TURF NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 305, 21 December 1912, Page 16

TURF NOTES.

(BY WHALEBONE.)

, .-,->. who has not won a race since i ..,n th.- A. I.i . Derby, was after h;e r ,m t'rorr. Melbournf added to the ..-i j; geldings. ' arbine is anions the Duke of Port- ..**.:'- stallions advertised tor 101.1. His !'-., :- '.IS William the Third is full at 400 guineas. This summer the tiies are a positive nuisance t.. those in charge of racehorses m >vdnev. both in town and eountrv. Son,, horses that have been turn -d ont have not done anything like s, well a= they should owing tv Uhe The death - recorded of the Austrian sportsman Prince Louis Esterhazy. who filled ihe position of military attache to the Austrian Embassy in England from ISSS To inn!. Tie tor-k a great interest in the thoroughbred, and while in England made many purchases of bloodstock, the best of whom was Matchbox, for which he gave £13.000, after the son of >* Simon ran second for the Derby of hi.- year, and which is still doing duty ai the Mapagedi stud. Matchbox ii- .recited with being the best stallion imported into Austria. Kn-k Sand, now twelve years of age. was recently purchased from Mr. Belmont for €30.'H1.l by a syndicate of American. French, and English patrons of the Turf. The syndicate, organised in Paris, includes seven Americans. Messrs. Clarence Mackay, Joseph E. Wi.iener. Harry Phytic WTiitnev. Frank •I. Gould. Charles Carroll. Charles Kohler. and Frank R. Hitchcock. Other stockholders are the Earl of Lonsdale. Mr. Walter Raphael. M. Achille Fould. and XI. G. Guerlaim. Horse- racing in America is not so popular a sport as it i.- in England and on the Continent, hu- an exotic for the exclusive few. That is the reason given by Mr. August iiclimmt for shipping Rock Sand, the premier stallion r.f his stock farm, to France. It is also the reason why few stallions of merit are left in the eountrv. and why most of the best American trainers and jockeys emigrate ■ Kaglnd. !':.• reat>i>n why 1-onse-rac-ine ,n America is about played out. .-\ -ept for a f. -v important shakes in Kentucky, is r.,.t because Americans are more moral than Europeans, but because ihe Legislature n-1 the poii.-e in recent y.-ars have taken very .lra-tic. one might say prohibitive, action in the suppression of betting on races. The writer of the sporting notes in the English "Morning Post points out that -ckioimjf ever, have so rr.anv stronc favourites been beaten in the chief races this .season. (Her the classic races the puLlio fared badly ai! round, and he adds. "Few men who bet regularly on the big handicaps can be on" the right -.'•*-■ "his year so far as speculation .in those events is concerned. I find that out oi the twenty-two most important handicaps of the current season only three have been won by first favourites, namely, the Newbury Spring r U p. the V letoria Cup. and the Goodwood Plate while m two instances, the Great Metropolitan Stakes and the Royal Hunt Gun n joint first favourite has proved successful. Hns means that no fewer than seventeen favourites out of twenty-two have _ been defeated in .the great handiIn various European countries the racecourse is regarded as a sure and somewhat easy source of taxation and in that connection, the Paris correspondent oi the London "Sportsman" writes ot the turf in Belgium. "Unrest," he says, •■stifl prevails respecting the taxes likely to be le*ned on race meetings, and the ***-port-Elevage' predicts that before long an endeavour will be made to break up the lists and substitute the system of 'mutual betting," placing within the reach oi aB the means of gambling which have mcreased the gate receipts in B ranee and produced a handsome revenue lor the so-called 'charitable institutions' foreign to racing and breeding French and Belgian Lloyd Georges have 'squeezed' the public till it squealed, and have now tamed their attention to the turf. M. Aucoc, a member of the Municipal Council of Paris, lessor of the race tracks at Longchamps. AuteuiL and Vin--as-mes, suggests that the deficit in the budget of the City of Paris shall be equalised by a levy of 2 per cent, on the turnover at the 'Mutuals.' computed to realise the three million franc's ,(£120,000) required. A betting prohibition in Belgium would, according to those who are well acquainted with the organisation of sport across the frontier, imply the disappearance of more than one racecourse.™ In no previous time in the history of horse-racing in the southern hemisphere, was the sport in such a prosperous condition as it is now in this State, says a Sydney writer. The cost of running race meetings, is, perhaps, greater than it was formerly, but the prize money has steadily mounted up, and yet, thanks to large increases in the patronage bestowed upon every race crab within reach, the profits are considerably in excess of those oi any period Bookmakers make no secret that, so far as they are concerned, the business is satisfactory. The results might have been better, but the volume of betting is large, and if the results only ""come their way™ the money is there to make matters quite pleasant. It is only the results that are wanting. The clubs are approaching the end of their financial year, and when the few remaining race meetings have taken place it will be found that the amount which was received from January 1 last by horse-owners, who were fortunate enough to participate in the spoils, totals £151.923 in the metropolitan circuit alone. This is more than was bargained for when the year commenced. Controllers of race clubs came to the conclusion that horse-owners were entitled to a little more prize-money than they had hj-en permitted to handle. The profits wr?re Large enough to stand an increase without shareholders missing it, and in every case where a Tninrmnm limit was piaeed on the amount to be given in stakes it had been exceeded, while in some instances the club entertaining, instead of following their own tracls and sticking to the entrance fees and forfeits, allowed them to go as additions to the stake. This was the result of an excellent example set by the A.J.C. It is many years since the AJ.C. took anyth:ng from horse-owners, except as the stake-holder. TattersalTs Club fell into line some time ago, and now City Tattersaii's Clnb indicates it 3 desire to meet owners of horses in the same liberal spirit. Nothing could better illustrate the remarkably sound and healthy con•jiticu of our racing afiairs.

There are often differences of opinion as to the positions of horses behind the placed three in big races, and there was a happening of this kind in connection * with the Cambridgeshire, in England. ■ 6 Touching on this, the "Sporting Times" ■ c say.*: "We are not surprised to hear a great dispute has arisen as to what was fourth in the Cambridgeshire. Accord- ■ ing to one account, the judge expressed ■an opinion that Whisk Broom was fourth, and another describes the judge a- saving that it was Eton Boy who •c oivopiwi that position. The Press (ral >- lery unhesitatingly and in the most cock.l -lire manner, says it was Mustapha. The n !ior?es. however, have some little distance c 1 o 20 alter passing the members of the c I , res?, and they would not be in a position to say with certainty what was :h» position in a close finish. There n wa» something similar in 1897. when Gai--0 >c More, with 9.7 on his back, ran the ' ran , 'if his lifetime. That experienced hand, the late John Watts, who rode him. on finding that he was not in the . ftr't three, made certain that he was fourth, whereas the place assigned him _ by the Press wi\s ninth, and that may r iiave been correct, seeing that half a ■ [ score of horses passed the post almost L within a length. This was the race in j. which the cockaure Tod Sloan fonnd thaL ■ though there was no one who could 1 teach him anything, ne had learnt a '. lesson how to ride on Newmarket Course. -! He profited by the words that George f Fordham had used, and did not repeat s the SL Cloud mistake. He never relied d on 'haf a nek' again." i What the blood-horse-breeding industry ;i> to England the cable has iaid down iin unmistakable terms more than once I within the last few weeks. At the Doni" caster sales in 'September, which ex tended over fonr days, and at whicli yearlings only were offered, 303 lots 0 realised the enormous total of 150,475 d I guineas, or an average of 496} guineas. ej A= the previous best result was 29>S n Mots for 113,583 guineas, the advance was g i sufficient almost to stagger all who s ! were interested in the industry. The' eJ i hief contributors to the total of last t ! ember were the 39 youngsters who 1 j brought IOiH) guineas or over each, but v i .is no fewer than SI lots sold for 5iK) " I guineas, each or over, the sale was • i uniformly good. A sale, at which one n yearling brought 5000 guineas, and ten c ' others 3000 guineas or more apiece, mus: '' I surely have excited the envy of other *■ I countries. That sale was only in Sep : tern her iast. and yet quite recently .v i 3 J Newmarket 662 lots realised 240.432 I euinoas. this latter collection eomprisj ing horses of all ages. Thus at the two t ! rales the enormous total of £410,452 -. j itas realises! by English breeders for ~ blood stock they had to sell. England. c of all countries, is where the buyer looks f. jto for something to strengthen his n biood stock possession. It is to Engt J iand that Russian. French. German, and <i j other foreign breeders go regularly for t j sires and mares with which to enrich t their studs. Still tflere Is no doubt that r the present disturbed condition of the' i. nations made further addition to their c horse stock necessary, and thus helped ■. the sales along. '• Mr. Allison was naturally elated when '" At Last won a race in England last n month for Mr. Arthur James. At Last 0 is a daughter of Great Scot, who now occupies Blair Athol's old box at the Cobham stad, in Surrey. In commenting on the success of At Last, in a recent issue of the '"Sportsman." Mr. Allison wrote: "1 did wish to see Blair Athol's box worthily filled, and Great Scot is his direct descendant through Prince ' Charlie and Lochiel. taking in another I Prince Charlie line through his maternal grandsire. Clan Stuart. Nothing could be so good as this to perpetuate the ' very best development of Stockwell. and Great Scot comes of the same immediate , female line as SL Simon. For this ' special reason 1 asked Mr. Arthur James ( to send a. St. Simon mare to him, and he was good enough to fall in with ', my idea. At Last being the result. She 1 is clearly a very useful filly, and stays , well. 1 cannot expect the present genJ eration of breeders to remember Blair , Athol. but they may take it from mc, or from any contemporary of mine, that he was immeasurably the best son ol ] Stockwell. He was bred, too, on exactly , the right lines of male descent, by Stock- [ well (Eclipse) out of Blink Bonny (Mat- ' chem) out of Queen Mary (Herod). 1 never saw such a horse aa Prince Charlie, . the undoubtedly best son of Blair Athol, and here we have Great Scot, with two , close lines of Prince Charlie, and himself absolutely sound. 1 know well what Prince Charlie was, and anything within , 144b. of him would sweep the board. What is more, his son, Luiehiel. the sire of Great Scot, could win over short f distances in Australia, and heat Carbine two miles, while the maternal - grandsire. Clan Stuart (by Prince Chari. lie), was sire of George, winner of the ■ Cambridgeshire." : i The Paris correspondent of the Lon- > don "Sportsman" says tfra.t Professor [ Kanfmann, who has eaarge oi the "dop- » ing/ , iaqniries in France, tras permitted • himself to be interviewed. He has ex- : plained the different tests applied and - quite satisfied himself that the discovery > of alcaloids in the saliva of the horses • ! examined by him cannot be questioned. !' He has, however, been unable to show the r Turf authorities who retain him. how to • distribute the responsibilities which have- • been incurred- Aβ previously remarked, > ! the great question as to who "'doped" ■ the horse "'doped" remains unanswered, i and the Societe d'Encouragement, ani- ; mated with the very best of intentions, ; , will possibly regret having turned into . i that path where a false step overturned ! the hornet's nest. M. de Monbel, the ; owner of Bonbon Rose, is not disposed [ ;to accept the finding of Professor Kaci- . i mann. and rejects as erroneous the tests ■ i wbjch led the learned analyst to eoui ! ciude that Bonbon Kose had had one t' of the *'hnrrvino;-np" doses which are i used now in France. He has paid his ; jockey a winning mount, and intends to i sue the Societie Sportive d'Encourage--3 ment for the value of the gold cup won i: by his horse at Maisons-Laffite. M. de i ! Monbel is not personally accused, and -'■ a properly "'doped" tribunal will non-suit I Him. M. de Neuter, a trainer as well as ■ owner and journalist m Belgium, tells i the story of a trainer enjoyed the t best reputation for ability with owners I and the public generally. His opinion - -was valued, but at one period he found » that he could not do right. The horses j he sent ont as favourites finished down - the course, and others to whom he acd corded no chance, turned up winpers. 1 The equilibrium in this case was, howe ever, restored with the change of the - loan who travelled in charge of the aersm.