TURF GOSSIP

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 233, 1 October 1910, Page 15

TURF GOSSIP

ffiy WHALEBONE.fc

The Government of the Argentine is, reported to have recently prohibited the l holding of race meetings on ordinary working days. At Home, two-year-olds can now prac- I tically always—if of the least account—be depended upon to 'beat the seniors in mixed ' age races. , The Australian-bred Tangaroa ran his last race in England at Kempton in August, his owner having ordered that he shall return to India. I Ostend ihas something like a race meeting, for sport begun on Sunday Is continued practically every Sunday, Monday, and Thursday throughout midsummer. TJhlan, driven by Mr C. K. Billings, at the Cleveland Trotting meeting on Bth August, trotted a mile in 2.01 to wagon, lowering his own world's record of 2.02J, at the North Kandall track on the opening day of the Grand Circuit Meeting. His mile equalled the record of Lou DiUon to sulky without the aid of wind-shield. There is nothing like racing to make a man a philosopher, a punter backed Dele, gate, and he fell over a hurdle. The r-, aD next backed Kap-anga, and the horse belted He then had his maximum on Fir.r R-ir' rel and the saddle slipped. "Now '•' he. e xclaimed, "It's all right, misfortunes always come in a sequence of three and the third disaster is over. It's my luck, not my judg ft S °?< «? 1 must have a y p/un|e £erinri d re CO pra» tte Turf &?» t0 - Wa , Tast f Mtunes on i™.i. '~ rhe circulation of mouev ii much smaller than it used to be and more over, tie channels through which it have become greatly diverted M r P john <*** dav M and J htft find it^?mn a /, <lU '' lrt ?i,' tf a mmioD . WOUld "He ?%*»¥ beeaS Jl, f 0, 2" °* st - Gatien, who ran a deadheat with Harvester for the Derby and twJ"" 1 Cesarewiteh with 8 10 on Ms three-year-old hack. The same year Mr ™ a^ moa V 1 tte Cambridgeshire with zr^rvi^ s mm r cc ot the Tnrt * *- F^?=K ndin i Jul article u P° n "Doping," an cuil f^^ nfrer l sai ' s: rumouf was cirwhth oue M the aa 3" s o£ a late meeting stair l ™ £»* T p . rore t0 te of s P ecial XX * Z t was t0 effect that attention bad been drawn to an alleged cae.e of doping,' but no 'official' information was allowed to leak out It will be r.emem'bered that some years ago the stewards of the Jockey Club issued an edict threatening to mete out very severe punishment to one found guilty of doping horses, this was immediately after certain Yankee horse dopers had taken their hurried but none the less welcome departure from rue country. That doping was carried on to »n alarming extent by these gentry was tacitly understood by thousands who 'go racing.' When the Jockey Club sounded their promulgation, however, it savoured very much of locking the stable door when the horse had gone. There is little question but what certain unscrupulous English traiaers copied the methods of the Yankees. The difficulty of proving the offence has been the great drawback to any effectual dealing with ?he matter. Some veterinary surgeons contend that it is comparatively easy to tell whether a horse has been doped or not, whilst others are equally emphatic in their asseveration that it is nest to impossible to prove the thing up to the hilt Thus are the Jockey Club placed on the horns of a dilemna. I rememher that a year or two ago at Great. Yarmouth an Australian sportsman purchased a horse to take back to that country. It died very suddenly soon alter the race. He alleged that- it had been 'doped,! and the matter being referred to the stewards of the meeting, they ordered a veterinary examination, but the post mortem was reported to have revealed nothing beyond the fact that the animal had died from a twisted 'bowel or something to that effect That doping still goes on in certain stables is believed in 'by a good many people, but, as I have said before, the almost insurmountable difficulty is to bring the charge home." Writes a London "Turf" scribe:—"Speaking of the English Jockey Club reminds mc that the latest move of this autocratic body is to taboo snapshotting on the public racecourse. Both the Windsor and Liverpool authorities issued a notice to the effect that no more snapshotters would be allowed on the course. Now, there is no question but what the'harmless pictures of racecourse scenes and incidents which have ap-1 peared in the illustrated papers h»sre been immensely appreciated and enjoyed by ' the little public, but because certain so-called ' swells ' (presumably members of the Jockey Club) object to being snapshotted the whole business is to be stopped.' It is too petty and childish. What the legal powers of the Jockey Club are in a matter of this sort I don't profess to know,.but it seems to mc to be an unjustifiable interference with the liberty of the subject. The Jockey Club, or, at any rate, most of them, from their exalted pedestal of greatness hate the public and hate the Press. The restrictions which are now placed upon the members of the Fourth Estate obtaining information of public interest are both unreasonable and arbitrary. The Jockey j Club appear to be completely oblivious to the fact that if it were not for the money I contributed by the public, and the enormous amount of advertisement -which the sport obtains through the agency of the Press, the Turf would soon become a moribund institution]| The Jockey Club, however, in their flrerbearing spirit of intolerance, brook neither interference nor suggestion.. No doubt It is an admirable institution in its way, but its autocracy Is stretched almost to the point of despotism. All racecourse companies have now to produce their books of finance for the edification of the Jockey Club auditor. The iron hand is lifted with arbitrary power, and even the Jockey Club servants appear to be inculcated into the ' art' of studied discourtesy to everybody except their superiors." It would seem easier for the -'crooks" to make a living in England than in these parts, and a London paper suggests that steps should be taken to exclude sharpers not only from the enclosures, but from the courses in England. It is also pointed out that railway companies should prevent known bad characters using their platforms. Referring to this, "Vigilant" writes: "It is quite a common thing to see mem-, bers of a gang loitering up and down the platform when a race special is fining up, their object being to pick out a likely vie rim or two and get into the same carriage with them. Such men might be arrested on a charge of 'loitering with intent' for what they intend is beyond question. Some of them relieved a Russian gentleman, en route to Goodwood, of £35 by the three-card trick. He could not speak a word of Ens lish, but f*e lady who was with him appealed to a man seated opposite, .who had taken no part in the game—but was one of the sharpers' confederates—and Inquired if they could not be given in charge. He replied, 'Certainly not! The game was a perfectly fair one, played in all TattersaU's enclosures, and her friend ought to lose hi? money In more sportsmanlike fashion!' There Is, of coarse, a humorous aspect in this, and I have since seen the Russian gentleman, who laughed heartily when asked if he had learned how to 'find the lady.' He is a rich man. and the loss, in his case, was of no consequence, though it would naturally give him a bad impression ot the management of English railways, for it was his first visit to England. Such barefaced swindling in railway trains ought to be rendered Impossible, and it would not be very difficult to do this, for the men are in almost every case well known to the police, and to many of the guards and porters. Once, and once only, have I heard a word of warning addressed to passengers. This was when a special was just starting for Lingfield, and at the last moment a man got into the carriage next the one in which I was. A porter hurried up to it and called to the other people in that carriage: 'Don't play cards with him!' But why allow such L fc-.mfla to .set Into -the carriage at all?"

Sontt African mil. to be among th «P«*ea toria for $& wH^tSS^ write, Paragraph.-^! 5 ?? 8 N' z - » the following buy a three „,. i Te 3nst be en asked to in one of to **» <™ onies, but aJ € !L. fa , 1 ' ? te tant British col. venue of t& &S£ aß £S wb ? *».'■*«■-«* verY^ 3 lKtbre mc the other day a tTrii <* hawked thcSa m r of a th B to n ra ,f h< i, r3e8 * and order to cahi « ?*£ * c publio houses in Shockin°''?T a ,J eW -3>P ers ' Shocking! wark k^ng.)-Countf C ™r l t , . S ' at S °4 tulfoulbe" r uS r lf WlndellS kade 'a eovef pSS 6 lost " «* other I K!? t; F t r^-»& KW S n° the ttrone - It will be called the ™i many lons dista nce races that are at ready run at Goodwood A valuable race on the lines indicated, and to' mark such a loyal occasion, will, without doubt reof owners of. racehorses. " •■ .tgrjf The late English trainer, Fred. Barratt. as is so usual with the racing fraternity eft his wife and children penfuSs. Every ft M»%n ap s?"r»«M&ow how really neceswj it is for those who are on the flood-tide of success.to be charged a sort of premium ou their earnings, towards a general fund to relieve cases such as the present. The greatest safeguard would of course, he for the Jockey Club to recognise betting to charge -bockmakers, or- even all backers, with a certain percentage upon their transactions, so as to create a big fund for'the relief of those associated with the creat game. . b . The following story was told by a policeman at an Irish race meeting to "Bird* fl!; 3? c <*«"» writers for the Irish paper Sport :—*i was," commenced the man in blue, stationed in a. certain town in Kerry during the worst days of the land agitation, and a big political meeting was announced! One of the precautions to preserve law and order adopted by the authorities was to order the closing of all public houses In tha town. I was placed on duty at the hack door of a publichouse, with strict instructions to allow nobody in, but the head (the inspector) never said a word about letting the drink out. and I had a pain In my arms •from handing out the gallons.. There'vyas a line of willing.hands like you would see at a country fire passing the buckets of water along, but no fire ever took the quenching of the thirst of that "Kerry crowd. Of course, I had to impose a tax, and the collecting of it was a 'big job, but: I managed it." "Did you get promotion?", he was asked. "Did I get promotion?" he replied with a smile. "It wasn't promotion I was thinking of at the end of the day; it was; locomotion. It's a wonder I was-not had up for 'bumping and boring* on the march back to the barracks. I have no great love for Danny Cila'her after his performance the other day, but I wouldn't like him to ever have a head like mine was "the day after these publiehpuses were closed." The improvement shown by . Balgowan and Blairgour led to the stipendiary stewards making "a report to the V.X.C., iand the latter body communicated with the V.A.T.C. on the alleged inconsistent running of those two horses. The V.A.T.C. Committee have, however, declined to 'hold- an--inquiry, and it now remains to be seen whether the ruling body will take action.; Personally, I amno upholder of the "after game," says a Sydney writer, and if the stipendiary stewards saw nothing to- ; take exception -to when Balgowan and Blairgour ran badly, they appear to stultify themselves by only moy--mg' now that both horses have won. It improvement in' - two Or three, weeks , was invariably regarded as goed ground ,for. an inquiry, I am afraid very few leading Australian owners*would: have escaped- being carpeted at some time.or other.. A-race..or two has a wonderful effect upon some horses, and evidently Balgowan and Blairgour benefited in this respect. At the sama time, without inferring it was so., in this Instance, it is a rather too common .practice of owners and trainers to prepare 1 their horses in races, and, "Of course, the public suffer. An owner and his friends may know a horse, is not well enough to win,' but the general fun of backers 1 are unaware, of the fact, and, arguing that' some prominent owner or other would not permit of his horse being started unless ■it had at least a possible chance, put their money oh something that would surprise everybody connected with it if it did happen-to score. ■ As I have often remarked, men,.who would not for a moment countenance their horses being "pulled" have' no objection to running them in condition that makes sueeesß almost impossible. -..;, j ....-', •.:...;•:. The racing statistics published at the end of last season showed that the Hon. J. D. Ormond's stable '-won £6493 10/, and some few weeks ago the Southern writer' "Sentinel" stated it cost over SOOOsovs to gather the amount stated. Information has come to hand that the £8000 estimate was much under the mark. The stud consists of- 60 brood mares, two imported stallions (Hymettus aud Birkenhead), in addition to Zimmerman and Daunt; whilst the brood mare list is likely to be increased by the inclusion of the Birkenhead fillies now ia training or running out. There are 27 horses in training under Stewart Waddell, and six at Green Meadows. Eleven of these are now two-year-olds and twelve yearlings will be nominated for classic events. Four of the youngsters are to-be sent to graze at Woodville, where there are already over 20 'horses from two to four years old at present. Each season from 25 to 30 yearlings are obtained from 50. mares, •but, apropos of this, a bad foaling waa obtained last season. There is £4500 spent yearly hi wages and tradesmen's accounts for the 70' hands attached to the stud, and of this number 50 are directly or indirectly connected with the thoroughbreds. The stud is valued at'-about oO.OOOsovs,. and-of course, the animals occupy a good deal ot valuable land and consume a vast amount of fodder (in addition to about 2000 Dags of oats -purchased annually in the South Isla nd) grown on the estate. The Hon.. J. A. Millar could easily find how much is paid at Hastings annually for the carriage of Mr Ormond's racehorses and their attendants. If 'Mr Millar did so he would not re* peat some of his remarks made in the House when the Gaming BUI proposals were being discussed. If some people had their way, or bLtndly follow, as they do, the anUgambling clamour, this valuable stud, in addition to others, would not be depreciated in value —it would be more like an act of confiscation. Foreign countries are keenly compering with each other for the best ot the English blood stock in the market to improve their horses for military purposes. Could any Government have brought the light horse to the pitch of perfection that the British breeder has done 'by private enterprise? Look at the ghastly failure of our own Government when liiey imported thoroughbreds to this Dominion to breed remounts and light horses generally. Thousands of the country's money was spent, and now this very same sentimental Government is going to prohibit private enterprise from doing .what it failed to achieve— i.e., keep up the blood horse to the high state it has attained In this Dominion. This can only be done by constant Importation and selection, and unless there is some inducement by way of stakes attached to racing, private individuals won't embark in the costly studs which, by changing whims, may be rendered comparatively valueless. If private enterprise had not Imported the many stallions that have been brought to this country during the last 30 or 40 years, no one will deny that the hundreds of first class light horses which were shipped to South Africa during the war could hava been gathered in the Dominion. Ou the contrary the lack of light horses would have meant a corresponding lack of mounted men; but few people know oi thick of these-off airs in-time otseace,