SPORTING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13781, 20 June 1908, Page 7

SPORTING.

RACING FIXTURES. •Tune 20.—Gumtown Baces :>"'.":" \ June 24, 25—Napier Park Racing Club. { July 9, Qisborae Racing Club. ~—. : ;,'," '.■■ DATES OF COMING EVENTS. New Zealand. j June 24— Napier Steeplechase. ' " j July 13—Winter Hurdle Race [Wellington) July 22—Wellington Steeplechase. ( ___ j ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS, j TXQCIKER, Tangowahine. — Hereulaneuni , was got by Yattendon from Peeress; Aconite j : by Derby from Occult. . i (-EXTIXKL-1. Hydrant fell at the first S obstacle while contesting the Great Northern I j Hurdle Race at Ellerslie in 1906. 2. Record I | Reign won a race in Victoria, but it was a j i flat event. } » Wandekeb, Te Aroba.—l. Carbine carried j hAKDEBEB, Te Aroint.—l. Carbine carried ; j a penalty of 141b when he defeated Lochicl | j in the Loch Plate at Fleming-ton in the ( j autumn of 1839. 2. Loehiel was sired in ! t England and foaled in New Zealand. I EEXO, Parnell.—l- It was while contesting j the Electric Handicap at Ellerslie, in the : autumn of 1906. that Hohoro dropped dead. j The placed division consisted of Miss Winnie. .1 Tambourina. and Ben, who finished iii that | order. . The account of the race shows that | Hohoro was in distress before the distance : was reached, and that the placed division, as j cited above, were lighting it out for the ■ leading position when the stand was reached. I 2. Recruit blundered nt the third hurdle, and, I sustaining an internal injury, he dropped ! dead near to the mile and a-quarter post. j H. 8., Grey Lynn.—l. Hohoro dropped dead 1 while contesting the Electric Handicap at .j the A.E.C. Autumn Meeting of 1906. Prej viously, on the same afternoon, he ran tin- ; placed in the Hit hi Handicap, won by l.u- ---! erece. It was on the first day of the same j meeting that he won the Tramway Handicap, i in which Waitati and Ren finished second | and third respectively. 2. The account- of the race shows that Recruit swerved at the third hurdle, and in endeavouring to jump j the rail surrounding the course he landed across it, and after extricating himself hewent on for a short ' distance, when he dropped dead. NOTES BY PHAETON. THE SUPPRESSION OP BETTING IXI AMERICA. j Tue action of the Legislature of the j State of New York in declaring betting upon racecourses to be illegal, and punishj able by imprisonment, is an < - nt the far- [ leaching effects of which in the land of the I Stars and Stripes cannot be gainsaid. The j State of Kentucky, which comes within the I sphere of the drastic edict, has long been j known as one of the most prominent homes of the thoroughbred and the trotting horse in the United States; and the. closing of the racetracks there (which the enforcement of the belting edict is sure to bring about) must be expected to cause the old sporting place to speedily wear a deserted appearance, so far as racing is concerned. A New York cablegram received during the present week states that Mr. James R. Keene, who has a. right to be termed America's most prominent sportsman, and several other leading- men engaged in racing, have deterj mined, as a result of the anti-betting law. to i send their horses to England. Should that | step be taken, it will probably furnish the ) | most- striking illustration of an American i j invasion that- the Old Country has had to j i cope with, so far as horse-racing is con- ! j cerned. The first important American in- ! vasion of the English turf, it may be remarked, was made in 1357, when Mr. R. Ten Broeck took a powerful team across the Atlantic. Ocean, among which was Starke, who secured the Goodwood Plate and Goodwood Cup. The second memorable visit came in 1879, when Messrs. Pierre Lorillard and James R. Keene, both breeders'and keen racing men, essayed to win tho classic races, and, in 1881, Iroquois, the property of the first-named, won the Derby, which it. is hardly necessary to relate caused great rejoicings throughout the United States, and when the son of Leamington annexed the St. Leger the joy bells were again set ringing. Foxhall, who carried Mr. Kecue's colours, won the Grand Duke Michael Stakes, the Cesarewitch, and the Cambridgeshire Stakes. In the meantime Mr. August Belmont, a scion of an old sporting family, and head of the New York banking firm of August Belmont and Co., Messrs. Lorillard, J. R. Keene, W. C. Whitney, and R. Croker have essayed to win the classic events, but the best Mr. Lorillard could do was to run second with Sachem in the Derby of 1832, won by Shotover, while Mr. Keene' Disguise IT. filled third place behind Diamond Jubilee and Simondale in the. race for the blue ribbon of 1900 r- The following year Mr. W. C. Whitney had the English-bred Volodyovskt under lease, and ho had the pleasure of seeing his colours home in the van in the great Epsom race, and at the name meeting \ Mr. J. R. Keene supplied the winner of j the Oaks with his American-bred filly I Cap and Bells. While last year Mr. j Crokor's colt Orby, piloted by J. Reiff, easily proved his superiority over his opponents, and placed the coveted decoration j to the credit of " the boss of New York." j The Two Thousand Guineas this year was won by Mr. August Belmont's colt Norman 111., who was bred in the United States, while Mr. Croker scored in tho Qny Thousand Guineas with Rhodora. Tho latter was not, however, an out-and-out American victory, as Rhodora was bred in Ireland. Mr. Keene, it may be remarked, claims a crack racer in the shape of Colin, who was unbeaten at last, advices, and who ! is held to be one of the greatest gallopers unearthed in the hind of the Stars and j Stripes. i | THE GRAND PRIX DE PARIS. I Tho sporting column in a newspaper is not, as a rule, a place to look for a scriptural quotation; but it will, I think, bo generally admitted that the words of tho prophet, "Unto him that hath shall be given," can be very appropriately applied to this year's Grand Prix de Paris, the greatest stake in horseracing having been captured by a colt that carried the colours of a millionaire. Mr. W. K. Yanderbilt, who supplied the winner of the Grand Prix de Paris this year, claims the United States of America as his birthplace: but for several years he has : been a resident of France, in which country j he set up a large racing stable, and where : he races on an extensive settle. Some idea of Mr. Vanderbilt's racing affairs may be gathered from the fact that his nominations for the Grand Prix de Paris this year numbered no less than 23. An interesting fact in connection with the Grand Prix de Paris is that Perth, the sire of North-East and Saugc Pourpree, the pair that came home first and second respectively in this year's great race at Longchumps, won the Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) and the Grand Prix de Paris, and I think I am correct in stating that in that respect the French sire has a unique record. The first contest for the Grand Prix de j Paris eventuated in 1563, and with the exception of 1871, when the country was suf- j fering from the effects of the disastrous j .war with Prussia, it has annually been run j at Longehamps. The first contest ended in ■ a victory for the English sportsman Mr. H. ! Saville's The Ranger, and three years after the Duke of Beaufort supplied the winner with Ceylon. Then, at ,au interval of a year, the ill-fated Marquis of Hastings scored with The Earl, and then, four years after, Mr. Seville beat the opposition with Cremorne. In 1374 Mr. W. R. Marshall I won with Trent. Five years after Mr. C. j Brewer won with Robert the Devil the j next year saw the American-bred cult Foxhall carry Mr. J. 11. Keonc's colours to victory, and in the succeeding contest Mr. Rvmill's colt Bruce, who hailed from "'cross the Channel," scored. In 1885 Mr. Brodrick Cloete supplied the winner with Paradox, and in the following year Mr.- R. C. Vynor claimed the winner with Minting. A period of 19 years elapsed before another foreign-bred horse claimed the attention of the judge, and that was when Major Loder scored with Spearmint, a son of the Auck-land-bred Carbine. Though this year's winner, North-East, is owned by an American, he was bred in France.