SMOKE SCREEN AMISS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 75, 30 March 1939, Page 24

SMOKE SCREEN AMISS.

SWELLING IN LEG. RUATITI JARS JOINT. (From Our Own Correspondent.) WANGANUI, Wednesday. Smoke Screen's withdrawal from his Ellerslie engagements was due to a leg filling on the eve of the Manawatu meeting. The son of Limond is not likely to race again until next season. Ruatiti jarred a joint and he is also likely to be off the scene until next season. Russian Ballet is going along all right, and she may race at Feikiing, where Red Cat is also engaged. Submission appears none the worse for her winning efforts at Awapuni, and the Limond—Homage filly promises to be all the better for her racing when she strips for the Champagne Stakes at Ellerslie. She is bred in the purple, and a bright future is predicted. As Submission is one of Limond's last crop she has been retained by Mr. (!. M. Currie for his stud, and it is probable her racing career will not extend over next season. Entail and Homily also look none the worse for their racing last week, and the former should pay his way on his trip to Kllerslie as lie is now back to his best form, and the roomy track should suit him. The stake money for the Wanganui Jockey Club's winter meeting, to be held on Saturday and Monday, .June 3 and 5, has been raised by £505 on the amount given away last year, and will total £4500. For the Connolly Handicap and the Empire Handicap, the principal flat events on the respective days, £100 has been added to the stakes, and the Connolly Handicap is thus raised to £400. The open sprints, the Winter Oats on the opening day, and the Belmont Handicap on the second day, will be worth £250 each.

i CEASED PUNTING. BEATAEN THE GAME. J. T. Jamieson, one of Sydney's leading trainers, and perhaps the most spectacular of trainer-backers in Australia, ' said recently that at last he had been cured of heavy betting and he did not intend to wager large sumß on his horses at short prices any more (writes "Cardigan"). "I am not going to say that I have retired absolutely as a backer," said Jamieson, "but I have certainly retired as a plunger, and when I bet in future it will be for moderate amounts and only when I consider that I am getting value for my money." Under The Odds. Jamieson contends that for years he has been taking under the odds about his horses, and his horses have generally been public fancies. "I don't mind the public backing my horses when they think they have chances," said Jamieson, "but, like myself, they also have been taking under the odds, and I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to make it pay when the odds are not right." Jamieson instanced a case at Rosehill hist Saturday week. One of his team, Baveon, was favourite for the Maiden Handicap at odds on. "The owner of Baveon laid 70 to 40 on," said Jamieson; and the breeder of the horse 35 to 20' on. That was the whole of the money invested on the horse by the stable. I did not win a copper on Baveon. nor did any of my close friends, as we considered that, although Baveon should win, he was not entitled to be so short." "Probably," concluded Jamieson, "we will have regrets in some instances, but in the long run I will probably have more money and certainly not as much worry." Bets In Thousands. Jamieson contends that, although he has betted in thousands for years, and his turnover each season has been enormous, he has beaten the game—short odds and all —and probablv this is one of the reasons why he is finishing while the going is good. • Jamieson, by the way,- is pleased with the way High Caste has done in the stable and on the tracks since his return from Melbourne. He intends to give him a race at Warwick Farm in the colts' division of the Fairfield Handicap of six furlongs. This is bad news for High Caste's opponents, for there is a maximum weight of 9.5 for that Tace.