TURF NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 50, 27 February 1915, Page 16

TURF NOTES.

(By WHALEBONE., The time for the Oakleigh Plate is an Australasian record for five and a-half furlongs. The "English Sportsman" states that there will be no racing in France till the end of the war. Owing to the barrier be.ng broken. the Oakleigh l'Late. at I'aulfield. was not started until IT minutes after time. At the last Doneaster (England) Bales only 232 yearlings were sold, averaging 250 guineas, as against 68.'? for an average of £327 in 1913. Altering the rule of racing which made it compulsory for owners to pay up for a starter at least half an hour before the race is likely to lead to trouble at the Australian suburban meetings. In accordance with its policy to restrict the spread of proprietary racing, the committee of the Queensland Turf Oub has decided by a majority of two against granting an application from the Nasomben Park Racing Club for the registration of its racecourse. The amount pail in forfeit* every yer\t is stupendous, and in no matter are owners so careless and indifferent as they are over the engagements of their horses, The art of placing a horse requires as tnuc-h knowledge and judgment as the buying and training of one, and only those with a calculating, commercial mind can pick races for which candidates are specially adapted, and where they likely to meet horses of a lower class. A yarn of Colonel McCalmont and the late -Joe Thompson, both now dead: On the day the colonel won the Derby with Isinglass, Joe Thompson, meeting him in the ring, asked him if he could do any business with him. "Certainly Thompson; what price the field*' , "Four to one. Colonel"' "Very well; £40,000 to £ 10,000." "No thanks, Colonel j £ S,OOO to £2.000 will do me."' "1 booked the bet. but bless my soul," said the leviathan afterwards, "he wanted to break mc in one act." Why do owners enter horses for races in which they never intend to take part* Over and over again, especially in plates, you will see a horse which on form looks an absolute certainty, but the animal ikept in the stable. " "I could not have backed it." the owner will say: meaning, of course, that he would have had to take a short price. Surely he could not expect to get 10 to "l against an '"odds-on" chance. The horse will run and be backed later on. when his chance is not 5o apparent, and there will be a howl of vexation if it gets beaten. But there is no understanding some of the mysteries of the Turf. A writer in the Brisbane "Daily Mail" lias published some interesting statistics concerning Queensland racing. He states that the prize money for 04 days' racing last year totalled as compared with £.12.473 for 73 days in 1013. Stakes were contributed as follow: — y.T.C. L , :: daj-s, £38.790: proprietary clubs. 38 days, £17.S00: Brisbane Tattereau's Club, 3 days, £1575. Thus the Q.T.1., r.icing three days less than the previous year. disbursed £5.250 more. The totalisator turnover for the year was. by registered clubs in the metropolitan area. J13U3.50:5. When I look through the li<t of entries (more than two thousand in number), published in thb week's "Racing Calendar." 1 wonder, says an English writer, how many of the horses named will fulfil their engagements. Every one of them entails a pecuniary obligation on the owner, who has, either himself or by his authorised agent, filled up the necessary form and sent them to Messrs. A\ eatherby in the hope, remote as it must sometimes appear, of carrying off a prize on the Turf. In the wright-for-age races, especially the Iwo-year-old events, much depends upon the hazard of circumstance and the strength of the opposition. An owner may have, or fanc-y he has at the present time of year, a really good horse, but it may train olf or fall a victim to accident; moreover, another owner may possess a better animal, which he may enter in the same race. iMoney spent on entries is often thrown away, for few owners have any settled ideas about a campaign for the horses in their stable. A trainer will say: "This race or that, will suit your colt or filly/ , and you enter him, or" her, as a matter of course without counting the cost. The outside publicgiinderstands little about the finance ot racing, and may not be aware that considerably more than a million pounds a year is absolutely wasted on the Turf, -without taking into consideration beta and private expenses. In the latest "Australasian- to hand, '•Terlinga" recalls Sedition's Newmarket Handicap by saying: "Sedition's Newmarket Handicap win was nothing short of a disaster so far as her connections were concerned. They had three in the stable engaged in the race, and they were tried twice, Gladstone winning each time, with Sedition last. How the mistake came to be made was never cleared up. Perhaps they boys riding tried their skill at deceiving the man in charge of the gallops. Sedition went out at any jirice, and I believe." continues "Terlinga, "her owner actually laid against her." Sedition belonged to the well known fielder, the late Mr Morris Jacobs, sod it is from one of his most intimate iriends that the writer is able f> supply a solution of the matter. "Terlinga" limits the name of the third horse in th<> rallops mentioned at>ove. The missing .no was Epicurean: and now crimes ihi- s'ory ol" the gallop.-. The boy riding ami "doing-"' Sedition formed a strong* affection for his charge, and, holding the idea that, if S,-ditirm' won a gallop his chance of riding her in the race would i>f nil (if the stable backed her they would be -ure to put the best horseman ;.. their command). l'onSH|iientlv h<; "nursed' , his mount in the gallops, and obtained the mount Tin™ i-onld be pardoned to a certain extent, but lip kept "mum" even to owner and trainer, aim as a result tin , raw-, as "Terlinga" remarks, was a disaster to tile stable. The story oeenis t.i show thai tlm~e looking at tVie gallops were easily deceived, unless, of course, Kodition i*a« some horses *re) « ould eaiU> . slopl>M wahoiU citing suspicion. That, however, i> the alleged «tory of-how Sedition won the JaXTv ~l' and Wenl OUt absolutely UII- - y K, I,C Slab,c ' though some few ftLrJ" ™ c wh ° Sot it blind landed ■ft* 0 * fifru to awouat^

The Australian racing rules, -which were agreed to at the inter-State Conference last November, became operative throughout the Commonwealth 011 February 1, says the ••Bulletin." The four chief points are: (1) Recognition of each other's disqualifications; (2) stopping the duplication of names; (3) debarring the carrying ol more than 2lb in a flat race or 41b in a steeple or .hurdle event over the weight imposed or declared: (4) a fine up to £100 on any embittered or inebriated person who behaves unrighteously to any racing official. This is expected to make the sport more like that of king 6 and lees like that of spielers. There is something interesting about the breeding of Bachelor's Wedding, the winner of this year'-s Viceroy's Cup. That horse is from JLady Bawn, which was a twin. A London writer, in mentioning this peculiarity, remarks: — "Twins do not often do much, either on the turf or at the stud, but both Lady Bawn and her twin sister, Lady Black, did well a≤ brood mares for the late Mr. .1. Lowry. for the less famous of these mares, like Lady Bawn, tfound a congenial mate in 'J redennis, and to him, she produced a. more than merely useful' horse in Bachelor's Charm. Her stud record doe* not compare, however, with ■ that of Lady Bawn (dam also of Bachelor's Donble). and no doubt they inherited altogether different attributes j with their differing colour, for Lady Bawn was a chestnut, like her maternal granddam. the Hermit mare Alone, whereas Lady Black U described in the studbook as a brown, which was the coiour of their paternal granddam, Knavery." After giving a table of the past year's winners at various distances in England, a writer in the London "Sporting Life" says that at the present time William the Third. Santoi. and St. Amant appear to be the only stallions in the successful class who beget an equal number of good stayers and sprinters. He then adds: "It is about lime that rating men appreciated how much more certain of success they would be if they backed horses on the merits of their breeding instead of on their public form or on their Bruce Lowe classification." That, however, is ;! matter of opinion. Most practical rat-ing men are invariably prepared to give public form preference to breeding when in search of winners. I remember a well known Sydney trainer and owner who used to 6ay: "1 don't care how they are bred, so long as they can gallop." Perhaps that was going too far in the other direction, but the fact remained that he used to win a greater share of races than those of his confreres who attached greater importance to the breeding of their various charge?. Evidently things are as bad in England in connection with jumping races as they are in other places, and in commenting on the situation an English writer says: It was a pleasure to be able to call attention to the increased activity in National Hunt sport as proved by the more numerous entries for races now a≤ compared with the corresponding period of lust season. It is a healthy and indisputable sign that owners are alive to the importance of keeping the game alive, and there is no lack of enterprise as far as owners are concerned, but there is room for improvement in other directions, for racing "between the flags." though improving, is still not as ''clean" a» it ought to be. Want of a lertness on the part of local stewards is to some extent accountable for a state of affairs which has brought mc a letter from a good judge of the game, in which it is suggested that "the staff of surgeons who attend meetings to deal with injured riders should be supplemented by the appointment of an ophthalmic expert for the benefit of those in local authority who may be suffering from short sight or otherwise faulty vision." I am not ]>ersonally responsible for the proposed innovation, but simply quote the views of another; still, 1 cannot altogether disapprove, for unquestionably public opinion is strong on the point. I appreciate to the full the services of the gentlemen who act as stewards — the notion of stipendiaries has always been hateful to me—but I cannot help thinking that in many cases they are not sufficiently informed as regards the intricacies of the rules governing N.H. sport to qualify them for the office, although they may be keen ajid anxious to help in the endeavour to reduce misdemeanour and irregularity to a minimum. All the same, it is beyond dispute that onlookers, oftentimes smarting under disappointment, are apt to let themselves go without sufficient cause. At a meeting of the English National Hunt Committee Lord St. Darids moved a resolution as follows:— "That during the present war no person (other than one serving in His Majesty's Forces) between the"ages of 18 and 'JS shall ride in any race under National Hunt rules unless he has been rejected by the army medical officers as unfit for service." This ivas formally seconded, put ta the meeting and lost; but the motion of Lord Marcus Beresford, to place on record that all jockeys and qualified riders who are physically capable ol joining the forces should do so, was agreed to. Commenting on the motion an English writer says: "Good riders, such as crosscountry jockeys are, uli-ould be only too glad to place their services at the disposal of Ixird Kitchener. A vast majority of hunting men have done so. and in instances some professional and several amateur jockeys have followed their brave example. Jt can truly be said of some who are now riding under National Hunt rules that they would not pass the standard, while a few would not pa 33 the doctor, but there are others. There can be no excuse for the latter except fear; to sift it down to one word — cowardice. Better to obviate such a slur by adopting Lord St. Davids' motion. It was not conscription, it W aa merely rel using a licence to those riders who enuld render better service to the country in this hour of stress. In the mnin, steeplechase jockpye are comfortahly otV. and even if they are in instances over-paid, and some, more fortunate, pampered with exorbitant presents, that I is nn reason why they should not answer j the call to arms. The same applies to I th<" ynuniir generation of trainers, and ■ considering the hundreds, aye, thousands •of mm beyond the a g< , limit who are I ready to go to morroiv if iti c authorities i would accept them, it makes this self-. j preservation of the professional, and for I that matter the amateur rider too, writ large on the wall of laggards. The police wight well run these young mm nil ior loitering. , - -