THE RACING WORLD

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 288, 1 September 1931, Page 13

THE RACING WORLD

NOTES AND COMMENTS

(By “The Watcher.”) “Homer” in the list of nominations for the New Zealand Cup should be Flower.

T. Green resumed riding at New Plymouth on Saturday and secured a couple of seconds on Forceful and Seatown.

There is every prospect of the proposed change in dates—Otaki to the Masterton week-end, October 16 and 17, and Hawke’s Bay to Otaki’s, October 10—going through without a hitch.

Mr. M. H. Tims has decided to send his brood mare March to Vaals this season. March is the dam of Te 'Kara, Queen March, and other winners.

The two-year-old Sea Ruler continues to do well in his work at; Te Awamutu. Horses trained on this track are usually very forward for the early spring meetings. Four-year-olds have an imposing record of successes in the New Zealand Cup, and in this year’s race there are 15 entrants of that age. Mrs. 0. Haldane has claimed the name of Swift and Sure for her bay gelding by Bold and Bad from Chelae. The filly by Diaquenod from Lady Fern has been named Queen’s Diadem, and Chief Salute is the name for the chestnut filly by Chief Ruler from Soot. There are six three-year-olds in the New Zealand Cup this year—Granado, Peter Jackson, Croupier, King Colossus, Dulen and Flower. Three-year-olds do not often contest this event When they , have done so in the past they have, in the majority of cases, either been good enough to win or prove hard to beat. Gold Dawn, who won the open sprint at New Plymouth on Saturday, owes a good deal of the success to her forward condition. Gold Dawn is a sister to Bright Glow. She has never reached the same class as her sister, though her best form has been decidedly useful. Balloon, who is now running in the same colours as Tenacre and trained by J. Brown at Hawera, ran a creditable third to Richfield and Seatown on Saturday. This was his first start since the Pahiatua meeting last January, and it is an indication that he is near his best form again. Avondale nominations and forfeits for the Stakes and Guineas will close on Friday at 5 p.m. Fernden has been schooled over hurdles at Wanganui and is said to be shaping satisfactorily. He is entered for the hurdle race on the sedbntl day of the local meeting. Coon Song and Moutoa Treasury, are a couple of new recruits to the hurdling game entered for events over the sticks at Wanganui. ■ Black Mint, who is among the entries for the New Zealand Cup this year, has unsuccessfully contested the last three Cups.

Confident. In Sydney opinions are divided as to whether Ammon Ba will stay or not when the question arises in the A.J.O. Derby. Some say he is too brilliant to stay for the Derby distance of a mile and a half, and his pace will, burn out his stamina early in the “classic” race. On the .other hand- he has at least one very confident supporter among the Sydney writers. He writes“ That sort of argument worked out very well with Soornk, a noted three-year-old sprinter, who met his master in Rivoli after leading for the greater part of the Derby at z ßandwick, but it has been overlooked that it is possible to have combined both a sprinter and a stayer. Heroic was one of these,, and fie was able to.hold his own up to a mile and a half with the best of his age. Good as Heroic wasj one inclines to the opinion that Ammon Ha is one of the best horses who has raced in Australia. Built on generous lines, the son of Limond shows much more class than even Limerick did at the same age. Both Derbies are his, barring accidents.” Should Improve.

'Gibraltar, who scored his first win at the Taranaki Hunt meeting, ran eight times as a two-year-old, but was only once in the money. He was, however, a big, overgrown colt, and he should be able to do a lot better this season. He owes a good deal of his success on Saturday to Gray’s handling, and there was nothing imposing in the field that he beat, but it shows that he has gone on the right way since last raced. His First Money. Forceful, who b'eat all but Gibraltar in the Opunake Scurry at the Taranaki Hunt meeting on Saturday, is the Aus-tralian-bred three-year-old purchased as a yearling' for 100 guineas by Mr. J. Fredric, owner-o£ Seatown. He is by High Force from Bretelle by Haut Brion from Collarette by Castor. High Force is a Tracery horse standing in Queensland, where Forceful was bred, and he has sired some useful, performers. Forceful raced three times last season without success. Superstition. The desire to get rich ajt a small risk was displayed on August 10, .when the New South Wales State lottery opened for business. A queue of several thousands lined up at the doors of the State Savings Bunk buildings, and hundreds still remained when the doors closed at 4 p.m. One man lined up with a horseshoe in his hand. A Solid Mare. Royal Finance won only three races last season, but she put up several good performances, one or two in open company. She is a very solid mare, and can be relied upon, when soreness does not hinder her, to produce her best form. She won very easily at New Plymouth on Saturday, and although it was only against a moderate lot of hacks it was an encouraging start for the new season. Ammon Ba Outstanding. On the form they have shown so far, it would be waste of time and money to take any , of the three-year-olds to oppose Ammon Ra in the Derby (says a Melbourne writer). Certainly there are a few fair gallopers among them, but they fall far below Derby form. Already most of our leading trainers have stated that they will not be represented at the carnival. Illustrious, a son of Heroic, in J. Scobie’s stables, showed good form in Melbourne in the autumn, and he will probably be Scobie’s representative in the Derby. He may possibly rise to great heights, but at the moment he is just a good colt and nothing more. He is out of the New Zealand-bred mare Pot Pourri, and cost his owner, Mr. Agar Wynne, 1025 guineas as a yearling. Promising Two-year-old. Tea Trader, who impressed by his showing in the two-year-old parade at the I’akuranga meeting, is owned by Mr.

R. T. Reid, of Hamilton, and is trained at Takanini by P. E. Pope. The Tea Tray—Epitaph colt is a well-grown chestnut with two white stockings on his hind legs. Not only is he one of the best grown twq-year-olds seen out at this stage of the'season, but he is also well advanced in condition (says an Auckland writer). Possessed of an easy style of galloping, Tea Trader covers the ground with a minimum of effort, and he looks like playing his part well in the early classics for candidates of his age.

Dearth of Stayers. ♦ One of the moat fruitful topics of discussion in racing circles is the paucity of top-notch stayers in this country in recent years (says an English writer). Breeders are commonly saddled with the blame. It is urged against them that they show a decided preference to breed' for speed rather than stamina. There may be some foundation for such an assertion, but may not methods of training also have something to do with it? That, at least, is the view of one well-known trainer with whom I discussed the subject recently. “Horses intended for long-distance events should never be raced as two-year-olds,” he said. “It takes too heavy a toll of their vitality while they are still immature.” It is an interesting theory. Brown Jack, unquestionably the best stayer in the country, was three years old before he saw a racecourse; so was Salmon Leap, which bids fair to succeed him. Another instance is Blue Vision, a stable-compan-ion of Brown Jack, which won the Northumberland Plate a few weeks agO in such easy style. Big Money.

The Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park was for years the most valuable prize to be won on the Turf. Last year the Aga Khan, who won the race with Rustom Pasha, received £10,528, which was £492 more than he got for winning the Derby with Blenheim. This year the Derby is an easy first, and the Two Thousand Guineas second. These races were worth £12,161 and £11,472 respectively to Mr. J. A. Dewar, the owner of Cameronian. This year’s Eclipse Stakes was worth, roughly, £10,060, which was increased by £5OO, Lord Derby, owner of the winner, receiving that premium as the breeder. The One Thousand Guineas this year brought £8854 to Lord Ellesmere, the owner of Four Course, and Lt.-Col. Birkiu won £9067 when Brulette took the Oaks. It is interesting to note that the Grand National was worth more than either of. the fillies’ classics. Mr. T. K. Laidlaw, owner of Grakle, won £0385. Dannevirke Finances.

The annual meeting of the Dannevirke Racing Club on Thursday evening was presided over by Mr. R, E. Bunny, the retiring president, who said that the loss for the year was £154, after allowing for depreciation of £156. This was certainly very satisfactory, in view of the fact that the overdraft had been reduced by £5OO. He advised members to keep a stiff lip, and better times would come again. The club had had difficulties in the past and had overcome them and would do so again. He was sure members would be pleased , that Mr. Frank Armstrong—a man with an untarnished reputation from a racing viewpoint—had accepted the position of president, and with Mr. Jonathan Holden as patron, the future of the club should be assured. Mr. Bunny acknowledged the assistance given the club by Messrs. Armstrong, Cyril Hunter, and Jonathan Holden when it was in distress. A Derby Hope.

Last year the A.J.C. Derby was won by a Treclare colt that cost only 175 guineas as a yearling, Tr.egilla. as he was named by his purchaser, W. Tindall, having, unfortunately for, bis buyer, to be disposed of before he won the Blue Riband. There appears a respectable chance of Treclare being'in the picture again this year with Saturday's Warwick Stakes winner, Johnnie Jason, and if Johnnie Jason should happen to win the Derby, still another case of a cheap yearling becoming famous will be recorded, as he cost only 120 guineas at the sales. A coincidence is that Tregilla is out of a Maltster mare, Maltgilla, while Johnnie Jason is dut of Sweet Rosaleen, by Varco from Miss Boss by Maltster. Sales in England.

In England there apnears to be rather a slump in the thoroughbred industry. Recently, at Newmarket, Messrs. Tattersails conducted a sale, but the result was not encouraging for the yearling distribution a few days later. On the day referred to. the late Mr. S, B. Joel’s stud was offered, and the best prices realised were 1200 guineas for the six-year-old horse Fleeting Memory, by Vancedor from Memoria 11, and 1250 guineas for the two-year-old bay colt Bayport, by Polyphonies from Bayamo. Mr. J. A. Dewar was among’the vendors, and his four-year-old chestnut horse Culloden changed hands at 710 guineas. The Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston has retired from turf pursuits, and her aged brown gelding was sold for. 1100, and this must be considered a good price in the circumstances. Colonel, and Mrs. Sofer Whitburn are also forsaking direct interests in the turf, and their racing establishment will soon come under the hammer. French Winner—English Bred.

Latest files to hand show that the winner of this year’s Grand Prix do Paris, Barneveldt, ' whose sire (The, Winter King) and dam (Black Domino) were both hv e d in England, was again successful at the Saint-Cloud meeting on July 5. Starting at fair odds in a field of nine, he made the veriest hacks of his opponents in the. Prix du President de la Republique, one mile four and a half furlongs, and wound up a six lengths winner from Tourbillon, who" earlier in the season had won the French Derby and had finished third in the Grand Prix, for which he was a very warm-order favourite. Barneveldt is owned by the Comte de Rivaud. and the value of the stake in his latest race was £3225, or exactly half the prize attached to the Grand Prix. Keen to Win Grand National.

The American owner Mr. J. H. Whitney loves a steeplechaser, and, not to be daunted by Easter Hero's failure to capture a Liverpool Grand National, he has embarked on the purchase of another Irish jumper. Old Bachelor, whom competent judges consider a worthy successor to the old champion, who has now been retired to pass the remainder of his days on Mr. Whitney’s estate in America. The deal for the purchase of Old Bachelor was carried through by Mr. Whitney’s English trainer, J. Anthony, who travelled specially to Bellewstown to see Old Bachelor ryn iu the Drogheda Tradesmen’s Steeplechase early in July. The gelding won so easily that Anthony promptly cabled to Mr. Whitney in America, and received instructions to complete the deal. Old Bachelor, like Easter Hero, is a half-bred. He was got by Bachelor’s Jap out of Donors Grc.cn, and cost only 70 guineas when sold as a yearling at Dublin. Mr. Hartigan then bought him and turned him out on grass until last season, when he resold him to Charlie Rogers for Mrs. B. M. Webster, for whom this season he had won four steeplechases and one fiat race, and liad been unplaced only twice in eight outings. Lancer.

Lancer is unfortunately an unsound horse, and therefore difficult to train. Two years ago ago he was one of the well-fancied candidates for the Grand National Hurdles, and finished third to Mangani and Aberfeldy. This year bis trainer had not been able to give him as much work as he would have liked, and liad he had a race or two during the latter part of the winter to season him for the long journey he would have probably reversed the placings with Calle mart. Lancer’s dam, Bella Donna, by Vasco from the St. Clair mare Belle Clair, also produced Huntley, who beat Raineses in the Styx Hurdles. The latter, unfortunately, is slightly affected in the wind, but, like Lancer, a very clever, fast jumper. Lancer is now ar. eight-year-old gelding, and if he could throw off his uusoundness he still has plenty of time to win a Grand National Hurdle Race. There is no better natural stayer at the game in the Dominion at present,

CAERLEON CASE No Unpleasant Features HORSE UNRELIABLE The latest English mail furnishes full details of the Caerleon inquiry, instituted by the stewards of the Jockey Club after he had unexpectedly won the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown following upon a prior indifferent performance. It seems fairly clear from a reading of the reports that the cable messages at the time gave an obscure picture of the incident. To begin with, Caerleon, who started at long odds, was not an unpopular winner. Loud applause greeted Tommy M eston as he rode Caerleon into the unsaddling enclosure after winning the i Eclipse Stakes at Sandown, t says one writer. He deserved the ovation, for he had ridden a brilliant race. He did not forget to pay tribute to his mount. Caerleon ran a good, game race, and never gave me the slightest uneasiness, he told me. The happiest man on the course was Mr. George Lnmbton. lie was like a delighted schoolboy, and it was a pleasure to see how owners, trainers, and Hockeys of defeated candidates crowded round in their eagerness to grasn his hand in congratulation. Lord Derby’s luck seems to have turned at long last. ■ The stewards of the Sandown Park meeting—Lord Lonsdale, Sir William Bass, and Colonel Giles Loder—resumed the Caerleon inqui-v after the first race on the next day of the meeting, and issued the following statement: — “The' stewards at Sandown Park held an inquiry into the running of Caerleon in the Eclipse Stakes as compared with his previous running in the Duke of Cambridge Handicap at' Newmarket on July 1. “Weston (the jockey) stated that the horse ran ungenerously at Newmarket. Mr. Lambton (the trainer), stated that his horses had been coughing badly in June, that Caerleon was a peculiar tempered horse who could not be relied on, and that he had liad great difficulty in trailing him, but that the horse had made great l improvement since he ran at Newmarket., The stewards, in view of the fact that they considered that, this had been a false-run race, were satisfied with Mr. Lamhton’s explanation." The race was run in 2min. 14 2-ssec., which was comparatively poor time for this event. The stewards, it would seem, incline to the opinion that if a strong pace had been set from the start and maintained Caerleon would not have won (says the “Daily Mail’s special correspondent). Lord Derby, the owner of Caerleon. would be the first to admit that the circumstances of the case called for investigation. He often acts as a local steward, and I am sure that be viewed with much displeasure the presumptuous non-offleial but apparently authoritative' statement supplied to the Press to the effect that the inquiry had been finished, and that the explanation had been accepted. The inquiry was not then complete, and this attempt to anticipate the stewards’ finding was most unfortunate.

Fixtures. September B —Otago Hunt Club. September 12—Dunedin J.C. September 17, 19—Wanganui J.C. September 10—Ashburton County K.C. September 24, 20 —Geraldine K.C. September 20—Hawke's Bay J.C. September 26, 28—Avondale J.C. October 3—Napier Park K.C. October 3—Kurow J.C. October 3, s—Auckland K.C. October 9. 10—Otaki-Maorl R.C. October 10—Dunedin J.C. October 17—South Canterbury J.C. October 17, 19—Dargavllle K.C. October 24, 20—Wellington K.C. October 24, 20—Gore K.C. October 26—Waverley R.C. October 26—Waikato Hunt Club. October 26—Wnipawa County R.C. October 26—North Canterbury R.C. October 29, 31—Poverty Bay Turf Club. October 31—Banks Peninsula R.C. October 31—Carterton R.C. November 4—Marton J.C. ‘ November 5, 7—Whangarei R.C. November 7,9, 11. 14—Canterbury J.C. November 14, 16—Waikato R.C. November 20, 21—Winton J.C. November 21—Levin R.C. November 21 & 23—To Kuiti R.C. November 28, 39—Taknpuna J.C. November 28, 30—Feildlng J.C.