GRAND NATIONAL STAKE £3500

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25177, 7 May 1947, Page 4

GRAND NATIONAL STAKE £3500

RACING

TOTAL OF £23,500 FOR MEETING The committee of the Canterbury Jockey Club decided yesterday that the 1947 Grand National Steeplechase, which is tentatively set Mown to be decided on August 2, will carry a stake of £3500, an increase of £5OO on last year. Similar increases were approved for the Grand National Hurdles and the Islington Handicap, and the stakes for these events will now be £2500 and £l5OO respectively. A total of £23,500 in stakes will be offered at the Grand National meeting, an increase of £2650 on last year. The Winter Cup wil carry a stake of £2OOO, and the Heathcote Handicap, the principal flat race on the third day, will be worth £lOOO, the increase being £250 and £2OO respectively. The Duke of Gloucester Cup for amateur riders will be the second race on the second day of the meeting, and will replace the Aylesbury Hack Handicap. The race will be run over a mile and a half and will carry a stake of £6OO. The only changes in the conditions for races will be the restriction of the Woolston Hack Handicap, to be run on the second day, to three and four-year-olds only, and the deletion of the age restrictions in the Longbeach Hack Handicap, run on the third day. The entries for all events will close on Friday, July 11. which is a week earlier tha usual. »The handicaps for the first day’s events and the Grand National Hurdles, will appear on Monday, July 21, which is after the concluding day of the Wellington Racing Club’s winter meeting on July 19. Club’s Representatives z Messrs A. S. Elworthy and D. E. Wanklyn have been appointed the Canterbury Jockey Club’s delegates to the annual meeting of the New Zealand Racing Conference, to be held in Wellington on July 11. Messrs K. Austin, G. R. Macdonald, H. A. Rhind, D. E. Wanklyn, and R. G. Westenra have been reappointed as the club’s representatives on the Canterbury District Committee. Steeplechase Prospect Lunaria will make his debut as a steeplechaser at Ashburton on Saturday. Judged on his recent displays when being schooled at Ricca rton, he is likely to be hard to beat, especially as the Southland candidate, Geniality, will be missing. Having raced over hurdles he will be much fitter than the other runners, while the Ashburton country is not difficult, in company with Commemorate and Bravura, he again schooled well over five of the inside steeplechase fences at Riccarton. He is a fast, clean jumper, and measures his fences well. Commemorate also jumped well, while Bravura, which was always a few lengths behind except at the sod wall, jumped safely as usual. Series of Mishaps Ration has had a series of misfortunes to the last few days,- and will be off the scene for a while. He crossed his legs and fell when being pulled up after being worked on Friday, and had a fall at the first hurdle in his race at Ashburton on Saturday. While being worked on the' track on Monday, he had yet another fall when he collided with another horse. He was very stiff in front yesterday, and was fortunate to escape more serious injuries. • Ration is trained by A. J, Griffin for Mrs A. Holmes, and is a six-year-old gelding by Defoe or Hazrat from Oread. Related to Lord Advocate The four-year-old mare Polka has been leased by Messrs J. Gavin and M. Stanley, and has joined A. S. Ellis’s team. Polka is by Solicitor General from a good race mare in Polydora, and is closely related to Kirkella and Lord Advocate, Polydora being a half-sister to Sweet Beauty, their dam. Polka had a few races as a three-year-old and showed speed.

Out of G.N. Hurdles Page’s Raid was withdrawn from the Great Northern Hurdles, to be run on May 31, at 9 a.m. on Monday. He has never been prominent as a hardier, and his defection will be no surprise to southerners. He will be a strong candidate for honours in the Great Northern Steeplechase. A Blank Day The progeny of the leading sire. Foxbridge, have won £71,250 this season, but rather surprisingly he was not represented by a winner at any of the four meetings held last Saturday. There have been very few race days this season when at least one of his progeny has not won. Gay Fort’s Appearance Much interest will attach* to the appearance of Gay Fort in the Waikato Steeplechase next Saturday. He has not raced over country in New Zealand since he won the Enfield Steeplechase at . the Grand National meeting in 1945, his racing over country last year being confined to a solitary appearance in Melbourne, when he was unluckily defeated in the Godfrey Watson Steeplechase, of two miles and three furlongs. Gay Fort is in much better order this year than he was when he left for Melbourne last- year, and should be fairly well seasoned after haying raced on the flat and over hurdles this autumn. He jumped brilliantly the few times he was schooled at Riccarton. and there will be few, if any, in the field he-will meet on Saturday capable of outjumping him. Although Gay Fort has not won beyond two miles and a half, there is no reason why he should not see out three miles this year. What is more likely to trouble him is the four miles of the Great Northern Steeplechase with its three runs up the hill. Reported Broken Down

Starlee, the winner of the Longbeach Hurdles at Ashburton last Saturday, has not been accepted for next Saturday. He Is reported to have broken down at Ashburton yesterday morning. Another French - Success French breeders secured another triumph when Imprudence won the One Thousand Guineas, with another French filly in Rose O’Flynn runner-up, but English blood predominates in the pedigree of Imprudence. Her sire, Canot, is by Nino (by Clarissimus). He was one of the best three-year-olds of his year in France, finishing second in both the French Derby, and the Grand Prix de Paris. In the latter race he was unfortunate enough to run up against the « Italian crack Nearco, but he had the satisfaction of beating the English Derby • winner, Bois Roussel, which finished third by a length. Indiscretion, the dam of Imprudence, was bred by Lord Rosebery in 1932, and is by Hurry On from Brig o’ Dee, by Bridge of Earn from Black Gem, by Black Jester. On April 16, Imprudence Impressed when winning the Prix Ladas, of one mile, at Le Tremblay. She is raced by Mrs Pierre Corbierre, who is the first woman owner ever to be successful in the race. Son of Blenheim Jet Pilot, the winner of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, was one of the leadtog two-year-olds in the United States last season, winning 87,830 dollars. In the Experimental Handicap, the equivalent of the English Free Handicap, Jet Pilot was in ninth place seme five pounds below the leading trio. Cosmic Bomb, Double Jay, and First Flight. A son of the English Derby winner Blenheim, Jet Pilot has a strong infusion of English and French blood on his dam’s side. His’ dam. Black Wave, is by the French-bred sire Sir Gallahad HI (by Teddy) from Black Curl (by Rock Sand) from Frizeum,-by Sweeper from the French-bred mare Frizette, by Hamburg. Frizette was the’great granddam of Cillas, a French Derby winner; but being by Hamburg, she was ineligible for the General Stud Book. Jet Pilot’s owner, Mrs Elizabeth N. Graham, known professionally as Elizabeth Arden, has spent enormous sums purchasing yearlings, and no one will begrudge her her success. Last year she was unfortunate to lose a number of her extensive racing team in a disastrous stable fire to Chicago. To be Tried as Hurdler Benbecula has been kept in w’ork at Invercargill, and he is to be tried as a hurdler. One factor in Benbecula’s favour as a prospective jumper is his size. Half-brother to Lord Bobs Air mail advice from England states that the good winner Black Peter, a five-year-old half-brother by Blue Peter to the Inglewood Stud sire Lord Bobs, won the Guildford Stakes, of one mile, five furlongs and a half, at Sandown on April 19. carrying top weight. On the same day Underwood, an impressive halfbrother by Bois Roussel to the St. Leger winner Chamoisairre. won the Marcus Beresford Stakes, of one mile, for maiden three-year-olds. Underwood is leased from the National Stud by the King, and with Blue Train also engaged, it is considered that there is a fair chance of a Royal victory in the Derby or the St. Leger. .Snowberry, the dam of Underwood. is by Cameronian from Myrobella. the dam of the Two Thousand Guineas winner Big Game, by Tetratema from Do labella, by White Eagle. Running Questioned B. Markwick, rider of Prince Revel, which finished second to Emerge in the Hawera Handicap at the Egmont meeting on Saturday, was charged by the I stipendiary steward with not riding the horse on its merits. The judicial committee adjourned the inquiry till the secon<* day this week to enable the owner, Mr T. W. Ganderton. to tender evidence. Prinee Revel started fourth favourite, and was beaten by a head. He is; trained a* New Plymouth bv H. Dulieu