TROTTING MORE HORSES LEAVE TO JOIN AUSTRALIAN TEAMS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27444, 2 September 1954, Page 4

TROTTING MORE HORSES LEAVE TO JOIN AUSTRALIAN TEAMS

The Noble Scott mare Defendant has been sold to Mr A. E. Lovett, of Christchurch, and she has left for Australia. Mr Lovett has had considerable success in Australia with the Young Bob four-year-old, Young Wexford.

Fair Warning and Viren also left recently for Australia. Mobile Globe and Fanny Grattan will leave for the Commonwealth today, and Shoeshine will go from Auckland shortly. Defendant, a good winner when raced on lease by R. J. May and trained at New Brighton by F. R. May, should do well in Australia. She is usually most reliable, and she can both sprint and stay. Defendant gained one win last season. That was in the Timaru Handicap in January, when she finished brilliantly to bea Our Roger and Chief Lochiel. Her best placing was a second, beaten by half a head, to Our Roger in the Winter Handicap at the Canterbury Park winter meeting.

Defendant is a nine-year-old mare by Noble Scott, now a successful sire in Australia, from’ Shuffle, a mare by Jack Potts from Auditress. Shuffle is also the dam of Mount Lebanon and Caprice.

Fair Warning, a 20-year-old imported mare by Mr McElwyn, has been sent to Australia by Mr G. Lancaster. Fair Warning left an excellent winner at the trotting gait in Forewarned, and Forearmed, a winner-as a trotter in Australia.

Wren, a seven-year-old mare by Dillon Hall from Sailor's Fancy, was a winner two seasons ago. She is a halfsister to Sailor’s Globe, which showed fine form when taken to Australia several years ago. Wren has been bought by Mr M. C. Moran, of Hamilton. The 1952 New Zealand Cup winner, Mobile Globe, has been leased by I. S. Dobson .from Mr C. Smith, of Christchurch. Dobson, who was formerly associated with N. L. Berkett’s stables, has won several races in Australia with the Dunedin Cup winner, Victory Dale. Mobile Globe, which will be on a tight mark in Australia, failed to show form in two starts last season. He broke at the start of the Farewell Handicap at Addington on Saturday, and finished well back. The Springfield Globe gelding will not find it easy to return to form. Fanny Grattan, a maiden performer, showed fair form last season. The Grattan Loyal mare should pay her way in Australia. Dobson has secured a half-interest in her. and he will race her in partnership with Mr G. Young, of North Canterbury. The Auckland pacer Shoeshine, a winner last season, has been sold by Messrs Pezaro Brothers. He will leave in about a week for Australia. Shoeshine is on a comparatively loose mark, and he will have unlimited opportunities in fairly weak company in Australia. Bonnie Charles

Bonnie Charles," one of the best young-trotters seen racing in the North Island for many years, will have his first start since joining J. Young's Halswell team in the Introductory Handicap at the Wellington Trotting Club’s meeting on Saturday. By Light Brigade from Infuser, Bonnie Charles went amiss on a trip south to contest the New Zealand Trotting Stakes last season. He has been in work for some time, and he may gain an early win for his new trainqr.

To Race at New Brighton Esteem will have her first start since ■being bought last May for IlOOgns by Mr C. P. Agar, of Christchurch, in the Introductory Handicap at the New Brighton meeting on Saturday. Now trained by V. Leeming at Prebbleton, Esteem is a five-year-old mare by Josedale Grattan from Admiration. She showed useful form last season, and was most impressive when she beat Young Wexford and Wayward Peter in the Epsom Stakes at the Auckland Cup meeting. She paced the mile and a half in 3min 12 3-ssec. ■ If Esteem is at her best she may be prominent on Saturday. Overdue Win

, The veteran Grattan Loyal gelding, Goldina, gained a long-overdue win in the President’s Handicap, the Alain race at the Waikato Trotting Club’s meeting Ust. Saturday. Goldina had not been successful since he won • double at Epsom in September, 1951. His success on Saturday was not entirely unexpected, as he had been working well, and he paid only £ll Ils for a win. Goldina began well from 36 yards, and A. W. Broughton soon had him handily placed. He

moved up very fast racing to the straight, and finished on strongly to beat Te Koi. Goldina, which is trained by one of his part-owners, J. W. McKendrick, at Epsom, will be on hand for the Auckland meeting later this month, when he may again race well. New Brighton Brackets

The following horses will be bracketed on the totalisator at the New Brighton Trotting Club’s spring meeting on Saturday:— Introductory Handicap: Kingsdown Grattan and Drucilla. Avon Handicap: Super Nurse and Camdon, Lexeter and Loraine. Oxford Handicap: Lillian Dale and Double Brook. Johns’ Handicap: Roy Grattan and Dourglo. Spring Handicap: Demimonde and General Lee. Cambridge Handicap: Lucky Spot and Hyperbole, Deveron and Sue Scott. H. E. Goggin Handicap: Lodestar and Jaunty. Electric Handicap: Scott Wrack and Maori Queen, Caduceus, Our Roger, and Brava. < Strong Bracket * The West Melton trainer, J. D. Litten, will produce a strong bracket in the Electric Handicap at New Brighton on Saturday. Litton has Caduceus, Our Roger and Brava engaged. All three showed outstanding form at the recent Addington meeting, and, if conditions are favourable on'Saturday, it will not surprise if all three are placed. Caduceus was a winner on the first day at Addington, when Brava won the main sprint race. Our Roger finished second to Denbry in the National Handicap* last week. Any one df the three horses would probably be favourite for the race if he was started alone, but with three such smart performers in a bracket, it seems certain that the odds about them will be very short.

BETTING IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA PROPOSED OFF-COURSE SYSTEM The Western Australian State Government is considering the introduction of legislation which may sound the death-knell of starting-price bookmaking. If it is convinced of the soundness of a proposition submitted by the West, ern Australian Turf Club and the Western Australian Trotting Association, the Government may seek to introduce off-the-course totalisators throughout the State. The totalisators would be similar to those operating in New Zealand. The president of the Western Australian Trotting Association (Mr J. P. Stratton) has assured the Government thpt the racing and trotting organisations will finance the whole scheme. All that was needed, he said, was the passing of legislation making off-the-course betting legal. The scheme could begin in country areas almost immediately. Western Australia is not the only State in Australia that is interested in starting off-the-course betting. Representatives of other States have visited New Zealand in recent months to investigate the operations of the Totalisator Agency Board, and all have been most impressed with the scheme. Australian experts expect Western Australia to be the first State to have off-the-course betting facilities. South Australia and Victoria will probably be next, but it is expected that it will be many years before bookmakers can be suppressed sufficiently in New South Wales to warrant the inauguration of off-the-course betting.

NIGHT MEETINGS AT FORBURY PARK

FURTHER BALLOT ON PLAN SUGGESTED (New Zealand Press Association) DUNEDIN, .September 1. A majority of the members of the Fortjury Park Trotting Club who attended the annual meeting last evening expressed the opinion that the voting papers sent to members concerning the holding of night trotting meetings lacked the necessary information. A motion was carried that the committee should consider holding a further ballot of members, with all the relevant information on the papers.