THE TURF. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 24, 29 January 1908, Page 3

THE TURF. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Racing men arc indignant with 4 Southern contemporary which professes to be a guide along the tortuous mazes of the turf. A paragraph was published by it recently to the effect that Du&ky Morn, a candidate for Newmarket honours, could run six furlongs in lmin 12sec any day of the week. To publish such a statement, which on tho face of it is a fatuous one, is manifestly unfair to a straight-going owner of. the stamp of Mr. G. F. Moore. ' More.over, as it not unlikely was cabled to Melbourne, the V.R.C. handicapper might- be unconsciously biased by reading such "information," and would - treat Dusky Morn with the utmost deference. Mr. G. F. Moore has displayed a teportsrr.anlike spirit in taking on the NewmarKet at such short notice. Dusky Morn is" a smart sprinter, no doubt, but no champion as yet. That is taking the gelding's public form, and that is what a handicapper ought to award weight on. It is satisfactory to learn that several owners, who are well-known on tho other side, took prompt steps to deny the accuracy of the foolish paragraph in question by cabling to Melbourne. . > ( Tho Racing Conference has drawn up a long list of conditions to which bookmakers will be expected to comply. Strangely enougl ,the twenty clauses or so d,p not ".contain, any reference to the very important matter of financial standing. A fielder before he can plyV his trade in Australia must either deposit a substantial amount with the club or find solid guarantors. So far this season almost anyt'one who can rake up enough money to pay the club his license fee and\ hire a bag fpr the day. can pose as 'a- bookmaker. . Consequently thb personnel ofv.the fielders is ' indeed. Complaints have been heard alraady this season, and, although some may be' traceable to misunderstandings on the. 'part of backers, yet there, remains "a, proportion of complaints which indicate the necessity for a TattersallV, Ciiib — where hackers and bookmakers can adjust their disputes. The bookmakfctt, arc in the main good m?n of business and they will see to it that the Having Conference dees not drive too", hard a bargain. Fpr example, clause eight, which stipulates that the bookmakers shall not bet after the closing of ' the tctaliwtov, is a fair and reasonable provision. The club's principal source of revenue is the machine, ,and they can. scarcely be expected to place the fie'.ders in the exceptionally favourable position of getting the mass of wagering which is possible aiter v tke machine has .closed. Again, if tlie clubs cannot have a double machine why should they allow the bookmakers to bet in this popular way, 'for it casnet be denied that it diverts money from the tote? Also, it is a wise precaution to debar- bookmakers from, owning horses. r A bookmaliing owner is trying to serve two masters — and it is well-high impossible. Clause fifteen is another objected against. It provides that clubs ,with stakes pot exceeding £400 .are privileged to charge £20 per day if less than six bookmakers apply. This safe-" guard i 3 necessary for the small country clubs, where, on the average,, five, horses and less start in a race'; '.and" it is ai meetings such as these that bookmakers will capture two thirds of tho betting^ With the loss of totalisator revenue these clubs would be threatened with extinction unless they were recouped by equivalent revenue from the bookmakers. > "Sentinel" thus discourses anent Mon Ami's dam: — Satanell*, whose threeyear old daughter, Mon Ami (carrying the colours worn by Solution when she made herself famous), was amongst the •winners on the first day of the Wellington meeting has marked herself as one of the most prolific broodmares in our stud book. Satanella was foaled in 1881 and the first of her produce appeared in 1886, She was put to the horse every year from 1885 to 1905. when she produced a filly to Soult, but was then spelled. ' If memory is not at fault she produced a foal 'this season. Amongst tho many of her stock St. Clements and St. Paul stand out as very successful racehorses. The former was a champion sprinter and the latter could'go both fast and stay. St. Clements has bequeathed his speed, and some of his stock are proving fairly good winners. Others of the Satanella. tribe which possess merit aTe Linstock, St. Ursula, and St. Peter, and now we have Mon Ami. The American jockey of tb.e type of D. Maher, L. Lyne, and W. O'Connor is a "heady" fellow, who in addition to riding abilfty can talk and write as well; W. O'Connor, the versatile American, confesses that he is proud to see .that tbte famous American seat brought across tho Atlantic by biro and by his colleagues has become universal. He- declares tha,t the American seat knits man and' horse together, giving 1 him perfect control over his mount, and offering a contrast to the riding of a few yeais ago, when a. jockey was "all over" his saddle, and whip up at the finish. The origin of the new Beat he ascribes to a jockey up^ng watched) a monkey at a circus, \vhich seemed quit© at home perched on the withers of a' pony. Racing he describes as vastly dif- " ferent in the States ito what it is in. Europe. -The courses are shorter, and the horse is trained over them in sharp bursts, so, that every" trailer can tell almost to the fraction of a second, tho time that will be made. America a riders take time to accustom themselves to tha differences which exist. Across the water ,most of the courses turn to the left, so that 'the whip comes" awkward to the hand of men, who have to turn the- reverso way. O'ConnoT admits that a considerable amount of practice :s required when ■even a good American jockey aspires to ride well in Europe. He has to lengthen his reins, let his irons down, and for months and months ho will be unable / to show the samo form as at home. f All Red"s win at Wellington, where he ran six furlongs iv lmin 14 2-ssec., gives further value to Madder's produce. She has b<?en a fountain of speed in producing All Red, Mungista, Munjeet, Rtibia, Rosa Madder, 'and Madrigal in six successive seasons. l One of the most promising young horses in the. Dominion -is Signor, who won the Foxton Cup, run over ten furlongs, lost we-ek.' Signor is a three-year-old by the defunct Pilgrim's Progress from the Trenton mare Ma.' Mie Rosette, a daughter of Mountain King's dam, Bonnie Rosette, and therefore related to those good horses Bonnio Chiel and Majestic. Our Dunedin correspondent telegraphs that iMr. Mooney's mare Sonia (Stepniak — Vantosa) dropped down dead, while at exercise at Forbury yesterday morning. She was owned by the Hon. Q. 'M'Lean, and raced in his colours till the early part of the present month.