THE RACING WORLD

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 297, 14 September 1927, Page 16

THE RACING WORLD

— « NOTES AND COMMENTS

“Wager,” Temuka.—See “Referee” iext week. Nominations for all events (including the Trial Plate) at the spring meeting of the Otaki Maori Racing Club will ■ close on Friday, at 8 p.m. | The spring meeting of the Dannevirke ' Racing Club will be held to-day, and . will be followed to-morrow by the annual steeplechase meeting of the Dannevirke Hunt Club. Acceptances are large for both days, and it looks as if the club is in for better weather than was the case 12 months ago, when a piercingly cold and wet spell ended in snow falling as racegoers left the course. Judging by the comments of several writers throughout New Zealand, their readers got a “raw” deal from the fact that several horses at Wanganui wereleft off the list of As usual, the majority of them were winners, and included Arataura, Rose Bush, and Knightlike. , S. Reid returned to Trentham from Wanganui with Chit, and he sent Cosmetic on to race at Dannevirke. Chit ■will leave for Auckland on Monday next provided she does well in the meantime. J. W. Lowe returned to Trentham from Wanganui for the week-end, and went back again yesterday. He will go to Auckland on Thursday with Catkin and Flying Binge. H. Lorigan decided at Wanganui to retire Orchid permanently from the race track, and he gave him back to his breeders, the Messrs. O’Neill, and the old Absurd gelding will end his days in comfort on their station Lorigan did well with Orchid, winning good races at Dunedin and Riccarton, as well as in the North Island, but it was evident from his recent form that his racing days were numbered. Racing at Dannevirke to-day and tomorrow will commence at 11.45 a.m. In the Glengary Hurdles Arataura has gone up to 11.7, but at a mile and a half his opponents will find him hard to beat unless the track is very heavy. Revel would have to be considered if in form, and Braeman may do best of the lot on the minimum. There is very little form of any merit ' amongst the acceptors in the Tiratu Maiden Stakes. Rosebush having won at Wanganui is. not Eligible. Abisogne, Heather Blend, and Excess are the best. of those who have done much racing. Marton and Wanganui form points to Beaumont running well in the President’s Handicap, and he should be prominent. H. Hickey has a useful pair of sprinters in Royal Damon and Epistle engaged, and his elect should be dangerous. Decoy Bird has been a disappointing horse, but in his best form he can go fast, as lie showed when he beat Joy King at Napier last season. Arrow Lad was a fair class two-year-old. Beaumont’s recent racing makes him look a good prospect, but if Decoy Bird is forward he would be hard to beat, end Hickey’s elect seems the next best. In the Umutaoroa Handicap backers will probably go for Ateriria after his showing against Nasstori at Wanganui, and a repetition of that running will see him very prominent. Vigilance,

Reckless, and Arch Arrow should all show up. On Wanganui form Tresham should defeat Royal Game again over a mile and a quarter, and he is likely to be the favourite for the Neagle Memorial Handicap. Now that he lias struck form he is likely to go on winning. Tame Fox must be given a good chance on his recent form, and Imperial Spark is i likely one to improve. Tanagra won so well at Marton that he is iikely to be in demand in the Tahoraite Handicap, but lie, Musical, and Moepai claim a later engagement. If started, Tanagra seems likely to run rery prominently, and of the others Butterscotch and Lady Faye have the best recent form. Ths Ruahins Handicap has drawn a useful field. The way Royal Land won at Wanganui was impressive and if started he should prove difficult. Horomea -ran good races at the Grand National meeting in better class and should show up to-day, while Starboard Light should be a possibility after his running at Marton. The Harris Cup field contains some useful hacks. Musical, Cerf and Tanagra should all run prominently above 8.0, and possibly Grand National may run better than at Marton, where the ground was all against him .Vigilance is a possible lightweight. Cerf, Tanagra and Grand National may do best. Jericho is to bo given every chance to make good as a sire, as Mr. Gouldintends to send Scrip, Coulcur de Rose, and an untried two-year-old by Clarenceux from Wink to him. Mr. Gould has a yearling half-brother by Kilbroney to Jericho at his stud, and the youngster who will race as Juniper, is stated to show a lot of quality, and to resemble his relative in many ways. Palestrina, Jericho’s half-sister, is due shortly to foal to the English-bred horse, Shambles. Knightlike, the winner of the Wanga- • Hui Debutante Stakes, the first two-year-

old race of the season, was bred by the late Mr. J. F. Buchanan at the KiuI loch Stud, Little River. He is by Paladin and is the first foal of Sweet Charity. an imported inaro by Diadumenos, an Orby horse, who is also represented I at the Kinloch Stud by his son Diacquenod. Knightliko was a good looking colt J when offered at auction at Trentham last January and he excited keen competition before Mr. A. B. Williams secured him for 900 guineas. Mr E. W. Hursthouse, of Wellington, wrote to the Taranaki Jockey Club recently forwarding a copy of his grandfather’s diary, giving an interesting and full account of the first meeting in New Plymouth in 1849. It was decided by the committee to write thanking Mr Hursthouse, for it. and it was agreed to have tho copy printed and framed and hung in the stewards’ room at the .racecourse. Rapier made a good impression by running a mile on the grass at Riccarton on Saturday morning. He was picked up over the second half by his stable-mate. Lancer and galloping resolutely completed tho journey in an attractive manner. Present plans are to race the Greyspear horse at Ashburton next week. When Mr. Vivian Riddiford purchased Graciosia in England, he had her mated to Trespasser to New Zealand time, and she has foaled a colt, whose progress will bo followed with interest. Graciosia is by the Derby winner Gay., Crusader (son of Bayardo) from Mistrella, a daughter of Cyllene. Trespasser is by Kildare 11, a French-bred horse by Le Samaritain. whose son. Roi Herode, sired The Tetrarch. Trespasser in addition to being a winner on the flat was the champion hurdler of England a few seasons' ago. Graciosia is ualtsister to Beam, winner of this years English Oaks. A good gallop was witnessed at Biccarton on Saturday between Hoylake, Assurance and Master Clarence (says the “Press”), the trio covering seven furlongs on the trial grass in fast time. There was very* little between them at the finish, the English colt having. a slight advantage over the other pair, who crossed the lino, together. Margaret Birney and Chickwheat were.associated in a gallop over a mile, finishing on terms. The time registered was good, and both should run well forward in coming events. Son o’ Mine, who finished third to Limerick and Merry Mint in the Chelmsford Stakes, is another of the English importations of Mr. Sol Green, whose Gothic won at Warwick Farm a week earlier. Gothic is favourite for the Epsom Handicap, while Son o’ Mine is favourite for tho Melbourne Cup. Son o’ Mine is a maiden, and as such he was able to claim an allowance in Saturday’s race. His form, therefore, was not impressive, judged from the weight-for-aga standard, but if he is a stayer ho may be hard to beat in the Melbourne Cup, in which ho is weighted at eight stone. It is interesting at • this stage to read the following comment on him by the Sydney writer “Pilot.” who is a sound judge:. Son o’ Mine has grown and improved in marked fashion since I saw him last spring. At that time 1 remarked to Mr. 8. Green that the black did not greatly impress me, to which he .replied that I might have to change my tune. That is not improbable, as Son o’ Mino now looks “a real horse” and gallops in taking fashion. I must, add, though, that his prominent position in tho Mel-

bourne Cup quotations, is not quite justified. He is a maiden, and, as he will be about the equivalent., of an autumn three-year-old to Australian time when that race is run, he is not thrown in with Bst. Occasionally friends ask me to make a wager for them at tho races, but I always refuse, as once I forgot to put a “tenner” on a horse, and as the horse won at 5 to 1 I had to pay. The lesson was costly, and (says an Australian writer) it will never be forgotten. A well-known owner—who particularly requested that his name should not be mentioned —had a somewhat similar experience at Williamstown recently, only that he did not forget to make the wager but decided to act the part of bookmaker himself. He thought the horse his friend asked him to back had no chance. This is how it all happened. Before going to the races he was discussing the prospects with a friend, who commented on Duncan s failure to ride a winner at tho last few meetings held in Melbourne. “Ho is nearly sure to win a race to-day, and I wish you would put a “fiver” on his first mount. If ho wins stop; if he is beaten make the next bet a ‘tenner,’ and so on.” Well, my friend arrived on the course and found Duncan did not have a mount in the Seaside Handicap—the first flat race—so ho waited to see what he was riding in tho Underwood Stakes. When he saw Duncan’s mount was Royal Charter he decided to be the bookmaker and lay his friend tho odds. Royal Charter’s starting price was 33 to 1. A cheque for ,£165 was posted, and there is now a sadder but wiser man walking about Melbourne. The English jockey Gordon Richards, who is doing so well this season,, went into a sanatorium a year ago owing to lung trouble threatening. He stuck to the sanatorium life, and not only is ho sound again, but is credited with being about a 101 b. stronger rider than prior to his temporary retirement. An English newspaper critic recently wrote as follows concerning Richards: He makes the most difficult horses go smoothly for . him, such is his instinct for jockeyship; he has that faculty which has always distinguished Donoghue of getting well

away and immediately getting his horse | balanced and racing; and, while he has j the maximum of dash and enterprise, Im can ride as fine a finish as the best of the others. The other day Captain Allison, the Jockey Club’s starter was telling me that Richards is very quiet at the post, lie never says a word or shouts requests to tho starter. While some are continually shouting, "No, sir. No, sir,” he concentrates on tho start itself, and is generally first away. Tho Australian automatic totalisator, ‘ which is being erected at Longchamp, 1 will bo appreciated by Parisian racegoers. In a tirade against the totalisator a London exchange stated that after tho Ist Grand Prix, it took twenty-five minutes to ascertain the dividends. Ono reason why so many English racing men are strongly opposed to the tote is that their ideas of it are based on what they have seen in the pari-mutuel in France. That is very primitive by comparison with an up-to-date machine in New Zealand or Australia, as not only is it impossible to learn the aggregate investments, but at 'Longchamp dividends are chalked on a not too conspicuous blackboard in tho paddock. With the system that lias been in vogue it is nut surprising there were tremendous leakages. Fraud was easy when a few employees combined for that purpose. FIXTURES. „ 9—Egmont-Wanganui Hunt Club. „ 10—Otago Hunt Club. „ 11—Dannevirke K.C. „ 15—Dannevirke Hunt Club. „ 24—Ashburton County K.C. „ 24. 2ft—Napier Park K.C. „ 24. 2ft—Avondale J.C. . „ 29, 30—Geraldine R.C. Oct. I—Hawke's Bay J.C. „ 6—Manawatu Hunt Club. „ ft—Kurow J.C „ 7, B—Otakl-Maorl R.C. „ 8, 10—Auckland R.C. „ 8, 10—Oamaru J.C. „ 13, 15-Du nod in J.C. „ 15—Carterton K.C. ' „ 19, 20—Cromwell J.C. „ 22. 24—Waikato R.C. „ 24—Waverley R.C. „ 24, 2ft—Gore R.C. „ 24—Waipawa County R.C. „ 24—North Canterbury R.C. „ 27, 29—Poverty Bay Turf Club. „ 29—Masterton R.C. „ 29, 31—Thames J.C.