RACING NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 23350, 21 August 1939, Page 12

RACING NOTES

RACING. August 31.—Egmont-Wauganui Hunt. September 2. —Tarauaki Hunt. September 2.—Otago Hunt. September 7, 9.—Wanganui Jockey Club. September 16. —Foxlon Racing Club. September 16.—Ashburton County Racing Club. September 16, 18.—Avondale Jockey Club, September 21, 23. Geraldine Racing Club. September 23.—Marion Jockey Club. September 30.—Otaki-Maori Racing Club. September 30, October 2. —Ohinemuri Jockey Club. October 5, 7. —Dunedin Jockey Club.

RIVERTON RACING CLUB The following is the text of the annual report to be presented to the members of tho Riverton Racing Club at the annual meeting next Thursday evening:—The club was again very fortunate as regards climatic conditions for the three days’ races, and there was a record attendance. The statemeni shows a credit balance of £4,934 12s 6d for the race meeting. The totalisator registered £86,053 10s (£35,053 win and £51,000 10s place) as against £79,083 in the previous year, an increase of £6,970 10s; and the gate receipts totalled £3,811 16s, as compared with £3,520 7s, an increase of £291 9s. The committee records with much regret the death of the following members: —Messrs 6. R. Berndtson, J. Forsyth, AI. O’Brien, and F. J. Trail. ‘ The following have been nominated for the various offices for the ensuing year;—President, Air D. AI. Tweedie ; vice-presidents. Alessrs H. J. Riddle and R. J. Walker; committee—Alessrs D. F. AlacDougall, J. A. Alartiu, and D. C. Robertson. As only the required number has been nominated there will be no election. JOTTINGS To be Spelled. Epic, who was in a bad way during the Grand National meeting, is now showing a slight improvement, andl is to be turned out for a few weeks. The John Grigg Stakes. Southland stables have three candidates in Noko, Wild Coon, and Gold Flight engaged in the John Grigg Stakes, to be run on September 16. All three are. reported to be well forward in condition. Now Qualified as a Hunter.

Ashaway has now qualified as a hunter, and, judging from the form he has shown behind the Birchwood hounds, has taken to jumping well. He is engaged at the Otago Hunt meeting. Southland Stables.

Last year Southland representatives won more than half the programme at the Otago Hunt meeting, andl for next month’s fixture Southland stables are again strongly represented in the nominations.

Silver Sight Retired. It is stated from Christchurch that Silver Sight is to definitely retire. Now 10 vears old, Silver Sight has 15 wins, 28 seconds, and 22 thirds out of 151 starts to his credit, and his stake winnings are over £3,000. Dark Flight.

Dark Flight, by Nigger -Minstrel— Francolin, is to make his first appearance as a three-year-old at tlifi Otago Hunt meeting next month. The Nigger Minstrel gelding showed much promise as a two-year-old, and a successful season is predicted for him.

A Big Team. R. E. M'Lellan has a big team in work at Invercargill, .including Doubleack, Waitoru, Stratliallyn, Jedbrough, Sailing Lady, Wild Coon, and two three-year-old fillies by Irish Lancer. These will be added to at the end of the month, when Milford, Boswell, Remembo, and Trebleack will bo taken in hand again by this trainer.

Otago Hunt Meeting. The nominations received for the Otago Hunt Club’s annual race meeting are good, and handicaps are due next Thursday. The races for jumpers have filled much better than anticipated.

The New Zealand Cup. The New Zealand Cup, to be run on November 4, will be worth £2,000, £1,325 and a gold cup worth £75 to the winner. Nominations are due on September 1, and handicaps will be declared on September 22.

Favourites for Trotting Cup. Already Fine Art and Marsceres are popular selections for o fretting cup. The Methven pacer is favoured if the track should he fast, but—as one owner put it—“ How are they going to beat Marsceres in mud?”

Wellington Spring Meeting. Stakes for the Wellington Racing Club’s Spring Meeting, to be held on October 19, 21, and 23, have been imcreased by £BOO. On the first day the Wellington Handicap has been raised by £IOO to £BSO, For the three days the club will distribute £10,400. Novice Jumper. Chief Lama is the latest addition to R. D. Westenra’s stable. Ridden by his trainer, he gave a good display yesterday in a school over four hurdles. He has plenty of speed and looks a likely sort to pay his way among the jumpers. May Go to Australia. King’s Warrior, who was brought to Addington to compete in principal events at the Metropolitan meeting, was not taken back to Auckland by F. J. Smith. There is a likelihood that he will accompany Nervie’s Last to Perth to compete in the interdominion championships next February. Victorian Betting. Totalisator investments at the 112 meetings held on Victorian metropolitan courses during the 1938-39 season showed a decrease of £7,756. The totalisator turnover for the year was £2,656,835 10s, as against £2,664,591 10s for the same number of meetings the previous year. Related to Mount Val. Xavier, a Lord Warden—El Boa colt, who won two juvenile races in Victoria in the spring and then lost form, came back at the end of July to win a seven furlongs two-year-old race at Caulfield. He was originally raced by J. T. Jamieson, but is now in J. Fryer’s stable. El Boa is a half-sister to Mount Boa and Mount Val.

[By St. Clair.]

TROTTING. August 26.—Auckland T.C. September 2.—New Brighton T.C. September 20, 23.—Wellington T.C. September 30. —Methven T.C. October 7.—New Brighton T.C. October 21, 23.—Greymouth T.C. October 21, 23, or 25. —Auckland T.C. October 23.—Oamaru T.C. October 25, 28.—Wellington T.C. October 25, 28. —Invercargill T.C. November 7,9, 10.—N.Z. Metropolitan T.C. November 23, 25.—Forbury Park T.C.

Temporary Lapse. Pandine has made a good recovery from the cold which prevented him from racing at Riccarton, and he has been nominated' for the Otago Hunt meeting next month. For Wingatui. H. and A. Cutts are likely to have both Winning Rival and Great Swoop racing at Dunedin in October. Both these three-year-oldb are well forward and may be raced at Ashburton. An alternative programme is for one of them to go to Wanganui. Social Security Taxation.

Racing clubs under the present law are liable for social security taxation* and at the annual general meeting of the Auckland (Racing Club this week the president, Air O. Nicholson, said that his club had deemed it prudent to reserve a sum of £2,000 to meet this tax and other taxation contingencies. Invercargill Spring Programme. At a meeting of the committee of the Southland) Racing Club on Friday it was decided that with the exception of altering the distance of the Wavcrlcy Harness Trot from one mile and a-half to one mile and five furlongs, the events and the stakes he the same as for the spring meeting last year. / Catalogue for Melbourne. When he left for Australia last year Catalogue was nominated for only one early-entry race, the Alelbourne Cup, which he won easily, but this time he has been freely nominated-for important races, including the Melbourne, Caulfield, Williamstown, and Moonee Valley Cups. A. W. APDonald will again have charge of Catalogue, who is booked to leave for Melbourne early next month.

Light Fractions. Many close followers of the working of the totalisator were surprised at a statement made by the president of the Auckland Racing Glub to the effect that since his club had returned to win and place betting the fractions had been smaller. That statement is now supported by the Monthly Abstract of Statistics for July. It shows that for the first 11 months of last season only £43,631 was returned as undivisible out of a turnover of £7,689,106, which is equal to slightly over IJd in each £ invested. " Dopers ” Still Working. fn America “ dopers ” are hard to beat. A little while ago a stable hand at Suffolk Downs (Boston) found an apple core in a stall, and turned it over to officials, who found that it contained caffeine. ■ The following day the ‘ stableman identified a man as one he had seen hanging about the stables the day before, and officials said the suspect admitted that he had been employed to throw apples containing stimulants into the stalls of certain horses. He implicated another man, who was arrested also. Both men were turned over to East Boston police, on suspicion of possessing narcotics. Lord Quex’s Good Record. The total amount in stakes won by the progeny of the Lemberg horse Lord Quex is now in the neighbourhood of £140,000. His stock includes Catalogue, Paganelli, Round Up, Motere, La Moderns, Gay Bellerina, My Own, Amiable, Prince Quex, Movie Star, Charade, Lowenberg, and others. There are some fine stayers in this lot. and it is a characteristic of the family that they improve with age. It seems, however, that the fame of Lord Quex will not rest solely on the first generation. Among his daughters which have made a successful beginning at the stud are La Moderns, My Own, Liaison, Vigilance, Asterism, and Gay Virginia. Little Pat’s Record.

Claims of world race records for New Zealand and Australian pacers over 1$ miles are shattered by Mr Bowman A. Brown, editor of the ‘ Harness Horse ’ (U.S.A.), who was some time ago written to in regard to the actual conditions of Little Pat’s mile and a-half record. The appended reply definitely proves that Little Pat easily holds the world’s race record, and under the 12yds to the second principle will be regarded in Australia and New Zealand as covering the distance of one mile and a-half in 3min 7sec, instead of nearer 3min Bsec. Mr Brown says: “ In regard to Little Pat, his 3min 12sec for the one mile and a-half was from a flat-foot start at the barrier. He was handicapped a distance of 180£t, or 60yds, in winning the American Pacing Derby at Syracuse, N.Y., in 1937 The time of 3min 12sec was taken from the time the barrier was sprung until the horse finished the one mile and a-half.”

Not in the Stud Book. The extent to which a horse is affected in England by not being eligible for the Stud Book was evidenced when Thankerton was offered at the Newmarket sales last month. Halfbrother, by Manna, to that great mare, Quashed, he ran third in the 1936 Two Thousand Guineas and Derby, but he realised only 30gs at auction. As a yearling he was sold for 4,800g5. Owing to rating as half-bred, Thankerton is not even eligible to compete for a premium given by the Hunters’ Improvement Society (from a grant made by the Racecourse Betting Control Board) to thoroughbred stallions which travelled certain districts and covered half-bred mares at a low fee. Despite being debarred from the Stud Book, Thankerton was such a good galloper himself, and is related to many others, that it would be possible for him to sire good racehorses, hut, of course, he wiTl never he afforded the opportunity with mares of any class. Jockey’s Opinion of a Horse. The Paris correspondent of an English paper says that this year’s Grand Prix de Paris was worth approximately £B,OBO to the winner, £1,050 to second, and £7OO to third. O. Elliott, who rode the winner, Pharis TI., says he has never been on a better horse. As. in addition to so many other highclass horses, he was on two English Derby winners—Call Boy and Bois Roussel—it must be admitted that his opinion is of value.

To some extent members of the English sporting Press have taken sides in respect of Blue Peter and Pharis 11. Those who saw the latter win in Paris believe he will beat the English colt, but the latter’s Press admirers will not have!it./ I

Steve Donoghue, who saw Pharis IT.win his race, and was hopeful of get+ivg him to train for the St. Leger. aid he was a wonder horse. When In- saw him lengths behind the leaders two furlongs from homo, he did not believe it possible for him to succeed.