TROTTING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 165, 14 July 1936, Page 16

TROTTING.

KING'S KNIGHT WELL. i NOT BEING OVERTAXED. WORKING NICELY AT EPSOM. I Since being acquired by a patron of A. 1 W. Broughton's stable at Epsom, King's * Knight has not been overtaxed and the i chestnut pacer is looking a picture. On Saturday lie was going at little more than 1 half pace to run a mile in 2.35. King's ' Knight has not done much racing, but has I collected the thick end"of the prize on two ■ occasions, and when the son of Blue Moun- - tain King is next asked to sport silk he is assured of his share of public support. ( ROI L'OR IN WORK. According to reports, Roi l'Or has made ( a complete rccovcry from the injuries he 1 received at Adelaide when ho was on his 1 way to Perth to take part in the inter- J Dominion championship meeting, which J was held in February. Roi l'Or is expected to make his reappearance at < Addington next month. < HAS SHOWN PROMISE. When both pacers were trained at J Epsom by W. Willetts Lady Digger showed " better promise than Starguni, but the former had to be turned out owing to being 1 troubled with unsoundness. She has had a fairly long spell, but was recently recommissioned and is now attached to C. Goodall's team. Lady Digger is by Gumdigger from Lady Doris, and as she has shown any amount of promise in her training essays it is to be hoped that she stands up to .a further preparation. GIVING EMPLOYEES A CHANCE. Blessed with the good fortune of having 1 two good drivers in his employ, as well as - being one of Sydney's outstanding reinsmen himself, the Sydney trainer H. Chant does not hesitate to give his employees every chance of getting into the winning list, says an Australian paper. And so, at Victoria Park recently S. Barnes and C. Hunter figured in winning roles. The example of Chant might well be followed by a number of New Zealand trainers, who seldom consider the men who drive most of the training work and receive no chance to show their ability on race days. ■ , RETURN TO FORM. After several disappointing efforts Our McKinney returned to the winning list when he won the Liverpool Handicap on the final day of the Auckland winter meeting. On the opening day he had run a particularly sound race into second place behind Nervie's Last in the Marconi Handicap, and his victory at his next appearance was freely anticipated. In the running Our McKinney was under the whip for the greater part of the last three furlongs, and it says much for his gameness that the bay gelding never looked like weakening, and he just shaded Nervie's Last by the narrowest of margins. Our i McKinney has been at the sport about I eighteen months, and he has only to retain * his present form to add further to his < winning record. \ A GREAT EFFORT. < _ One of the best efforts registered on the , Epsom course for a long time was that of Star Pronto when he won the June Han- ■ dicap on the second day of the Auckland ] winter meeting. He was handicapped on ' 48yds and began reasonably well, but the J field had only gone about three furlongs when he made a bad lapse and lost fully 100 yards. He appeared well out of the contest, and was still fully 00 yards from the leaders with half a mile to go. However, he was noticed slowly reducing the leeway, but the task of winning appeared too stiff, and few were prepared for the phenomenal finishing run that enabled the 1 1 black pacer to get up and beat General ' Sarsfield by a head. The Australian-bied gelding has always been recognised as one of the most brilliant pacers in training, j but he is not too reliable at the start and , has frequently ruined good chances by I breaking. That the effort lias left no ill- ■ effects is exemplified by the keen manner j in which he is hitting out in his training essays. There is a possibility that the son j of Don Pronto will be taken to the Cam- j bridge meeting next month. j BROADCASTING. I Expressing tlie opinion that the broadcasting of race meetings had seriously affected attendances, Dr. M. G. I'ezaro, representing the Auckland Trotting Club at the Trotting Conference last week, asked that in the event of the present policy of the Broadcasting Service being | continued, the clubs should receive a grant ; from the fees received for broadcasting j rights. Dr. I'ezaro said the Auckland club was firmly convinced that the broadcasting of meetings was putting more money into j the hands of bookmakers. Mr. B. S. Irwin I said the present broadcasting arrangements affected only the four main centres. The Forbury Park Club had been of the opinion that broadcasting was not in the best interests of the sport, but its efforts ] to have the arrangements cancelled had : led to the Minister of Internal Affairs stating that in the event of clubs deciding to discontinue broadcasting the Government would take the right away from them by Order-in-Council. The attitude of the present Government was not yet known, it was stated, but it had been proposed to leave the matter in the hands of the joint presidents of the Racing and Trotting Conferences. A GOOD TROTTER. Sea Gift was given a spell after the j , Ashburton Trotting Club's winter meet- : ingj and will be in excellent condition for the new season's campaign. Unfortunately, there are no trotters' races in August to i suit her, and so at present her opportuni- i ties of winning are few, unless she competes among the pacers. It so happens that there are only about four trotters available for fast classes, and that fact is preventing the clubs from including a mile ' and a half race with a 3.26 limit on their programmes. During the present season, Sea Gift has given some excellent performances. Her brilliant finish to win the Dominion Handicap at Addington in November, was one of the outstanding features of that meeting. She has registered 3.17 3-5 for a mile and a half, and 4.24 3-5 for two miles. She has recorded two firsts, one second and one third, and has won £665 in stakes. Last year she won seven races, and was twice placed for £1049. Sea Gift is by Wrack from a mare by Paul Huon. and was originally bought at Tattersall's horse bazaar for £3. She was educated and developed by J. Bryce, but changed hands before she did much racing, and joinefl E. J. Smith's I premises at Prebbleton. DEMAND FOR HORSES. I The horse is regarded generally as an | animal that belongs to a past generation, simply because he has, for the most part, been banished from the sight of the city. ' A tour of the country would be a revela- j tion to the average observer, and he would return convinced that the day of the horse is not yet over (states the Christchurch "Star"). There are thousands of all types I of horses in useful occupations in New Zealand. Apart from heavy horses, which 1 will always command a market, there is j still a keen demand for the lighter types.!] Although this is a mechanical age, and t petrol-driven vehicles have, to a large | extent, displaced the horse, there is still ■, plenty of work which he can do more: s cheaply. The same circumstances rule in I 1 most parts of the world. In America there j j is a bigger demand to-day for horses for ], utility purposes than there was in 1932. ( With regard to trotting horses, it can be ] said that there are two thousand in full or i partial training in the Dominion. Accord- j mg to an Australian writer, there are three * thousand trotters and gallopers in Sydney . alone, and a turf statistician affirms that it | ] costs £7500 a week or the amazing sum of 11 £30,000 a year to feed them. A whole- 11 sale produce merchant in New South I 1 Wales states that for the twelve months'j ended May, 1936, 14,574 tons of hay, 3336 j tons of straw, 42,350 tons of chaff and 789! | j tons of oats were supjilied to training 11 establishments. *