TURF GOSSIP

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 293, 10 December 1910, Page 15

TURF GOSSIP

, «By WHAI«EBqNE.)

Count I. ehiudorff has bought Nuage, 'win-; ncr of the Grand Prize of Paris, for £12,000 for the Gradltz Stud. ' . - ; American sportsmen are exercising their minds as to whether there will ever be any: racing there again. .■;,-..- ,•;-. ..

An English sporting writer considers that there ought to be a band at every race meeting by compulsion. Opinions differ in the colonies. ... -~..,,..

At Wye (England) there Is. a-very sensible procedure, namely that the Club Stand and enclosure is open to members of all recognised clubs. -

In England one frequently hears bookmakers declare they,were glad that a certain horse at a short price beat a long-priced one, on the ground that'when-it's 20 to 1 against the winner it takes a lot of paying,: and that 20's aren't 2's.

According to a Tasmanian paper, there ls a dearth of light-weight jockeys in "that State at the present time,-and it is difficult to get lads with any experience to ride under about 7.7. The choice of trainers with horses handicapped under this' weight is very .limited;

A prominent young jockey. Is making himself notorious in the "Old" Country by smoking big cigars, taking his boots off'to make his feet more • comfortable In , a billiard room, regardless of other people's susceptibilities, and addressing trainers by their surnames, without the "Mr" that courtesy demands from a boy to a trainer. :

D. Maher did not entirely confine himself to riding for owners' in England this season. On October 22 he went to Vienna to ride the.German colt Danilo 11. in the Prix Austria. Countries represented in addition to Germany were Russia and - Austria. Danilo 11. duly won, and, as the stake was worth £4200, it is safe to say Maher's visit to Vienna was a very profitable one.

Mr H. P. Whitney, the American-sports-man, has arranged to ship his'crack two-year-old filly Bashti—engaged ln the Oaks of 1911—to England on November 5, with twenty-two American-bred yearlings that will also race there next season. Mr Whitney paid £6000 for the daughter of Adam, which, with the youngsters, will' be placed under the charge of A. J. Joyner, at Newmarket, -i. A well known London Turf scribe,, reviewing the jockeys for, the season jnst ended, concludes: "Personally, I have never seen a more -hopeless collection of jockeys for many years. The 'young gentlemen of the pigskin' are" utterly spoiled nowadays. -A little success seems to turn their heads. Champagne and. cigars and other luxuries soon, bring about a degaaeration In .physical powers.""- ' "'. .7""' ?'_. ' ..'"" Horses, by the crack English sireGallinnle are seldom to be found competing in selling races nowadays, and, when they .are, and they happen to win, much competition is aroused for:their possession. This was the case with Gallus, after Mr Washington Singer's colt had. cleverly carried off the Leicestershire (England. October Selling Plate. Bidding was brisk throughout, aud, after 700gs had been reached, it was a duel between Goby, the Epsom trainer, and ______ Niguet, bat the last-named'gentleman secured him, and takes the "colt to Belgium. ' For-'the-eeCond Home an alibi has been proyed' and a charge dismiss^ [_ed by the date of ..an occurrence being fixed by bets on horse races. ' The' first occasion was when Cornelius Howard" was acquitted lof tile charge of, the Gbrse Hall murder the evidence of a bookmaker with 'whom h"e had a bet The'secohd ease was that of a man charged at Old-street with assaulting the police. He was' able to j prove that he was not on-the spot, but In the company of five men celebrating the winning of bets ln a public house.

Statistics compiled after the Prix dv Coneeil Municipal show that Mr W. K. Vanderbllt stands at the head of the list of winning owners with nearly £40,040. M.' Edi mbnd Blanc comes next with a little over £24,000, ln front of Madame Cheremeteff with £19,300, of which £17,280 was contributed by Nuage, the winner of the Grand Prix..* Baron Maurice de Rothschild takes $10,400, M. J. de Bremond £14,020, M. M. Ephrussl £12.920, M. Gaston Dreyfus, the owner of Or dn Khln TI. (the' : French Derby winner); £12j480, and M. Olry-Roederer £10,600, ..;, .

' A complaint from Home: "I shall always maintain r that .race cards for every meeting ought to be obtainable-at the railway termini, but again for Newbury recently were travellers who had to sit for an hour in the train denied the absolute right to be able to discuss the'official programme,-apart from the advantage by Its help.to. pass the time, and to allow owners or "backers" to what is termed mark their card, look up the form,' and generally discuss -the coming events., Whatever . executives urge as a trifling disadvantage to them financially by reason of the general dissemination of the race cards is nothing to what the public need and ought to be granted:"

Prank Bullock, a well known and successful Australian rider, recency, arrived in Australia on a holiday trip-from Europe, where he has been some time.- He stated he. had just, renewed .an. agreement, with the German Royal stables to ride for three years for a retaining fee of £2000 annually. His European success r comprised 73 wins. He states that the Australian jockey Wootton was a wonder in the saddle. Much rivalry existed between Wootton and Maher, the American crack. Bullock related a case in point, illustrating the bitterness between the pair, in which Wootton by wonderful handling, closed Maher up In a pocket at the finish of a big Eng-' lliih event. ...

The mishap to Emblem at Feildlhg proved much more serious than was at first thought, and now word comes that the Field Battery mare is dead. It was a curious occurrence, for Emblem was some three lengths behind the field when sbe was seen to stop suddenly, her rider Immediately dismounting.- At first It was thought it was a leg trouble, but on examination the injury was discovered to be an internal one. Emblem was bred by Mr J. Taylor,- of TCanganul, and was leased to Mr C. Major, of Hawera. The mare was decidedly fast over short courses, winning several good races, but, having a very wayward temper, she was generally badly -behaved at the barrier, and as a resslt was frequently left at the post.

The "New Zealand Times" gives particulars of the meeting of the Hawke's Bay Jockey Club metropolitan committer on Saturday last, when a letter was received from H. Spratt, owner of Mendip, appealing against the decision of the Dannevirke Racing Club in awarding the stakes to VI lv the Dannevirke Handicap on November 16, on the ground that the rider of Vi did not draw the weight when weighing in. The following.resolution was carried: —"We, the metropolitan committee of the Hawke's Bay Jockey Club, having considered the evidence of the appeal of H. Spratt against die decision of the Dannevirke Racing Dub in awarding the stakes to Vi in the Dannevirke Racing Club Handicap on November 16, uphold the appeal, and order the Dannevirke Racing Club to pay the stakes to H. Spratt, owner o_. the horse Mendip, placed second by the judge In that race."

Some particulars of the race for the Middle Park Plate, the last big event of the English ractag season, are now to hand, and go to show that the success of. Borrow created one of the greatest surprises in tht

history of the event The winner is an ■American-bred gelding by Hamburg from iForget-me-Not, and .though he is not the first unsexed horse to gain distinction in ■the race, their numbers are few. This, however, will debar liim from competing In next year's Derby, but the two dead-heat-•rs are both eligible to gain blue ribbon distinction. Previous to Borrow, the last gelding to score in the -Middle Park Plate -was Desmond, who, on _ the conclusion of his racing career, was presented to Lord Kitchener, who took him to India, where •he still remains. A few days before his Newmarket victory Borrow was seen to advantage in the ClearweU Stakes, but judging from the odds quoted against him, his prospects were held to be very remote in both contest!. "'

_<_£_\ ter one of tUe M ces at Doneaster (Eng- , ianaj: a, young man- ran along the rails shouting savagely, "Hats off! Hats off tnere! Everyone within hearing distance opeyed.. Then the young man hastened up . To ,au elderly gentleman, and as he did so. | caueu out: 'You can put your hats on again now, gentlemen. It's" aU right!" He explained afterwards to an inquirer that his action was in no way a practical joke. "You see, he said,,"l had made a bet with a baldheaded man! and I wanted to find him!"

(Referring to the new-training track which |'.was_.-to have been .opened at Calcutta on inst, an Indian'exchange says: "The inside half of the track, which is now much wider and more commodious in every way ™°J i* used to b e. Is. as usual, dressed wira rice-husk and. prepared 'dressing,* and the outside half, with chopped straw -instead of bare turf, as in previous years. It is ;a good dressing to hold the moisture, -ana prevent the sun from drying the turf to a chip,, but- it.is. not.the nicest, stuff in ™ on until it has got broken up and worked in a'bit.!'

iK^rt s7 yea^s a _. go Australian-bred horses «wT__?i su £ pl £ the sreater proportion of for the Viceroy's Cup, but, owing to the excessive prices asked in S£§? ! WjSB buyers have been extending £££*,£. PAtronage to the English market •t£.JV^ c - I S lllt '' that of mc 17 Horses e£ rtr'»™L« c coming Viceroy's' Cup ' the only Australian, horses are Malmsey, Black SSSS* 1 7 aTo f or> Mf sty. Morn, and Royal Scotland; while Master Delaval represents ™~£ Zealand. The fact of Pern and Apologue; not being, nominated confirms the re*T L.2?. t0 ttelr respective: trainers betas n L M t° wh ether they will stand a preparation, but if they make satisfactory progress no doubt they will be put in when ttesecondV entry closes. Only seven of the W in the Trials are from Australia or New Zealand, and next year we may not be even as strongly represented. It is only to be expected, too,' if sellers ask nearly double the sum they would have any chance of receiving if they submitted their horses to auction in Australia. For prov.d first-class horses Indian buyers are still prepared to bid high, but the day of big prices for horses whose credentials are not of the best is over, and Australian and Dominion owners should recognise that fact.

«. £. A ?, l ¥^ , ._«' aie special commissioner on the English "Sportsman," writes:—"lt is a mistake, I snppose, to ten the public any thing,--no matter how good your motives. Thus, after the reported trial at Manton. when Admiral Togo 111., was said to have finished in front of Elizabetta, with Declare a-bad--.third, Sir Richard Garton, anxious that no one should be misled, sent round a statement-that the supposed trial was only a rough gaUop. No one who. knows Sir Blchard can possibly suppose that he did this with,any other idea than that of telling the public as much as-he knew himself, and doubtless' he thought his own horse. Declare,- would make, a better show in the actual race than in the supposed trial." In point of fact, the relative merits of the three Manton runners for the Cesarewitch. had been so little ascertained at home that Alec Taylor—as I happen to know—backed each one of them, to win a place, and he came very near to getting: two into the first three; but the three : finished in the race Just as they had finished in the 'rough gallop,' so that the public would have been much better without Sir Blchard"Carton's warning. The moral Is for owners never to write letters taking the..public into their confidence. If they do they are—to use a vulgarism—on «a good hiding to nothing," just as, In the present case, there are sure ,-to,_be. public who will go about declaring that Sir Richard; Garton's letter put them off Admiral Togo 111., and suggested that they should back Declare." The absurdity of any such Idea is plain enough to all who have real- knowledge-of men and things.in the racing world; but there are Innumerable camp followers of racing who have not such knowledge, and 1 wlir only be too ready to attribute to Sir Richard Garton,- or to anyone else who may have attempted to prevent them from rashly losing their money, the most sinister motives."

A curious case In which a jockey apprentice, William Smith, sued Timothy MeGuire, aCurragh trainer, ;for damages for Injuries, was heard by Judge Brereton Barry at Klldare recently. Smith told the judge-that he had been apprenticed to MeGuire, and that on August sth he told him that one of the horses was to have a gallop. . Smith got the- animal, and; meeting another lad wits, a second horse, they went for a gallop. As they were returning, MeGuire arrived,, and, continued Smith, he said "I -would remember ■the day the. longest day I lived." " He then brought mc into a roo_n,.'sl_ut the door," .and took off my elothee,-stripping mc naked, and commenced beating mc. with a whip; . He beat, mc all over the body, and left marks of the whip. I was bare naked at the time. He was beating mc with the. whip for over twenty minutes, and said he would whip mc for an hour. He beat mc until Mr Connbllv came in and held the-whip lv his hand. He beat mc an over'the arms, back, and over the body, and he brought blood "with the whip. Head-Constable O'Grady said that Smith, came to him and showed 'him his body. Witness saw marks all over the body arid arms, as if h'e'had 1 been'struck'by a leash or whip. There were red welts-cross-wise and in every way over the body, but there was no.blood, arid he could riot see' that.the skin was broken. The defendant Said that he told Smith that Mr -Nugent was to'gallop the horse, which was to-run in a race the following. Tuesday. When he arrived from the railway station he saw Smith galloping the horse, and-naturally felt a bit sore about It. His Honor:-The lad seems to, have got a bad thrashing with the whip. I think he (defendant) seems to be a' most Inhuman scoundrel. .By the laws of this country you may dismiss a servant, but the law of slavery has been abolished a very long time. The conduct of this man would disgrace the slave-driver in the worst days of slavery, can dismiss a servant, but you cannot scourge him into subjection. A decree for £10 was given. ',-. ~

"Pilot,.''the Sydney writer, is "responsible for the following:—Despite the efforts made in the direction of scientific. breeding, and the increase in _ the importation'-of horsea from England, we hear a great deal nowadays concerning the • alleged decadence 01 our thoroughbreds. We are constantly told that the horses now racing -arc- a very poor lot, But, aip art from the fact of genuine two-mllers not being ' proportionately aa numerous as' at some periods In the past, it might trouble the pessimists to adduce anything that would uphold their contention as to deterioration. In Australia-we attach a deal of Importance to tinie, and the watch shows us that up to a mile and a-half, at any rate, races, as a whole, are run much faster than twenty years ago. In. athletics the lowering of time records is very properly accepted as demoting improvement, and I do not suppose anyone would contend that "W. J. Gormley, who was this State's champion swimmer in IS9I, with 103 yards in lm 5s to his credit, Was as good as Cecil Healy, who recently got over 100 yards in" only two-fifths of a second slower time. And yet many racing men would have us believe that horses capable of cutting out a mile and a-quarter in, say, 2.8, are not up to the standard-- of those taking a couple of seconds longer over a similar journey, twenty years ago. Those two seconds represent about eleven lengths, and' that Is a very big beating for one horse to giye another. It seems td mc that in the matter of ipace there Is a -general improvement, and consequently we do not see two or three horses standing right out, as was so oiten thfe case in the olden days. It is ouly fair to add that the improvement is moie pronounced up to a mile and a-half than beyond that distance, and that, of eo-urso. is a poinrin favour of those who favour the deterioration theory. Then, again, it is urged that the tracks are better, raid conducive to faster times, but a comparison points to the second-raters now being nearer the front-rankers than, say, when Car in* ? von ,o& c C l? ven Plate in 2 - 7 ' at RivndwlSt in 1800. There were two handicaps o* a mile and a-quarter at that meetlm- he fastest being cut out in 2.0.1, by Simon who only carried 7.0. At the~rece.it .S.J.c. Spring Meeting Parsee won the ("raven' Plate In 2.7*, but the mile ami a-.ni-,t?r handicaps corresponding with arblnes year were run In 2.7fi and '\<P -i-s ,->< v tlvely; while a mile and a-half wnWVo WedIn 2.325,.. as against 2.38. Possii.iy <--.c marked attention paid to one str?.._V '•- ooil may; be affecting the temperament ■•; -ur horses to some extent, nnd rp.-,<!o-■■• '.i-n less reliable, but as mere njioci '.-'p-'li'.ins there is no doubt as to all-rou-v - ;■■■" via