TURF NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 215, 7 September 1912, Page 16

TURF NOTES.

(By WHALEBONE.) Wishing Ring, " four-yea coll, has won .i email hum- at l.atonia, Kentucky, a I odds of 0-1-2 to 1. Tin' horse, owned by .1. B. Respress, a prominent Cincinnati sportsman, carried bets abrogating only ;\2 shilling*. Till , pnri-niutuel system of betting prevails at Latonia, and four bettors plai-i'd S/ each on Wishing RingHe jrHllopcil home an easy winner, his backers each drawing about i:1 7. This Is the highest Airlericaii record of winnine odds lit piiri-miituel betting, though, ■avis the ■•Standard," under the old system of hookmakinp Pnytonin nt 1.000 to 1 finished first at Washington Park, thicago. in ISO*. ThP election of Prince Arthur of ConTiiiiifrlit to tile .Jockey (lull was not unex- ! «fi4'il by his intimate friends, who have notoit his growing liking for the Turf. It U now understood by his brother officers in the Scots (Jreys and others who enjoy hi* confidence that, his Royal Hiffhdoss may shortly form a small , racing «tnd of hi* own. and it, is slated Hint he will make one or two purchases of yoiliii? hordes when tho ailtmnn sales pomp round. These would tie plncfd under the care of Mr Rirhercl Marsh at Kgprton House. >-pwninrke(. in due course. Though there arc now four Royal members of the .liekev Club, the nfhers being the Kin;, , , the Puke of Connaiight. and Prince Christian of Srhleswie-Holstein. only His Mej*»ty is an flotunl owner, and is the only nne to have'registered his colours "under the rules of rnr-inp. Today isn.vs a.l English weekly), if Tve are to believe thp last generation, there in--' few gamblers worth}' the name. Mr ".limmy" Rothschild is probaoly the only man interested in racing who bets C 10.000 in a week— his ill-hick is proverbial and men no longer stake their whole estates on a toss of the dice <->r the result of « snail race, as did the last Lord Lien field but two. Kven in the last generation there was more steady and systematic gambling then take? place to-day. Men who gamble or lose money on racing, as did Mr Henry Chaplin and Lord Rleho. are no longer common —Lord Rosslyn is almost a curiosity! Yet the sudden increase in private gambling hells is a sign of the times, and. if the minis lo?t are less sensational than they used to he. gambling is no longer confined to the few. It is a case of "everybody's doing It. A good many people from tne Old Country now in New Zealand will bear ■with extreme regret that, the Blackpool racecourse which was constructed at enormous expense a -few years ago is practically doomed. It is announced that no more summer steeplediasing will be allowed, nor is there any chance of a. flat' race license being obtained. Not only are the promoters to be sympathised ■with, but the town of Blackpool and its resident inhabitants will be heavy losers by the action of the powers that be. For some abstract and apparently arbitrary reason both the National Hunt and Jockey Club are dead against the Blackpool undertaking. Why? Their action appears to be utterly incomprehensible to all right thinking people. The very poor excuse which was advanced for discountenancing summer steeplechasing feme unreasonable in every way. The racing provided amusement and recreation for thousands and thousands of visitors to the popular Lancashire seaside resort, and owners and trainers were naturally delighted to have the opportunity of picking up such rich prizes as were rffered by the executive. Now the whole thing is irrevocably condemned, and one of the finest enclosed steeplechasing courses in the Kingdom is rendered useless for the purpose for what it was constructed. , Tn ilie.English.. '-Racing Calendar of ilnlv 2:5. it was stated that the stewards of the Xew'buiv summer meeting, having had their attention drawn to the finding of a 'broken bottle, containing a liquid, in the box of the Muriel 11. filly running in the Juvenile SelKnj* Plate, • called the trainer, P. HartigaTi. bcifore them niWl requested him to give some ..explanation as" to the contents thereof. Hartrgan slated that it was a wash .lie used for his horses' after Tunning and . doing -work. TTartig.in -was allied to send the prescription from the chemist who supplied it 0 him. and in due «thtsr he, sent five' prescription and. a %ottle of the wash. The stewards had the contents of both bottles analysed, -And. as the -contents' of the. bottles appeared to differ "so materially, called the attention of the stewards of the Jodlcey Club to the matter (acting stewards: I«ord Coventry. LoTd Durham. Lord Carnarvon, Mr. 0. W. Ruyner, and Mr W "ML O. Singe*),. Tlie stewards-if the Jockey -Club, iha-vinsr- ■beard further exipert evi.denco ,on the two analyses, expressed themselves satisfied that P. Hartigan had not contravened Rule 176(!), and entirely exonerated him. Kpferrin,? to i>. statement" that Trenton . mares are slij-ibreeders, the .Special Commissioner of the London "Sportsman" saj-B that on the• contrary Trenton mares are, as a rule, particu-ln-rl-y snfn breeders, ami iJTr. Lionel RoWnson'R Cobee may he .... cited as a typical instance. Phe has'been nino .rears at the stud, and lias never been barren. Sho slipped in her first y»ar to Bill of Poland, and Iher second foflJ, a filly Irr Fortttnio, met with, an accident and -was destroyed, font ernce that year nil has been plain, sailing. . Cooya (cold , last -week for 850 guineas) was her foal of 1306, Lasf-ChH'wiane fin 100-7, 'Dondi in 1008, Bill and Coo in IOOn, the now two-ymr-oM Coora, m ll)in. N'exfc we have the ypariin-g filly Fleur d'Oramje (sister to Bill' and Coo-) in 1911: and the brown co foal hy William the Third in 1012; nor is there any doubt thnt Cooee is once more in foal—bhifl timo to Polymelus. A good many otheT Trenton maree Ibeßidtee Oooee have proved themselves highly natiirfiwtory matrons. Rosaline wus five years at the etud in this country and) produced fire foals, one wf -wlridh ■was ■Rosedrop. Creek Girl went ahead from tbe first -with siicK as Cuffs, D?be, and Courage. Mr. James Buchanan bought Palmy 'Days last -year witlv a yearling lilly, p. colt foal, amd , in foal again. These. instances -will surely suffice, and a 3 for Trenton Queen, her misfortunes are In no sense due to her 'breeding. Her first foal»she acddentally trod on and killed when it was only two days old, and flier second was aleo the victim o!f an accident. Her Arizona foal, an exceedingly fine .chestnut colt. math. like Omnium 11., caught a. bad drill Bud- die/1 when he -was nbout tharee irnontlre oM, Since foaling Fluff the maro hae Ibeen barren, but all maree are subject to troubles- of-rihfe sort-,..,. ;

Thus flip "London Mail": "If it is cheap lo get to Ascot it is generally expensive to get away. Tlie place is notorious for the upsetting of form, and if you do find a winner the prices are ridiculous. Every year the English bookie becomes more and more greedy in his offers. Oil, for the pari-mutuel and fair odds! It. i* jitoil li.v « Continental correspondent of an KiijtHsh paper that tho Austrian Jockey Club hn.« licen making a strong erasable against men who introduced l.lio objectionable practice of "ilopinjr'' to tint country. Exports of Fame :i- n.milrst-s and physiologists have been enlisted in the service of the clnb. which <nn<i(!f-rci! that it was rU duty in the welfare of the development of the thoroujrlibrml to refute licences tn certain trainer*, and in ask others to remove tlieir P'.f'n , . l of operations beyond the froiiitter. It ha* l>ern established beyond nil doubt that tilt- use of drag* is fatal to reproduction, mid experiments over a number of years have finned tho theory Ihnt alcoholic pareroLs. like "doped" hor*es. were responsible for tho degeneration shown by their offspring. Conclusions sire confirmed by the trotters in the different French districts where the "dope ,, is an old institution, and by the very costly experiments earned out at the request of the Viennese authorities. The Grand Prix de Paris, which was run recently, is l.he richest event in Europe of its kind, being worth something- like , £1.3.0(10. It is one of the few valuable races in France open to English owners. These do not seem to make very strenuous efforts to win it, although English representatives have triumphed upon a fair number of occasions in the past. The very first animal to win it was (in English horse. This was Mr Henry Savile's The Ranger, some interesting relics of which are treasured nt Rufforil Abbey, Notts, where the late King Edward stayed so often for Doncuster races. There is an idea that English owners and English jockeys are not always treated with the most serapulous fairness in France, and the case of Ravensbiirv. which, by every English visitor on the course, was considered to have won the Grand Prix although the judge derided otherwise, is often cited. The course at Longe.hamps wants a lot of galloping, and at times the going is not of the best. Writing of tbe big Australian Spring Handicap, a writer in a. Sydney exchange says: "Of all the public performances registered since the weights appeared! by horses engaged in the big handicapsof the spring, that of Duke Foote, when he won the Warwick Hnndieap, was probably the most striking and attractive. From the time the weights were issued. Duke Foote has always been a well-backed candidate for the. Melbourne Cup. He has 7.7 in that race, 7.11 in the Caulfield Cup, 8.0 in the Kpsom Handicap, and 7.10 in the Metropolitan: and though some public money was. prior to Saturday week, entrusted to him for the lust-named event, it was the Melbourne Cup which was popularly supposed to be his special' mission. So much was to be gathered from the lesson taught by market operations, for it is no secret that "Mr Baron' backs his own horses, audi he was believed to have helped himself from the ring at an early stage for the Melbourne Gup. 'Mr. Baron' has already one Melbourne Cup to his credit—Prince Foote won three years agoandr he would, of course. like to add another by means of Duke Foote. At present he has reason to fancy his prospects of succeeding. But that 'Mr Baron' will pass such a rich stake as the Metropolitan by is scarcely likely. As a matter of fact, there is reason to believe that. Duke Foote is intended to run in that race. Before Duke Foote distinguished himself l>y winning at Warwick Farm on Saturday week, the Epsom Handicap ami Metropolitan stable double of Sunlike and Duke Foot* was befriended to the extent of i. 10.000. and that is believed to have been dione for (he owners of those horses. Since then Duke Foote has advanced to the control' of the Metropolitan quotations, and that is also significant. Unless Duke Foote is a very deceiving horse, he was not nearly wound up when he silenced the opposition at Warwick Farm. His appearance indicated so much, though the style of his victory made it evident that there was nothing wrong with his wind. Until quite recently Duke Foote had done very little fast work, and it may be that he is a horse that comes to hand very quickly. His record seems to say that that is so. Dealing with a proposition of "Size versus Merit,"' a London confrere gives his opinion thus: "1 suppose I should be regarded as a heretic or something worse if I were to imply that the British thoroughbred was undergoing any process of deterioration, but such a thing is not outside the bounds of reason, seeing that there is so much in breeding. Anyhow, it is difficult to account, for so many bad three-year-olds in training a* we appear to have at the present time. Of course. 1 don't for a moment suggest that experts agree that the beet horses are worse than they were, twenty-five or thirty years ago (there cannot be any actual proof of this), bnt I am writing in a general sense. It is questionable whether we have ever had such a number of moderate "classic" three-year-olds in training as has been revealed by this season's running so far as it has gone. I have just been reading an interesting article by Mr J. B. Robertson in the "Bloodstock Breeders' Review" on the evolution of size in the racehorse. According to this gentleman, who, by the wax, is one of the greatest authorities in " the country upon everything appertaining to the racehorse, it is a clearly established fact that the whole of the seventeenth century ancestors of the thoroughbred were email. Not one of them apparently exceeded fifteen hands in height, and many were no more than thirteen hands. Shortly after crossing the Barbs, Arabs, Turks, and native running horses, the general frame of tbe hybrid began to expand, and it has been calculated that the increase in height of the race proceeded at about the rate of 2in. in fifty years up to about the middle of the nineteenth century, and probably at a slower rate since that time. Mr Robertson advances several theories, mostly of a ecientic nature and much too complex for the lay reader. It is, however, instructive to learn that for size, strength, and power, the racehorse of the preeent day is superior to hie ancestors. Mention is made of Catmint, who is unquestionably the biggest three-year-old in training. The, son of Spearmint is, in fact, an equine giant in a. physical sense, < though his sire was of the ordinary size. Chaucer, the sire of Stedfast, was not much, bigger than a pony, nor was Sundridge a big horse in the true acceptation of the term, and yet he has sired such huge animal* as Sannißgdila."