RACING NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 21880, 17 November 1934, Page 10

RACING NOTES

RACING. 9 November 19.—Waikato Racing Club. November 24.-Levin Racing Club. November 24, 26.—Takapuna Jockey Club. November 30, December I.—Fcilding Jockey Club. November 30, December I.—Winlon Jockey Club. December Ashburton Racing Club. December 6, B.—Dargavillo Racing Club. December 8. 10.—Woodvillc Jockey Club. December 15.—Waipa Raring Club. December 15.—Hororata Racing Club. December 15.—Wellington Racing Club. December 26.—Waipukurau. December 26 and 27.—Dunedin Jockey Cl no December 26, 27, 29.—Manawatu Racing Club. December 26, 28, January 1, 2.—Auckland Racing Club. December 26, 29.—Westland Racing Club. January I. Waikouaiti Racing Club. January I.—Wyndham Racing Club. January 1, 2.—Greymouth Jockey Club.

RACE RIDING NOT A LOST ART. The capabilities of horsemen in the early days of racing- were not any more highly regarded than they are to-day, and a well-known Sydney writer, of thirty-five years ago, had comments, quite the reverse of complimentary, to make. He Wrote ,- “ The dearth of good light-weight riders was never more felt than at present, and instances of races lost by alleged light-weight jockeys this current season are numerous enough in all conscience. Horses do good work on the tracks and are hUnded over in first-rate condition to the butcherhoy artist—whose only recommendation is Ins weight—hut fail to run up to anything like their private form, for the simple reason that in nine cases, nut of ten, the lad on top knows less about the real business of race-riding than he does of the Pandects of Justinian. If his mount he a lazy goer, he is unable to 1 ride ’ him along, and if a free-gocr he cannot hold him. The owner who expects the average lightweight to wait for a time, and then make a run, is confiding indeed. He is as likely to rush his horse off his legs as he is to lie at the tail of the field till the race is all over. It is easy enough for owners and trainers who have lost races through the stupidity or lack of experience on the part of these hoys to growl, and growl loudly, hut they are the people to blame for tlje existence of these wretched riders. The one will not go to the trouble of teaching, properly indentured apprentices to ride, and the other is to Maine for employing anv hut a properly taught jockey to ride for them. To he a jockey nowadays all that a lad reauires is a license. He is not asked where ho has, served five or seven years to learn his business, as he would be if he were a tinker or a tailor. Mayhap lie, has put in three or four , months in a stable, and gets a permit which at once labels him a joekev. A few lads learn onickly. some slowly, others never, hut if shoved np here and there to pick up their educations as best they may, we are not likely to have any improvement in the future. No bov should receive a permit to ride until he has served ns least three years in a training stable. Tf any keen-eyed committeeman of the A.J.C. were to come often to Kandwick during business hours and watch the work-riding of scores of their licensed ‘ jockevs,’ they would at once see the, necessity of the drastic reform of the regulations now in force.” EULOGY DEAD. The death is announced of the great brood mare Eplogy. She died last week after foaling a hay filly to Posterity. Eulogy was bred in England in 1911 and was imported to New Zealand by Mr G. M. Currie in February, 1915, in company with the stallion, Absurd. Eulogy was by Cicero from Kelibia by Upas from Goletta by Galopin. Her first foal was Pennon, by Coriander, to English Time, and she had fourteen living foals, missing in 1921. 1922, 1925, 1929, 1931. and 1933. Her best known and successful progeny were Humbug, Fulsome, Epitaph, Homage, and Eulalie by Absurd, Commendation. and Praise by Limorid, Pedestal by Thespian, Esteem by Pombal, and Adulator by Limond. which was named in Australia, while there is a two-year-old colt by Posterity yet to be raced. Eulogy’s stock won all the leading classic races of the dominion and some in Australia, both as two and three-year-olds. It is doubtful if a speedier filly than Epitaph has ever raced. Her full value as a brood mare is being realised by the continuation of the winning strain in her progeny. Pennon is the dam of Motley. Lysander, 'Ceremony, Arisus, and Canopy and Motley is carrving on as the dam of Midinette. Variant and Legatee, Homage is the dam ■of Episode (dam of Epigram and Burnish) and of Honour, who, in addition to winning the Derby, is leaving very promising gallopers. The stake earnings of the family founded by Eulogy run into the hundred thousands. WEBBING BARRIERS.

In .England and France, as nearly everywhere, the stronger webbing is now used for storting barriers, and it has been most satisfactory. “ Augur.” of the ‘ London Sporting Life,’ recently made the following reference to the change in England“ One of the great improvements conducive to the benefit of racing in general has been the scrapping of the old-time tape starting gate for the webbing variety of stronger build. Although some regrettable mishaps have occurred, involving, for the most part, minor injuries, the stronger barrier has served its purpose extremely well. In the severity of the penalty for taking liberties discipline lias been automatically instilled into tlio jockeys, while horses, like children, soon learn not to play with fire.” HOLIDAY MEETINGS. The principal handicaps to be decided at the forthcoming holiday meetings will be worth in the aggregate £1,940. They are: — Dunedin. Otago Handicap. £273. Second day, St. Andrew’s Handicap, £225. Wyndham, Cup, £23(K Waikouaiti, Cup. £353. Oamnru, President’s Handicap, £235. Invercargill. Cup, £350. Second day, Southland Handicap, £250. The only two races worth more than £250 to the winner will be the Waikouaiti and Invercargill Cups, and these will be the only two races set down for decision in the South Island during the holidays in which owners will not be able to claim apprentices’ allowances. JOURNAL. Journal, who won the Caulfield Cup. and was one of the best-backed Melbourne Cup runners, collapsed in the race, and afterwards was in a bad way. The rider, A., R. Knox, told the ownertrainer, J. T. Gush, that Journal was a little groggy ou hi§ way to the post.

(By St. Clair.]

January ], 2.—Hawke's Bay Jockey Club. January 1, 2.—Stratford Racing Club. January 1,2. —Marton Jockey Club. January 1, 2.—Wairarapa Racing Club. January 2.—Oaniaru Jockey Club. January 2, 3.—Southland Racing Club. January 7, B.—RceClon Jockey Club. January 10, 12.—Thames Jockey Club. January 11, 12. —Vincent Jockey Club. TROTTING. November 22, 24.—Forbury Park Trotting Club. December I.—Northland Trotting, Club. December B.—New Brighton T. Club. December 2.—Te Aroha Trotting Club. December 26.—Gore Trotting Club. December 26.—Wairarapa Trotting Club. December 26.—Ashburton Trotting Club. December 26. 27.—Westport Trotting Club, December 26, 29, 31.-Auckland Trotting Club. December 29.—Winton Trotting Club.

and wanted, in Knox’s own words, to lie down when at the harrier.” In the race Journal did not at any stage gallop with his accustomed freedom, and Knox, realising that something was radically wrong with the horse, did not persevere with him, and endeavoured in every way to give him an easy race. On pulling up, Journal staggered, and, after he had been led away from the mounting enclosure, Cush immediately secured the services of a veterinary surgeon, who, realising that the horse was in a bad way, gave him a large dose of brandy. The cause of the illness was not known, but it was suggested that he had colic. It is unlikely that Journal should have'been nobbled ” in any way, as a trusted attendant did not leave him from his arrival on the course until Knox was legged up on him. WALLA WALLA’S SENSATIONAL WIN AT ASCOT, After one of the hardest races of his career, the champion pacer, Walla Walla, driven by J. Watts, of Sydney, won the Australasian Free lor All championship by a head from Auburn Lad, driven by champion reinsman W. M. M‘Kay, The race was run at Ascot. Melbourne, on November 8. On a very holding track, Walla Walla went at a 2.17 i gait and just got up in the last two strides to clinch victory, after meeting with bad luck in running on several occasions. 1 In ordinary circumstances he would have won comfortably, but M‘Kay’s superior generalship, coupled with misfortunes which went the way of the champion, almost brought about a boilover. But in the final fifty yards Walla Walla rose to supreme heights. Badly interfered with when there were 100 yards to go, he attempted to go between Dalla Derby and Auburn Lad He had to be pullled up and brought to the hutside. With only fifty yards to go he still had two lengths leeway to make up. To exhortations of the crowd and whip tattoo by Watts, the champion gallantly answered every call and, just as did Peter Pan in the Melbourne Cup, he brought off the seemingly impossible. The cheers which greeted him as he went past the post a head te the good of Auburn Lad were all deserved. None but a real champion could have overcome the difficulties confronting him. (says a Sydney writer). THE WORLD’S RICHEST RACE. The world’s richest race, the Santa Anita Handicap, of 100,000 dollars (about £20,000), will he run at the inaugural meeting of the Los Angeles Turf Club on February 23, and a cablegram has been received in Melbourne inviting Australian owners to send their best horses to compete. For many years racing enthusiasts in California ’have been endeavouring to bring racing back to its former glory. The formation of the Turf Club at Los Angeles, and the building of a magnificent track at Santa Anita, just outside the city limits, have inspired the committee to launch out and give huge prize-money for the first meeting, which opens on Christmas Day and ends on February 23, the date of the 100,000 dollars race. Already representatives of the club have visited England and France, and it has been announced that M. Leon Volterra will send Admiral Drake to America to run in the big race. Admiral Drake is English-bred, but is owned and trained in France and won the last Grand Prix de Paris. He will be ridden in California by Steve Donoghue. The Aga Khan intends to send Ins three-year-old Badruddin, and it is expected that the best American horses, Cavalcade and Equipoise, will also run. It will thus be seen from the class of horses engaged that if an Australian owner does decide to make the trip, it is no use taking a moderate horse. L. Haigh, who holds Rogilla on lease, stated recently that if he owned the gelding he would give serious consideration to the question of taking him to Los Angeles. Under the terms of the usual racehorse lease it is not possible for the lessee to take a horse out of the country without the permission of the owner. JOTTINGS. The small field of trotters engaged in the Dominion Handicap at Dunedin should be in Triangle’s favour. . He is a better trotter than most in his class and he stays on well. For the first two months of the present racing season, ended September 30, the Government .received £31,447 in taxation as compared with £29,890 in the corresponding period last season. The Canning Park (W.A.) meeting of October 25 was notable for the success of the New Zealand-bred sire, Agrion, whose progeny won three races. The winners were Aclis, Aquenor, and Agriflora, all four-year-olds, the first two being geldings and the other a mare. ' . A Melbourne paper states that Sir Simper’s connections wagered heavily on his chance, and Mr W. T. Hazlelt, after accepting a double-figure price about his horse’s chance, immediately after the Caulfield Cup “ backed-up at a much shorter price to the tune ot many hundreds. . Totalisator investments on racing and trotting events held in the dominion during September amounted to £128,21U as against £122,996 the previous year, but for the first two months of the present season the total was £ooß,4Ja, or £3,387 less than in 1933. The two straight-out trotters races to be decided at Forbury Park on Thursday have filled better than usual, eleven in the mile and a-half race, amt eight in the two-mile race, Prince Harvester, Survivor, Flotsam, Kotinga, and Norma Bingen being engaged in both races. , The total amount given in stakes during the first two months of the present season for racing and trotting amounted to £28,255, as compared with £25,334. There was twenty-six, days racing in 1934, one more than m the first two months of last season.

R. Dunn lias been appointed private trainer to'Mr J. R. M'Kenzie’s team, and he will take up the position, made vacant by J. Davidson’s resignation, at the end of this week. The most unexpected non-acceptor for the opening day of the Forbury Park Trotting Club’s fixture was War Buoy in the President’s Handicap. Patrons of the meeting, however, will have the chance of seeing this unbeaten pacer racing, as he has been paid up for in the Dash Handicap. No fewer than twelve of the nineteen horses originally engaged in the President’s Handicap to be decided on the opening day of the Forbury Park Trotting Club’s Meeting dropped out of that race. Five of them, Craganour, Encounter, Prairie King, War Buoy, and Trampfast have been paid up for in the Dash Handicap, and will be available for the two-mile race on Saturday. Peter Pan was unquestionably the worst horse for the ring in the Melbourne Cup, states a Sydney exchange, and a competent authority estimates that his success won £150,000 for backers throughout Austrajia. This may seem a large sum in view of the fact that he started ■at a comparatively long price, but it must not be overlooked that it is only since the Caulfield Cun that horses like Sir Simper and Nightly really entered into calculations for the Cup. The acceptances received last evening for the first day of the Forbury Park Trotting Club give an average field of nearly eleven per race, and must be considered very satisfactory. Since the nominations for this meeting were made there have been three days’ trotting at Addington, and the majority of those whose engagement was not continued raced indifferently at that fixture.

For the benefit of the superstitious a southern writer points out that Arthur Eastwood’s fatal ride on Manetho in the Jockey Club Handicap was his thirteenth at the meeting. In only fourteen of the seventy-four races for the Melbourne Cup has the favourite been successful. On the other hand rank outsiders have seldom been successful in the great Flemington event.

Rebel Star is having a short spell, but next month he may travel to Ashburton, Trentham, and Auckland, and Sea Fox will be nominated along with him. Maroha, Gas Mask, and possibly Riptide will also be accorded an Ashburton nomination.

The winning list of sires compiled by the New Zealand ‘ Referee ’ is as follows;—Wrack, 28 wins, £6,287 10s; Rey de Oro, 14, £3,464 15s; Man-o’-War. 9, £1,558 10s; Real Guy, 8, £1,491; Guy Parrish, 9, £1,423; Worthy Bond, 7, £1,301; Logan Pointer 4, £1,275; Blue Mountain King 3,’ £1,245; Author Dillon 5, £1,191; Nelson Derby 7, £1,157; Travis Axworthy 9, £1,151 10s.

Mr W. Barnett has a mortgage on the Irish St. Leger with his Blandford— Athasi colts. Trigo and Harinero won in their years, and their brother, Prirnero, recently accounted for it. In a held of eight he was regarded as such a certainty that he started at a very short price, with Cariff next, and then Portugal. It was excellent picking, the three finishing in that order. The race carried £2,000 added money. Worthing, who supplied K. Voitre with a winning ride at Fleraington last week, has a New Zealand interest, as he is out of Barryauda, a mare trained and raced from the stable of O. Cox, at Hawera, a few years ago. Barryanda was not of much account on the turf, but she is well bred, being a sister to Martarma. It was her breeding that enticed Mr Sol Green to purchase her for his stud, and Worthing, by Verbius, is owned by Mr Green. An interesting bocurrence ■ at the Westmore Stud is thp appearance of the last of the stock of Chief Ruler, a bay colt out of the Elysian marc Cherry Pie, thus a brother to Chief Cook, Cherry Queen, arid Cherry King. Another interesting fact is that the first of the stock of'the defunct sire is also at present at Westmere. This is Silver Rule, a daughter of Silver Link. In the nine years intervening between the last and the first foal of Chief Ruler he established a great record. The field for the two-mile trotting event on the opening day of the Forbury Park Meeting is the weakest that could be imagined (states the Christchurch ‘Press’), and hardly one of those engaged has any pretensions to two-mile fo,m. Norma Bingen and Triangle have at times behaved as stayers, but both are far removed from good class company. Prince Harvester on the limit has not impressed in.his most recent displayers, and Kotinga, a nice trotter, will probably be better suited for a journey over a mile and a-half.

There are forty-seven horses nominated for this year’s Auckland Cup, representing thirty-six sires. Those represented by more than one_ candidate are:—Ltmond _ three, Kilbroney three, Nfght Raid two, Pombal two, Polazel. two, Chief Ruler two. Musketoon two, Grand Knight two, and Hunting Song two. The others are Thespian, Arrowsmith, Manfred, Rossendale, Lord Quex, Hay Comet, Grand Court, Leighton, Silverado. Shambles, Black Ronald, The Ace, Cape Horn, Romeo, Acre, Redfern. Solferino, Rampion, Robespierre, Mar ble Arch, Colossus, Weathervane, Valkyrian. Pantheon, Ornamentation. Spear Dance, and Prince Willonyx with one each.

Harold Logan is the popular horse in the light harness world. Just what, lie might do if tlioroughly sound is a matter of guesswork. Both his front legs are buttressed with bandages and yet do not hide what appears to be badly bowed tendons. On the final day at Addington he appeared to show slight signs of soreness, but when it came to racing he responded like a real racehorse. Despite the fact of his bulbous legs, little or nothing Jms been said about the apparent unsoundness. In fact, he could not be raced or trained unless carefully packed with bandages; and, what is more, it is known that his owner-trainer has a treatment which may keep the old horse on his legs for some time to come. In a further effort to popularise trotting in Victoria, Sir Gilbert _ Dyett, secretary of the Victorian Trotting and Racing Association, approached Mr L. S. Martin, owner of champion Walla Walla, at Ascot last week. The suggestion was that Walla Walla, from a moving start, should make an attempt to break the Australasian record of 2min 2 2-ssec, at present shared by Walla Walla and Auburn Lad. Should the stallion be capable of carrying out his contract he will get a special prize, and should he fail he will get half the promised sum as appearance money. Mr Martin has agreed to send Walla Walla after the record to Ascot on November 26. The trial is arousing great interest in light harness circles in Australia. The death is announced from Auckland of Mr Max Friedlander, at one time a leading figure in both racing and trotting in Canterbury. He owned many racehorses and had considerable success at meetings with both gallopers and trotters. One of his best-known horses was Cannonshot, with whom he won the Riccarton Welter Handicap, and, several months later, the Great Easter Handicap, in which a large dividend was paid. Another of his horses was General Symons, who won the Metropolitan on one occasion, and other horses were Count of Colmar and

Grand Shot. Mr Friedlauder importer the pacing stallion Blackwood Abdal la'-, by Homer, the first standard-brec American stallion of its kind to read Ashburton, and with it laid the foun dations of much of the trotting succes; of the present day. Rosewood am Wood Nymph were other trotters a more than ordinary worth whom Mi Friedlander had. His training wa! carried out by several trainers in dif ferent localities, but his chief trainei was S. Alexander, who trained Can nonshot. One of the first horses In had was Goldfinch, with which he hat some success.

Although the Gaming Act Amend ment Bill has so far failed to find i passage through the House of Repre sentatives during the present adjournet session of Parliament, it is still on thi Order Paper, and it is believed in in formed circles (says the Wellingtoi ‘ Post ’) that the debate on the secom reading will be continued when thi House resumes next February. Tin Bill thex-efore has a reasonable chanc< yet of - being read a second Time, ant then of receiving consideration hi tin committee stage. Should the Bill be come law it is possible that anothe Gaming Act Amendment Bill will b introduced immediately afterward aiming at the relicensing of book makers. The victory of Steeton in the Nev Zealand Cup has brought to mind ai interesting story, in which the late M; John Lennard, the well-known sports man, breeder and owner of Waihou was a prominent figure. Steeton’s mail pedigree lines are as follow: —By Su tala, a son of Elysian, by SoultDreamland, by Cardigan—Siesta, b; Traduccr. Dreamland was owned am raced by the late Mr Donad M'Kinnon of Waikato, who counted among hi friends Mr John Lennard. In a con versation one day Mr M'Kinnon signi fied his intention of sending Dreamlam to what Mr Lennard considered was i second or third-rate horse. _ Mr Len uard duly convinced Mr M'Kinnon tha the progeny of Soult were likely to b pre-eminent in racing events of note and that a Soult—Dreamland repre sentative would be of racing value. Ii due course Elysian was produced b; Soult from Dreamland. As a three year-old he won many important races including the. New Zealand Derby am Canterbury Cup. Elysian was the sir of Sutala, who was raced by the lat Mr G. D. Greenwood, who bred Steeton It would thus appear that but for M Lennard’s timely advice there wouh have been no Steeton in our turf his .tory. It can bo noted that Mr Len nard’s good opinion of Soult was late amply borne out by the victories in th Auckland Cups of 1911 and 1912 of th Lennard-bred horses Waimangu am Santa Rosa respectively.