SPORTING NOTES.

Mataura Ensign, 4 November 1913, Page 2

SPORTING NOTES.

By " Starter."

The spring meeting of the Gore Pricing Club has to be marked down as one of the most successful 1 'in the club's L story. Though the weather was nut what ooukl have been wished 1 for, tlie high wind; being somewhat annoying, the club was exceedingly fortunate as after events turned out, as on the Wi dnesday and' Thursday, up till last y-tar the usual race days, it would have been impossible to :raoe. The appointments <at the raceooui'se and the si>lendid state of the track were highly spoken of by visitors from Canterbury and all parts of Otago and Southland. The club is now in the proud position of being right up to date in its appointments, and there is very little indeed that could be added for the convenience of patrons. Quite a lot of growling was heard about not enough ■money having been given in stakes, but, without venturing any opinion in regard to this muchvexed! question, it is questionable if any better racing would have been served up last week had the stake money been much larger. The fields all round, with the exception of the trots, which were .a long way behind the average in regard to the number of starters, were above the usual, and apparently the Gore fixture is a popular one with owners. <

One pleasing feature of the meeting was the large number of Canterbury horse 9 competing, and the presence of so many outside horses in the fields helped in a groat measure to make the racing more interesting. The presence of Mr R. 0. Duncan (stipendiary steward) had! an undoubted effect in providing for cleaner sport. This is the first occasion on which an official has attended a Gore meeting, a-nd the club's officers are pretty well unanimous that the piresenoe of Mr Duncan helned to a. great extent in the success of the meeting. Mr Duncan on a number of occasions asked for explanations from riders ,a-nd owners, and let the riders generally know that any questionable tactics were under observation.

Mr R. E. Harley made quite a successful debut as starter, iaud .his work was good enough to ensure his permanent appointment. Mr Harley was particularly firm with the riders aind -inflicted; a number of lines for not obeying instructions at the start®. Mr W. N. Wilson has apparently picked up a real good sort in Hinemoa, and both wins were accounted for pretty easily. Mr Wilson had the mistfortune to strike a particularly brilliant hnn,o in Fred; otherwise he would have won a treble.

Freds won ,a trot each day and put uo two most attractive performances, his time for the mile. 2.25 2-5, being particularly good The party behind Fred is reported to have paid a pretty stiff price for him as a maiden, but as ho was solidly supported for. both his wins and on each occasion paid a good dividend, he should have proved a cheap horse even at the figure paid for him.

W. Grant bad the somewhat unenviable honor of driving three seconds in the trotting events, and Bellflower ■showed what a consistent mare shie is by iiiling third place in her three starts.. There was a great deal of grumbling at the totalisator arrangements in some instances through the machine being closed too soon for bettors. This was no fault cf Mr fames', .and those who missed getting their money on have only themselves to blame, ,as the time at which the totalisator closes on the different races is clearly indicated on the totalisator. Some improvement in the working of the totalisator might be made without .much trouble. For instance, in one or two instances lat last week's meeting the grand total as recorded on the machine did not tally with the official totals. This is only a small matter and was probably due to carelessness on the part of one of the staff, but it would be just as easy to exhibit the correct totals as wrong ones. The club suffered, a good- deal through, a lot of money being shut out of the machine, and bad tine horses been got on to the track a little earlier in some of the events a much, larger.totalisator record would have been put up. The steeplechases provided good' sport for the general public and proved to be two of the best races on the card for the club. This was the first time steeplechases found a place on the programme, ajid as they are likely to be permanent events at the spring meeting it might not be out of place to mention here that Mr R. L. Begg was the prime mover in having these events included on the programme. Numerous complaints were heard about some of the obstacles not being all that could be wished for, but this matter will probably be attended to ere another meeting comes round. On the present occasion these races were simply put on as an experiment and it was not deemed advisable to provide too costly a track. The owner of The Brewer wanted an inquiry made as to the riding of his horse on the second day, but of course this was outside the stewards' duties. The general opinion was that the rider o; The Brewer was caught napping and threw the race awav.

Mistakes on the part of the totalisator staff sometimes prove profitable. A visitor to the Gore races wont to the machine to invest £3 on Miss Laurie in. the Mile Trot. The tickets he received were on Fred, and he called the officials' attention to the fact, but on the spur of the moment decided to keep them. As Fred won and paid a handsome dividend he will probably look on any similar mistakes as a. good tip. By their wins at Gore My Lawyer and Oteono each incxirred a penality of 3fb for th« -Stewards' Handicap. The shipping strike at Wellington is likely, unless called off in a day or so, to hare a most disastrous effect on the

New Zealand Cup Meeting which will open on Saturday. Most of the acceptors for the Cup are North i landowned horses which are at -present hung up at Wellington awaiting transhipment to Lyttelton, and their uo-n----arrival as well as competitors iV a number of other races, would rob vho Cup Meeting of a lot of interest. There are 50 horses waiting to be taken to Lyttelton. The winning owners at the Gore Spring Meeting were as follows: H. Friiediiander (Ashburton) £255, Mi is J. 'Ellis (Dunedin) £165, W. N. Wilson (Gore) £127, W. H. Palmer (Washdyke) £lO5, J- R. McMurray (Core) £95, W. Crossan (Dunedin) £BO, G. Kam (Henley) £75, J. J. Mcßride ..(Queenstowin) £7O, R. Baxter (Dunedin) £55, Price and Deegan (Winton), T. B. Mclntyre (Thornbury) and J. McGlinchey £45 each, W. T. Hazlett (Invercargill' £35, A. F. Roberts (Ran*. furly) £3o' j R. Sinooks .(ohr.istch.urch) £2O, G. S. Hutton (Mosgiel) £ls, J. R. Smith (Musselburgh) £ls, C. Hazlett (InvercarguTi £l4, R. Rowcastle £ls, J Hamilton, jun. (Winton), £9, E. Howarth (Invercargill) £7, ~\\. Robertson (Tapanuii) £5, W. Keith (Otautau). Snooks and Watkins (Christchurch), J. E. Rogers (Gore). J. Hymers (Riverton) and 0. Clarke (Wingatmi) £5 each, and R. p. Smith (Moa Creek) £3; total, £1350. A rough balance-sheet of the Gore Racing Club's Spring Meeting prepared by the secretary (Mr J. Latham) shows that the meeting was a record success and resulted in a profit of £1215 7s 9d. The receipts amounted to £3335 16s 9d, as follows: Nominations and acceptances, £360 16s; privileges, racebooks, etc., £205 3s; gates, £673 18s 6d; totalisator, £2095 16s 9d-total, £3335 16s 9d. The expenditure was as follows: Stakes, £1350; Government tax. £607 17s; luncheon, etc., £6B 19s, printing and advertising,' £6B 13si; sundries £25; balance, £1215 7s 9d—total," £3335 16s 9d. The sum of £269 9s was paid in jockeys' fees by owners at the Gore Spring Meeting. The amounts received' by the various jockeys were as follows: H. J. McCbll £2l 9s J. McCombe £l3 13s, J. R Kaan £l3 6s, J. Olsen £ll 14s, A. Hi Wilson £ll 14s, W. Fielding £ll 6s, A. McKay £lO Is, J. H. Moore £9 15s, J. McChesney £9 15s, W. Robinson £9 15s, L. G. King £8 Is, T. Humphries £7 16s, J. Loli £7 16s, F. Waddell £7 16s A. G. Fielding £7 16s, A. McKenzie £7 16s, W. Jarvis £7 16s R. H. EJUS £6 3s, P. Milne £5 17s, Ji Beard £5 17s, P. Willis £5 17s, Elwood £5 17s, R. Geaney £5 17s, J. Gray £5 17s, E. McCbll £5 18s, J. Wallis £4 3s, Emmerson £3 18s, J. Pankhurst £3 18s, H. Cbker £3 18a, A. Downey £3 18s, F. Woods £3 18s, R, Brombv £3 18s. W. Weir £3 18s, M. Pankhurst £3 18s, G. Williams £3 186, S. Mcintosh £3 18s. D. King £1 19s, W. Boult £1 19s, R.' Beckham £1 19s, W. Lloyd £1 19s, T. Pemborton £1 19s. These amounts are irrespective of the trotting events.

An investor at the Gore races secured a ticket, on Golden Rev, the winner of the Second District Hack Handicap, and after the race proceeded to collect his dividend. A large number of speculators were bent on the same mission, and the holder- of the ticket in question handed it to a man whom he thought he knew. Subsequently, however, the man could not be found, and the owner of the ticket now awaits the honesty of the individual to whom: he entrusted', his ticket for the return- of his dividend. This incident should be a lesson to investors to exercise patience and collect their own dividends. The Riverton Club has a balance of assets over liabilities of £4827 16s 9d. In the annual report it is stated that the increase in stakes by £SOO was responsible for an increase in nominations and acceptances of £Bl lis Bd. It is recomimencled that the time has ainrivod when the .nomination fee should be reduced to £l, thus keeping in line with, the larger clubs and removing a source of complaint bv owners.

The programme issued by the Goro Trotting Club has been exceptionally well received 1 by those interested, and if these expressions of opinion are sincere the. club should have a record nomination listi

Talking with a few Northern owners in regard tojtheir likelihood of patronising the Wyndham meeting on New Year's Day, most of them expressed their intention of nominating if for no other reason than showing their approval of the club providing such good stakes.

Clearly the sporting public has a lot to put up with while paying for horseracing. A case in point occurred at the Gore meeting. In the Murihiku Handicap Rock Ferry bolted three miles and was allowed to be withdrawn from the race. The backers of the horse, however, saw their money going to'swell the dividends on Aphaea ana Carolus without having a run for their investments. Provision should be made in the rules of racing to allow for the return of investments on all horses which do not take part in a raw l . The writer has received a most interesting booklet from the proprietor of the Coldstream Stud .(Christchurch), giving particulars of the .various highclass trotting stock comprising the stud. King Cole, the Australasian, re-cord-holder, is the leading light of the stud, and some most interesting information is supplied; regarding his performances. The booklet may be seen at any time on application at this office. . I

Slays the 'Waverlpy Tribune': Tho uninstructed world littlo knows what forethought is required to successfully run isoino concerns. A cave in point occurred in connection with the totalise tor ,at the races at Waverley on Monday. Mi- Spriggeras had pnwidedi himself with £IOOO in notes, gold and silver so as to have, as he thought, plenty of change. But the amount named proved to be insufficient, and before the last race he was unable to comply with all the calls made upon ' 'the treasury'' for change. An instance of the unreasonableness of some investors is contained in the fact that a £IOO cheque was tendered in payment for a. single ticket! The cheque was good enough, but it was preposterous to expect that a tote clerk eoiild deal with it in the rush of business. Very great care, too, has to be exercised in handling cheques on a racecourse, as all sorts of tricks are attempted. ' One "tried on" somewhat frequently is a post-dated document. "Cheques not laceapted" (or even changed)) at the "toro" would not be an unfair rule of 'the machine, concludes the writer.

As showing what enormous profits the unregistered proprietary clubs •around Sydney have been making, it is mentioned that a company has recentlv been formed with a capital of £300,000 for the purpose of acquiring the Victoria Park Racecourse, in which Mr James Joynton Smith, late of New Zealand, is heavily interested. The new company is entitled the Victoria Park Racing'and Recreation Ground, Ltd. Track watchers at Flemington on September 21 were provided with a sensation which, for the time being, made the doings of Cup horses seem of small moment (says the Melbourne 'Herald'). Between six and seven o'clock a young woman was discovered to be "riding work." She wore long hoots, trousers, and''loose shirt, this being the costume ordinarily affected by jockeys on the

ibracks, except that boots were worn in place of leggings. Eager inquiry among the observers elicited the fact that the lady jockey was Miss Marjorie Longden, daughter of a bank manager at Launceston. She rode Heros and another of J. Fielder's horses in their exercises, and. sprinted 1 Yandilla King two furlong*; on the tan in fast time. She adopts the Sloan crouch, and has light though firm hands. J. Fielder, who wa.s in his day one of the most accomplished of Australian horsemen, pronounced Miss Longden to be the equal of any Australian light-weight in her ability to handle a horse. Ngawera, who won the hurdle race on the concluding day of the last Dunedin Cup meeting, won a hurdle race at Belmont Park (Western Australia) early last .month. Mr Clem Hill, the famous cricketer, has been appointed a stipendiary steward in South Australia. Apropos of Apple Pie and her win-, rang ways, the following story may be; dried apples to a few but may be fresh pastry to many (states a writer in the MelboiiTne 'Argus'). Tortured by turf tipsters, worried by wasters, and pestered by punters, the proprietor of a city restaurant advertised for a cook. One of the stipulations was that the chef was to leave deadbirds of the racing kind entirely out of his cuisine. The vacancy was filled' by an applicant who asserted that he knew no more about horses than Noah knew of hydroplanes. All went merry as the start-ing-bell, until one particularly busy Saturday. In an emergency the proprietor, wishing to lend a helping hand, ran to the kitchen lift and called out the order—"Apple Pie—one." Back to his astonished ear came the answer: "Apple Pie won! Just by blooming luck! What ran second and third ?"