RACING FIXTURES.

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 28, 1 August 1929, Page 11

RACING FIXTURES.

August 3—Christcliureh Hulft Club.' .August 3—Poverty Baj Hunt Club. Angus. 13. 15. ll—Canterbury J.C. August 24—Pakuranua Hum Club. August 21—Hawbes Bay Hunt Club. Auaust 2S--D.-nnevirki It C Ainvust ,2a—a nnuvirkc Dml Club. August 31—Taranakl Bunt Club. September 4. 5 Marion J.C. September 7—Otago Hum Club. September 12; 14- Wanganui J.C. September Ul—Ashburton County X C ■ September 21—Napier Park B.C. September 21. 23-Avondale J-.C. fceptembei "20. 27—Ceraldlne K.C. September 2S—Hawkes Ba? J.C. Reminders. Nominations for the Pakcranga Hunt' . Meeting at Elleralieon 24tli August close to-morrow at 5 p.m. for the minor events on Grand National day. are due on Monday. Final •payments for the chief events, and "general acceptances close on Thursday next at S p.m. The Hunt.Club Acceptances., The fields for Saturday's racing at Riccarton are well up to the average for this meeting, with the exception of the Homeby Steeplechase* With only five acceptors and Young Thurnham a doubtful runner owing to lameness, the race is disappointing, but as the four left in are all, wellrliacussed National horses, .the result should be not devoid of interest. It will be interesting to see how Lord Ranald shapes against King's Guard, Radiate, and Fabriano over the Ricearton country. On the day Radiate may be hard to beat. A rather better race should be provided in the Longbeach Hurdles, in which Kawini, a National Steeplechase candidate, is an acceptor. He may not be out of place with 10.8, but his speedier opponents ,may go too fast for him in the early part. Aberfeldy should be suited by the distance, and he may do best. Winter Gup horses in King Balboa, Gay Sonnet; Solrose, Overdrawn, and Royal Game stand then" ground in ■ the Brabazon Handicap. Of these Royal Game reads . lyell, and. may, improve on his Trentham performances.' Of the others, Bonogiie appeals most, and is just the type for this event.. ■'_ The. minor events should give a good . line on races of their type at the main fixture a week later. Taken all through, the card is an interesting one. J. Morris's Team at Marton. J. Morris has a team of seven in active •work at Marton, including three three-year-olds. One is by Acre from Miss Beaufort. There is a filly by Nigger Minstrel from Miss Footstep, called Tar Baby, while the third is a filly by Royal Divorce from Martulla, belonging to Mr. L. H. Collinson, who also has a three-year-old filly by Lord Quex from Spare Moments in the same stable. . \ Brigadier Bill and Red Lane have had'ia short let up since the Wellington Meeting, and the former is to be kept going, and will contest a few hurdle races later in the winter season. Not Encouraging.Those people who have stepped in early and backed Seatown and to a lesser degree Nightmarch for the big spring events in Australia did not receive a great deal of encouragement from interviews given by Mr. J. Fredric, owner of Seatown, and A. MAuley, trainer of.Nighfcmarch, on their arrival in Sydney. Mr. Fredric said: "Myself and my wife are here for a holiday, and whether Seatown runs in the Metropolitan or the Caulfield Cup depends entirely on his showing in the King's Cup. If he, does pot shape well in the latter race I shall possibly . send him home, but naturally I am hopeful that he will, come through that engagement witH colours and their prove his worth in the bigger spring handicaps." "Personally, I did not want to bring Nightmarch to Sydney," said M'Auley,."but his owner, Mr. Louisson, had arranged to. come here for a holiday, and he wished to see how the colt would shape in Australia. I intend nominating him'for the w.f.a. races, but whether he will be sent after any of the big handicaps iis doubtful at present. It all depends on;'how he shapes in his early engagements." MAuley also added that Nightmarch will possibly be entered for the NeVr Zealand Cup, to be run in November.- Many. of the Dominion's best horses may be in Melbourne about that time, 'and races at home might be easy ■to win. Still Unlucky. • «' ' As an owner, Mr. C. W. L. Mnrchison, ex-stipendiary steward to the A.J.C. and also in New Zealand, must be regarded as most unfortunate. For five or six years he has been paying high prices for horses, and supports. . some of them as if there were no setthu? days. On occasions his . wagers have been successful, but not often, and, as he has yet to secure a highclass '•:.. 3e, his ventures on the turf must Liive cost him what to many men would be a fortune. That his luck has not changed is the only inference from the racing at Canterbury Park. On the Thursday before that meeting he sold to Mr. B. Jollcy the Air Balloon gelding Autumn Balloon, for whom he paid Mr. J. Brown 600 guineas, and two days later the horse registered an easy win in the first division of the Maiden Welter. "Thank heavens, I backed him," was Mr. Murchison's philosophic remark. Speedy Names. ' It's a curious fact that an ill-named horse seldom rises to any height on the racecourse. The Randwick and ex-Tren-tham trainer, R. D. O'Donnell, must have been thinking of that when he registered three members of his team, as the names chosen for them gave more than a suggestion of speed. A Biplane colt was called after the famous aviator, Lindbergh; a Great Star colt was given something to live up to when he was named ■ Segrave, after the English speed, king, and a Treclare colt was registered as Rolls Royce. All three have won races, though O'Donnell did not reap' the benefit of Segrave's victory. He was sold some months before he scored at Canterbury Park. Making It Snappy. Suburban race meetings around London were commencing much later this season when racing was held on Saturdays. The first race was being started t 3 o'clock, and evten as late as 3.20 p.m., nd the last at 5.20 p.m. and 5.40 p.m. respectively. The new idea is said to be popular an** a proved success. It is rather different from the protracted scheme in New Zealand of some clubs wlio commence at 11 a.m. and then run the last race in the gloaming. . two Firsts. The Avondale trainer S. G. Lindsay has good reason to be pleased with the result of his .trip to the Gisborne Racing Club's Winter Meeting with Partial Eehpse, who was successful in her two starts. Partial Eclipse had not raced since being galloped on in the middla of the season, and her return to form would therefore be distinctly pleasing to her trainer, who has exercised a good deal of . . care and patience to get her back, to ftrst-class racing order. The Nassau mare . is very speedy, and should achieve more success where the class is not too strong. Unusual. It is unusual to hear anything from racing clubs in regard to taxation except to denounce the Government in unmeasured terms. The president of the Feilding Jockey Club, although his remarks did not find favour with his fellowmembers, struck quite a new note, and from an economic point of view a sound one, at the recent annunl meeting. He paid that he had heard a great'deal of the cry that racing clubs were feeling the burden of excessive taxation, but he did not agree that; racing clubs were unduly taxed. Everybody had to remember, that . the clubs were , entirely non-producers. There was not the slightest chance of any Government relieving racing clubs from any taxation, and he was very much afraid that the groaning by racing clubs about excessive taxing would have a boomerang

effect. What had to be remembered— and lie would say this after a very close examination of racing taxation—was that the clubs were non-producers. Down the Scale. At the botaeamund (India) Meeting in May, the 1924 Caulficld "jup winner, Purser, won the Ootacamund Plate, one mile, a handicap for horses in class 111. He carried 8.6 to the 9.3 of the topweight, and in a field of four was third favourite at .3 to 1. First money was .■£7s. Purser beat the second horse a length and' a half, but, three days later, was last home of five in the Governor's Cup (class 111. and IV.), one mile three furlongs, in which he carried 9.7. An exchange states that he was subsequently sold for oOOrs. (£37 10s), but his win in a mile race, even though of poor class, suggests he is still worth something more than .that amount. Just the Difference. In England an agitation by followers of racing resulted. in the installation of the totalisator in that country. On the other hand, France is agitating for the licensing of bookmakers. In a recent issue of the Paris paper "Le Jockey" it was pointed out that the racing societies and the State were losing large sums of money through the tolerance of bookmaking on the racecourses'ind in towns. The'book-, makers on. their side asked nothing better than to be legalised and taxed, the present position which had:endured for many years being a' ridiculous one in view of the way in which the law continued to be a dead letter.' The Irish Derby. ■'■■''. Trigo was not. sent to: Ireland for the Irish Derby after all, the race being won by Kopi, who, fell at Epsom, from the White Eagle colt Star Eagle, Cragadour, and six others. The three-year-olds in England are now being rated as .second class apart from the speed specialist Mr. Jinks. Trigo does not find favour, despite his Epsom win, and Kopi after his'effort in Ireland has - increased in favour, but unfortunately he is not in the St. Leger. Hunter's Moon aud Walter Gay are both expected to do better at Doncaster, but with regard to Walter Gay thjere is a doubt about his soundness, for he was relieved of his Ascot' engagements when his prospects look bright. Augur in "Sporting Life" writes of Trigo and Kopi: His (Kopi's) ill-luck in the Epsom Derby has been emphasised by his Irish exploit. He won a well-run race in a manner such as will have strengthened the opinion that, but for his mishap, he would have beaten Trigo at Epsom. Higher Charges. . At the end of June course bookmakers in England were faced with a higher scale of charges fixed by. the Racecourse Betting Act of 1925. The clause read:— "That the charges to a bookmaker and to any assistant accompanying him, for admission to an enclosure ou the racer course for the purpose of the bookmaker's business, shall in the case of a bookmaker not exceed five times the amount, and in the case of an assistant not exceed the amount of the highest charge made to members of the public for admission to the enclosures." From the English papers it is gathered that the Government's share of this as entertainment tax is only 10s 6d. From the layers' side it is stated that a man who bets on, say, 150 days a year will have to pay about £650. It is pointed out that as admission charges are tending to fall in England, the position is likely to become easier. There was some talk of boycott by bookmakers, but as this obviously played into the hands of totalisator advocates, it was soon, stopped. Odds and Ends. Flying Juliet is reported to bo working very freely at Te Rapa, and a few strong gallops will see her fit for action. She is said to have done well during the winter. Indolent is showing signs of soreness. He was one of the disappointments amongst the bucks at the June Meeting at Ellerslie, but showed up well enough to suggest that he is a useful galloper. Ned Kelly, who. has been through a number of hands, has had another change, and has been leased by A. Jackson. Clockwork's injury received when he fell in the Great Northern Hurdles kept him- on the easy list for some weeks, but he is now in work again at Ellerslie. He was schooled the other morning, and jumped very -well. The trouble -which caused Roman Abbey s scratching for his Riccarton engagements is reported not to bo serious and he ia expected to be fit again shortly. According to a Northern writer Chelone has only recently been schooled and has shown some natural, aptitude for jumping by shaping well in the few lessons he has had. With his speed he should prove useful in short-distance hurdle eveuts. To celebrate his Derby victory, Mr R Barnett, the owner of Trigo, has distributed £3000 amongst nine hospitals and chanties in Belfast and district According to reports, Mr. A. T. Gatre] I has Risk looking in good order for luture hunters' events. He has handed ,ora, IS-ck to J- Morris for preparation. I. MTSay has a fairly large team under his care at Mnrton, these including Staghunter, Royal Damon, Mystnm, Mandate, a Greyspear mare, an Acre gelding, and a rising two-year-old by Royal Div"''Cf— Mascot that shows a lot of quality. J). Ehrhorn has Nucleus, Marica, and a rising two-year-old half-sister to Nucleus, by Day Comet, in active work. The first trainer to move to Wanganui with his team is W. D. Moroney^ He has Vertigern and three two-year-olds. The Caravel—Martuk gelding Kalmuck is said to be attractive, and the 1600 guinea youngster Appledore, by Rossendale from Demeter, is said to be as good looking as his price suggeats. The Chief Ruler—Rosellate gelding purchased at the Trentham sales completes .the trio.