GREYS ARE POPULAR

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 25, 30 January 1932, Page 21

GREYS ARE POPULAR

ALL EYES ON ARAUNAH

FEW OF COLOUR HERE

1 No Horse is more popular with the racing public than a grey, but it is surprising bow few animals of this colour have graced the Dominion Turf in recent years. In .England and in Australia there have beeijinumerous greys in' the last decade, several of them more than useful performersic but in the same period there has been,;nb really first-class grey in-2few Zealand;'uhless;;the imported Hoylake can bo account^ as such, thougH his most sensational work;, was alL!.'do.ne on.. the .track.;;;:.;;;;-:;'? '' '£■' i:;-''-^'c:;-';:: '■■•■ i ; l|myeyeri a possible champion bf the colour HaS made an appearance diiriug the ;laßt few; weeks in-Araunah; and- there are ;m;any.; ready to declare that this threeyear;6ld son of Hunting Song and the '.'Marble Arch mare Rewangahas a very'bigfnture ahead of him:' Though racing greenly He won the Kaitoke Handicap at Trentham last Saturday, very decisively, and he made a profound impression by v the> ; wayin .which he covered the ground with great;rcachiug; strides!' Before the riieetiujj track watehefs from .Hastings iWere passing' along the ,word' abdut- how brilliant'he "was; but it may be noted here that the same word was on the air before the'Mariawatu fleeting, where he failed to 'materialise.: /Ithas'been customary to consider that ;tlie ibest Hunting Songs, with the excep'ition of one far two chestnuts, such as Pink Coat, are brown horsey pr geldings. The sire, However, has1 hot Had a grey to represent Him previously oh the race track, and tHeSnew colour, though.in,Araunah's case not derived from* him, may prove to be all as good as the brown. : i Araunah, a dark' iron igrey^ :at pi-esent, owes his coat to his dam, Rewanga, who, although a brown Herself,' has" thrown all »groys,sflve of them to date. Her first two offspring were King Wanga (by Our King) and Queen Wanga (by Autumn), ;bothisuccessful ::performers ? -pn■ the .East Coast"circuit.' Her'third offspring was a ,grey» ; colt: r. to, -,Huiating . Song, but this youngster died of blood poisoning caused through being pricked byboxthorn. Then came Reyvrangai and there has since been" ;another.;gt'ey: to Song. .■; The irolpurftisipbvidusly wholly the result: ofithe mating. witK'ReVanga, who is continuing one of the very few original grey ■strains in the= New .Zealand -Stiid Book.-' 'Tliff; taproot yof th'e?family:is; the; grey Jf-jfiare J Althaeal, : a:;; ; daughter of Maeonides.'7;nnd->Alic'e''.6re'y^'wlio ifas im-l ported "to 'New' Zealand from New South Wales in 1852 by Mr; St. Hills who bred ;fronv her fotjnany.years and-set;a,family going that- haa,produced several per•formers,1 'including 'the1 New. Zealand Cup winner, ICanteen', also his; sister, jauhei, and Tauhei's son, Mira. The maternal dam,- gratiddamj• and r greal-grariddam of■ Rewanga, respectively: Tauhei," Viyandiere, worei-all greys; but Tauliei?s only grey'offsprings was; Mira. , Arauuah .is not .-the familiar -whitish grey, but is so dark in colour at present as.to look as much black as grey. Indeed, when. originally . registered, he was described as a black or grey gelding. However, his poat .will probably, lighten con--siderably as he!ages. '■''. Ill'^l LAST|-SEAspk'S. GREYS. '. ; ; ", .It may be. of interest at this point' to note how many greys have recently been .racing.'in; the^Dpmiriion," and to consider what ''success they have had.' liast season only thirteen horses of the. colour were saddled up for races, and of them only four were; winners. Those who raced 'were:; — . < ;-''- \- ;.';■--./ ;.- . '■.. ■ '•• ::" ':v ' :Horse.,' '■'Breeding. .-,'?\'".''•■\Vlni. Barririgton, • : Thurnbam—Margo ' 3 Black.lvory • Masterpiece—-Heroine m. — ' Blue Grey Valkyrian—Mumble' * —•<■'' Dimmer..r- -• . Sarchedon—Trimlight —- Hoylako' ' *" l'oltava—lock Ahoy —; ' Klng.Wanßa Qur King—JJewansa ,—; Mirabilaty . Mira—Adroit" 1' Mountain Uchc ' M. Knight-^-Tematlkbkirl. —s Palmares 3•;, :'■;. t^Chrysolaus^Ealm' Le>t- 1 ■ SilTerine Charminado—(unknown) —', Skill .■:--.-,;;.. Mira—Adroit •;'. .Weddlhgßclls La'ckham—Merry Bells"' "' 1> Wheniiatonga- Acre—-Otonca : ■■',—,; It .will-be.observed that, the greys in the Dominion. Jast; geasoh , did ..not haye "outstanding' success, their six wins being the result of So, races, but' their percentage of wins" to starts'would be better than that of most other colours. ' r '! - DERiVATION QF COf-QUR. ; Tnspection:-wiU';reveal that atj-leaetJhaif of "last season's greys who were not: im-' ported '.Horses' descend! from,' or at least Qwe their colour.;to f [the Althaea taproot, jlndeed, those who* cannot.be related to [the. taproot, cannot? be;-traced at. all to an originaTigfey/source,- though it is' un-' likely that they descend from Althaea, for herstud returns and those of her offspring .Have; been fairly fully recorded. , .»■ ;. '; The;*;impqrted horses Mix lastlyear's' list are Dimmer; (by, the grey" Australian^importation, -~Sarchedon,/: a ; Bon of;. Tte Tetrarch), .Hoylake (whose.'sire, Poltava, Was a grey), and. Palmares ; (by. another grey ..Australian importation, Chryßolaus/a son of Eoi,Herode)., ! " V; • • i .-; . >,iOf the other thirteen, five' at least owe their colour to thei.Althaea taproot. Black Ivory is from a daughter of Heroine, who .in; turn,was.a daiighter:of.Althaea's grey pranjddaughte,"r!,is'iyandi?re:! Blue JGrby is from, the. grey niare Mumble, who was by TatihePs;'; grey.,'Soult .son, Mira.' King Wanga isfroni'AraiinaH's dam," the brown Rewanga.. ' Mirabilary (now 'dead) arid Skill -also owed 'their colour to Mira, who was their sire. .■■/■■:• , : ' ."• ; = . Four-of .the; remaining- five; in the list are; off spring of grey mares whose, origin cannot.beiraftfidjback^tp a known taproot. Barnngton is from the grey jNfargb, "who ;in^tusn!,ap r pears.^to-hayeAeenffrom another ;gr?y>;i»?!S*?l: •Mountain^Echo:"■ is" .frbni^.the- Srey-»Tenfatikbkiri,;'frbm;an6t' l*r grey mare,: Omprah, whose.breeding is unknown. "Silverine is from a grey mare of unknown pedigree, and Whenuatonga is from the grey Otonga, from another grey, ; Maur,ecn, whewas by,St..Conon from one "Of the' manyjmares iained Juliet; V ,"■'.;-.;v This leaves ohlyi, Wedding Belk;' ■whose colour is most likely derived from her sire, Lackham, ■ a Roi Herode 'horse.' ' " ■■ : '•-It. is-somewhat surprising that the stallions by .Roi Herode and his son, The Tetrarcli,.now. in New,;Z?al3i->d aa. not siric;; ouite a number .of gteys, as horses ; of ; .lhe line have done in .Brigland. Amon!; Eoi Kerode representatives at' th"c stud here are Lackham, Leighton, Chief Ruler, Tea Tray, j and Kiosk," yet only *cry' exceptionally has one of thdse horses produced a gr.ey. Few horses, in recent years iii .KnglancV have so impressively stamped their-mark on the thoroughbred as Roi Herode, who was imported from France at a time when .there was a dearth of grey^ in : the land. One of the characteristfes of Roi Herode and his sons appears to have been a special ability to pass on the grey colour, but'horses of-the line have most markedly; failed to do so in the Dominion.