TURF NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 47, 24 February 1923, Page 18

TURF NOTES.

(By " __-__-80N_..'7. ;" l.c selling of German horses to othe. countries continues. The Weinberg stable has parted with its Derby, winner, Omen, who goes to Rumania, and other thoroughbreds are destined lor Poland and Denmark. The National Hunt Stewards in Eng. land give notice that the practice of betting on horse-racing by jockeys will not be tolerated, aiid tbat any jockey who maybe proved, to their satisfaction, to have any interest in any racehorse, or to have been engaged, directly or indirectly, in any betting transaction, or otherwise to hays disregarded this notice, will have his license at once withdrawn. Any person knowingly acting in the capacity of part owner or trainer of any horse in which a jockey pos-esses any interest, or making any bet with, or ou behalf of any jockey, or otiierwise aiding or abetting in any breach of the orders of the Steward s , will he warned off all courses where National Hunt rules are in force. The late Lord Mar.-us Beresford used to -ay that, when In- was entrusted with ! the management of King Fdward's racehorses, he received a cheque for £1,000 !to own an account with YY r eatherby'g, and that th,- Royal owner was never |railed upon for another shilling! Surely !this is unique? At one time something 'like £..0.0110 was standing to the King's credit, and upon several occasions he drew large i-vuns. At the same'time, the vicissitudes of ownership are striking! v illustrated when one compares the amounts won in stakes from year to year by bearers of the Royal colours. In lSlli'l, Persimmon's year, £28,733 10s. stood io His Majesty's credit; in 1899 the total was only £3.082 18s 6d.; but in B>oo it rose to £31,7 44 ss. Th,. Johannesburg Turf Club's big race, the Johannesburg Summer Handicap, of 300n,ovs, vmis run on December 23, and was won by the four-year-old colt Intrepid (Oylliua—Faithful Dona), owned by Mr. J. A- Campbell, who had removed his team from Durban to Johannesburg about a month earlier owing to the Durban T.C. stewards trying to refuse his nominations. Intrepid, who was at a good price, led from the mile post, and beat the favourite. Collet in 2.7. for the mils and a quarter. Intrepid carried 6A The South African Nursery Plate, of 1230sovs, was decided the same afternoon, and, though there were 22 runners, backers had so much confidence in Red Ronald (Brown Ronald —Redbreast) tbat they sent him out an odds-on favourite. Their judgment was excellent, as Bed Ronald won by two and a half lengths in the rather slow time of 1.4. Bookmakers and totalizator operate at the Johannesburg meetings, and macliint betting is not heavy. Although the eight races attracted 1-31 runners, the machine turnover was only £31,750 10/, which sounds light for one of Johannesburg's biggest days of the year Stony, who is trained by George Price in Sydney, registered a rather remarkable performance when he won the Highweight Handicap (one mile) at the AJ.CL Anniversary Meeting. Hitherto Stony had been backed and beaten, and in this, his latest race, he was accorded the strongest support on the strength of good track work. To the consternation of his connections he refused to gallop, and was soon lobbing along at the tail of the field. With prospects apparently hopeless, P. Brown on Stony proceeded to administer a little discipline with the whip. With one cut the Kenilworth gelding started to race and Browi went on with the treatment. "Iroquois" describes the sequel: Brown was delighted with the result. He tried it again tnd with a little more vigour. Stony went faster and faster. And as he ran he attempted to get away from that stinging lash. Out and further out he bored, until he was almost against the far fence of the straight; but still the cruel throng beat mercilessly upon his side, an inexorable Nemesis that could not be 6haken off. So the best thing to do, Stony reasoned, was to keep going straight ahead. He galloped as he had never galloped before, and as his stride lengthened he gained rapidly upon his rivals. And now with the rest of the field beaten, he drew stride by stride, yard by yard, and inch by incn, upon the pacemaker. Perhaps it was not until they reached the last hundred yards that it dawned upon the jockey that Stony was a winning possibility. At once his efforts redoubled iv a desperate effort to get up. His strokes kept time with the excited heart-beats of the punters. At the stand's end he was at Golden Treasure's quarters; so fast was his pace that in the next stride be was lat her side, and when they had gained j the post Stony was a neck in front. He j had achieved the impossible. It \. .. a . wonderful performance, and it carries a strong moral. H served to show the power ot that instrument that « jocker j "olds ln ],; s i laiu , if ~c . vjll on , uM : t i wlK'ii dour occasion demands.' Thst ! m-strument U the whip. It made of . ■ tony a veritable champion. The only horse "of the present day who took* like making a St. Simon reputation ,* H„rry On. who-, first begotten toalis a Derby winner, and whose second stud season produced Town Guard, . vs tbe 'Special fommi-sioner." Xo horse could possibly lnne done better, more especially as all Hnrrv • >n's stock can gallop. He i. ,-.,1, _~' , f|o . _ __. hi( . h j9 more than St. Simon was iv his early days. Tt remain. . however, to be seen whether Hurry On will oarrv on as St. Simon did. As a matter of'fact. Stockwell. Hermit, and St. Simon have never ueen equalled iv their continuous successes, and it was Hermit who first introduced big fees an,! .-ensational prices for yearlings, as Lord Chaplin has good cause to remember. Hermit was certainly a wonderful stallion, though nowhere except in South America did he' establish a male lino. Jt is quite possible ih:it ir there were such a horse as St. Simon or Hermit or Stoekw-ell in these days, he would command an almost unimaginable fee, for no one ranks The Tetrarch as a second St. Simon, and. judged by fees, he is the leading sire at' present." If 1 were The Tetrarch's owner I should give him a complete change of environment, and bring him. preferably, to Kugland. There is no question about the jreat demand for his m'i-v i.-c.-. A few year- aso a lady offered £1.000 premium for a nomination to him. and t do not know whether it was accepted ,-,r any foal resulted. Anyuow. The Tetrarch. the premier sire of to-day—as reckoned by fees -is not, in my opinion, a patch . _ what St. Pinion was either as a racehorse or a stallion, and it is quite manifest that the position of St. Sin,on was one of ''Ecl.se first and tile rest nowhere.'' so that there must have been no end of temptation to increase his subscription list ** that time, while now. 1 dare say, the pressure on Tbe Tetrarch's list is n°* excessive.