TURF NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 60, 9 March 1912, Page 16

TURF NOTES.

(By WHALKDOrns.) On : n" to fog ■ ■ nlv one race was run at V iKnu'.l' »n the opening day -••' ,;,„ meeting and tin' two 'lays propni.' »a- relied into one, and no lead f,i ',,, ~ ,•■-.■ll r:iic» u'TC run on tile one di •. -t.irung, at noon. I- ■. i .ve'l-known fa.-t that many Y ir ".. - .|,i n..; -:; iv ton well—over any ,'. , ~. ~_w ii the going is a ''it iU-<*;>-6 .'„ i I)iiri...i;n writer. Possibly tins B , in .,.i f,, r the manner in whn-h some j, ... - .>••..' ridden at Wingatui U-t „, H .! [• hj of course, necessary tn keep „ ,; .;. i,,.;.] ~! a linr- t«i net a u'Oiid run ~- ■■,,• ri lit time. Imt «mii' of i!ip riders ', ~!,!.,ri-l to use th" nive hold in "iif ri'.'.. nid make the run in another. This , ier\ muniul it one is on when the ,', .. •.,,„.! |4 in evidence, hut not when • ~. .• r , ;ph a chance. One requires to i„. , '.,0, i natured philosopher to stand t ... ,i" rll n and the stewards should cer--1 ~Vv endeavour to see ihat a strain on I ~. 'rem doe- not .break the reign ot r, ,r>ii| mi y which the Wingatui meetings c 11"'. at pre-ent. \noilier instance that we can rail to n ~ | , , rain obliterating volours aro.se • , ■iim-t-T ion with the Cambridgeshire of ]--': W on l.\ Montar-is. A gentleman v ~')'•'' Unowii 'on the Tirrf at that time «.,- \l; 11. R I'owell Montgomery. SomI ..■,. :rn ,. before a relative died and |,.f', i,j : n ,i hunilTP-l pounds. Expecting i,,'i. i| more, and much disgusted, he con,..„;.ru iiis/y pat. the t K>o on See Saw ,■,, ■ the '(\irnbridgOJhire. 'hefore the v , '.,_.!]■- were published. and won i io.iniii. Over the Caml>riiigeshire of ] -7-'. he had a bis bet that his horse. Sir V. alter Tvrrill. would linish in the first r -lit. Haiti made his green jacket look iUe bi.ii k. anil a cluster of horses passe.t c nse together, his was altogether overlooked or mistaken for one of Mr. 1 Ham's. We afterwards were satisfied fiat Mr. Montgomery had won his bet, bit he did not -jet it. A- -non as he can spare the time, says I'.,' "Daily Dispatch." the King will visit >.. w market, accompanied by Lord Marcus I'.eresfonl. the manager of the Royul r.i.mg -Hid. in order to inspect the )..,..,.- belonging to His Majesty now in training under the car.-- of Richard Marsh ii: Kaertmi House. No very high hopein., entertained for any of these, as the v. lii !.. stu.l i- described as being very moderate in ijtinlity. The King may. liowever, during the season manage t> p-.-k up one or two minor races. It ]. . k- a- though it would be some tim" b-'fore a really important event is cari d off h< the Roy a', colours. Indeed. 1 in Smdringham stud seems almost to liave failed out of existence with the rath of Persimmon 'and Florizel 11. It. i- understood that towards the end of the next Hat racing season His Majesty v. ill make one or two important purc i.i-~ of likely horses for stud pur--1 ii the following from the "Sporting Time-" is « true state of affairs, it t-bou! 1 be :i strong argument- in favour .if numbered cloths, U a judge has to i, I. solely upon the colours: An impat k".C was verv angvy because Mr. W. C Mn nnerins. who was judging at Newbury, Kuir.. was so long in putting up the win in;:_' numbers in one of the raves. They would have been more angry still if he m I jiit-t up a wrong one. The deluge h.i i made many of the colours look much alike. a:nl very wisely Mr. was rptermined to be on the safe side, an! left his ho:; to identify the animal :hai had won. We recollect on one ne'.isioti when there was some racing at :he We Mi Harp that Mr. "Ned" Smith, who was so nearly winning the Derby with AcJamas. was judge. There was a fla.-h of colours past the post, but "■Ned" made no sign. "What's won? What's Won:" shouted the bystanders, but still no number went up. "Ned"' then left the box and went to the.paddock, where he -erutinised the different animals • 11,.»_: iii a bay horse, he said, "What's i i,.u':" iiiel on being told, said, "That's won." and returned to his box and had his number put up. In discussing stud matters, "Vigilant'' :i ;'... London "Sportsman'' has the folio \ns reference to that great horse, Swvnford. who unluekily • ihtoke a leg when exercising last year: "Altogether, Swvnford's recovery must be considered a signal triumph of veterinary surgery and science, and a horse whose great value can only be vaguely guessed at has lieen saved for the stud. Naturally he has wasted considerably during his corrfinemcnt. but under more nourishing treatment he is picking up nicely again, and might even be fit for the service of a few mares before the end of the season, but, according to present arrangements. Lord Derby has decided that he shall not be tried until next yar unless exception should be made in favour of one or two rrf his own mares. I have seen it stated that Sceptre was to be put to him. but .Uiis. I think, must have been a -lip of the pen. as apart from the veto on Kwyttford. Mr. Tattersall informed me at the time he purchased the famous daughter of Persimmon and Urnamenr 'hat she would probably return to Lord Roselnry's Cicero, to whom she is now believed certain in foal. All continuing well with Sw-ynford. he must develop into a magnificent stallion, and his great career as a racehorse, backed by his fine blood, by .lohn o' Gaunt (son of Isinglass and I.«a Fleehe) out of Canterbury Pilgrim, by Tristan (son of Hermi; i our of Pilgrimage must, one would imagine, ensure success as a sire." In running over some English exchanges I came avross an interesting reference to Mayfmvl, who now has two Viceroy's fHips to his credit. The writer was the "Sportsman's" Irish corresponded', ami he states that Kayfowl was bred by Mr. W, Brophy. at Brownstown. Tor that owner he failed to win a race, and he sold him to his brother-in-law, Mr. I. J. Parkinson, the Curragh trainer, for whom the horse picked up a couple of small hurdle races. Subsequently the son of Wildfowler and Mayberry was purchased by Mr. L. Firth for W.-ov-.. and alter winning again over f' k- Mr. I'ersse bought him for Mr. Ap-.ir and a very judicious buy it was. 1:.■:..... bring "added to the list" he was a \ tv shifty customer who took a lot of drhmg. and on one occasion in Ire- !:!.'•. I .lolin Thompson, his jockey, was r ;:ie I ,i ■■tenner" for unduly punishing him. One of the stewards who inflicted the line nave it as his opinion that as a re-il: of that towelling Mayfowl would never win a rave, but after the colt had been castrated lie mended his ways. When Mavberry was actually carrying him il was thought she had missed to Wildf e.vlcr. and was sent to Rosemore T.odge in be covered by another stallion, but to the no small surprise of the man v-ho went into her I>ox the morninp folliwing her arrival she had dropped the foal during the night. This proved to he the dual winner of the Yiceroy'» Cup.

It seems a far cry from America to, Germain- and Russia to "ring in trotters vet a couple of would-be smart Yankees undertook the business. The Russian I ••ring-ii." was an American grey horse, ni'iied Ited Arthur, who won several bi- stakes on the ice. Being of tho coar-.' Orloff stamp, the Russians were ea-ilv deceived, and had it not been for a di.-agreement among the party working the swindle, it would never have been found out. Another case was that of a mare named Bethel, with a 2.16 record, who was taken to Germany by a Yankee -harp, and won several races, the fraud being again detected by a disagreement between the peo)d? working the mare. "Uingingin" in Germany is not always n profitable experience, as the swindler found. Tho German Government confiscated the mare, and the American was thrown in gaol, where he served 17 moutahs. The Sydney writer "Early Bird," in referring to the ban being placed on a e-iuple of ponies, said: "The Btarter at Kensington recommended that in future tl ntries of the ponies Mabel D and Little George be refused on account of ilieir fraetiousness at the barrier. Both ponies are well known at the Associated ('!:ih's meetings, and it comes as a surprise to many that it 'ha« taken the starter so long to find out that they are practically unmanageable. Perhaps the fault lies'as much with Mr. Watson as nit'i ibe horses. For some time past he has [vrsisted in standing several yard 3 behind the horses and getting them into line before he ascends to release the barrier. When he does climb up the ladded the horses, whrch have become restive through the starter's tedious actions, almost immediately wheel out of their positions, and the consequence is that the starts are invariably delayed live or ten mimitce. It would be In-tr-resiinz to learn where Mr. Watson got !'i.- fed from. No other starter in the world is known to adopt such tactics, and from experience Mr. Watson should know that they are unworkable." Tim- an English scribe:—! do no*, nor does any man who has the best interests of racing at heart, approved of gambling —ihe sort of betting I mean that is ennveved bv what can be called "blind investments"." the backing of horses for the simple reason that somebody has some "secret information" that a certain hirs- i- "sure to win," and so on. There is no satisfaction in that sort of betting; it is :uch folk, who in their ignorance talk "to their pockets," a3 the phrase goes, who squeal when they lose, and who do not hesitate to suggest ridiculous stories about "non-triers," and "pulling," and so on. These unfortunateIv ignorant folk do great harm to a noble sport. If they would endeavour to study form—as lam glad to se<! so many of my recent correspondents have done—they would soon begin to take an intelligent interest in the running of horses, and at least they would gain some knowledge to check the tendency to talk scandal when their "blind" investments have been lost. I like the man who indulges in a bet on a racehorse to show some valid reason why he has done so; 1 detest the gambler who cannot tell a racehorse from a carthorse, and yet presumes to impute evil motives when hi 9 chance investments have failed.

Inder t'he heading "In and Out of I the Limelight." an English writer says: "There is always a desire to belittle a man whose luck is out. When it is in, no fuss is enough to make of him. D. Mallei's hick in the saddle has not been in for some time, due not to any loss of ability, but simply to the fact that stables he usually rides for have not been in form. Lord Roßebery has had no Neil Gow this year. Mr. Leopold do Rothschild's Pietri and St. Anton, that at one time looked like doing great things, went hopelessly to the bad. And so the jockey has been "left," as it were. If he had been available Mr. Joel would not have sent to Prance for Stern to ride Suustar. Things have been going against Maher. and the fickle public has turned from him to Frank Wootton, for whom everything has gone well. Maher must have noticed this, and it may uneonsciotisly have affected his riding. It is not so long since that Higgs could do nothing right, and hard things were said and written of him. Then Willonyx came to his rescue. It will be Wootton's turn sooner or later—mark these words. We can none of us dodge bad luck for ever. The same thing applies to trainers. The men that are winning races are everything; they are skilful clever and brilliant. When they are not winning raJies they are ignored, and unkind things are said by way of asides and hints."

On the train or tram journey to and from metropolitan race meetings discussions are frequently heard and comparisons made between the stipendiary control of registered and unregistered racing, and during the pact week or two these have been more numerous and heated than ever, says a Sydney writer. The general opinion appears to be, however that racecourse happenings now often pass unchallenged that have no right to be missed under a regime of alleged expert control, and this at both registered and unregistered meetings alike. To be compelled to listen to the everlasting wail of backers of mythical "dead 'uns" is an infliction to which all patrons of racing are liable to be subjected when travelling in public conveyances; but the supporters of the game have recently had just cause for complaint about the laxity of official supervision, will be readily admitted by even those who are most optimistic in regard thereto. The running of more than one competitor at the last meeting of the Warwick Farm Race Club was food for discussion in holrsey circles for the whole of the ensuing week, but this in its turn has been dropped, while happenings of a later date at Rosehill now commands attention. Personally, I do believe that a greater dread of authority reigns amongst the ranks of owners. trainers, and riders at the unregistered fixtures than that which prevails at meetings of the registered clubs; but for the champions of the "pony" game to flatter themselves that the control of this particular branch of the sport is all that can be desired is an illusion that has demonstrated itself only too frequently of late for their opinions to be universally shared by the clubs' patrons. Rumour has it that an effort is to be made by certain proprietary clubs to strengthen official control at their meetings, and not before it was time. Seeing what it now costs the public to get on to the principal racecourse of this State, they ore entitled to all the protection it is possible to receive at the hands of those who collect their admission fesa.