RACING NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 21624, 20 January 1934, Page 3

RACING NOTES

RACING. January 22, 24.—Wellington R.C. Januarv 22. Ashurst-Pohangina R.C. January 23 —National Yearling Sales. Trentham January 25, 27. -Wairoa R.C. January 27, 29. —Takapuna J.C. January 31 —Tapauui R.C. February 1, 3. Egmont R.C. February 3. -Poverty Bay T.C. February 3 Matamata R.C. .February 8. 10. —Dunedin J.C. February 8, 10.-Poverty Bay T.C. February 8, 10.—Taranaki J.C.

GETTING, A MUG’S GAME. The woman who bears the reputation of being the most successful punter of her sex on the racecourses of England, the voman whose modest £lO bet frightens the bookmakers more than the hundreds invested by others, talked racing to me the other night, writes a special correspondent of the London • Daily Express.’ She is Lady Ohesham. They say that when professional backus gather to discuss the prospects for the next race the first information required is; “ What is she doing?” Hut the only outward and visible sign of her success appears in the list of winning owners under the Rules of Racing. There, under her name, appears an inconspicuous entry of. one horse having won two races,' the stakes of which are valued at £526. “My winnings? ‘ They are my affair,” she said to me at Latimer House, the., superb seat in the town from which her husband takes his title. She deprecated her reputation of being the most successful woman punter. “It is true I have won far more than I have lost on the turf,” she said. “ 1 should be stupid to go on otherwise. ‘I If you want my advice_ about bet-ting—-leave it alone. It is a mug’s game. The dice are loaded too heavily against you. “ Just think what you have to reckon with—the feelings of the racehorse—and they are temperamental, you know —the trainers, the jockejs, and the host of other people concerned with the game. ’ ' “So I)say to you seriously ‘ Do not bet.’ ‘ ■' “If after my warning you must gamble, then stick to a winning stable. When you see the trainer’s luck is turning find another., “Tips do not 'mean much to me. They may be very good and handed out in all good faith. But they are so apt to go astray. I get plenty cf them —straight from the horse’s mouth. “I know.” SUCCESS OF SOUTHLAND-BRED TROTTERS. “Stopwatch,” in the ‘Southland Times,’ has compiled the following interesting tables showing how successful Southland-bred trotters and paeprs have been in the northern centres this season. The figures are compiled to January 4:— Wins. Places. Stakes.

’The following list gives the principal figures of the sires of the above list quoted:—. £ Sungod ... . ... ... ... 1,310 Blue Mountain King ... 1,146 . Nelson Bingen ... ... 860 Gold Bell ... ... ... 600 Erin’s King 580 Wrack 470 i Waverley 412 Four Chimes ... 200 ' JOTTINGS. Cleaner, bruised a heel in her gallop on Tuesday at Riccarton, and could not be taken to Trenthami 'D. Graetz and W. N. Brodie were selected by the stipendiary stewards in Adelaide as the most improved apprentices for, 1933. Each boy was awarded a pair of spurs. Concentrate, who is standing up to bis tasks at Riccarton, is to be given another chance to race in Australia as he has been nominated for the autumn meetings' in Sydney I , Nightly has been nominated for the Sydney Cup, £4,500, two miles, and the King’s Cup ; £2,000, mile and a-half, to be decided' at Randwick at Easter time. Forestry, Minerva!, and Concentrate have also been nominated for these two races. A horse named Red Spur won a treble at' the Chatham Island Jockey Club’s annual meeting, the Chatham Island Cup, two miles, Chatham Island Stakes, one mile, and the President’s Handicap, seven furlongs. Not a bad performance in one afternoon! A free-for-all may be staged at Harold Park shortly before Walla Walla leaves for New Zealand. The owner of Walla Walla, Mr L. S. Martin, is keen .to challenge the _ best available in Sydney. The Victorian trainer W. M‘Kay may also start Auburn Lad. Still another prominent Australian horseman has been placed on the idle list. H. Badger was suspended for two months by the Victoria Racing Club’s stipendiary stewards at Epsom on January 2 for alleged interference. Badger has appealed against the decision. Peter Pan, one of the greatest thoroughbred sires in America, grandsire of Equipoise and the juvenile sensation, Mata Hari, was found dead in his stall at the farm of his owner, Mr Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, at Lexington, Kentucky, on December 9, at the age of twenty-nine years. L. H. Hewitt, who has been training in India for some years, now includes the Aga Khan among his patrons. He is training Buland, Costaki Pasha, Palla, and Solferino for that owner. It was stated a little while ago that Hewitt was going to England to train, but there was nothing in that report. The latest addition to J. J. Kennerley’s team is the six-year-old gelding, Young Frank, who has raced well in Southland and is improving all the time. His best performance to date was to run second to Blue Mountain Queen in the Gore Cup from 48yds bhd, and he should be a welcome addition to Addington, for he is still on a good mark, and will pay his way in better company. Among the first acceptors for_ the WiHiamstown Stakes, a £1,500 weight-for-age race, to be run at WiHiamstown (Melbourne) on February 10. are Hall Mark, Limarcb, Wheriko, and Gaino Carrington. Conditions of this race, like those ot the Caulfield Futurity Stakes, make provision for late entries, in the WiHiamstown case up to January 30.

[By Sx. Clair.]

February 9, 10.—Marlborough R.C. February 10, 12. - Rotorua K.C. TROTTING. January 25 27.—Forbury Park T.C. February 3. NZ. Metropolitan T.C. February 3, s.—Nelson T.C. February 17. 21. -Auckland T.C. February 24. -New Brighton T.C. Marcli 2, 3 Invercargill T.C. March 3. Wellington T.C. March 10.-Timaru T.C.

At Morpkettville (Adelaide) on Jaliuary 6, the doubles totalisator received a splendid advertisement. Outsiders won the two principal events and the winning combination on the machine returned a dividend of £468 15s for ss. Sir Gilbert Dyett,' president of the Returned Soldiers’ Association of Australia since its inception, whose knighthood was announced at the New Year, fis secretary of the Victoria Trotting and Racing Association, and also acts as starter at the Ascot course in Melbourne. He will continue to hold his racing positions. > Kellsboro’ Jack, winner of the 1933 Grand National Steeplechase at Aiutree, shaped well when produced in the early weeks of the current National Hunt season in England, but hiS owner, Mrs Ambrose Clark, is said not to be desirous of running him in the great Liverpool race this year. He has sin interesting stablemate. This is Beacon Hill 11., a young ’chaser from America, where he is still owned. He belongs to Mrs C. V. Whitney, and the Grand National is his objective. Free Holmes has been giving his American stallion, Frank Worthy, some strong work on the tracks of late, and has found him to be a pacer above the average (says the ‘ Press ’). Frank Worthy has an American record of 2min 3Jsec and .a mile and a-quarter mark of 2min 36isec. He has won at both the trotting and pacing gaits, and Holmes has been studying the gear for the American horse. The Riccarton trainer considers Fj-ank Worthy anything but a spent light, and _he is anxious to be in any race in which the Australian pacer, Walla Walla, is engaged. His presence in the field would give the race a true international flavour.

After seeing the racing at Addington on February 3 Mr J. R. M’Kenzie will leave on an extended business and pleasure tour, which will occupy six or eight months. Mr M'Kenzie will spend a good deal of his time in England, and will return via America, where he will witness the racing at Lexington later in the year. At present the Roydon Lodge studmaster has no intention of bringing any more horses to New Zealand, as he considers that for the present ho has any amount of American blood in his Yaldhurst stud. Followers of G. Young’s stable experienced an expensive day at Rosebery on January 10., : Falstaff was beaten into second place, and his brother, Havaspot, far from justifying his, favouritism for the. Welter Mile, finished out of a place.' Havaspot generally is seen at. his best under the welter scale, and despite the fact that he was burdened with 10.0 and had let his backers down when sent out an odds-on favourite at his previous start whs the medium of solid support. On the outside, he w%s in the middle of the field for the greater part'of the journey, and not at any stage of the race did he really flatter his admirers." At the finish he was sixth. About a year ago, while he was on a visit to New Zealand, Mr D. J. Davis, the former owner of Phar Lap, purchased some brood mares which he sent to the Elderslie stud with the object of breeding to Northern Hemisphere time, his intention being to race the progeny in America. His enterprise has been attended by satisfactory results. Ammon Ra’s half-sister, Phaola, by Catmint from Hyades, foaled a filly to Night Raid on January 4, while on January 9 Eaglet, a sister to the crack two-year-old. Mother Superior, by Chief Ruler from Dpvelet, produced a colt to. the same sire. A third mare, Lady Greyspear, by Greyspear from St. Winnow, is due to foal soon. It is not often that pacers are raced in New Zealand without the hopples, although some years ago the Auckland Trotting Club included in its programmes races. for unhoppled horses—pacers or trotters. In Australia it is different. Walla Walla apparently races equally well with or without hopples, and while he won the Goulburn Cup without hopples in 3min ISsec he has gone 3min 17sec with the aid of straps. He also holds the Harold Park record of 3min 21sec on, a half-mile track, and has winning time of 4min 30sec over two miles. The record for' this distance, however, is held by Gipsy Pronto, who, without hopples, did 4min 27seo. Sheik, winner of the New Zealand Cup, was also a good natural pacer, and unhoppled established a record of 3min 204 sec in 1927. Although the Centenary Committee has posted all available information concerning the Melbourne Cup in November next to leading English owners, it is unlikely that Flemington patrons on next Cup day will have the pleasure of seeing an English horse among the runners. The Aga Khan has stated that while he would like to have his colours carried ■ at Flemington in the great race, the difficulties are such that he considers it would not be possible. There is still a chance that* the South African millionaire, Sir Abe Bailey, will be represented, as a well-known Australian newspaper man is endeavouring to persuade Sir Abe to send a well-bred three-year-old to Australia almost immediately, and so give the horse time to acclimatise before being prepared for the great race. Win and place betting, with the present allocation of the place pool, is unpopular with racegoers at provincial meetings (says the Timaru ‘ Herald ’). It is also costly to run, as the extra charge made by totalisator contractors has not been recouped from any substantial increase in turnover. These reasons are sufficient to justify clubs reverting to the single machine until the win and place regulations are made more flexible. It is rumoured, however, that one or two trotting clubs abandoned the dual system because it was feared that some owners might abstain from nominating horses if it were continued. There is something diverting about men being able to dictate totalisator policy when they may not be patrons of the machine. The main interest of some owners in the totalisator is in the dividends it declares, such dividends forming the basis of starting price betting away from the course. H. Donovan, who had his first mount in a race at the Otago Hunt Club’s Meeting held on the old Forbury course on September 9, 1893, is still in the profession, and recently won a double on Sam Smith at the West Coast Meeting. His debut as a jockey was promising, for in a desperate finish ho , was only .beaten by a nose Jjy Jhe Id-

ler, owned and ridden by P. M'Gi'atb. a well-known horseman in his day, a I one time private trainer to Mr J. I Buchanan, and at present private trainer to Mr J. M. .Samson, at Riccarton, in his second attempt, which was made two months later, Donovan caused a big sensation by winning the Waitaki Plate Handicap on Vanilla, a three-year-old liily by Vanguard— Lady’s Maid, at the North Otago Jockey (Hub’s Spring Meeting. Only two tickets were taken out on the winner, who paid a dividend oi more than £BO.

Rogillu, one oi' the outstanding Australian racehorses oi the last two years, has made a complete recovery Irom the serious head injnr.es which he suffered in an accident on Newcastle racecourse in mid-December, ami has just returned from the veterinary hospital to the Newcastle stables of Ins lessee-trainer, L. Haigh. Despite the accident and the delicate operation, which he subsequently underwent, Rogilla lost very little condition, and lie will shortly ,be given easy exercise in preparation for the contemplated engagements in the autumn. it was feared after the accident that a resultant depression of the bone over the right eye might destroy the sight of tlte eye, a‘nd so make the gelding ineligible to compete in metropolitan racing. In an interview, Haigh said that the vision of Rogilla’s right eye was now as good as ever. He had never heard of a more wonderful operation being performed on a horse anywhere tnan that which had succeeded with Itogilla. His own opinion, .’just after 'the accident, had been that he would never bo able to race Rogilla again. In a letter to Free Holmes, 11. B. Plaxico, now a public trainer at Columbus, Ohio, and who was private trainer to Mr J. It. M'Kenzie a few years back, says: “ The racing game has been very tough here during the last few years, but it has begun to pick up a little. An effort is to be made to extend the . grand circuit from coast to coast and race the year round, which will be of great benefit to us, as in the past we have been able to race only four or five months of the year, which makes lis do a lot of training to race that short time/ I had a veVy good season this year and won more than twenty races. I was first, second, or third in every race in which I drove my filly-by Frank Worthy. I like this filly and think she will make a high-class three-year-old. She has extreme speed, but developed a sickness about midseason.. But for this stoppage in her work I believe she would not have been beaten. At present 1 have eight head in work, and expect four or five more in January. I bought two colts by a son of Mr M'Elwyn, and they can both fly. I noticed in the paper you sent me that there is talk of matching Louis Direct with some Australian horse, and I can say that if he comes back to his old form it will take a good horse to beat him.” After contesting the Thames Plate, the chief event at the Thames Jockey Club’s meeting oh Saturday, a veterinary surgeon, under official supervision, took a swab of the saliva of Prolyxo, who ran unplaced in that event. The swab was taken with the approval of Mr L. S. Otway, owner of Prolyxo. in the presence of Mr G. Gomer, chief stipendiary steward qf the New Zealand Racing Conference, and Mr F. Cullen, racecourse inspector. The swab, also a bottle "containing the remainder of the fluid that had been i given to Prolyxo prior to the race, and the syringe used to convey the fluid down her throat, and in which there was still some left, were taken possession of and brought to Auckland by Mr Cullen in order to be analysed. The incident is an unusual one as far as racing in New Zealand is concerned, and the attendant who administered the fluid to Prolyxo stated that it was given in order to check the filly’s tendency to bleed during the race. Prolyxo was started later in the day in the Farewell Handicap, in which she failed to finish in a place. She also contested the Hauraki Plains Handicap on the first day of the meeting, being one of the last to finish. In addition to Walla Walla, the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club may have another big attraction at its Easter meeting in Auburn La’d, a crack Melbourne pacer, whose owner, according to a Sydney paper, has his eyes on some of the good stakes on offer in the dominion. Auburn Lad is a nine-year-old gelding _by Globe Derby from Velocity, and in November }ast established a new Victorian mile race record of 2rnin 93 sec. Commenting upon this performance, a writer in the ‘ Australian Record ’ has the following Unless the limits are tightened in Melbourne, the brilliant son of Globe Derby is now a hopeless proposition, as in the Flying Handicap at his next start he would be forced to give Dalla Derby 96yds. ’ However, it is quite on the cards that he may be one of a team W. M'Kay will take to New Zealand, where he will undoubtedly make the Maorilanders sit up and take notice.” • On many occasions Auburn Lad has proved himself a true racehorse, and at a difference of _ lßyds he ran second to Walla Walla in the Harold Park Thousand of 1930. His presence at Addington would be warmly welcomed by all racegoers, who would be given the opportunity of seeing two of Australia’s best in action.

Blue Mountain ... G 5 £1,146 Sunny Morn ... ... .1 2 990 Gold Tinge ... ... 2 — 600 Probationer 2 4 470 Satin King ... ... 1 .— 450 Master Roy 3 1 412 Meteor ... 1 ,3 320 Nelson’s Victory ... 1 2 250 Norman Fox ... ... 2 l' 245 War Paint _ ■1 4 . 245 Ayrmont Chimes ... . 1 1 200 Young Frank 1 2 — ■ 190 Merce Bingen 1 — 175 Prairie King ... ... — 5 130 Grey Girl .... ... I — 95