RACING NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 20688, 10 January 1931, Page 9

RACING NOTES

[By St. Clair.]

RACING. January 12.—Vincent Jockey'Club January 14, 15.—Foston Racing Club. January 17,-Bay of Islands Racing Club. January 20. 22.-Wairo» Racing Cbib. January 20, 22. 24—Wellington Racing C 'january 22.— Ashhurst-Pohangina Racing C January 24.—Wairio Racing Club. January 24.-Waipapakaun Racing Club. January 28, 29.-Pahiat.ia Racing Club January 29, 31.-TakapuHa Racing Club. February 4.—Tapanui Racing Club. February 5, 7.-—Egmont Racing Club,

JOTTINGS The Vincent Jockey Club's meeting will be concluded on Monday. Acceptances for the first day of the Wellington Cup Meeting are duo on Handicaps for the first day of the Forbury Park Meeting are not due until January 19. If King George decided to retire liom racing and horse-breeding it would be excusable.. During the past year ho won two races with two horses, tn® total value of stakes being £2»B- -tie also bred them. In England the Racecourse Betting Control Board is evidently going to exploit the totalisator as _ much as possible. The latest move is to run a tote on one course for backers who wish to speculate on races being held on another track. , . . An incident without parallel since the introduction of the totalisator at Broken Hill occurred at a meeting last month. There was not a single investment in the Hurdle Race, lor which there were three starters. Cylinder is a notable entry for the Wellington Cup, and is the only three-year-old in the race. Probably ho will be given the chance to emulate the feat of Rapine, who, after being beaten bv Enthusiasm in the Great Northern Derby, came on to Trcntham and won tne Cup. With Bst he has been given his weigbt-for-age weight, and on New Zealand Derby form must be given a chance. . . The most successful rider in Ireland this year was again Joe Canty, who has headed the list six times,, during the past twelve years in that country. His figures for the season just concluded were; Mounts, 325; firsts, 91; seconds, 61; thirds, 33. His best year was 1925, when he won 117 races, which is a record for Ireland. The charity race meeting annually held by Col. E. R. Bradley at his Idle Hoar Stud Farm, in Kentucky, was a greater success this year than even on previous occasions. Col. Bradley gave the whole of the stakes—£2,BlX> —for the six races, and the profit on the meeting totalled £5,410. This was divided among thirty-five charitable institutions in Kentucky, the various donations ranging from approximately £BOO down to £27. Autopay, who won tho Stewards’ Handicap at lliccarton a few weeks ago, was taken north for the Auckland summer meeting. Ho ran prominently for a while in the Railway Handicap, being the leader into the straight, but he then faded out. Ha failed in his subsequent engagements. Autopay seemed a bit wayward, and there is j»d doubt this colt has a will of his own.

A record, unique in itself, has been created by Last Court, a four-year-old gelding by Double Court from Last Drop, who at -his last two outings won the Pakenham and Aspcndale Park Cups in Victoria. Inclusive of the Aspendalo performance, ho staged ten public performances within seventeen days, and on six of these occasions, he won, and two of his failures were excused through his having been hampered by weights of 10.3 and 10.5. Even the severe accident which befel W. Duncan about a year ago, which resulted in a broken neck, lias not caused him to lose any of his fine form in the saddle. In the last week, when four meetings have been held in the metropolitan area of Melbourne (Victoria), Duncan has ridden eight winners, five seconds, and three thirds. Ho was on four winners and a third at Mentone, one second and two thirds at Epsom, three winners and two seconds (both beaten by half a head) at Caulfield, and one winner and two seconds at Aspendalo Park. In all, he had seventeen rides, so that he was unplaced only once. 1 have to acknowledge receipt of the

February 5, 7.—Gisborne Racing Club. February V.—Matamata Racing Club. February 12, 14.—Dunedin J.C. (Cup Meeting). February 12, 14.—Taranaki Jockey Club. February 12, 14.—Poverty Bay Turf Club. TROTTING. January 17.—Wellington T.C. Cold Cup. January 29, 31.—Forbm y Park T.C. February 7,—N.Z. Metropolitan T.C. February 21.—Kaikoura T.C. February 21, 25.—Otahuliii T.C. February 26, 28.—New Brighton T.C. March 4, s.—lnvercargill T.C.

catalogue of the fifth national sale of yearlings to be held at Trcntham on January 21. The catalogue, a book of over 460 pages, is well compiled, and contains the lull particulars of 188 yearlings. Mr Ken Austin, of Messrs H. Chisholm Co., Sydney, will conduct the sale. It is probable that class racing will eventuate in Western Australia, as at present it frequently occurs where the faster class horses compete off back marks in 2.26 or 2.25 and better races. Claes racing will overcome this unfair treatment to horses off the front jn tho races of long limits. The six open races at future meetings will probably eater .for tho 2.26 and worse than 2.22 class (two races), 2.22 and worse than 2.*19 class (two races), and 2.19 ami better class (two races). The limits may vary from time to time, but the policy indicated will be adhered to. Jessamine (2.6,j), one of the year’s leading three-year-old trotting fillies in America, will race in Europe next year, as she was recently purchased from Henry TJ. Knight, of Columbus, Ohio, for £2,000. W. J. Roscmire, .Pastime Stable trainer, acted for an unnamed European sportsman. Despite the fact that she was hardly up to the task of winning many times over tho high-class lot of two-year-olds in 1929, and three-year-olds in 1930, Jessamine proved to bo far, better than an ordinary juvenile performer. Her best effort was in tbe £2,800 Kentucky Futurity, at Lexington, Ky., in which she raced second to Hanover’s Bertha in 2.1] in flic second heat.

Is Otairi going to prove himself another and greater Nukumai (asks a writer in the Wellington ‘Post’)? He was a moderately good performer on the flat before seriously opening his hurdling career at Feilding last month, but since then he has mixed jumping and flat racing with great success. After winning and running second over the fences at Feilding, and then, following an unplaced interlude on the flat at Awapuni, winning another hurdles on the final day at the Manawatu Meeting, ho went on to Marton and carried off two victories in The Marton Cup and Aldworth Stakes, the two principal flat handicaps at the meeting. Tlfis genuine versatility is very like that of Nukumai, and as lie still has several years of racing in front of him, it is within the bounds of probability that he will outshine the champion mixer of a year or two ago. He is in good hands and he should be a profitable horse to remember during the fuitnmn and winter. H.H. the Aga Khan heads the list of winning owners in England for the second year in succession. The amount of stake money he has won is in excess ot that which fell into his coffers last year, the total figure being £40,2511. This represents his best season on the British turf, and all those followers ot racing who have the best interests ot the sport at heart are delighted at his success. The money which the Indian prince has put into the sport each year js immense. In hjs nine years on the turf in this country, His Highness has now won close on £170.000 in stake money. The feature of the Aga Khan’s success this season has been the victory of his three-year-olds. Blenheim won the Derby, Rustem Pasha the Eclipse Stakes and the Champion Stakes, Ut Majeur the Cesarcwitch and throe other races, and Quarrat-al-Ain the Coronation Stakes at Ascot. ' Writing in ‘ The Field ’ of the season’s racing in England, a contributor tells an anecdote. He says; “Towards the close of the ’sixties, one Oiler, a Frenchman, introduced the pari-mutuel system of wagering into England, and more than one of his followers was sent to gaol for setting up booths and working the scheme, then styled hero the Paris or ‘ Parry ’ Mntncl, on English racecourses. Admiral Rous, dictator of

racing affairs at Newmarket, and to a certain extent elsewhere, was greatly incensed when a promoter sought to set up a portable ‘ Parry machine ’ on Newmarket Heath. And its owner was thankful when ho was able to ‘ salute tho ditch ’ on the first outgoing train. That tho heavy betting owner or racegoes of professional standing will ever make use of tho mechanical bookmaker is very doubtful. So, too, is the contingency—at any rate, for many years —that- a percentage of the 1 rake-off ’ will bo available to enhance tho value of stakes. But the fact that close on £3,000,000 will have passed through tho totalisaor this year is evidence of its popularity with the general public.” F. Fox, who won the jockey Premiers!) i,;v in England last season by one winning ride, is forty-three years old, and can go to tho scale at 7st 71b without wasting. Ho laughed at a suggestion that be might rctjre, “ Why should I ” he queried. ‘‘l fortunately enjoy very good health, and have little or no difficulty in keeping my weight normal.” His first mount in public was in 1907, and it was in 1911 lie won the One Thousand on Mr J. de Rothschild’s Atmah. That is the only one of the five important English three-year-old races in which lie las he3ti .successful. Of all the horses he has ridden over a number of years, Fox -says that Tiffin (Tctratema —■ Dawn-wind) was the fastest, and of his classic and cup mounts reckons Bronzino (who subsequently went, to Australia) was the best. Fox rode in Germany for the Mesrs Von Weinberg when F\ Darling trained for these owners shortly before tho war. Fox is still associated with Darling being first jockey for his stable. Mis record last season was 129 wins and 178 placed performances out of 802 mounts. G. Richards, who was second, rode 128 winners out of 834 mounts, and was placed in 207 races.