AUSTRALIAN RACING

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 187, 7 May 1934, Page 13

AUSTRALIAN RACING

Blixten Scores a Win FORESTRY RUNS SECOND By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. (Received May 6, 6-30 p.m-) , Sydney, May & At the Warwick Farm races the following was the result of the DKNIIAM COURT HANDICAP, bix furlongs. BLIXTEN. 8.9 (McCarten) 1 VEILANTIF, 7.5 (Mortimer) 2 TOM PINCH, 8.0 (Lamb) 3 Eight started, including Dole. Three-quarters of a length; half a length. Time* 1.14. Forestry finished second in the Warwick May Handicap, and Upoko Arikl second In the’ Edensor Park Handicap. The following was the result at Melbourne of the _ ASCOT FIVE HUNDRED (£o00), about five furlongs and a half. ASCOT FIVE HUNDRED (£500). About five furlongs and a half. PHENOMENON, 8.6 (Cann) 1 FOURTH BATTERY, 7.2 ..(Dewhurst) 2 CALL BIRD, 8.8 (Wilson) 3 Seventeen started. Hall a length. Time, 1.6}. As the horses were going to the barrier for the Encourage Handicap the stipendiary stewards ordered the jockey of one horse to dismount. They searched his clothing and also made a thorough inspection of his whip. Nothing was discovered. The horse ran unplaced. At the South Australian Jockey Club’s autumn meeting at Morpethville the following was the result of the GOODWOOD HANDICAP. Six furlongs. FLORENCE, 7.7 (Hopwood) 1 SIMON S BIER, 8.4 (Graetz) 2 YULTEWIRRA, 8.10 (Cook) 3 Nineteen started, including Tenterden and Huntingdon. Head. Time, 1.12 J. RACING ROMANCE Career of National Winner DAM’S OWNER WAR VICTIM Possibly no more romantic story has ever been told of the antecedents of a famous racehorse than that of Golden Miller, who won a great Grand National on March 23 for Lord Queensborough's daughter, Miss Dorothy Paget. In 1914, when war was declared, a young officer quartered in Ireland went to the door of a County Meath farmer with whom he had had some horse-dealing transactions. He Said he had been mobilised and was going to France, and would the farmer keep a mare for him until he returned? The farmer did not even know the name of the officer, but he said he would keep the mare. The officer went to France and never returned, nor was the farmer ever able to trace him. Some years later the mare was put to the stud, and she foaled the horse that has now achieved fame as Golden Miller. Not thought much of as a yearling, be was sold for something like £lOO to a Limerick farmer, Mr. Quinn. Tins gentleman kept him a couple of years, and Mr. Robert Gore, who has won Grand Nationals with Jerry M. and Covertcoat, went to Ireland to buy him, but found he had been forestalled by Mr. Galway Greer, who bought him for £3OO. Lanky Scarecrow. Mr. Basil Briscoe, who had just come down from Cambridge, was then starting training, and he asked his friend, Mr. Dick Farmer, the well-known Leicestershire dealer, who was going to Ireland, to buy him a horse. Mr. Fanner saw Golden Miller, and bought him for £5OO. Mr. Briscoe was not impressed by the horse, for he was a great, lanky, scare-crow-like individual. He began to pick up, however, and when he had shown some racing merit Mr. Briscoe sold him to the late Mr. Phillip-Carr. Not long afterward Miss Paget was bringing some of the Whitney millions, which she inherited from her American mother, into racing, and she gave £6OOO for Golden Miller. His career since has been one of dazzling success, foe he has won her no fewer than three Cheltenham Gold Cups, and now the Grand National. His victory in record time stamps him as one of the great steeplechasers of the century. Miss Paget’s luck is in strange contrast to that of her cousin, Mr, John Hay Whitney, whose Thomond II finished third. It was the third time in a few years that he has had a horse placed in the Grand National, and he has yet to win it. American wealth played a great part in the 1934 Grand National, for Mr. Snow, the owner of Delaneige, who finished second, comes from the United States, although he has long lived iin England. More than . 1700 guests toasted the success of Miss Dorothy Paget at a banquet and carnival in the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool on Grand National night. Miss Paget was present, with G. Wilson, the jockey, and Mr. Basil Briscoe, the trainer. The banquet room was decorated, with her colours, and contained a replica of the National course. Nominations for the annual meeting of the Rangitikei Racing Club, to be held nt Bulls on May 19, will close to-night at 9 o’clock. The telegraph office at Bulls closes at 5 p.m. Answers to Correspondents. “Rob,” Dannevirke: £B/3/-; £2/11/6, £l/7/6; £l/15/-. “Rooked,” Mauriceville: (1) £3/1/-. (2) 19/-. “R.D..” Waitotara: £l/5/-.