TURF TOPICS

Free Lance, Volume III, Issue 147, 25 April 1903, Page 23

TURF TOPICS

By 'Krect-Card.

The Wellington Racing Club have decided to eliminate the Zealandia Plate from their futuie progiammes. The club has been forced into this position by the veiy poor fields that have contested the w eight-f or-age race, and on the three occasions since the race was instituted, the club have lost money. The race has not proved the success* it should have been, but a reason for its failure is hard to find. The distance— one mile and a-quarter— is a favourite one with the majority of owners, so it cannot be on that score. The club s action is to be regretted and it is to be hoped that at some future date the race will be re-instated. Out of the three contests for the Zealandia Plate, Ponrua representatives in Boreas and Advance, have won two, while the other was appropriated by Cruciform, Mr. Stead's representative. After their disappointing displays at the C.J.C. autumn fixture, Blazer and Battler w ere presented to their trainer by Mr. S. Solomon. It is stipulated fhat Blazer is not to race agam. Chasseur's duaJ success at the Feildinp- meeting proves that the aged son of Cuirassier and Jessie has regained his form of a couple of seasons back. He is now trained bv J. Maher, of Hastings, and was ridden in his engagements by Sam Lindsay. The Workman — Element gelding, Shrapnell, is fully entitled to the praise he received after he won at Rangitikea, on New Year's Day. Sporting writers up that, way made out that he was a second Carbine and his success later on at Egmont only corroborated that opinion. Last week he further enhanced his reputation by annexing the Winter Oats and Makino Handicap at the Feildm,g meeting, in hollow fashion. He is engaged in the Thompson Handicap, at the Wellington meeting this week, and it will be interesting to see how he shapes when opposed by some of our cracks. Ayrdale, by Ayr Laddie, who contested several of the flat events so successfully at the snring meeting of the Wellington Racing Club, is being schooled over the fences down South, and word reaches me that he is showing considerable proficiency in negotiating the obstacles. The son of Ayr Laddie «hould make a promising hurdler for he has plenty of pace, and his ability to win under heavy imposts has been oonclusivelv proved on more than one occasion. The stewards of the Auckland Racing Club lasit week decided not to alter their verdict in the matter of the disciuailificat on of T. Quinhvan, semr.. Macnamara (the jockey) and the "aiv The Imp who were placed under the ban for alleged suspicious, practices at the summer meeting of that club. Since then the before-mentioned pony has been sold to go to South Africa. The Randwick course is notorious for surprises, and the Sydney Cup, run last

Monday, proved no exception to the lule to the majonty ot backers who try to find the winner ot that race. On account ot his success in. the Autumn Stakes, on the opening day of the meeting, when he carried 9st 31b, and ran the' mile and a-haJf in 2min 37sec, Patronage was installed a waira favounte for the race under discussion, and when it is considered that the son of Grand Flaneur had to carry 131b less than he pi evaded with in the Autumn Stakes, it certainly, on paper, looked an absolute certainty. But once more was the uncertainty of the racing game illustrated for the winner turned up in Street Arab a five-year-old son of Jeweller, who was in at 6st 121b. The facb of Stieet Arab being weighted so low m the scale for a five-year-old furnishes pretty strong evidence tha.t he had not many performances to his credit. He was. however supported bv his connections so that they at least must have had pretty good evidence of his ability to annex the stake. An interesting incident, recorded in connection with the racing on the opening day of the A.R.C. autumn meeting, was that in three events decided during the afternoon the same sire claimed the first and second horses. In the Easter Handicap, St. Legeir was responsible' for Golden Rose and Jewellery in the Eden Handicap Soult claimed Marshal Soult and Green and Gold, and in the Onslow Stakes Seaton Delaval claimed Delama and Alba Rose. Pilgrim's Progress, by Isonomy, the stallion that heads the list of winning sires m Australia, and sire of the champion, Abundance, has been purchased by Mr. Max Freidlander, the Ashburton stud master. The price has not transpired, but it must ha,ve been olose on £3QOG, for when submitted to auction recently in Melbourne, the son of Isonomy was oassed in at £2000. It is to be hoped that his new owner will not regret his enterprise, but that Pilgrim's Progress will be as successful, if not more so, in this colony as he was in Australia.. The imported horse, Orzil (by Ayrshire — Merry Miser), claimed his first wanner on the opening day of the A.J.C. meeting, when his two-year-old son Bassini captured the Maiden Stakes. On the second day of the meeting, Kilifera, another of his two-year-old sons, captured the A.J.C. Champagne^ Stakes from a red-hot favourite in Emir, who was so much thought of after his Victorian campaign. Sea Lion, the full brother to the champion sprinter, Achilles, made his first appearance in the racing arena in the Russley Plate, at the C.J.C. autumn meetiner. Like his brother, he had to be content with second honours in, his first race. Achilles has only been once beaten, and, strange to say, that was in his first race, and at the hands of a moderate performer in Helen Faucit. If Sea Lion turns out as good as his brother, Mr. J. Monk will iust about sweep the board neoct season in the weigh t-for-age races. The feature of the C.J.C. autumn meeting was the great success achieved bv Sir Georee Clifford's horses. The well-known blue and gold chequers were victorious m the Champagne Stakes, on Treadmill ; in the Epsom Welter, on Windwhistle , in the Russley Plate, on Quanyman and the Challenge Stakes, on Treadmill. The latter's defeat of Machine Gun in the Champagne Stakes came as a surprise to the admirers of Mr. Stead's crack, but that there was no fluke attached to the win the Bill of Portland colt proved on the second day when he defeated Orloff by ten lengths in the Challenge Stakes. Tread-

mill has been a good horse for the metallicians sincei he stairted racing, his somewhat unexpected defeat of King Log, at thei Hutt, last January, and now his triumphing over Machine Gun and Orloff causing the faces of our knights of the book and pencil to become wreathed in smiles. So Advance has broken down. Well, it is not bo be wondered at, when it is remembered the herculean tasks he was asked to achieve. To carry list 31b over a mile and three'-quartersi is enough to break the heart of any horse, and it is small wonder that he has thrown up the sponge. That the son of Vanguard was a champion there is no gainsaying, but, as far as racing as a business is concerned, it does not pay to own champions. If a horse puts uo a really good performance in a race, he is raised up m weight to an absurd degree, so that his future chances of success are reduced to a minimum in order that some animal that otherwise would have no chance of success whatever might be given a chance. The sooner our racehorses are classed the better for all concerned with the sport, for then a really prood horse would not have to be weighted out of a contest in order that the ra^ tag and bobtail should be given a show. A recent meeting at Mentone (Victoria) was visited late in the afternoon by a heavy thunderstorm. With the rain, semi-darkness set in, and the clerk of the scales and the reporteirs had to do their work by candlelight. There are sound reforms requiring attention on the English turf, if the following be true — "I think our owners (writes an Enerlish racing scribe) need either sorting or licensing, for, m a recent small race, I noticed v as nominators a book-maker, a financier, a money lender, two men who have been bankrupt, one who has been warned off the turf, and another an ex-convict." Truly, a happy medley. Horsemen and horsemanship formed the subject of an expert discussion recently in a company whose members were all experienced and practical authorities (writes "Javelin"). Numbers of famous riders' of the past had been discussed, when a light of other days said, with unmistakable earnestness and admiration, "Well' I reckon the most artistic thing I ever saw in all my experience was poor old Jack Roper (that wasn't the name) on a dead 'un! Talk about a well-timed run, as the papers call it. , why, I've seen the crowd cheer old Jack for his 'final effort' more than the winner — and Jack wasn't trying not a yard ' He never made his run soon enough to get into trouble when he wasn't on it a/n' his eaual at tunin' a losin' finish never lived! Poor old Jack. He was a great horseman !"