THE TURF.

Evening Star, Issue 14526, 30 November 1910, Page 3

THE TURF.

[Gossip by Old Identito.] Some very fast trotting was seen at last week's races on the Forbury track. Bell Metal did a tick over 4.33 in the Cup; Discoverer in the same Tace made the enow of his life; and First Pet on the first day lowered her own record to 4.39. Yet these were amongst the losers. Mr Brakman sap that the Forbury track is 3sec per mile faster than the ono at Christchurch! The Forbury meeting was well managed bi most respects. I might say in all respects so far as the racing was concerned. 1 he one growl was as to the bookmakers. And I think they had reason to complain. I he place assigned them was an out-of-th»-way corner. If ten or a dozen of them had lined up on the fence the end men •would have been clean out of it. -My opinion is that the bookmakers are not necessary to our present racing, but whilst they possess rights they ought to have Heasonahle facilities given them, and I think that in this instance the club treated them unfairly. 'ibe fast timings at the South Canterbury meeting are confirmed by unofficial calculations. All present agree that Pilgrim's Way broke the record for six furlongs in the Flying, and though a feuprivate watches" made the time a tick over the 1.13, the official record is reasonably well established. The local 'Herald' thus reports the race: Scotch Plaid and ISusyland took up the running from Pilgrim's Way, Sea King, ind Balaclava, but before two furlongs aad been traversed Pilgrim's Way and Busyland ran clean away from the others, wid after a good finish the former won by a length and a-half from Busvland, while Scotch Plaid was five lengths behind the second horse; Balaclava was fourth, just ahead of Sea King. Adjudge ran a great race La the Timaru Handicap after being beaten off the mark by two of his opponent.;, and they tell me that he would have won again" on the second day but for being blocked. The fet. who was consulted in Christchurch has riven Mr Ellis a remedv which seems to do Adjudge a lot of good.' Lupulite won twice at Timaru. thereby istonishing those of us who recently saw aim turned out at Wingatui. He evidently lomes on very fast, and thrives on idleness. He did the same thing last season. E. APKay seems to be very clever in Eianaging this horse, and he keeps on getting the best out of Coy ton. Danube may run in the Auckland Derby. Goldthread is spelling at Penrith, near Sydney. Nino of the important spring races in Australia went to representatives of nine sires. Aborigine, one of the 1909 Caulfiekl Cup dead-heaters, is off to India shortly, ami the other. Blue Book, has finished his racing career. "Pilot" mentions that when Beverage was offered at the 1909 sales the reserve on him was 300gs. He did not reach it by a Jong way, and he has returned his present owner—who bought hi:u after he had won a race as a two-year-old—some-things over £6,700 in prize-money. During the four days at the Melbourne "Cup meeting there were only t-ix arrests on the Flemington racecourse—threo being for uttering counterfeit coin, one for larceny, another for attempted larceny, and the only drunk and disorderly was a woman. J>ady Lucy is remaining in Melbourne, and has gone into W. "Hickenbotham's stable. The Menschikoff gelding Socialist, who was purchased in Melbourne for 400gs by Mr R. G. Baldock, will be shipped for ludia in company with Aborigine. Mr Norman Wilson, who acts as judge at Caulfield and other courses, and who was a leading racehorse owner a few years ago, has been elected secretary of the Victorian Club, in place of Mr John Buckley, resigned. Andy Pringle has bought the trotter Embrace (Almont —Cling) in order to mate her with Prince Imperial. They say that all is not well with Oiyoi. " Cross Country" writes to the Melbourne 'Herald': Larrikin, a wellschooled and succesful 'chaser, was killed on Saturday at Canlfield. This kill ; brings the total up to about thirty for ' the year. What a destruction of noble animals to provide 6port for the racing public. Does the public wish to see this y The two smallest boys riding in England are M. Davis and R. Stokes, and the combined weight of these midgets would be very little over 7st. The former, who rode his first winner on Best Cure, at Kempton Park, without his clothes, is exactly 3st 121b. According to returned visitors from . Australia, the New Zealand hurdle horse- ■ man, J. Stewart, is now in great demand , in Sydney and Melbourne, arid in the Cup . Hurdle Pace at Flemington, says " Glen- ; coe," he w;is offered the mount on no fewer than five different horses. The rumor that the late Tommy Loates, the well-known English jockey, left a fortune of a quarter of a million was, of | course, a canard (says a writer in the , ' Sketch'). Loates made money fast at : one time, and, riding as he did for Mr ( Leopold de Rothschild, it can be taken for granted that he had good advice as to ■ the investing of his savings. Even then he could not possibly have accumulated ' anything like the sum suggested. Frank and Stanley Wootton are to be . seen riding over hurdles on Epsom Downs, j Newmarket, England, almost every morn- . ing, and the sister Stella, on a tiny black pony not standing fourteen hands, follows them. She is probably the finest little horsewoman of her age in the country, and ' no jockey could shape better. * A record was established in Paris at the I recent Prix du Conseil Municipal. The amount paid for admission at the gates of ' the course amounted to over £7,600, and the receipts of the " Mutuals" are re- ' ported at £45,470. A rather remarkable race was seen at a recent Curragh (Ireland) meeting. St. ' Dunstan, a three-year-old, was started in ' the Corinthian Plate and won, but was ! disqualified as the race was for four-year-olds. Bell H. struck a post in the course of the race and died as thei result of in- ' juries received, while ..xarblft Hall was objected to on the ground that her rider - was not qualified under the conditions of the race. The St. Simon filly Trail, owned by Mr ' Lytham and trained bv R. Wootton. won ! th'e Stayers' Handicap at Gatwick on Oc- ' tober 18. There were fifteen starters, and : Trau, who was ridden by Wootton's apprentice, W. Huxley, won in a canler, 'Sporting Life' thus wrote of' Huxley's ! performance : —Huxley gave promise of riding ability in Australia before coining to England. He is a sharp-featured, keen ' litttle laid, and in steering Trail to vie- : tory in the Stayers' Handicap exhibited fine generalship. Getting first away, and leading until making for the far stretch, he then took a steady, and did not go to the fTont again until well in the straight. In the last quarter of a mile it was all plain sailing for him, as he found his mount with a deal in hand, the daughter of St. Simon winning in a canter, and completely outclassing the slow, plodding Bachelor's Chance. Mr Allison writes :—lt is a mistake, I suppose, to tell the public anything, no matter how good your motives. Thus, after the reported trial at Manton, when Admiral Togo 111. was said to have finished in front of Elizabetta, with Declare a bad third. Sir Richard Garton, anxious that no one should be misled, 6ent rormd a statement that the supposed trial was only a rough gallop. No one who knows Sir Richard can possibly suppose ! that he did this with any other idea than ' that of telling the public as much as he knew himself, and doubtless ho thought ' his own horse, Declare, would make a ' better show in the actual race than in the snpposed trial. In point of fact, the i relative merits of the three Manton < runners for the Cesarewitch had been so ' little ascertained at home that Alec. Tay- 1 lor —as I happen to know—backed each one of them to win and a place, and he i came very near to getting two into the I first, three; but the three finished in the . lace just as they had finished in the i /**oßgh gallop," so that the public would i

have been much better without Sir Richard Carton’s warning. The moral is for owners never to write letters taking, the public into their confidence. If they do thev are—to use a vulgarism —on “a good