RACING NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 21316, 21 January 1933, Page 8

RACING NOTES

LBy St. Clair.]

RACING. January 23.~W>llingtQn Riming Club. January 23.— Ashluivst-Pohangma Racing Club. _ . , January 25. 26.~rnUiatua Racing Club. January 27.—-Opotiki Jockey Club. January 28.—Napier Turk Racing Club. January 28, 30.-Takapuna Jockey Club, February I.—Taimmu Racing Club. February 1,2, Bgmont Racing Club. February 2, 4.—Gisborne Racing Club. February 2, 4.—Wairoa Racing club. February 4.—Matainata Racing Club. February 9, U.—Dunedin Jockey Club.

AMERICAN SPORTSMANSHIP? Writing of Epinard’s return to Franco gave “ Salvator, m the ‘Lexington Thoroughbred Record a chance to launch out at tho American idea of sportsmanship. He says;— “ What, at long last, will bo the verdict of history upon Epmard only time can reveal. 4 mean upon his American adventure as a sire. Upon his American adventure as a racehorse it is, of course, already in. And, without blinking the facts, it may be termed one of the most discreditable to Amercan sportsmanship that has happened in our time—while to the horse one lull of honour. . ■ “ Epinard was invited to this country to meet our best, and a truly sportsmanlike owner accepted the invitation supposing that it would be carried out in a sportsmanlike way. But what eventuated? W r hy, all the best hovsos we could rake and scrape togethor were sent against him, not in a sportsmanlike way, but in relays, one batch after another, each time over a different track and under different conditions. In each and all of these races he was ‘ given the worst of it 1 by some ono or another species of sharp practice. “ Opposing jockeys were flagrantly unfair in their tactics: combinations were effected against him, and the like. On top of tiiat ho was ridden by a

TROTTING. January 26, 28.—Forbury Park Trotting Chib. February 4, 6. —Nelson Trotting Club. February 4,—New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club. February 9.—Marlborough Trotting Club, February 18.—Kaikoura Trotting Club, February 18, 22.—Auckland Trotting Club. February 25.—New Brighton Trotting Club.

jockey once at home hero but no longer so, and obviously at a great disadvantage thereby. Literally, it was ‘ Epinnrcl against the world ’ not only—it was the world against Epinard as well. “ By such tactics as these the son of Badajoz and Epinc Blanche was effectually ‘ taken care ot.’ But there are some things which wore left out of the equation, Of which one was outstanding. It being, in slang parlance, the ability of the American public to tell a hawk from a handsaw. _ ■ “ The result of the senes of International Specials ’ of the fall of 1924 was to make Epinard, though consistently defeated, the hero of the drama! The public saw and comprehended what was being done to him, and what he was doing. And they reacted mno uncertain way. The beaten horse monopolised the honours! “ It was felt that, in a genuine up-aud-up horse race, in which the dice had not been loaded in advance, he could defeat any of the horses that defeated him, not oven barring Snrazen himself. That, against impossible odds, which included his arrival here in far from good condition, from the other side of the world, his necessity of racing without proper acclimatisation, and the utter strangeness of our race tracks and racing methods, he had given an account of himself not less than heroic.” . ~ A more severe condemnation than the foregoing of American “ fair play ” would he difficult, and one can imagine the indignation with which it would have been received if written by some visitor. ~ But it is recognised that Salvator knows what he writes about, and his ideas suggest that, if Phur Bap had lived to tackle America's best, there would have been difficulties in the way of a series of successes. SIRES AND THEIR PROGENY. Some time ago there was a lot of talk about limiting stallions in England and Ireland to 45 mares, hut that idea was evidently not generally favoured. Knight of the Garter, whose foe is £l9, was mated with 58 mares in 1931, and 46 live foals resulted. In the same season Blandford (100 guineas) had 48 mares, and his figures were 24 living foals, two dead or slipped, and 17 barren, Of the 45 marcs sent to Warden of the Marches (200 guineas fee) 33 proved barren, and Papyrus (400 guineas fee) failed with 13 of his 44 mates. Buchan (400 guineas) had the poor average of 12 jiving foals from 37 mares, and Gainsborough, another 400 guineas stallion, had 21 from 40, Solario (500 guineas) did not do badly with 26 living foals from 37 mares, but it was no wonder Call Boy’s fee was dropped from 400 guineas to 250 guineas, with a proviso of “ No foal, no fee,” Seventeen of the 21 mares sent to him missed. Felstead (300 guineas), another Derbv winner, did particularly well with '2B living foals from 89 mares. JOTTINGS. At a meeting of _ the committee .of the Waijtouaiti Racing Chib, held last evening, a balance-sheet in connection with the recent race meeting was presentee] by the hon. treasurer, showing a surplus of about £7OO. It was decided to pay off £4OO of the debentures owing on the grandstand. S, A. Edwards, after » sojourn at Winton of several months, has returned to Christchurch. As he bad a fairly big team in work, it will mean a loss to the Winton track. During his short stay he made many friends. Accompanying him, so it is understood, are Oklahoma and Bello Derby. H. Morton’s team of jumpers arc now located in Riverton. Sanatter and Ngahue -were very forward when they left. They were accompanied by a three-year-old by Woodend—Kilmeedy and a Tractor—Andante youngster, both of which look promising. Frank Langford bas a fair team of jumpers in work at Winton. They include Romhean, French Singer, Taragona, who is to race between the (lags in future, and West Dome. In addition lie also has a likely four-year-old by Pan mure out of a Flcetham marc to represent him in the maiden class.

The fourth supplement to ‘ Volume 26 of the English Stud Book ’ gives details of 7,700 mares. There is an increase of 1,600 mares since 1925, and the number of living foals recorded for last year was 3,560. Although M. D. Peacock put up a great performance in training the winners of 100 races last year, it was not an English record. John Day still retains that honour, having scored 146 wins in 3867. W. E. Elsoy recorded 126 wins in 1905,

In Tasmania, as elsewhere, they have the battery scare. Before the running of the Longford Cup, at the Longford R.C. Meeting on New Year’s Day, the riders of the nine runners wore searched. Humours were groundless, not one battery being found. In England and Scotland last year, thirty-nino horses not eligible for inclusion in the ‘ Stud Book ’ won seventy-seven races between them. Of those, the Sickle two-year-old, Vorsiele (whose dam, Verdict, is the bar), did best with £2,636, then coming Sandy Lashes (Happy Man—Steachworth Belce) £1,187, and Polar Boar (Strat-ford-—Polar Belle) £1,817. A number of light-harness horses were offered to the public at auction recently in Winton, but there was little demand, and none changed hands. Those offered wore: A bay gelding, Gyrs, by Nelson Bingon—Floataway, passed at 26gs; the brood mare, Fenchild, by Rothschild—Fcnwater, and dam of the speedy Honest Dillon, passed at sgs; black gelding, 3yrs, by Bine Mountain King—Fonchild, passed at 30gs; bay gelding by Gratton Loyal—Fenchild, passed at 10gs. By the way he has been moving in his track work since his return from Auckland, Indianapolis must be regarded as a very likely prospect at the Forbury Park Meeting next week (says the ‘ Press ’). He claims the front mark in a 2min 17sce mile race, and is on the limit of a mile and three furlongs race on the opening day. He loolvs capable of accounting for the majority of those he is likely to meet in which over race he is started. Totratema, by The Tetrach from Scotch Gift, is a champion sire of two-year-old winners. He was again at the head of the list of winning sires of two-year-olds in England in the past season, a position he held in 1928 and 3930, while ho was second to Stratford in 1929. Two-year-olds by Totratema won £19,315 in stakes in England last season, and Colorado (dead) had winners of the same ago of £16,889, An interesting feature of the second day of the Thames Jockey Chib’s Meeting was the remarkable luck of K. Voit.re in drawing good post positions. In six mounts be drew No. 1 four times and No. 2 twice, and certainly had no reason to complain in the luck of the draw. Voitro’s mounts, with the exception of On Approval, who was unplaced, all ran prominently, registering a win, three seconds, and a third, and he finished up the two days with four wins, four seconds, and a third. At a meeting of the committee of the Ashburton Trotting Club, it was decided to include a classic race for three-year-olds in the programme of the Sommer Meeting, 1933, to bo held on Boxing Day next. The race is to be known ns the New Zealand Champion Stakes, and will carry a stake of £SOO, and entries for this event will lie tnlcen next month, at the snmo tiipo as the New Zealand Sapling Stakes, 1934. It was resolved that a stake of £BSO bo allotted to the New Zealand Sapling Stakes, 3934. The stake and conditions will bo the same as for this year’s event.

According to the Forbury Park Trotting Club’s nominations, Sansavcno is to race next ns a trotter. Ho is a fouryen r-old Nelson Bingon gelding from a Bon Patch mare, and he showed some promise us a pacer at the last Forbury Park Meeting. Dnal-gaited horses arc common amongst the Nelson Bingon tribe. Peter Bingon, winner of two Now Zealand Cups, raced as a trotter before being changed over to the pacing gait. The laLathy the sanie_ stallion to earn honours iu this direction is Belle Lorrimer, who, at her second start as a trotter, was successful. Relative to horses bred at tho Sandringham Stud, a London writer says the best wore Djamond Jubilee, Florizel IT., and Persimmon, sons of parents of the same ago, St. Simon a«d Perdita 11. Of recent years Limelight and Scuttle (Two Thousand Guineas winner) have been Sandringham’s best.

Last year was King George’s most successful for several seasons. He had four winners of seven races, carrying £3,828. It would be safe to bet, however, that the amount named did not go far towards covering the King’s expenses as a breeder and owner. So far, no South Island club has

seen fib to adopt the new betting method, but it is probable that something will be done soon (says the Christchurch ‘Star’). The committee of the Canterbury Jockey Club has had the subject under discussion lately. The chairman, Mr G. Gould, will be a visitor to the Wellington Racing Club’s Meeting, and while at Trontbam he will give special attention to tho totnlisator arrangements. Ho will report to tlvo committee of his club at a meeting to be held next Tuesday, and

it is possible that the win and place system will be installed ut Riccarton next mouth, at thf. Canterbury Jockey Club’s Summer Meeting. E. Simmons, the light-weight jockey, who has been absent from Australia for a long time, arrived in Melbourne recently. He intends to ride there. Since his departure from Australia Simmons has ridden in England and France, and for more than a year has been one of the most successful riders in Ceylon. In India, too, he has had many successes. Simmons broke his journey at Perth, where he rode at til* Cup meeting. Among the successes of Simmons wore the Caulfield Cups of 1922 and 1923 on Whittier and Wynetto. He was then a 6st 71b boy, and iu Whittier’s vac* he was laid £I,OOO to nothing by the owner, Mr Ben Chaffoy, chairman of the Victoria Amateur Turf Club. What with horses appearing in lists of acceptances and not being at meetings, and winners being “ off the card,” with rumours being broadcast of apprentice jockeys engaged for good horses, and the uncertainty iu which race a horse with about three engagements is likely to start, stay-at-home backers are getting sick of the game (writes the .Auckland correspondent of the ‘Sun’). At many country fixtures in the Auckland province of late it has been very noticeable that several horses listed in tiie ” card ” are not at the meeting, and while it is quite feasible that everything is in order, repeated occurrences tend to make some punters suspicious when acceptances are now published. At Addington on Thursday morning Somorby paced two miles unhoppled in 4.27 3-ssec, the best of_ its kind seen in training for some time. His last mile in 2.12 1-5 puts him in line for serious consideration in the President’s Handicap at Tiniaru on Saturday. Notta Oro also went two miles, but was not timed. Belle Loriiner accounted for Resound over a mile and a-half, trotting her first mile in 2.27, and the last four furlongs in 1.7, making 3.39 for the trip. Resound has become very solid, and her effort was good for one on her marks. Little Guy heat Sodium over a mile and a-half in 3.21, and was under restraint most of the way. He will race next at the Forbury Park T.C.’s Meeting, his mission being the snrint races. The success of Little Guy in the Hutt Handicap at Wellington on Saturday was well anticipated locally as, after his fine work-out with Peter Pirate last week over two miles, his prospects looked very bright. Little Guy ran right up to his trial and registered his best performance to date in winning in 4.29 3-5, which was practically identical with the time recorded in his work-out. Although this is the first two-miles race won by Little Guy since being purchased by Air C. V. Carley three years ago, the half-brother to Groat Hope won at Hastings previously over the journey, defeating a large field, including Sir Guy, Arachne, and Gang Awa’, and recording 4.37 from a 4.47 mark. Since joining Smith’s stable Little Guy has won four races, his three earlier successes being at a mile and a-quarter. The Real Guy pacer looks like repaying Mr Carley at last for the 600 gs he cost him.

Arc tho decisions of the Foxton ami the Pahiatua dobs the writing on the wall? Does it spell the extinction of many of the smaller bodies? There are many who hold that it does (writes “Hurry On” in Taranaki ‘News’), and that a move for the centralisation of racing is not far distant. With the costs of travelling and training as high as they were in tho boom days and stakes down to less than half owners cannot afford to send teams to gatherings where even a winning stake shows them no profit. It is hard on some of the small chibs and those who have worked so hard in tl>e past to build them up. The Racing Conference will have to consider the problem of the small meetings very _ carefully in the near future, and it is sincerely to be hoped that it is dealt with in a thorough and just manner, and that the reforms will be free of any political influence.

Racing in Argentina lias become strictly a rich man’s sport, ever since the schedule of events has been reduced to a singlo afternoon each week because of the depression, and owners of inferior horses are panic-stricken, as they contemplate the sterile field confronting them,, according to a prominent turf man. “ The pastime is conducted on Sundays only,” he revealed, “ and as many as 40,000 attend ordinarily. The women bring their knitting and the kids their toys. They seem to get as much delight out of the hard-fought contests as the financially interested occupants of the stands and the club house. Commissioners par-

ado the lawn in front of the grand stand, and bring your money to you if you happen to hare a ticket on the winner.’’

Hiding somewhere in Dublin on Norember 11 was a young woman who crossed 3,000 miles of ocean to claim a £15,000 Irish sweepstake prize, but when she arrived she had lost her ticket. She is Miss Nina Field, of New York, who drew a second prize in the Cosarcwitch sweep. She gave up her work and loft Now York a week before. Before noon on November 11 she was nt the cilice of tho official auditors of

the sweep account. All her credentials were in order except that she had not her ticket. She had cither lost or destroyed it. The sweep promoters were so sympathetic that they agreed to advance her out of their personal fund enough money to enable her to carry on for six mouths. At the end of that time she will' receive the prize money unless someone else brings the ticket and claims it.

An interesting nominee for the Birchwood Saddle Trot, to be decided over one mile and a-half at the Wairio Jockey Club’s Meeting this afternoon, is that of the great pacer, Native Chief. Reputed on two occasions to have been permanently retired, the Logan Pointer gelding may again give Southland enthusiasts an opportunity of seeing him in action. It is now fifteen months since Native Chief appeared in public, the occasion being at the Winton Jockey Club’s Meeting on 1931, when he gave a more or less belated exhibition in giving away what may be called hopeless handicaps. He is now in his tenth year, and his friends consider he is capable of making a successful come-back. His efforts during the past two years have been those of farm life and a domestic nature, and these should go a long way in serving to quieten the highly-strung gelding. He will give away 25sec at Wairio to a useful field of maidens. His presence will attract considerable attention, but he should not carry much monetary support. In Prince of Orange the Waikato sportsman, Mr R. T. Reid (who is also the owner of Royal Artist, who won the Wellington Cup on Thursday) appears to have a jumper out of the ordinary. Whatever he may prove to be ns a steeplechaser remains to be seen, but as a hurdler he is the find of the season here, says the Auckland ‘ Star,’ and he has only to go along the right way from now on to be a distinct possibility for Great Northern honours in the winter. When racing on the flat the Valkyrian gelding went an occasionally good race in good company, but his defeats overshadowed his best efforts, and there was just a sus-

picion that he was not endowed with a great deal of courage. But since being raced over hurdles his courage and stamina have left no room for doubt, and though his record oven hurdles is three wins in four starts, strictly speaking he has won three out of three, because on the occasion he did not win, he was withdrawn from the race just as the horses were about to line up at the harrier. Prince of Orange is trained by A. Julian, who, in his day, was one of the finest horsemen over fences the dominion has seen* The Principal speaker at the Gimcrack Club’s annual dinner is always the owner of the winner of the Gimcrack stakes. The victor last month’ was Young Lover, owned by Sir Alfred Butt. He cannot he accused of having made a “milk and water” speech, and it may be surmised that some of the distinguished gathering were somewhat startled at stages. Sir Alfred delivered a scathing criticism of the totalisa’tor as it is run in England, and was especially severe on the “ tote ” clubs. “So far,” he said, “ the totalisator has failed to help racing (in England). We must not allow, racing to be exploited for the purpose of bolstering up the totalisator.” He went on to suggest that the Betting Control Board should be disbanded, and that the English Jockey Club should buy all the courses now privately owned (which form the majority)- He criticised certain cases of objections to winners, asked for the abolition of certain kinds of selling races, condemned some features of race programmes, and urged the introduction of stipendiary stewards. He also j had something to say. about the lack of facilities for owners to see their horses in races,