Turf Notes

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 140, 14 June 1924, Page 20

Turf Notes

T .f iJIXTtrRES.

Jnne 20 and 21-H-Ajb.burtbn County R.C 'Winter ■ Jnne 20 and 21—Napier Park K.C. Winter ■ Juna -25 and 26—Hawkes Bay J.C. Winter. I June 28—Hawkes Bay Hunt Winter. ; July 9 and 12—Wellington Raciug Club. ,;Angußt 2—Christcaurcfi Hunt Steeplechase (at Riccarton). 'August .12, 14, and 16—Canterbury J.C. Grand National.

George- Young was a passenger for Sydney by the Marama yesterday. He {.■will ride for J. M'Combe and. also have .ifche mount on members of Mr. G. D. ; Greenwood's team that are at Randwick i'pn the spring.

1 Recently H. . Neagle took control of ■ Mr. W. G.- Stead's team "at Greenpneadows,.from"L Luke Wilson. ■ The team Lady' Jellicoe's Absurd colt, leather's Voice. On the eve of handing f,the team over,, Lake Wilson received jifrom -Mr. Stead a letter of appreciation F,for the mariner in which, he had turned toot ins yearlings for the Sydney sales l'last spring; also for the able -way he /had trained his horses. As a token of this appreciation he asked Wilson' to |-,accept the rising two-year-old colt by ilKilbroney from Grey Linnet as a pre.- . sentL' For the full brother to Songbird j.Mr. :Stead paid ,275 guineas only a short fcwhilb back, so his present to Wilson ia (■a generous one. Luke, who is abont j-.to take up another private appointment, /"willtnot be able to race this colt himV self, J and unless he leases him to his new t.patron her'will be forced to dispose of hinv . Aiready an offer of 400 guineas j.-lias ( beeii^inaiie"fprithe.gift.

i At the forthcoming conference the (at the request of the Licens'iing Committee) will move that no licensed frainer, shall be appointed handicapi per.; The reason for such Turf legisla I-tion- is difficult to understand because 'n.i lis generally considered that (•■there are among the trainers ; men- as capable as in any other ; ;walk of life. It might be mentioned i>tha,t Mr. F. M'Manemih, who handicaps for the Auckland Racing Club and the 'principal country clubs m the, Northern tdistrict, was formally years a prominent ;.trainer at Ellerslie. In. the South the ;Gore Club recently considered Mr. C. i.Giesler, ,orie of the Southern trainers, •a fit and proper r^erson to adjust the {•weights-for. that club. Trainers have itlon& well at .other branches of the sport. jyTheMat© Messrs:-Sam Powell and Harry i'Piper proved first-class men at the bar/xier) and at the present time Mr. 0. , O'C.onnor is considered the leading starter in the Dominion.- Mr. J; Cameron, ■"who judges for numerous clubs in this island, was formerly among the ranks of the trainers.

I( wa3 recently reported from Auckland that Oakleigh might contest tlir ;V.lCC:«Grand "National Steeplechase If '■ he did "not" get'over 12.0. He received 12.2,"berng—within 21b of the topweights, Hoama and Les Paddington. Chrysostom must be considered nicely treatedjwith_.ll.3. In the Hurdle Race, three -miles, Silver,.San, who has twice frecent<ly~w6n"* 'over two miles at Mci- ; bourne suburban meetings, is considered one of the picks with 9.11. In his last start he carried 10.5 and won easily in 3min 42sec.

The; Canterbury Jockey Club -desires an amendment to the totalisator rules, making it compulsory to bracket on the machine all horses in a race trained, by the ssme, ...trainer. Most trotting clubs bracketi^sueh-horses, and there . appears to be* no^vali'd-ground ;for .objection to the Canterbury 'remit, which- would greatly simplify'matters for the'investing public.,,-,; ■ ;

Lord Astor races on an -extensive-, scale in .England, and he is.really withont a*hprse;;capable of carrying his colours witK^'distinction. He won the One ; ThousanS-vGuineas in 1910 .'with Winkipop, % sister to Winkie ,who came to .'New Zealand to sire some good winners; and he captured the Two thousand • Guineas in ;1921 . with Craig an Eran; while;he won: the Oaks in 1917 with .Sunny! Jane, and in 1922 with Pogrom. His Derby record, however, iis most ex- • asperating, as in the-last seven years he lias filled second place on five occasions. The tantalising experience opened in 1918, )wheu Blink was second to Gains"borough. The following year Buchan ;-was beaten half a length by Grand ' Parade, and.' was generally accounted a ' very Tjnhicky colt to lose. In 1921 Craig an Eran, after winning the Two Thousand Guineas^ lost-the Derby by a neck 'to Humorist, and a year' later Tamar /"beat all but, Captain Cuttle. This year ;Lord Astor had two good representatives, of whom Bright Knight has run second -in the Two Thousand Guineas^ but he .appears to have failed this week; while .it was left to the otlie'r string, St. Ger- , mans,; to fill the customary second place behind Sansovino. Surely . there. is no owner.' who "can equal this - exasperating -sequence, of seconds in an important race. • Three of Lord Astor's Derby seconds—Buchan, Tamar, and St. Germans -^-are!:sons p£ the Torpoint mare, Hamoaze, whose dam, Maid of the Mist, also produced Craig an .Eran. _ Concerning the proposed notice of motion a;t the,forthcoming conference that trainers shall not bet other than through the totalisator, "Sentinel" makes the following comment: "We adopt far ton much ;legal camouflage in connection with •racing. We have no Tattersalls sweeps, but New Zealand fattens them just thft same.;' Common-sense says we • should keep the money in the country, instead :of sending a continuous flow of it to Tasmania. We can neither kill nof cure 'a tendency to'bet or invest in a sweep, -and if that is so we should not recog- . nise and make bookmakers and sweeps pay for their existence the same as the totalisafcr instead of keeping up a foolish pretence that they can be made unnecessary and apart from racing. •. . '. We make laws and pretend that they will prevent racing from being robbed of revenue,..whereas .they are just about as effective';^' it would be to try and catch :Niagara~:Falls with a saltspoon.

The Victorian jockey, R. Connelly, incurred the displeasure of the stewards at the JJdwbray• ,(Tas.) -races on the 2nd ■inst.,;and"wasi 'disqualified for three years over ;an incident in • the - Hrfrdle -Race,, •.■which' he won. It is alleged that he caught hold of the second horse's bridle. Connelly is..one" of the leading crosscountry riders "of. "Melbourne. - He won on Wallwontj .at Caulfield. and Moonoe , Valley within the last two month's, and •won the "two" principal hurdle races at "the Warrnambool Grand Annual Meeting on'Mopngana,' who is partly owiicd ■'■by hi_s ■■father, the Caulfield trainer, H. ■CounellVi '.■.Among/the successes of Connelly Iwere.'.the Grand National.iSteeple■chase* on' Coradjil (1916), and Cobram i(1913h and he was second on Cobram in 1919,-and third on' Monrose in 1922.and 1923.; He won the A. J.C: Steeplechase on Monrose two years ago.

After competing at the Dunedin Meeting, when he carried 12st into a place in the Winter Hurdles, Gamecock returned •to Blenheim, where he is trained, reHis next appearance ".will probably bo at Trentham.

The! annual meeting of delegates to tho Country- ■Racine. Clubs' Association will fee held in Wellington on 9th July. The Stepniak horse, Boris, who went ■pi Brisbane a few seasons back, sired

BY "SIR LANCELOT"

the winner of a division of a Trial Handicap at the Queensland Turf Club's Meeting on 31st May.

Warpath (Martian —Rouge) ran second in the Penguin Handicap at Perth on 31st May.

Apparently the falsa rail which is in use on more than one conrse in New Zealand does not find favour in some official quarters. At the Racing Conference next month the president, at the request of the Stipendiary Stewards' Committee, will move: "The totalisator shall not be used on any course on which there is placed a false rail on the inside of the. racing track."' The false rail is in use at Riccarton and Trentham and has apparently answered' its purpose well, as no objection has been raised or any accident been caused by it. In England riders have to keep the position drawn by them at the start, but in the Dominion ridera are permitted to take the rail and make the shortest way home, provided they can get through. • Two prominent names missing from the obituary stallions in the recently issued Volume IX.. of the Niew Zealand Stud Book, are Merry Moment and Sarto. "Sentinel" writes: It seems to have escaped notice that Sarto, the sire of Captain Sarto, diecl a few.months ago. Sarto was a fine big> and, ; well-topped horse, but malformed in the ■ near . front leg below the knee. He had a twisted cannon. This fault was not particularly noticeable, but it came out badly accentuated in some of his stock. Amongst his first crop of yearlings was one whoso nea» fore . toe was turned right round and pointed towards the wall of the off fore foot. Another became known as Bandy, and won races, but he was both unsound and bandy by name and nature through the fault of*his sire. Many sires occasionally get malformed* stock, which are - generally sent to as near oblivion as promptly as possible, but despite advice to the contrary the twistedlegged yearling was sent to the Christchurch sales, where he failed to extract a bid. It is quite obvious that the appearance of such stock must seriously damage a sire's reputation, and brings about a reduced demand for his services. The breeder of Captain Sarto took a fancy_ to Sarto, and sent Tangimoana on a visit to him, with the result that we have a good hurdler wdth us. Sarto also got a Grand National. Hurdle winner in Art, and another good horse in Sartorze, who, although a good winner^ failed to stand training for any great length of time.