RACING IN ENGLAND

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIX, Issue 18, 8 January 1929, Page 2

RACING IN ENGLAND

1928 SEASON REVIEWED.

London, November 22. With only two more days’ unimportant racing to complete the flat racing season a review of it can be made without fear of statements being controverted by tag-end results. Racing has been wonderfully good, though attendances, apart from the principal meetings, have been poor. We have seen some fine horses, and none have been more interesting than the three-year-olds. It remains p question as to which of Fairway, Toboggan and Felstead was the best. The question, as between Toboggan and the other two, will never be answered, for after winning the Jockey Club Stakes, >’oboggan broke down and was retired to the stud. Between Fairway and

Felstead, the question may be settled next year, but probably not Until 1930, though, on the other hand, neither might be on the race track then. Of the two-year-olds none stands out as the prospective Derby winner of next year. Tiffin, a filly, is universally regarded as the best of her age. Costaki Pasha and Mr Jinks are placed next to her. The latter is unlikely to be anything but a sprinter. Costaki Pasha is the Derby “winner favourite,” but Gay Day, owned by Sir Victor Sassoon, is highly regarded. Many good judges have set him aside f: r the premier classic, although he has only contested a couple of races this season. More likely the Derby winner is among the youngsters who were not produced on a racecourse this year or were there merely for education. LORD DERBY’S SUCCESSES. Lord Derby has had a wonderfully successful season. He topped the winning owners’ list last year with £40,000. This year he is in a similar position, with a sum of over £65,000 —nearly three times the amount won by Mr S. B. Joel, who is second, and close to him are Sir Hugo-Cunliffe-Owen, Mr J. B. Joel, the Aga Khan, and Lord Dewar. Each of these owners is. a multi-mil-lionaire The chief contributors to Lord Derby’s winnings were Fairway and Toboggan, who between them von five of the richest races. If Fairway’s boils had not prevented rim from starting in the Two Thousand Guineas, and if the Derby Day crowd had not frightened all the racing ability out of him, there :s now fair evidence that he would have added those two rich prizes fb Lord Derby’s list. In partnership with an American, Mr J. Ogden Mills, Lord Derby is near the top of the winning list in France. His winnings in the two countries amount to more than £lOO,OOO. Yet that vast sum will return him only a small percentage of profit, for i e has more than £1,000,000 invested in his horses, training establishment, and stud. As Lord Derby breeds nearly all the horses he races, it goes without saying that he also tops the list of breeders, and his stallion Phalari, thanks mainly to Fairway, is nearly £lO,OOO ahead of the next on rhe list, Tetratema. Lord Dewar, whoso chief stallion Abbot’s Trace is fourth on the sires' list, comes next to Lord Derby, but his total is only a quarter of the latter’s. Lord Astor's stud and racehorses have both had a lean year, and he and his chief stallion. Buchan, occupy lowly nositions in their respective lists.

THE LEADING TRAINER.

Frank Butters, Lord Derby's trainer, is naturally a long «ay ahead of his nearest rival, Fred Darling, in the trainers’ statistics, out Stanley Wootton, although occupying an unimportant position in the amount of stakes won has the honour of training the most winners--more than 90, many of which have been media of betting plunges. He had no important winner, but next year there might be a different tale to tell. Two of his patrons, Lord Beaverbrook and Sir Alfred Butt, have some fine young stock for him to handle, and one of Sir Alfred’s two-year-olds, Beachcomber, is likely to have a good Derby chance. Two other Australian-born trainers have had considerable success—o. Bell, who has turned out many winners, besides Felstead, for Sir Hugo Cunl liffe-Owen, and J. Scobie, private trainer to Sir Charles Hyde, whose chief successes have been with Baytown, winner of the Irish Derby. Gordon Richards heads the winning jockeys’ list with over 150 winners, thus repeating his feat of 1925 and ' 1927. Richards’ chief assets are smartness at the barrier and vigourous powers in a finish. J. Mu iro would be his nearest Australian prototype. Other jockeys who have done well are H. Wragg. F. Fox, J. Dines. T. Weston, and R. Perryman. Steve Donoghue has had a. mixed season, and during one period he had 110 mounts without riding a winner. He has had financial embarrassments, too, but through the generosity of friends he has escaped bankruptcy. One result is that for the first 'time for many years he has accepted a retainer. A closing mention must be a tribute to Bernard Carslake, the Australian. It was Carslake’s last season as a jockey, for increasing weight has decided him to forsake the saddle for the role of trainer. He has left his old career in a blaze of glory, as it is generally admitted that nothing has been finer than the vigour of his finishes and the quality of his judgment this year.