THE TURF.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 113, 15 May 1911, Page 2

THE TURF.

NOTES AND. COMMENTS. (By Sir Bedivero. 1 ) The judgment of the Appeal Court in respect to the Fashion Plate case is one that cannot fail to please all thoße who have an inner knowledge of tilings. ,Tt is not always easy to prove in similar caee3 who m tho actual trainer. Professional men may know perfectly well that certain horses, alleged to be trained by their owners, aro in reality under the guidance of an ex-professional now unable to obtain a license, but they cannot prove it. The owiief may be prepared to; swear that he trains his home himself, and, knowing this, they feel that it would be almost futile to take action. 1 There has been too much of this sort of tiling going oh, and trainers of good cha-' racter aud repute, who o,r© a credit to their profession, have thus been roooed of payments and opportunities which must otherwise have accrued to them. In the past, Rule 2 of Part XXI. of the Rules of Racing has been all too frequently contravened, and it is to be hoped the judgment referred to will act as a very desirable check to illicit practices. So lloyal Scotch proved just too good for Bandiera. Judging by the times recorded at Hastings ou Saturday the going must havb been improving as the af,ternoon advanced, and when the Stakes was decided it still remained fairly holding. Bandiera, however, made hi» reputation in soft ground at Trentham, and the form may, therefore, be regarded as correct. After the brilliant burst of speed the South Island colt showed, m the Challenge Stakea, however, it comes as something of a surprise to learn that not only Royal Scotch but Altear, also was' able to lead Trim over the first portion of the journey. Each of. these colts, it should hd not«,d, is by Royal Artillery, whose stock buyers have been rather apt to despise. Royal Artillery is a straightlegged horse, and requires, uo doubt, to bo carefully mated. As a racehorse, however, he was infinitely superior ' to his own brother True Blue, and as the latter has loiig sine© made a good name for himself at the stud, there is every reason to expect that Royal Artillery is, after all, going to produce big winners. Barley Bree, the dam of Royal Scotch, was imported to New Zealand by the late Mr. G. G. Stead, at tfie sale of whose stud she was purchased for Australia by Mr. Chisholm f or 200'gui^as. On the figures she does not. come out particularly well, there being 1 only twenty sire and running .numbers included in the first four removes or her pedigree. Her dam, Barley, who' was imported from England, was, however, the dam of Maltster, whilst her &ire, The, Cardinal, hails from the famous No. 18 family, which gave us Multiform and Cruciform, he being By Newminster from Bellisima, a half-sister by Musket, to Formo. parley Was out of Lonely, who won the Oaks, and was half-sister to Stockdove, dam oi ,T.he Australian Peer. Lonely also produced Prisoner, who won the Doncaster Cup, and Saintly," the dam of a useful performer in Lqngy. It was only in keeping with the order of things this season that Blue Lake should suffer defeat at the hands of Rangiatua. . Tho manner in, which Mr. Watt's cast-off smothered the opposition at Tauherenikau, and again on .the opening day of tho Hawkes Bay meeting, made many people regard her as likely ' to h»ld her own with tho best of ,her year. Now, however, unless- some valid excuse may be forthcoming, she must be pufc dowiij •«*% only ,*sfl»*^d-Kd«6)Wif tei! all. i She was, of course,' giving away 101b, plus her sexual allowance, but even this should not have prevented her from accosting for Rangiatua. F. Mason, one of tho foremost crossi country horsemen in England, was sue cessful in the Rossmore Welter at the Hooton Park spring meeting., Thjis was .the first winner of a flat rac« he .hod ridden for fifteen years. .Warsong commenced his career in Tasmania by scoring a win. Mr, T. H. Lowry parted with both this colt and Kohinoor Very cheaply last 'November. It is said -that MaJster'a fee w^ll be raised to 200gns next season. This would constitute an easy Australasian record. ' One of the first Great Northern Hurdles candidates to arrive at Ellerslie is Whakaweira. So far, the aged boh of Pilgrim's Progress has been a very moderate performer. His connections, however, are said to think highly of his prospects. Anyway, he is not unlikely to be seen out at Takapuna this month, and there will then .be a further opportunity of Bumming up his chance in tho £1000 race. The entry received in connection with the Otaki fixture is a moßt encouraging one, and it now looks long odds on tho club having a record meeting. Many high-class horses are engaged, and in one event, viz., the Huia Handicap, the field numbers 48. The most .notable withdrawal from the big jumping events at Ellerslie was that of Prophet, who is, however, reported to have gone sore. Old Irish is also au absentee, and First Barrel has been allowed to drop out of the Steeplechase.