TURF NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 185, 4 August 1923, Page 21

TURF NOTES.

(By WHALEBONE.) 1

May, Lord Penrhyn'e Top Gal- r j lantr, a three-year-old colt, by Swynford v from Galante, ran a mile and a-quarter f at Newmarket in the extraordinary time c ot 2min, thus establishing a new world's t, record. Doubts have been cast on the i time, but Mr. William Allison, who is Z. well known in the Dominion, vouches for its accuracy. The course was very I: fast and a strong wind helped the horses. E Top Gallant, unfortunately, was not in c the Derby. " I d i Mr. Spencer Gollan, recently returned to the United Kingdom, tersely comments as follows on the Carbine— w Eurythmic comparison. "Eurythmic was c second several times -, nice medium- c sized horse, harmoniously built, runs g light behind; good-tempered, game, easy fi goer, with a curious action of one leg. :V rhe equal of Carbine? Not by pounds. Ip I can see 'Old Jack's , abnormal pro- G pel.ors making a rare mess of the other. |o besides Carbine's period was a vintage ill one; Abereorn, Me.los, and Australian ,b Feer, formed a notable opposition." S V It is unusual to read of a trainer S : taking a horse to a meeting in ignor- T , ance of the fact that its owner had died v I a couple of days previously, and that, in g ! consequence, it was ineligible to compete. To make matters worse, the horse -won. This happened at Newton Abbot s (Devonshire) in May. The Epsom „ I trainer, W. Payne, ran Pitz Pieton in a S Belling Steeplechase, and that horse, w I which was quoted at 5 to 1, won easily 3, ; from Mcc, a 7 to 1 chance. The owner a iof the latter bought Fitz Pieton for 50gs -n when that horse went up to auction. It S subsequently transpired that Mr. Heyes, n owner of Fitz Pieton, had died before 1 the race was run, a fact that auto- c Imatically disqualified tho horse. Ail 3 bets on Fitz Pieton, as well as his sale, A were consequently void, and stakes and I bets went to Moe. It is about time }> there was an alteration of the English ii rule which voids nominations on the v death of a nominator. g . B^ In an article, "Memories of the V.R.C. Grand National," a Melbourne writer says:—Daimio, an extraordinarily good i steeplechaser, was responsible for a 4 unique series of performances when f trained by Mr. Harry Frew for Messrs I Gibson Bros. He won the only steeple- y I Chases he started for in Victoria, and g these were three Grand Nationals. He j commenced carrying 0.3 home ten , lengths in front of a large field in the V.R.C. Grand National of 1894. That - was his only public appearance that year. He was given 11.10, an increase £ of no less than 2.7, in the nest Grand ! National at Flemington, which he won ' by five lengths. Dalmo's only other ap- J pearance was in What was then called ' the Caulfield Grand National, now the 1 Australian Steeplechase, four miles, and this he won comfortably with 13.3 ' Daimio was sent to England, but he did ' no good there, because he persisted in ' jumping over instead of through the i high brush fences. While on the voyage >. back to Victoria, Daimio met with in- i juries during a gale, which caused his • death. Redleap has *£he honour of having carried the greatest weight to victory . in the Grand National Steeplechase. His : success with 13.3 on his back in 1892 was a remarkably fine performance, for j! he won easing up by half a dozen lengths. The course took more "doing" in those days than now, for ffle notorious 'Cathedral' , jump has since been taken away, and several other fences made much easier to negotiate. The going was heavy when Redleap romped home with his heavy load, and no fewer than eleven of the nineteen starters fell. I There ie a little unpublished history in connection with Sunburst, which [won the Lawn Handicap on the concludjing day of the V.R.C. Grand National meeting, says the "Australasian." Two or three months ago the Bernard gelding was sold at a pretty stiff figure to go to India, provided he passed a veterinary examination. Mr. S. O. Wood, to whom the duty of " vetting" was entrusted, found Sunburst free from all hereditary unsoundness, but owing ti the gelding being a " speedycutter" he must always be raced in ; hock boots. As a result of repeated knocks, Sunburst has a small lump on the inside of each hock, and these were cut open the morning he was galloped without boots for Mr. Wood's inspection. Mr. Wood passed him sound, except for the speedy-cutting trouble, but in tho circumstances Messrs. Adamson, IMackinnon, and Cox, who were acting jas agents for the Indian sportsman, j Mr. M. Goculdas. did not feel justified lin taking any risk, consequently no business resulted. No doubt Mr. E. A. Connolly is now well pleased he did not ! sell Sunburst, for he probably won at least half the amount of £3000 which he was to have received for him. Furthermore, if Beauford and Gloaming should not be at their best. Sunburst may have to be reckoned with in the short distance weight-for-age events iv the spring. A sensational incident occurred at the Flemington racecourse on the second I day of the V.R.C. Grand National j I meeting. Shortly after the fourth race I (had been run, a brindle bullock, which jwas one of a herd being driven along I the racecourses road to the abattoirs, broke from the mob, and entered the racocourse grounds. Two attendants endeavoured to turn it back, but the bullock charged ono man, who was unable to escape in time. The animal caught him just as he was clambering J over a fence, and inflicted a nasty gash over the face. The other attendant was also attacked, and sustained abrasions. The bullock made its way along the | 'drive to the lawns in front of the ! (grandstand. Fortunately many of the irace patrons had adjourned to the j betting ring or the saddling paddock, land there were only 200 or 300 on the lawn. Three mounted troopers — ConUtables Code, McMenomy and Saker— (galloped up to head the beast off. Becoming excited by the gathering crowd, the bullock charged Constable Mo Menomy'e horse, and its rush was only evaded by a narrow margin. There was a general scatter, and women screamed, while everyone rushed for cover. By riding on each side of the i animal the troopers prevented it from getting among the spectators, but they could not turn it back. It dashed through the bottle-neck leading from the lawns to the betting ring, and, just as it was galloping down the bricked path, a bystander seized it by the tail. The bullock slipped on the bricks, and fell. Before it could rise again several 'people had seized it by the head, end I Constable McMenomy, jumping from his '.horse, shot it with hie revolver.

Writing on the subject of late foaling the "Special Commissioner" says: A mare has only a very limited number of breeding years, and it is better to have a late foal from her than none at all—for that represents a year irretrievably lost. It is, of course, aggravating to own a good young mare whd foals late, for she does not get many chances to be in foal the second year, but it is better to forget that and mate her the second year with your own ihorse or with any suitable horse that i> nut at an extravagant fee. If she misses, then you can revert to early service in the third year, but, anyhow, don't give away a year of the mare's life if you can avoid doing so. A London paper records one of the ways in which England's crack horseman celebrated hie success in the leading classic event of the season:—"S. Donoghue, after entertaining a number of his fellow jockeys at dinner in town on Wednesday night, made a dramatic appearance in the dancing hall at the Grafton Galleries'. Donoghue, mounted on Papyrus (a large wooden steed), was led on the course—the ballroom floor— by Lord Lonsdale, and was followed by Stanley Lupino, the comedian, and Paul Whiteman, the conductor, who were similarly mounted on wooden horses to represent Pharos and Parth. Donoghue was greeted with loud cheers as the great race was re-enacted." Mr. Joseph Cook, a well-known Sydney trainer of the eighties and onwards, died at his residence, Cooper Street, Redfern, recently. Mr. Cook, who was the father of the present-day trainer, Mr. J. W. Cook, trained for many years at Clarendon and afterwards at Randwick. As a jockey he rode for the late Sir Hercules Robinson, and he was for many years associated with the late Mr. T. Ivory. Among the late Mr. Coofe early patrons were Messrs. J. Abrahams, J. Silberberg, and W. Archer. For Mr. I Abrahams he won the Metropolitan with Little Bernie, and for Mr. Silberberg he landed the AJ.O. Derby with Woodlands jin 1877. With his own horse, Lamond, he won the Metropolitan in 1888, and other good horses that he trained were Sunshine and Burwood. . 6ays a Sydney writer,: The A-J.C. office is a magnet this week to many of the 400-odd bookmakers who are applying for renewal of their licenses to bet at I Randwick. Almost the sole topic of coniversation among the fielders at the settling was the circular which was issued last week by the secretary of the A.J.C., calling upon them for a statement of their assets. While to a few men it is no trouble to disclose £5000 worth of assets, there are many who have not much more than 5000 shillings, who nevertheless have made a book at Randwick for years, have always met their liabilities promptly, and have retained the respect of their clients. Some of these men have 'been in a rare stew over the circular, fearing that their means of livelihood would be taken away from them. Members of the ring who may be regarded as well-informed, do not think that any drastic change in the personnel is contemplated. They, however, will not be surprised if some of the bookmakers who have to rely on outside partners for their finance are brought up with a round turn. The episode has given some of the leading fielders an op- ] portunity, which has been freely availed of, to help their less opulent brethren. The bookmakers expect to know their fates before the end of this week. Thus a writer in "The Australasian": Personally I have been looking forward all the week not only to the National Hurdle race, 'but to the discussion over the extended pedigree of The Monk. It is an exceptionally interesting one. The horse himself stands out aa the most commanding two-year-old of the year, so far as looks go, and his performances have been uncommonly promising. We pointed out last week the fact that Rahiri, in his six outings, had never been out of a place. The Monk has started seven times, and he has only on one occasion been, out of a place, fourth, and a good fourth it was. Linaway, Rahiri, and Quintus finished ahead of him in the Champagne, the big fellow carrying his full penalty, but he did not have any of the luck of the race that day, and he was pelting home with giant strides and with keen determination. I thought that in another furlong he would have been upsides with the leaders, although you may not have seen eye to eye with mc there. I will only remind you that his victories included the Flemington Stakes, the Ascotvale, and the Randwick Sires' Produce. Each one of these performances was very high class indeed. But it is blood lines and not performances that we are studying at present, and I must confess freely that I have always maintained that the big horse would net stay the Derby mile and a half. Since going into his table I find myself, perhaps for the moment only, wavering in the conviction. Falls were more than usually numerous during the Grand National meetling, a result which may, to some extent, jbe attributed to the heavy going. Only I four of the twelve starters in the Trial Steeplechase finished the course, and three of these had taken the wrong course and finished a long way Jbehinl the winner after retracing their steps. No fewer than eight of the sixteen starters in the Grand National Steeplechase failed to complete the journey. Last year, when the going was, if anything, heavier, seven of the twelve starters finished. Compared with the figures of the previous two years, the average is not too good, though it is I better than that of 1920, when of 105 I starters, 69 finished. The figures for the [last nine years are as follows: —

> The following table shows the numbej l of starters to get round in each jumping ' race at the meeting just over. All of * the horses that failed to finish did not ' fall. Some stopped, ran off, or lost their ' jriders:—

Year 1915 1916 1917 1018 1919 J920 1921 1922 1023 Starters. Finished. 100 79 100 7R 105 72 106 7T 09 6.« 105 «9 85 (SO 86 72 9* 03

! i Maiden Hurdle Grand National Hurdle Trial Steeplechase .. . Kellor Hurdle Kenfrfncton St'plechase Doutta Galla Hurdle Trial Hurdle . Grand Nat. St'plechase Footseroy Steeplechase Starters. S 11 12 10 7 8 12 1« 10 D* Finish S n> 4 8 r> in 7 5 . hed a.