A NEW EASTER HERO ?

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 48, 25 August 1931, Page 6

A NEW EASTER HERO ?

MR. WHITNEY'S PURCHASE

The American owner, Mr. ./. It. Whitney, loves a steeplechaser, and., not to be daunted by Easter Hero's failure to capture a Liverpool Grand National, lie has embarked on the purchase of another Irish .lumper, OM Bachelor, ■whom competent judges consider a worthy successor to the old champion, who has now been retired to puss the remainder oE his days on Mr. Whitney's estate in America. The deal for the purchase of Old Bachelor was carried through by Mr. Whit-, ney's English trainer, J. Anthony, who travelled specially to Bcllowstown* to see Old Bachelor run in (ho Drogherla Tradesmen's Steeplechase early in July. The gelding -won so easily that Anthony promptly'cabled to Mr. Whitney in America and received instructions to complete the deal. Old Bachelor, like Easter Hero, is a half-bred. He was got by Bachelor's Jap out of. Donors Green, and cost only 70 guineas, when sold as a yearling at Dublin. Mr. Hartigan then bought him aud turned him out on grass until last season, when he vesold him to Charlie Rogers for Mrs. B. M.. Webster, for whom this season he had won four steeplechases and one Hat race, and had been unplaced only twice in eight outings. IN FORMER DOMAIN RACEHORSES IN EGYPT ■Wherever there is an Englishman there will be horse-racing is a saying still as true as it was on" the day on which it was coined. Egypt is no exception to the rule, and according to an article in an English exchange the sport is flourishing there at present, as ono would expect it should, in a country linking the two regions iri which the Arab and Barb ancestors of the modern thoroughbred roamed not so many centuries ago. . . Racing in Egyjjt is.couducled in the winter, spring, and summer, but not in (he .autumn. In those seasons meetings take place every Saturday and Sunday, and on occasional weekdays, froYn November to March at Cairo, and from April to August at Alexandria; There are two .. FIXTURES. August eo—Taranakl Hunt Club. September s—Otago Hunt CJub. September"l2—Duucdin Jockey Club. September IT, 19—Wanganul 3.C. September 19—-Bivchwood Hunt Club. September 19—Ashburton Couuty n.C. September 24, 26--Geraldino E.C. September 26—Hawkes Bay J.C. September 26, 28—Avondale J.C. courses at Cairo,'and one at Alexandria, where a second, now under construction, is to be .ready, next summer. All the courses are turf, and the going is kept in uniformly : g6od order, by the use of hydrants whenever necessary. Thoroughbreds thrive in Egypt, where the "winter' sun 1 helps their development. The- well-known. ', mare Naldera -won her firsfcthree races—an. aggregate of £800 in stakes—before returning to England to win four more, while Tel-Asur, who has lately been sent to Bombay for racing next ■winter, won two races in Egypt last year. The customary races are of £)20 (for maidens), £150, and £200 in value, for which the entry fee is 1 per cent, of the stakes. For the "principal races," oE £300 upwards, the entry fee is 2 per .tent. Entries are due a fortnight, before the race. In every case placed horses receive a generous percentage of the stake, so that it is not unusual for a consistently "unlucky" performer to more than pay 1 his-jway.iri place money only. Among the well-known horsemen who ride there throughout the year are W. Lister, Albert iSharpe (who won the Ascot Gold Cup on Massine), Eugene Allcmund, and the Spanish' 'lightweight, V. Garcia, who usually heads;.' the list. Winter visitors in recent years have been C. Elliott, Semblat, and the Italian "crack" Caprioli. L. J. ELLIS RECOVERING After being laid-lip for more than two months, as the result of injuries he received in a fall-at Wingatui early in June, L. J. Ellis was discharged from the Duncdin Hospital last week, but he will remain under medical treatment for a week or -two. .. •■■ ■ ■