NOTES AND COMMENTS

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 24, 28 July 1927, Page 9

NOTES AND COMMENTS

(BT "VEDETTE.")

RACING FIXTURES.

July 30—Ciuistehurch Hunt Club. August 6—Poverty Bay Hunt Club. August 9; 11, 13—Canterbury J.C. August 20—Pakuranga Hunt Club. August 27—Taranaki Hunt Club. September 2, 3—Marton J.C. September 8, 10—Wanganui J.C. September 9—Esmom-\Vangar. u , Hunt Club. September 10—Otago Hunt Club. September 14—Dannevlrke R.C. September 15—Dannevlrke Hunt Club. September 24 —Ashburton County R.C. September 24, 26—Napier Park R.C. September 24, 26—Avondale J.C. September 29, 30—Geraldino R.C. October I—Hawkes Bay J.C. October s—Manawatu Hunt Club. October ftr-Kurow J.C. October 7, B—Otakl Maori R.C. October 8, 10—Auckland R.C. October 8, 10—Oaraaru J.C. October 13, 15—Dunedin J.C. October 15—Carterton R.C. October 19, 20—Cromwell J.C. October 22, 24—Wellington R.C. October 22, 24-^-Waikato R.C. October 24—Waverley R.C. October 24, 26—Goro R.C. October 24—Walpawa County R.C. October -24—North Canterbury R.C. October 27. 29—Poverty Bay Turf Club. October 20—Masterton R.C. October 29—Banks Peninsula R.C. October 29, 31—Thames J.C. ■

Nominations for the Pakuranga Hunt Meeting to be held at Eilerslie on 20th August close to-morrow (Friday), at 5 p.m., with Mr. W. S. Spence, at the office cf the Auckland Racing Club.

The Poverty Bay Hunt' Club's Meeting en Saturday of next week will open the lacing season of 1927-28.

Royal. Lineage is reported to be doing well in his work for his trainer, P. P. Neagle, in whose colours he will race in future. Royal Lineage may prove a very useful three-year-old, for it is certain the best was not seen of him this year. He has had an unusual career, for after being purchased by the Koatanui stud groom J. Lowe, a number of owners were keen to buy him once he was put into work. He ■was purchased eventually by the late Mr. V. C. Bee, but the owner died soon after the sale. It was announced subsequently that Royal Lineage would be raced by the estate, but now . conies the news that Neagle will race him. So many people ■were keenly interested in Royal Lineage this season that his doings in the next .will be watched with much interest.

R. O'Donnell's prospects in Sydney are on the improve, and he is the possible holder of a' No. 1 license at Randwick very soon. It is understood that the stable had a good win over White Fang recently. O'Donnell. takes over Clarus after that

horse recovers troiu tlie sickness which affected him just ; recently. Jie was in great order wneii he went amiss and looked certain to win a race or two.

That racing is a real' business in Australia is the impression, ol lUr. (*.' iv. Uurrie. who reuirneayesterday. He said that even the ranu aua Hie of uac&ers have weigued the game up to an. ouuce, and no one but tue veriest novice goes in to back a noise umess tnere is a suiuie lead oi some uenmte sireugtn. VVueu tne leaa comes ior some noises, oniy tue Stoutest caa stand up to tne rusn.

• It was learned irom iur. uume yesterday that Australian, racing lout are turning tneir eyes mure anu mure to i\e\v Zealand tor tueir"youiig noises. Xne majority ot buyera realise tnat tue Australian studs do not produce goous compaiaoie jvitn the best m JNew /jeaianii.- mis is due no uouuc in tne main to tne superior climatic conditions lor ureeuing noises ot the .Dominion, it is prouaoie, too, tnat more Austranan-bred youngsters will De sent to JNew Zeuiand to mature alter tlie tiuccessiul venture in -tins way with jVlagdaff.

recording to a Hawkes iiay writer, Jiilmezzo broKe down so ■ bauiy prior to tne Wellington JMeetmg, tiiat it is doubttul ii He will ever race agam.

'Xlie lvianawam anu x< eliding (Jluus are the only two non-metropoutau uodies who have an electric tocanaaior. Xnis lact is being brougut uelore a uumuer ol wealthy clubs lii tne iNorth, whose totalisator accommodation compared with tlie turnover is totally inadequate.

Advocates, for the licensing of bookmakers often use as an argument that if the layers were legalised illicit betting away Irom the. course would practically cease. Apparently actual experience proves otherwise, judging by the ioiiqwing Irom a Perth newspaper:—"Periodically we read: of prosecutions t'oi shop betting with the inevitable line, but stilt the game goes on. Is it, not high time that the authorities took a firm step to rid society o£ this blemish? Each weaK-end numerous betting shops in the metropolitan area carry on their illegal business regardless o£ raids by the police, and they are quite content to pay . the fine .when it is inflicted, as alter all this is only another ■way of meeting license dues. The registered bookmaker is not so well favoured. Before he is ; allowed to bet on the racecourse the license fee is collected, and he lays longer prices about the winners, the stay-at-home 'penciller' paying only the odds at which the horse starts^ Probably if figures could be obtained it would be found that considerably more betting takes place in the shops and the streets than is recorded on the racecourse. A crowd of people waiting in the main thoroughfares for. the results of-horse races is-any-thing but edifying, and-the evil will not be suppressed until 'the law is amended to provide for the imprisonment of offenders.". ,

It is remarkable the amount of money that conies out of the pockets of the racing public and goes into the Government Ireasury. Last week the A.J.C. people were busy. renewing the bookmakers' licences. The fieldeia pay £105 fee :"in the paddock at Randwiek, £42 in the Leger reserve, and £21 on the flat, says the (Sydney correspondent of the "Australasian." Last season the number registered for those reserves were 121 and 115 in each.of the minor reserves. Thus, the A.J.C. received nearly £13,000 from the paddock men, half of which goes to the Government, and, as the bookmaker has to-pay direct to the Government an additional fee of £70 to wager in the paddock, £23 for the Leger, and £7 for the flat, it will be seen that the Government gets a vast sum from the sporting public, something approaching £5000, which does not include.the revenue from the totalisotor, and is handed to the Treasurer, without costing a penny to collect. It was discovered recently that since the totalisator came into vogue in 1917 the race clubs have been wrongful]}' paying over to the hospitals and other charitable institutions unpaid moneys on non-starters. As the matter is retrospective, the Governmenthas put in a claim for this money, and notwithstanding the fact that it has all been paid over to various charitable institutions, it has to be paid again. The A.J.C handed over a cheque for £700. RosehiU E.G. £80 while Canterbury Park and Moorefield clubs paid over £70 and £80 each.

. Mr. C. W. Cropper, the secretary of the Australian Jockey Club, who has 'been on holiday leave in. England, is due back in Sydney on 22nd September, just in time to take charge before the big spring meeting, at Randwiek.

The appeals -in. the Songift case, in which the crack Sydney jockey ,T. Munro received twelve months' disqualification, were heard by A.J.C. committee on 18th July. The appellants were unable to satisfy the committee that the stipendiary Btewvds were not justified in their action, and the disqvalificatiora stand. Munro has been riding for about seven years, and he was never further back than fourth in the winning jockeys' lists. He has ridden winners of the most important events of the Australian turf, and hia income was a remunerative one. His services were always in great demand, but lie had trouble in keeping down his ■weight. Twelve months out of the saddle will not assist him in this regard. This is the first time that ho has been disqualified.

Mr. J. S. Barrett has been granted permission by the A.J.G.. committee to amend th« entry cf Count Cavour for the Metro-

politan, 1927, by altering the age from lour years to hve years on payment oi £1. Mi JVL'Carten continues to do well in Sydney, ana his association tnis season with tne (Jooltrim gelding (Jooigong Has been a profitable one. Al'Garten won at Kandwick with him in the spring, and since tlien the gelding lias scored two tirsts, three seconds, and tnrce thirds. His last success was in the Graf ton (Jup on 21st Juiy, when he carried 0.3 (Horton Gag being top weight with 9.4), and ran the mile and 320 yards in 2min 10 2-ssec— course record.

The Derby candidate Royal Feast will overshadow his opponents in the classic race, so far as height is concerned. He measures over 16.2, and is probably one of the tallest juveniles on the Australian turf. English files recently referred to two three-year-olds who stood over 17 hands, and, while they may be exceptions, it is generally conceded that the average height of horses has increased in response to the efforts of breeders of the racing thoroughbred. There are differences of opinion regarding the height of the Byerly Turk, the Barley Arabian, and the Godolphin Arabian, to whom so many of our horses trace their descent. One authority has placed it as low as 14 hands, but more recent history set it down at about 15 hands. The fact remains, however, that turf records early in the Eighteenth Century give the, conditions of weight-for-mches races, the standard being 14 hands, and towards the close of that century the conditions of Give-and-Take Plates provided a scale of weights to be carried by horses of from 12 hands to 15 hands. Obviously the two heights mentioned were the extremes to which it was thought necessary to go. Unfortunately, statistics regarding the average height of racehorses m.the present century are not available. It has been computed that at the beginning of the period it was 15.2% as far as the thoroughbred in England is concerned. Australians in close touch with horses aver that that standard, or, perhaps, a little more, applies to horses at the present time. Cawnpore, who has done all his racing both in New Zealand and Australia in the colours of Mr. E. W. Alison, jun., has been sold to an Australian. Cawnpore a fortnight ago finished second to Boaster in a race at Warwick Farm.