TURF NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 144, 19 June 1926, Page 25

TURF NOTES.

(By WHALEBONE.)

All the Australian cracks were resum- ij ing work early this omnth. Rampion was due back to his trainer, F. Williams, 5 on Monday last, and G. Price was also taking up Windbag. Royal Tea, the " New Zealand two-year-old in Price's ' stable, has resumed gentle exercise. j In the pedigree of Short Story, which ] won the Oaks in England, we have yet j another example of the value of the ] Bend Or blood through Cyllene. The j great name appears on both sides of i Short Story's pedigree. She is by j Buchan, a son of Sunstar, and t Buchan's dam Harmoaze is by the Tren- 1 ton horse Torpoint from Maid of the ] Mist, by Cyllene from Sceptre, by Per- ; simmon. Short Story's dam Long Suit - is by Lemberg (son of Cyllene) from Third Trick, by William tlie Third (son < of St. Simon) from Conjure, by Juggler, j It also will be seen that Galopin is a r strong feature in the pedigree, this strain A being introduced at least three times. ( American breeders have great respect < for English blood, and are not afraid to f pay high prices for stallions or marc 3 1 bred in the Old Country. "Audax" says i that when Sir Robert Jardine recently 1 sold his five-year-old horse Obliterate i (Tracery—Damage) to go to America he i received £30,000 for him. When I was i at Saratoga 1924 yearling sales for a ] couple of nights, I could not help being 1 struck by the keen competition for Eng- i lish-bred youngsters. Some of the con- - tributors of breeding notes to American i papers are decidedly anti-British, but it - is doubtful whether their opinions carry i much weight with those American i breeders who do their own thinking. j Les Paddington, one of the best j jumpers in the State, broke down at Randwick recently. He was galloping J on the A grass track at the time, in company with Cheap Talk. The trouble, which appeared to be serious, is in one ■ of his fore fetlocks. His rider dismounted, and it was with difficulty that the gelding, limping badly, was got off the track. Les Paddington has a fine record, having won the A.J.C. £2000 Hurdle in 1923 with 9.12, _nd again in 1924 with 12.5, while in 1923 he was ' successful in the V.A.T.C. Australian Hurdle with 10.9, and Australian Steeplechase with 11.4. He was a final • acceptor for the A.J.C. Hurdle, to be run on Monday, with 11.3, and a first acceptor Jfeor the A.J.C. Steeplechase -11---6-"Thc most accomplished rider in Australia" is the description advanced of v _J.Pike by many racing followers. In Brisbane recently he won the w_.a. race on Fuji San, and then succeeded in the Stradbroke Handicap on Highland. This is the gecond occasion on which this rider bad scored in the Stradbroke, "the Newmarket Handicap of Queensland," I_dy Auro on a prior occasion giving him a victory.. It is a pity Pike is so heavy, a circumstance. that precludes his riding as much as the public would like, says an exchange. It is ft confident fteAietwn many make when they say' that Kke is worth at least a stone to a horse. Certainly in* tight finish he is •so ■■'■till on his mount that he forms part of the machine. ' . • j-: According to a Sydney writer:—"The indications are that New Zealand will, have strong three-year-old representation in Sydney next spring. Royal Tea and Kiosk (both by Tea Tray) are at Randwick, and it is fairly certain Limond's sons, Commendation and Limerick, will be sent over for the Derby. Another mentioned as a probable visitor is Seatown (by Archiestown), and he is not far behind Commendation, Kiosk, or Limerick. As, apart from .Rampion, it cannot be claimed that any Sydneyowned youngster has shown really highclass form, the New Zealanders should \ do well when opposing horses of their ' own age. It is anticipated that Randwick will suit Commendation, as it is improbable he will hang out in the same fashion , as he has done on the tracks where the . going is left-hand in." > The St. Frusquin line of St. Simon is * perhaps doing more to keep the name of 1 the famous son of Galopin alive than any ! other branch of the tribe, writes "Sentinel." St. Frusquin's sons are doing well at the stud in England, Australia, America, South America, and in New , Zealand we have a good representative in ' Paper Money. We also had a brother , to St. Frusquin in San Francisco, who j sired several good winners, but, neverthe- . less, did not get much chance at the » stud. He left 'Frisco Mail, which won on I each day of the Dunedin Jockey Club's > winter meeting, when he completely out- , classed the hurdlers that ran against j him. Los Angeles was another really : high-class horse got by San Francisco, and the fact suggests that some of his t daughters may prove valuable at the * stud. So far they have not done much , towards enriching the Stud Book, but - they are at least worthy of a chance. 5 A sensation was caused at Victoria 5 Park (S.A.) recently, when, after the , Birthday Cup had been run, an electric . battery was picked up in the straight I and was handed to the stipendiary stewards. Adelaide racing circles have x been inundated for some time with j rumours of the extensive use of electric batteries on racecourses. Judging from x recent rumours some jockeys have not , been bashful in using them on city . courses and the finding of one is plain evidence of the fact. And still another device is said to be in use. This is really , something out of the ordinary, but judged on the rumours in circulation it iis effective in its aim—to make the horses 'on which it is used go faster. It is a r j contrivance placed in the whip. It has ' j a certain small instrument to cause con- " | tact. This small article is placed by • a jockey in his mouth and he does not ? put it in his whip until the starting post is reached. This method of making a s horse do its best is "Baid to be coming r popular in Adelaide, and the time has 8 arrived in South Australia for drastic 7 action in preventing the use of batteries. J j Electric batteries are used in various I I manners, one of the most popular in ■> years gone by having been for the j jockey to carry tlie machine on his 1 j body with the wires running down the I inside of his pants and boots to the s spurs. Contact by both spurs to the i ' horse's body caused the shock. When . this idea became too risky for the , wrongdoers a change was made in the - location of the batters, and some invens tive genius evolved the idea of hiding II them in the saddles. A touch in a cerI j tain spot by the rider caused the -shock to -rhe horse.

Queer tilings happen on a racecourse,* as every punter knows. Fate played a practical joke at Randwick on January 26, and tried to make an honest man a pickpocket. As a Murwillumbah jeweller was pressing his way through, the congested betting ring, the button of, his coat caught the chain of another, man's watch and lifted the chain and watch neatly out of the victim's posses-' sion. When the Murwillumbah visitor emerged from . the crowd, he observed with profound astonishment that he had acquired a gold watch, which was hanging against his coat, being suspended from the chain, which had wound itself round the top button of his coat. He immediately went to the A.J.C. officials, showed them the watch still hanging against his coat, told them the circumstances, and 'handed the valuables over to their care. Although the watch has been advertised among property found at Randwick, no claimant has come forward, and it remains in the A.J.C. safe. There was great disappointment when ' the very hot favourite Brightling was beaten in the Janefield Handicap at tho D.J.C. Winter meeting, and many people, who should have known better, condemned the Tractor —Marsa three-year-old gelding, proclaiming him to be a false alarm (says a Dunedin writer). However, he was a very unlucky performer, as he was very badly cut out at tho start, a happening likely to occur in the best regulated field, and he had to get balanced and race round the field from an almost hopeless position, while Buoyant and Cassolette were making the pace a cracker well clear of a field numbering a dozen. Brightling ran up well at the home turn, but could not carry on, and this was not to-be wondered at, as the juvenile had 9.5 ia the saddle, and was doing his best in very holding going. Brightling was not fairly tried out in the race referred to, and it is very likely that the people who upbraided the son of Tractor will , live to rue the day that they showed very hasty judgment. In the meantime tho chances are that Brightling will train on to become a valuable race horse.

, G. T. LEE, Secretary to the Referees' Association, is one of the very few New Zealand - born Soccer badge - holders. Excepting Mr. T. G. Wilkes, he is th* only New Zealander in Auckland with the distinction in active service. Mr. Lee finds it difficult to explain his adherence to the round ball code, but bis profession —that of a schoolmaster —no doubt Was what attracted him to interest himself in Soccer, particularly in Auckland, as his services to. the game

There were only three runners in the Roebourne Hurdle at the recent W.A.T.C. meeting. Best. Fleece had to j be withdrawn on account of the owner failing to secure the services of a rider. I believe a horse was scratched for a similar reason the previous Saturday \ (says a Perth writer). Throughout Australia racing over jumps is an attractive item on the programme, but in Western Australia the lack of joc-j keys game enough to school horses and ride them in races is not encouraging owners to go in for this class of racing. We certainly have many horses that would do better over the jumps than they do on the flat. In the enclosure only £28 was invested in the totalisator on the Roebourne Hurdle, and there was, of course, no place totalisator. The W.A.T.C. committee have been endeavouring to encourage jumpers, but after this fiasco it will not be surprising if they think seriously of cutting out at least some of these races, in which case jockeys who ride mostly over the fences will have fewer opportunities of earning money.