RACING NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 22233, 10 January 1936, Page 3

RACING NOTES

RACING. January li.—Vincent J.O. January 11.—Greymouth J.C. January 16, 18, —Thames J.C. January 18.—Wairio J.C . January 22.-Ashhurst-Pohansma R.C. January 22, 24, 25.-Wellington R.C. January 25.-Clifden (at Invercargill). January 25, 29—Takapuna J.C. . . January 31, February 1.-Wanganu. J.C, January 30. February l.—Wairoa R.C. February • I.—Matamata R.C. • February s—Tapanui R C. February 6, 8.-Taranaki J.C. February 6, 8.-Poverty Bay T.C. February B.—Canterbury J.C. February 8, 10. —Rotorua R-C. February 12, 13.—Egmont R.C. February 13, 15.—Dunedin Cup Meeting.

A Strange Finding. The decision of the stewards of the Reefton Jockey Club in reversing the first two places in the Members Handicap yesterday came as a big surprise, and the most surprised were the connexions of Cheap Money, who was beaten on, her merits by Arrow Rose, but who, by the verdict, was awarded . the race. Arrow Rose drew No. 6 at the barrier, but in a few strides after the start crossed in front of a . bunch, comprising Bon Tray, Cheap Money, Copyist, and Rebel Star and ■ Riposte, and all these were forced into a cramped position. The worst suf- ' ferer undoubtedly was Rebel Star, who • was squeezed back to the-rear. Arrow Rose comfortably held off Cheap Money, while Copyist- just lasted to beat the fast-finishing Rebel Star for third money. ' The stipendiary steward instituted ah inquiry immediately on the horses returning, and it lasted until two races had been decided. The called all of the riders affected; and it was decided to suspend the rider_ of Arrow Rose for a month for crossing too soon, and to place Cheap Money first, and Arrow Rose second. The . . punishment meted out to the rider was considered to be justified; but the action of the stewards in depriving the owner of Arrow Rose of first money and giving it;, to Cheap Money, who escaped any serious trouble, was • generally ridiculed (says the ‘Press’). Rebel Star was the actual victim of the interference, but as he was not placed he received no recompense. If he had been secohd, the reversal of ; places would have been generally well received. It was undoubtedly the rarest case ever recorded in New Zealand ; racing. Whatever happens at the start of a race cannot reasonably be deemed to have any effect on the result of that race; ami as the trouble was caused by the rider’s ill-advised rush to the rails, the suspension meted out to him was the right procedure. However, punishing the . owner of Arrow Rose, and also depriving the innocent public of the first dividend and giving the Traits of battle to a competitor who escaped interference to such an extent that the result in his cases was not affected, created a bad impression with racegoers, and incidentally turned what would have been ' a very satisfactory totalisator turnover into a fair total only. The owner of Arrow Rose, Mr W. Minehan, of Cobden, who bred. the mare, and has raped her .for pleasure’ rather than for monetary gain, immediately lodged an appeal to the Greymouth District Committee. A STOUT BREED. \ Early in the season, .when . Homer ran a dead heat for first place in the Aus- ■ tralian .Jockey Club’s Derby, Mr Ken Austin,' the managing director, and everyone else interested in the Elderslie Stud became highly elated, as the young Swynfqrd- sire Iliad had achieved classic honours as a sire at the first opportunity available to him, A • few days later their hopes for the future were (lashed, as Homer broke a , leg and was _ destroyed. His dam. Quadrilateral, is a beautifully-bred English mare from the same family as Chelandry,_ previously represented in the Dominion by the great mare Simper and her successful descendants. On Boxing Day Iliad’s stock soared again, as Yaringa, a filly from Refinement, won the West Australian Derby, and a few days later gave further evidence of stamina by running third in the Perth Cup, two miles. In the meantime the, handsome Greek Shepherd had been winning races in the Dominion. He beat a useful field in the

[By St. Claik.]

TROTTING, Jan. 18.—Timaru T.C. Jan. 25. —N.Z. Metropolitan T.C. Jan. 30, Feb. I.—Forbury Park T.C, Feb. 1, 3.—Nelson T.C. Feb. 5, B.—Wellington T.C. Feb, 15.—Canterbury Park T.C, Feb. 15, 17.—Auckland T.C. Feb.’22.—New Brighton T.C. March 6, 7.—lnvercargill T.C. March 7.—Wellington T.C. March 14.—Timaru T.C. March 18.—Wyndham T.C. March 21.—Taranaki T.C, March 23.—Roxburgh T.C.

Summer Cup at Ellerslie last Monday, and on New Year’s Day he captured the Great Northern Derby. His dam, Dresden China, is a Tea Tray marc from' Yaringa’s dam. Iliad’s achievement in siring three separate Derby winners in his first stud seasou probably has never been equalled, certainly not in this part of the world. This demonstration of stamina by three of his first crop of foals will bring Iliad into strong favour with buyers at the Trentham sales this month, when seven of his yearlings will be offered. They are a good-looking lot, though they do not include relatives of the Derby winners, Quadrilateral and Dresden China being represented in the Elderslie draft by Night Raid fillies, while Refinement has no yearling this time. ■ WINS WITH FIRST MOUNT. Fame comes to few jockeys-in racing, and when it comes it is generally after a long period of indenture—a period of vast experience. : However, to young “Ted ” Cox fame come overnight, says an Australian paper. Apprenticed 18 months ago to the Caulfield trainer, George Delaney, young Cox, by his ability on the track, quickly earned his permit to ride. But the question was, when would he get his first ride. He got it recently at Cranbourne,/ Victoria, and under most strange conditions. Engaged, to ride Lady Grey in the Encourage Stakes at Cran-. bourne, everything seemed set for his initial appearance as a rider in a race. Shortly after working on the track at Caulfield, Lady Grey fell on the road when returning to her stable. She lay on the ground as if dead, and her attendant, after waiting 10 minutes, decided to take the bridle off and leave the mare there. However, showing signs of coming to, she eventually regained her feet. , Lady Grey had lost a considerable amount of skin, and her owner and her trainer decided that it • was impossible to start her. This did not coincide with the ideas of George Delaney, who informed the trainer that if he did not start the mare the “ kid’s heart would be broken.” It was therefore decided that if she recovered sufficiently she would start with the idea of making,young Cox’s ideal a certainty. Lady Grey duly started at an outside quotation in the betting market. Cox bounced her out .: of the barrier and neyer,;§prrende.red-i.tbe lead. He .appeared' ftp ’be in.' - ,serious trouble, when they turned for home as the field ran up to him to get almost on terms, but the youngster, waited until the half-distance before he got to work. He rode the marc out with bands and heels to score stylishly. After the race the whole crowd, despite the fact that the winner had chopped them out of a lot of money, cheered him lustily. The first to congratulate him was Keith Voitre, who thought at the straight entrance that he would have no trouble in beating young Cox. Jack Holt said to Delaney; “How long have you had this kid in smoke ? He is a born rider,” and that was the general opinion of all who saw this -youngster ride his first race. Voitre, regarded as’being the greatest jockey in Victoria at present, said it was the best effort he had seen for many years by an apprentice. Cox, a brother to W. Cox, the wellknown light-weight rider, is only 4ft 2in high, and weighs only 4s 111 b. He has the distinction of being the. first apprentice rider in Victoria to win on his first mount. The only parallel that is known in Australia is that of Darby Munro, who also won on his first mount.

This youth is only 15 years of age, and is the makings of a wonderful rider, mainly because he has thp right temperament. Asked after the race, “Didn’t you get excited?” he said, “ No, that’s how you lose races.” The dearth of natural light-weight riders in Victoria has been apparent for so many years that young Ted Cox will earn a very substantial income even if he never wins another race. The best judges have decided that he is a natural rider, possessing a great sense of pace, that should make him popular for minimum weight rides. i JOTTINGS. The Vincent Meeting will be concluded to-morrow, and a, special train to and from Omakau will leave Dunedin at 6.45 a.m. The Forbury Park Trotting Club will receive nominations for its Cup Meeting up to 5 p.m. next Tuesday. ' Among the lots to be offered by auction at the Trentham January sales will be Knockfin, winner of the Canterbury Jockey Club Stewards’ Handicap last November. Zetes, who will always be known as having been a record-priced yearling, has won seven races in his career, six of them for his present owner, who paid 50gs for him. These races were worth approximately £3OO. Interesting entrants for the Wellington Cup are the three-year-olds Kinnoull, Lowenberg, and Lady Graceful. The last of the age to win was Rapine under 7.12 in 1923, and he has been the only three-year-old to capture the race on the Trentham course. Sydney owners are favoured in the travelling of their horses to race. The Rosehill, Canterbury, and Moorefield Clubs jointly expended £2,551 during the year in providing free transport for racehorses to and from their meetings. A surprise , omission from the nominations for the Wellington Meeting is Autonay. He suffered no illeffect from,,his race at Awapuni, _ unless such has developed since; so it is possible he is not now going to be raced much further. With Kinuoull, Greek Shepherd, and Lowenberg engaged, besides Heritage, Superex, Lady Graceful, and Du Barry, the Trentham Stakes, on the final day of Hie Wellington Meeting, should go far towards settling three-year-old supremacy for tire present season., P. Riddle’s bag for the first taree days of summer racing at Mardwick was five seconds and two Uiiivß The resultant'prize-money was £615, but though that would leave a margin over ordinary expenses, betting losses wculd assist in making a hole in that siu Captain J. F. Lee-Barber, who was credited with being one of the greatest steeplechase riders the British Army' has known, committed suicide in England in November, at the age of 82. Captain Lee-Barber rode four times in the Liverpool Grand National Steeplechase. i The National Stud at Tully, County Kildare, may .become the property of the Irish Free State Government. At latest, negotiations were proceeding between the British and Free State Governments, and it was anticipated there would, be a transfer to the latter as from April, 1936. The English amateur rider, Mr F. Furlong, who won the last Liverpool Grand National on his father’s horse, Reynoldstown, has been ’ granted a license to train under National Hunt rules. He is to train the horses owned by his father, and is giving up riding owing to increasing weight. A change in the gaming law has been made in France lately, _ providing for severe penalties against illegal betting. All personsMvho habitually place or receive illegal bets on horse races, or are connected therewith as intermediaries, are subject to two to six months’ imprisonment and a fine of 1,000 to 10,000 francs.

Increased entries as compared with 1936 have been obtained for the English classic races of 1937. The Derby has received an entry of 315 as against 287, the Two Thousand Guineas 271 as against 237, and the St. Leger 307 as against 300. Nominations for the Oaks number 254 as against 252, and for the One Thousand Guineas 234 as against 228.

Blinkers are not barred in England, and the French colt Abjer carried them .when he recently won the Middle Park Plate at Newmarket. , His trainer, the Hon. G. Lambton, subsequently expressed the opinion that £4,000 was thrown away owing to his not wearing them in the Imperial Stakes at Kerapton. At present Abjer has a habit of staring about, but Lambton believes he will overcome that fault, and is hopeful it will be unnecessary to run him in blinkers in the Derby.

It recently appeared" in print that a backer who is identified on racecourses through his headgear won £25,000 during the past year. “ Hope he dose not decide to retire,” commented a bookmaker when he .read the statement. Evidently he believes that printer is sure to “ Come back to his field ” if he continues to bet on the same scale as in the past. Several backers can be recalled (says the Sydney ‘ lleferee ’) who temporarily made a splash, and most had cause to regret that they did not quit when well ahead of the books. Judgment or luck—call it what you will—eventually failed them.

Before the latest papers to hand left England, Sir Abe Bailey announced he intended, selling 16 of his horses in training and 21 of his brood mares. In making this announcement he said he had no intention of retiring, as he was second in the winning owners’ list, after being first among the losing owners several years. “ Although lam selling several brood mares and horses in training,” he said, “ I shall have 53, including two-year-olds with which to start next season.”

A little while ago I heard a trainer, who had scored a number of minor places, take exception to a commiserating frend’s remarks as to his bad luck. “ There is no bad luck about it,” he replied. “ My horses were not good enough at the weights. If they had met with interference of any kind that would have been bad luck, but they didn’t, and were fairly beaten. 1 have no excuses to make.” In that he differed from some trainers, who, in order to placate disappointed owners, occasionally think out remarkable excuses, says ‘ Pilot,” in the Sydney ‘ Referee.’

Yielding to the Press pressure of those who genuinely believe that it is for the good of the game that reversal of form should be the subject of inquiry, the A.J.C. stipendiary stewards have seemingly determined to_ definitely adopt that procedure. It is a_ matter of opinion, but I am not a believer in the “ after game ” on the part of such officials; but now they have committed themselves to it I hope they will prove they are not respecters of persons, and that prominent owners, as well as minor lights, will be called upon to explain the’ cause when their horses run better or worse one day than another (“ Pilot,” in the Sydney ‘ Referee

If trainers, as a rule, left to experienced jockeys the manner in which a race should be ridden backers would often have less reason for growling. Early in a race (says an exchange) a jockey may recognise that in obeying orders he is spoiling his chances ot winning. He is also aware that if he departs from them and is defeated he is likely to be blamed. A trainer can rarely have much idea how a race will be run, and a jockey, in to do as he has been told, is occasionally forced to pull a horse about in a manner that takes more out of it than if allowed to run along. Apart from advising a jockey concerning some peculiarity of. his mount, the trainer who avoids loading a jockey with orders is wise. There are some trainers who recognise, this fact, and they lose nothing by it.