NOTES AND COMMENTS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 210, 18 August 1934, Page 2

NOTES AND COMMENTS

(By “The Barb.”) Windsor Lad was held to have proved himself a stayer when he non the Derby. Comment by a London writer suggests that his breeding on the maternal side does not favour him in that respect. The writer says: Wind»ad is the third foal of Resplendent, Her first filly run tour times

unplaced and was then put to the stud. The second was another filly by Warden of the Marches, who started in 15 races. Her only bracket was secured as the result of a walk-over. Resplendent "as sired by the sprinter By George I She was half-sister to that smart horse Soldumeno, also by a sire whose offspring lacked stamina. • * o Tho New Zealand Grand National Steeplechase, decided at Riccarton on Tuesday, was tho fifty-eighth contest in tho history of tho race. Horses hailing from tho North Island hold the record with 37 victories. 'The following is a list of winners as between the North and South Islands :—North Island: Mangaohane, Chemist, Norton, Waterbury, Mutiny (twice), Levanter, Dummy, Blackberry, The Guard, Gobo, Haydn, Awahuri, Inniskillen, Eclair, Nadador, To Aral, Paritutu, Captain Jingle, Bercola, Ngatoa, Waimai, Master Strowan, Sb. Elmo, Coalition (twice), Oakleigh (twice), Sturdee, Tuki, Peter Maxwell, Beau Cavalier, Wiltshire (twice), Aurora Borealis, Billy Boy, Valpeen. South Island: Royalty, Fakir, Mousetrap, The Agent (three times), Clarence, Kosciusco, Moody, Canard, Faugh-a-Ballagh, Daddy Longlegs, Freeman, Ahua, Slow Tom, Phaetonitis, Eurus, Tim Doolan, Lochella, Snowfall, Thurina. =» » «= Backers who lay odds on seeming certainties in the hope of picking up a little “easy money” occasionally receive nasty shocks. At Gatwick (England) in June, a horse named The Sage, who had won at each of his three previous starts, looked so sure to defeat his two opponents in the Champney Plate, one mile and a-quarter, that odds of 100 to 9 were laid on him. A little over three furlongs from home ho was going easily in front of ins opponents, but then was suddenly pulled up. Examination showed ho had split a pastern, and ho was in such a bad wav that it was necessary to destroy him. ... In horses weighted for the Melbourne Cup there is an unusual number of winners at two miles or further. They include the Melbourne Cup winners Peter Pan, Hail Mark, and White Nose; Australian Cup winners in Topical and Heroic Prince; Sydney Cup winners in Johnnie Jason, Rogilla, and Broad Arrow; Queensland Cup, Braeburn; Brisbane Cup, St. Valorey; New Zealand Cup, Palantua; and Auckland Cup, Minerval. ft is probably a record in the way of proved long-distance horses engaged in .Melbourne’s big race. In addition, though unsuccessful at two miles, Shadow King has been placed iu four Melbourne Cups, Yarramba in one; Nord. Gippsland, and Limarch in Sydney Cups; and Flail, Eastern Chief, and Peter Jackson in Australian Cups.

.“The. Blood Horse” (U.S.A.) claims that the 25-year-old sire. Wrack, has sired the winners of more money than any other living horse in tho world- a claim which is not likely to be disputed, for they have amassed an aggregate of nearly £500,000. This imported horse has great interest for Australians. He belongs to the same family as Heroic (premier sire of Australia for tho past two seasons'!, Magpie (whose son. Windbag, has been runnerup to Heroic in the seasons mentioned), The Night Patrol, and mane other horses which have won distinction on tho Australian turf.

England’s leading pony track, Northolt Park, where the height limit is 15.0, has its Derby. This year it was worth £lOOO, and there were 15 runners, six being owned by ladies. Mrs. \V. B. Holroyd-Smyth’s Forest Maid was favourite at 11 to 4, but was beaten by a neck by Mrs. E. Palmer’s Mountain Cloud (Lebanon —Dust Cloud), a 16 to 1 bhance. The other five races on the programme carried £lOO each.

Tho first New Zealand Grand National Steeplechase was run in 1875 on Mr. Michael Studholm’s property at Willowbridge, and was'won by Medora, nominated and ridden by Bob Reay, though it was understood that she belonged to Mr. Pat Campbell, who finished second on Tommy Dodd. The Grand National was the lineal descendant of tho Interprovincial Steeplechase (1873) and the Grand Interprovincial Steeplechase (1874), both run on the Willowbridge course. Waimate and Timaru were the cradle of steeplechasing in the South Island, just as Wanganui was in tho North, and tho crosscountry sport was firmly established there before it seems to have made any appeal to North Canterbury folk. The first attempt to plant the National at Christchurch was financially disastrous, and almost resulted in abandonment of tho race in the following year.

At the Chepstow (England) races a few weeks ago Gordon Richards was presented with a silver salver by tho directors of the Racecourse Company, to commemorate his font of riding 11 winners in succession at Chepstow on October 4 and 5 of last year. On tho day of tho presentation Richards won only one of tho five races in which ho rode. Because of Richards having tho ' mount Balada was made favourite for tho Ncwnham Selling Plato. It did nob win, and was sold after the race lor 15 guineas. e • • Tho Grand National Steeplechase dates back to 1875, but the Grand National Hurdle Race wan mil. instiluied until 1890, tho first winner being Ixion. For fifteen years I lie dista.imo was two miles; 1915 it was 2} miles, and from 1916 it has been “about 2J miles.” For tho last five years, however, it has been inoru Ilian tho scheduled distance, as tho horses tiro despatched from tho nine-furlong harrier, and tho actual course i< approximately 161) yards further than 21 miles. Double winners of the Gram! National Hurdles are Liberator 1893-9-1 and Gladlul 1921.-22. Horses io win with 12.1 i or over have been Liberator 12.(1, Record Reign 12.12 am! I’aisaim 12.1. 11. was as far back as It 10 that Pais.'ino won, ami sinco then tho heaviest weighted winners have been Continuance 1911 and Nukumai 1928, each earning 11.11. It is seldom nowadays that the top-weight receives more than 12.0, and only a very high-class hurdler would have a chance with that load at the speed with which the race is run. Winning more than £32,000 in stakes during last racing season. Heroic, topped I he winning sires’ list in Australia for the second year in succession, and in four seasons his stock have won more than £BO,OOO. It is a remarkable record for a sire whose progeny have been racing for so few seasons. Heroic has proved just as grout u sire u= he wtis u racchorso, and

there are not many of his progefiy who have raced that have not been successful. They have won from all distances, from half a mile to two miles and a, quarter, the last Australian Cup ot that distance being captured by Heroic Prince. He and Hall Mark proved conclusively that Heroic can breed stayers. In their first three seasons on the turf sons and daughters of Heroic won £47,936 in stakes, increasing from a modest £7550 in the first season to £26,251 in the third year. Heroic has always been m the money, so to speak. He cost 1860 guineas as a yearling, and on the racecourse his earnings were nearly £14,000. When Mr C. B. Kellow purchased him he had to go to 16,000 guineas to secure him. Mr Kellow still owns Heroic, who is held on lease between Messrs H. Thompson and P. C. Rascho, of Sydney. The time record for the Grand National Steeplechase is 6min 53 3-ssec, recorded by Peter Maxwell in winning under 9.1 in 1926, Oakleigh 6min 55 l-sse c under 10.7 in 1922, and Snowfall 6min 58 l-ssec under 9,3 in 1931 are the only other horses to have registered under 7min When Ijochella reduced the race record to 7min lOsco in his year (1919) ho put up a better performance than is suggested by tho time. He was taken wide out on the course all the way to reduce the risk of running off, and still he went so well that the result, bar accident, was never in doubt. Oakleigh won his second National in 1923 with 12.0 in 7min 10 2-ssec, and the following year Sturdee, with 9.4, reduced the record to 7min 4sec. Two years later Peter Maxwell set up the figures that still stand as the record. Since then Beau Cavalier has recorded 7min Isec and Wiltshire 7niin 3 4-ssec in his first National.