RACING GOSSIP

Evening Star, Issue 25470, 28 April 1945, Page 9

RACING GOSSIP

SPEED AND STAMINA HOW RECORDS HAVE IMPROVED [By The Ceitic] It is a generally accepted axiom that horses taken from colder to warmer climates show improved form, and are able to record taster times. This has been proved by numbers of horses taken from the Dominion to Australia, and even Sydney-trained horses have shown similar improvements when raced further north at Brisbane. In making the following comparisons of times recorded in England and on

tracks this side of the Equator improvements in the courses should be taken into Consideration, many of the leading tracks in England being undulating and not laid out for speed, as are so many in Australia and New Zealand. During the period under review (nearly 200 years) the close attention to breeding, especially in the dominions,, where most stud masters have developed speed more than stamina, has naturally greatly improved the racehorse. But there is no doubt that horses of today do not possess the stamina for which the English thoroughbred of 100 or even 50 years ago was so famed. Two hundred years ago there were no six furlong races in England, and very few even of a mile. For the purposes of the comparisons to follow I have reduced the times to the distances per second covered.

The following were the best times recorded by horses in England, about " the middle of the eighteenth century : Childrers, 'earlier than 1761> is said ■fco have run tne .ueacon course at New-

market, 4m If and 138yds, in 7,30 (16yds Ift 4jjia per second;. A wonderful performance, it correct. Skewball, by the Godolphin Arabian, in 1752, carrying 8.7, ran 4m over the Curragn in i .01 v!4yus 2tt ldin;. Matchem, nve years old in 1/53, ran 3m 4f and 93yds at Newmarket, carrying 8.7, in 7.20 (14yds and 7iin). Bay Bolton, at lork in 1/55, ran -4m in 7.43 (15yds 7in). . Those lew examples demonstrate the stamina required, and when a full allowance is made for tne courses tne

times do not compare so badly with the best times recorueu in England ueariy 100 years later. Wnen a three-year-old, Rataplan, carrying 4.7, .ran 3m in 5.21 (ltiyus lft 4 l-<sin). • West Australian, four years old, carried 8.5 and won the Ascot Gold Cup in 1854, 2%m, in 4.27 (16yds lit oiin). Buckstone, 8.7, four years' old, won the same race in 1863 in similar time.

The- year previous Skirmisher, three years' old, carrying 6.10, won in 4t.'2i) (16yds lit Oim;. Two three-year-olds, Artless 5;2- and Gaspard 6.9, ran a dead heat in the Cesa rewich in 1859, covering the 2m 2f and 28yds in 3.58 (16yds ixt'3*in). Sir Tattoh Sykes in 1846 established a tune record for the St. Leger, lm 6f and 132yds, when he won in 3.16

(16yds ,Ift 2in). Blair Athol, 18 years later, established the time record for the Epsom Derby, 2.44 (16yds 3iin), and in 1861 Brown Duchess won the Oaks in the same time, also establishing' the time record for that classic. 'ln a match at the Newmarket autumn meeting, in 1865, The Duke, carrying 8.10," won after,a severe race over 'a.mile.in. 1>48" (16yds 10 l-3in). The, only time record for a race under a mile 1 could find was the two-year-old Liddingtonte five furlongs and 136yds under 8.7 at,Ascot in 1864 in 1.16 (16yds 9Jin). . . - * . About the same time (in the middle 'fifties and 'sixties) the following were the best times recorded on Australian and New Zealand courses:—

Cossack, a four-year-old, carried 9.3 at the old Homebusb. course, which had a severe hill in it, over three miles in 5.51 (15yds ljin). When Strop won the Nelson Town Plate;under 10.6 over three miles, in 1859 in 5.53, his rate of speed was 14yds 2ft lOiin), . and in the same season he won at Homebuslr (Sydney), carrying 9.9, over the same distance in a second better time. He also won, under 10.6, the Nelson Turf Club Plate the same year, travelling at the rate of 15yds 6iin per" second. Tarragon, carrying 9.13, won the Champion Race at Melbourne after dead-heating with Volunteer in 5.48 for the run-off. His time for the deadheat was a second faster (loyds Bin). In 1866 Belle of the Isles, a three-year-old, won the Canterbury Cup, three miles, under 7.7 in 5.51 (15yds ljin). A gruelling test of stamina was the Launceston Town Plate, run over two and a-half miles, about 1853, and won by Swordsman. The first heat was run in 4.58, the second in 4.52, and the third in 4.51, the average distance per second of the final heat being nearly 15yds and 4Jin. An aged maro named Symphony, under 10.6, won the Nelson Turf Club Plate in 1856, covering the two miles in 3.48 (loyds Ift 3|in). The following week this mare won a sweepstake of two miles, decided on a heavy sea beach, also in 3.48, and carried the same weight. In 1805 the aged Toryboy, carrying 7.0, won the Melbourne Cup,'two miles, in 3.44 (15yds 2ft liin). When Loa was a four-year-old mare she carried 10.10 in a match. against Zingara over miles,' in 3.59 (14yds 2ft 2iin). Flying Buck, at three years old, won over a mile and three-quarters at Melbourne in 3.11 (16yds 4Jin), and on the same course in 1865 The Sign, four years old, and carrying 8.12, won over the same distance in 3.15 (15yds 2ft 4fin). About the same time a mare named Farmer's Daughter won over a mile and a-half at Launceston in 2.48 (loyds 2ft lfin). In 1865 Clove, a filly, won the Australian Derby in 2.51, a time that was equalled by Angler when he won the Victoria Derby, and another three-year-oldi in Master Rowe when he won a

maiden race in 1866 (15yds Ift 3Jin). When Potentate won the Nelson Welcome Stakes in 1857 he was a three-year-oldl, and, carrying 8.9, ran the mile and a-half in 2.52 (15yds Ift OJin). At Nelson, in 1863, the four-year-old Ladybird, carrying 9.0, and Compensation, the same age, three years later, won over a mile and a-quarter in 2.23 (15yds lft ljin). Nutbrown Maid, a three-year-old, won over a mile in Victoria in 1847, carrying 8.4 in 1.48 (16yds lOfin). Wetsail, a three-year-old filly, carrying 8.5, won at Nelson over a mile in .1.50 (16yds). Druid, a two-year-old, carrying 8.7, won over six. furlongs in Victoria in 1.22 (16yds 3Jin); and Sea Gull at the same age carried 8.2 and won the Ascot Vale Stakes, five furlongs, in 1866, in 1.12, equalling 15yds and lOin to the second. PRESENT RECORDS. And now let ns look at the presentday records for Australia and New Zealand.

Tn 1921 Gloaming, then a -five-year-old, carried 9.1 ana ran four furlongs at Trentham in 45sec, equal to 19yds lft Bin to the second.

The record for five furlongs is jointly held by Machine Gun, who at four year's carried 11.5 in 1904, and Enrich, who as a two-year-old in 1939 carried 8.7, and each recorded 58sec, both at Riccarton (18yds 2ft 10 l-sin). The six-furlong record, 1,84, was established at Flemington in 1940 by the eight-year-old Aurie's Star, carrying 10.2 (19yds lft and 4in). Freckles, at six years old, with 8.4 up, ran seven furlongs at Randwick in 1942 in 1.22 (18yds 2ft 4in). The best mile, 1.342, was registered at Flemington in 1940 by the five-year-old Amialle with 8.12 (18yds lft B|in). When five years old Beau Vite, 9.4, ran a mile and a-quarter at Randwick in 1941 in 2.1 f (18yds lin). The mile and a-half record, 2.273, was established in 1935 on the Caulfield course by Palfresco, then a six-year-old, and carrying 7.1 (17yds 2ft 7iin). Young Crusader, when four years old and under 8.4, won over a mile and three-quarters at Randwick in 2.55 (17yds lft 92in). The record for two miles, 3.195, was established by Spear Chief, five years old and carrying 9.7, at Brisbane (17yds 2ft).• The record for two and a-half miles was made away back in 1886 at Flemington by Trenton at five years old. Carrying 9.0, he recorded 4min 391 sec (15yds 2ft 1 2-3 in). A comparatively poor performance when compared with West Australian's in 1854,. and Buckstone's nine years later. Trafalgar, when five years old, carried 9.5 and won at Randwidk in 1911 over three miles in 5.224 (16vds lft 2in) The outstanding feature of these comparisons is the big imposts car- . ried by most of the holders, denoting their high class, and the big number of records held by horses who were five years or older when they established them.