because, -■ my boy, whenever I go down there, to 'try' them, he sets before mc the juiciest, most delicious boiled leg of-mutton in all England.* , ". * - In the old days in England, there were maoy races -for halfrbred horses, and referring- to these, an old:tlmer - writes as follows in the "Pink 'Vα": "Stakes for horses not thoroughbred haye been the cause of much, villainy on the Turf, by reason of the owners of full-bred horses producing false pedigrees with them .to enable them to start, when, of course, they are sure to win. Perhaps the most successful, and ;at the same time the most Impudent case, occurred in 1825, when, a Mr W—: took about the country a horse Which he called. Tom Paine, by Prime Minister, not thoroughbred,*, and .-won several large . stakes with him, ■whereas the said Tom Paine was proved to be Tybalt, by Thunderbolt, and out of Bord Grosvenor's Meteora,. by Meteor, the best mare in England of her day!"■:. v.; ... There will become (comments the'tondon "Times") who-regret that King George las decided to give Ms' countenance to the. "sport they chiefly regard as an' incutirto : betting and gambling. Those who take this view "should remember that a gambler will aways find opportunities for gambling, that gambling does not necessarily attend the breeding and gracing of horses, and that the love of this form of sport may be said to have become a part of our national existence. Racing, more,over, is a necessity, if the English thoroughbred horse is- to maintain, his character. If ,the; Tnrf were the vile thing its enemies represent it to bej King Edward, would not have supported it for the greater part of his life. "VYe are not blind to the dangers of the Turf; but we are convinced that, the participation, of the King tends to maintain the purity of the sport, .and to diminish Its "drawbacks: 'In a most interesting article on John Porter in. the '.'lllustrated. Sporting a&d Dramatic News," "Kapler" recalls the fact that. King George was delighted with his recent visit f to: Newbury. Porter wrote to beg for the honour of the then Prince's patronage, and an answer - arrived, almost if not-quite by. return of post, to say that his Hpyal "Highness would be : glad to go to-the' meeting on- the following Saturday. ■He duly arrived, and I was shown a letter was graciously, pleased ;to. express the gratification he: had received. Porter," I may remark, has great hopes that his Majesty will 'race, though there is : the Question whether in such, a happy event : he would be tempted to get rid of a'l- or; most of the.liorses now in training, and of the mares at Sandringnam. Keeping or selling the mares and others, is, however.a detail. The-great thing is whether his Majesty will carry on the traditions and find bearers — good ones, we shau all fervently hope — of the purple and scarlet. ... . . • Writing from New York, a. Turf scribe say's:—We have had ten days': capital racing 'over at' Aqueduct,'and the. sport •bids fair to be successful to the end of the meeting, nest week. So far the fields have Been good, and the horses are -running""to form, with the result that the public has little ■to complain .about. :■ Naturally, under the •present circumstances, prices are cramped, but yon can get ■ down your money, even though ■on what the legislators call the "oral and memory system,"-.and that is one advantage. Then we have had no itft.erfereuce from police offlciais or those petty political grafters who infested the course .for the past two-seasons, and that is another and very decided, one. So far a. few promising two-year-olds have been seen onVbut until' Beimont Park and Sheepshead Bay, we -will not see the pick of the crop. A very popular method of backing horses here is to'follow a hunch," -that is, to bet .on a coincidence. Get. tumbled out of your automobile going along the shore, and promptly back something by Rock Sand—that s a hunch. 'Kecently; Miss Annette KeU-erman, the "professional swimmer and actress, drove to the .track,_and immediately-af ter■wards a hunch player hacked Kialto, by Watercress, and th-e horse, at a long price, cantered home an easy winner. - Only once in its history has a French horse won the English Derby, and he wasi French only as regards breeding and; ownership. . Reference is made to Count de ' Uagrange's Gladiateur, whose career was practically -English, for/he was trained for all his - engagements at Newmarket by the late Thomas Jennings (writes "Vigilant" in the liohdon "Sportsman-, ) . A-"horse of the'century," he won in succession the Two Thousand Guineas, the Derby, and .the St. Xieger, and in addition the Grand" Prize.of Paris. Thit was in 1865, and the same colours might have been carried to victory 13 years later iiad not Insulaire been heavily handicapped by Ms race for the Prix dv Jockey Club at Chantilly on the Sunday immediately preceding his subsequent crossOhannel journey, -and worst of all, by a wide-detour at Tlattenham corner by which he lost a. lot of ground, though in the end he succumbed by , no' more than a length and a-half to Set ton. M.-Edmohd Blanc has made several attempts to wrest the Blue Riband of the Turf from us, and has been; slngTila-rly unfortunate in his endeavours-, i In IS9I Gouverneur met one too many for him r in -Common,' but there was no excusej for him.. It Lwas altogether: different 12. years later, when, but f dr. being atrociouslyj badly . riddeu, Vinicius wouli surely have: beaten Kock Sand, while in the followingyear Gouvernant was frightened out of hi 3 ■ life by the terrific thunderstorm, in. which' St., .Amant appeared to revel. Then again, but for being dead amiss, Jardy, and not Cicero, would haye won instead of having succumbed by, three-parts of a length, and, to accentuate the. bad iuck, the race ruined, him English horses have: been much more fortunate in connection with the principal race in France—to wit, the Grand Prize "of Paris. . In the - first year (1563) of , its his-, tory The Eanger. won for Sir. Henry Savilft; threeyears later Ceylon scored for the Duke of Beaufort, and after a blank season in IS7I, owing to the Franco-Gerjnan War, Mr. Savile took the spoils a second time with Cremorne. In IST4 Mr. W. R. Marshall's Trent won, in IS7B Prince SoltykolTs; Thurio, in 18S0 Sir. C. Brewer's Robert the! Devil, in 18S1 llr; Keene's American-bred Foxhall, In ISB2, Mr.,. Herbert Rymill's Bruce, in 1885 Mr. Brodrick Cloete's Para-" dox, in 0886 Mr.:;. B. .C. Vyner's Minting, i and, , finally, after 20 years' 'Major Eustace Loder's Speaimint |

<By WHALEBONE.! ■ V

At a meeting of the National Hone Sup- . Ply Committee in London recently, a Daner wee read, and a discussion took place, oa the breeding of horses for the army. The Earl of Portsmouth, in the course of the J tecussion, said the time lad come whe£ they, should call attention of the country to th S P"!?" 8 in which, the cavWy and artillery -were at present in the matter :of horses, and to the deficiency 'that ' bSt in ' PMUips 6aid -«»t ; the [best, thing the Government could do was S^fi, fOr S? pinner of a, race involving stiength, stamina, and ■weight-carryin* capacity lite the.Grand National. itrouTa disgrace the -way-in which money was ■.-.•' thrown away at present Mr Phillips added that there had been striking instances to which racing thoroughbreds had Droved failures. .The most beautifulnorse ne had seen, Carpathian, could not be raced because something went wrong wlta Mm, and he was sold at .the December sales for £I<O. Then, there '-was liis own Horse. Missel Thrush; for -which he would not take £15,000, and that.horse's own .brother for wWcti lie would, not give £100, TteJarl Si sa * Jl lir Sed the .Importance sentj yritfcout Its proper ?rc>i?esl gp_ .jjiggßytfijwlici i«l>Mju io i ß f . The - question of void engagements by "the a<sith. -or tfce nominator Is lifceljr- to be raised again in. England, ana writing, on the topis. the "Morning Post" recently said it '!is a matter tie fairness of which has been much debated. Without doubt it is extremely, iaxd on those: wlio inherit a. stud of valuable: honses, on which, as on every - i ! other kind of property,,a high rate of sueI cession duty has to be paid, that they sho-old be" d-epri-vied "of.- the opportunity of winning; many valnaDle stakes, while at the ■" same time the worth, of the horses, if sold without engagements, would be greatly reduced, and. if kept the tremendous -expense* of ■ maintaining a .training ■ establishment ■ must go on. All tilings considered, howlever, ; it. hie been thought best by those who administer the affairs of the turf that things ■ should remain :as they -"ar-e ~ rather than worse complications-Should be bronghi about by -changes, the beneficial* results of which would, to say •tihe least, be doubtful." -Recent cases .in point wliere* the hardship has been obvious are those of the j present Dukes of 'Westminster and Devonshire and the present Earl of Derby. Tα (take a single case from the Hoyal -Stud— Minora,, winner of last year's Derby, who was -leased to King Edward by Mr. .Hall Walker for tile term. of. his racing,,career, cannot compete in. any of ; the important events for which he baa been/already entered: with, the.,single.exception, of the Atlantic Stakes,: to be run for at Liverpool two months hence; for which.' he was nominated by Ms breeder, Mr. Hall Walker Other engagements "which still remain-valid are- those Jnade, by Major' Fife for the Kentish. Cherry .filly by St. Serf, and the JJady Alwyne coif by Ayrshire, both, of which were purchased as yearlings.The "virility"v of tie.Turf, says ■"Bayardo" (in the "London Reynolds") owes much to the -close personal -Interest .which, many English Sovereigns iiaye evinced in it. -Certainly none- since'the picturesque days of Charles 11. have done'so much for racing as King.Edward WI. The late King loved the sport with an- enthusiasm and a ■disinterestedness that betokened; the truesportsman. The' first three Georges showed no interest ! in the Turf, but the fourth of: that name made «mple amends, and both, •before and after his accession to the Throne was passionately devoted"to'racing. When Prince of Wales he--won the-D.erby• with: Sir Thomas in:1788. .' So keen, was his.love of sport that cjvhen on his deathbed die sent : his'factotum, Jack -Hatf ord, specially, over •to Ascot, charging him to come back express with the,:news the -instant the horses lad passed the .post ,iri the race for the Ascot Cup,~whlch ihe fondly hoped Zihgance would win for him. The wish; , however, was not fulfilled. -Tie King's brotlier . H.B.H. the Duke of York, was quite as fond of the' Turf as was.George IV. Althoiag'h his stud was only-a smaHone, lie carried off the Derby twice, winning it in ISI6 withi. Prince Leopold',;and, iiuJS22 with..iMoses. George IT. severed his connection with, the Tnrf very : suddenly before, ihe came. to the Throne owing-to the fact that, some ' reflection was cast on his jockey," Sam Chif- , ney, over his riding of an animal' called ' Escape; belonging to His Hoyal Baghnesß, in 1791. Chifney tad 'been engaged by the Prince of Wales for life to ride for Mm, at a retaining: fee of two -hundred guineas a year, which! ■was considered a. very handsome salary for a jockey in those -days; ! Times have . changed, -with a. ( . vengeance, for 'Malier is 'to receive £4000 to ride Neil Gotv rln the Derby. ' " -".-> We 'iio longer ■. Ihear in connection "■ "witiii ' the Derby of the heavy betting th'at'formerly took place; but' it means as-much to an ownet; to win the Derby as it ever did. Mr'Naylor: is credited iwlth having woni more "solid- money , 'than any other: man, his £100,000 being cash,-as against tha larger -amount-won --foy Mr Chaplin-on, Hermit, a good deal Of which was on paper. We have the-historical bets won on Danlei . O'Rourke,. when to 1,000, ■ and-40,000 ■to 1,000 were laid, by one man, and we have ithe -£T0,00O:.won' by Mr Merry, on. Thormanby, and sinsHar sums won by, Sir-JosepH Hawley on. Musjid, Teddington, and Beadsman: MrSnewihg's winnings on Caracta-( : about £30,0U0. Derby.' betttng had slackened a bit:when Mr Savale won with"Cremorne,-and-Mr Merry had lost heart when lie refused a bet of 4,000 to 100 about Doncaster just before the.start in 1873." Of late years w&haye not heard ot ■any great amonnt being won; but, as wa have said, the Talue of a Derby iwinner to his owner is as great as ever. ,Take: tha various horses we have mentioned-on wnicli the greatest stakes have been won, and we doubt whether any <me r if put up for Kile the day afterwards, would have fetched, more than £6,000. TBlue Gown _.was a good ' example of a Derby winner, and "Sir Josepto Hawley sold him for 5,000g5. - We-have mentioned in another column .how West Australian sold for 3,000g5, a-nd StockweU for iSOOgs.' Van Tromp'e.price to the RusstanJwai 2,000g5. The French Government ieeured Saucebox, a Stringer winner for 550"S Charles the Twelfth sold f0r_.3,000 The Austrians gave. SOOgs for Daniel " fiSres we have quoted by ten or .evea \ Times." -■ . According to the "londoa Sportsman's , ' ; New York correspondent, the passing of i the amendments making oral betting a : felanywas due to a little sharp practice, • and the position taken up by Governor i Huehes in- the matter created a deal of surprise. The law will come into effect ■i in September, "and though," says Jht i writer quoted, "it is possible its consdtuI tionality can be successfully attacked on tht 'erouud that it is..a gross infringement o< (the liberties of the citizens, in any cas< li™ are face to face with another period • 'of unrest. ;It is possible that our wealthj [' owners will again invade England auS i France, and that the local tracks will b« •cut up for building—then farewell to re.l spectable sport In New I'ork and uutold iosl i , and inconvenience will fall upon thousands •'of the inhabitants. And as to the aboii- ...' tion -of -betting—nothing could --be more •■nonsensical.. During the past winter we 1 ■ had disreputable 'Marathons,' and newspapers which decried racing smugly quoting the odds; in every fair grounds in the • State ' betting is permitted over crooked • trotting matches, but if a thoroughbred races iv tne Futurity a bet-on his chance of success will corrupt the morals of the . : community. Mtore lar-fe'fccheid • faypocrisy never was ..witnessed, and more narrow- ■ I sighted policy never displayed. Uy closing • the New Tork tracks the refoimefs wili ! boom the poolroom (betting) industry in the ■ cities.' If a: mau' cannot'bet" at the tracks he will bst. somewhere else^—as a-matter of fact, I could make -a bet. over a race -to be run at Aqueduct within twenty minutes lin a poolroom one minute away from the ; office in : which*"l -am now Just so ; long as the horses are runninß anywhere in the. States or Canada or 'Mexico 'the rooms will do business and. plenty of it,, and, therefore, the only ones to suffer by this new move will" be "the innocent horse owners and: the-huge number- wf: men. employed is the stables and at the tracks.