RAISING RACEHORSES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18996, 18 April 1925, Page 13

RAISING RACEHORSES.

NEW ZEALAND CONDITIONS. BY PHAETON. The series of successes gained in Australia by horsos bred or raised in New Zealand has once brought this Dominion into prominence as a favourable place for the breeding of bloodstock. Not a few weliveraed men identified with the Australian turf have many times stoutly maintained that New Zealand is the ideal country for bloodstcck, and a suggestion has more than once been made that if Australian foals were depastured in the Dominion, tho result would be highly advantageous, the contention being that there is not only something in the New Zealand climate that is tacking in that of but that the grasses of this Dominion are most succulent. The pages of the Turf Register bring out in a pointed manner that Now Zealand horses have won tho highest honours unaer particularly severe couuiiions. Wo may, ot course, have to sutler me jiue that we are living on our past in citing the doughty Caroine. Such, however, is very eauuy pamed. This Dominion cannot be depnvtu ot the distinction ot both breeding and rearing the Day sou ot Musket auu iaersuy, wuu put up a great record Dutn us a raceiioise auU as a siro, Marum-iloiiry, Jueutoii, ouoinuiurc. Uldciiurm, Qasuuol, rnjcUmuliii, .Ddujuitsu.., iue nana, uuu a nuut oi otuuis havu piavt'u important victories to tuuir credllnon Austrauau racecourses; and mat too, m Bciect company. AUSTRALIAN-.bit £D HUKSES UNDER IN£jW LiViNJJ faAlliS. When oue sets out to locus Australian-bred horses reareu uuuer New saieo. neisou, the uardy and briiiiaut Bun ot xuua Ooio and My laea, quicjoy comes to mum. VVhUe on a visit to Meiuourne ill tho spring ot laflu the late Major ueorge purendseu tho lattenuon mare My laea. with her eoit loal Dy Jxiug Co.e, out ol tne tjieuormiston Stud, and, u my memory serves 1110 angnt, the two were transported to Auckland in the summer ot 1831. or when the loal was some six months old. Nelson was reared on tne Wapiti Lstate at Epsom. Rarely a ween pussed but I had my hand on his neck, and that enables me to write with some degree ot certainty as to how he advanced troai foalhood to yearling standard and irom thence on till he reached the age ot three years old. Nelson wiui always makiug advancement in the matter of physique, and how he won first-class honours as a stayer is writ large in the Turf liegister. Kelson certainly won u place in the category ot 'he groat, and Auckland, grass and climate probably played a big part in enabling mm to achieve the marked distinction that carue to him. Another one, also of the chestnut shade, that first saw the light in Australia, who waa brought to New Zealand as a yearling and who won first-clasa honours on the racecourse, ia Achilles, tho son of Medallion and Nereid. Achilles spent his early days at Porirua, situate in the Wellington district, and it can be said for him shat he filled tho bill in a vary attractive manner, both in tho way of physique and as a nighclass racehorse. Biplane, who won both the A.J.C. and V.R.C. Derbies, was bred in Victoria, and ho was transported to New Zealand when at the yearling stage of his career, and we know that he developed Into a horse of magnificent physique. And now wo come to Gloaming. The son of Iho Welkin and Light, who was also foaled :n tho State of Victoria, when a yearling was imported to New Zealand. That Gloaming possesses galloping powers of a high order he has denionstrateid in a marked degree, and to find him bounding along brilliantly in his ninth year ono is justified concluding that the grasses and climate, of New Zealand have played a strong part m enabling him to put up tho attractive record down against hia name. NEW ZEALAND PASTURAGE. The lato Major Walmsley, who was a leading spirit in tho formation of the Auckland Stud Company, and who was for many years managing director of that concern and of the more extensive New Zealand Stud Company, always stoutly declared that New Zealand—and Auckland in particular—were highly endowed as tho ideal for horsebreeding: and ho was a firm believer in the old-time theory, " A lot of the ultimate galloping ability goes down tho throat. When New Zealand is under the searchlight as a breeding centre the interesting situation to be reviewed is that tho North and South Islands are unlike. 11l Auckland, for instance, the climate is very much milder than that mot with in Canterbury, and yet horses bred and reared under theso different conditions liavo won great fame, both as racers and sires. That would certainly go a long way in convincing many people that iho grasses of New Zealand are of a particularly strengthening character. In the spring of 1890 I remember rambling over Sylvia i ark in company with the late Lieutenant-Coionei Carre, tin officer of the Imperial Annv, who waa sojourning in Auckland, and who interested himself in the hope of being able to arrest the dispersal of tho Sylvia Park Stud. We lind reached the far paddocks, and when the visitor recognised the rich growth of pasturage the eulogy he passed—and he had a trreat knowledge of his subject—showed verv clearly that he considered this country to be a specially gifted place. The climate and pasturage conditions in New Zealand operato so favourably in tho raising of bloodstock that the Dominion has only to keep up the standard of its fires and mares.to enable it to maintain tho strong position it has attained. When in New Zealand last January Mr. Ken. Austin, the. w;ell-kriown Sydney auctioneer, who is widely recognised, as a firstclass authority on bloodstock, visited several of the leading stud establishments, and he writes some interesting comments in the Australasian on this country and its horses. Tho following is the eulogy he penned:— " An air of universal prosperity, a sense of greenness and wonderful true growth, an atmosphere charged with universal good manners, such are my first impressions of Now Zealand, a country wonderfully endowed and blessed by Nature. After seeing some of the good coast country. I no longer wonder why the small army of New Zealand thoroughbreds more than holas • °y n against the mighty hosts of Australia, for it seems to be that a rery bounteous Providence has ziven the New Zealand breeders almost everything thoy want for the production of good horses. There ta always an abundance of the richest and . most varied of diets, and the cleanest of lime water to drink, the most luxurious shade trees snd hedges in every paddock to loaf under. The New Zealand paddocks must not fall, far short of the Elys.ian fields that we are given to understand exist,, in the next life, for the good thoroughbred of this." NEW ZEALAND HORSES. AUSTRALIAN SUCCESSES. BY PHAETON. A ciuery that reached me during the present week from a correspondent relative to certain Australian races won by New Zealand horses tempted me to explore deeply into history, and tho following is the result of my labours setting out the series of important races what have been captured in the Commonwealth by horses that first saw the light "in this Dominion: A.J.C. Derby.—Nordenfeidt, Bonnie Scotland, Noctuiform, Kilboy, Cupidon, Ballyntena. Spring Stakes.—Cruciform, Reputation (dead heat), Sasanof. Breeders' Plate.—Boniform. A.imoner, iwncompoop. ■ Gimcrack Stakes.— Delight, Chignon. A.J.C. Oaks.—Pearlshell. Metropolitan Stakes.—Sir Modred, Cravat, Maniopoto, Solution, Persliore. VR C. Derbv.— Martini-Henry, Nordenfeidt. Strathmore. Carnage, Carlita. Craven Plate.—Sir Modred, Carbine, Solution, Carlita. Loyalty. , Randwick Plate.—Tire, Martian, Nightfall, Est!and, Carlita. . . Melbourne Stakes—Trenton, Carbine, Solution. „ „ Eclipse Stakes.—Master Sqult. : Caulfield Stakes.—ArtiUerio (twice), Solu- ' tiou. Anna Carlovna, The Hawk. Caulfield Guineas.—Strathmore. Royal Park Stakes.—lrenton. Canterbury Plate.—lrenton. . V.R.C. Oaks.—Pearlshell, Tiraillerie, CarI V.r'c" Foal Stakes.—Carbine. Maribyrnong Plate.—Necklet. . . Caulfield Cup.—Maranui, Aborigine (dead > Caulfield Futurity Stakes..—Gladsome ) (twice), Soultline, The Hawk, Father's t Melbourne Cup.—Martini-Henry, Carbine, 5 Apologue. Sasanof. I Australian Cup.—Lochiel, Havoc, Cheru--5 Newmarket Handicap.—Lochiel. .Hova, ) Soultline. . ( Svdnoy Cup.—Carbine (twice), r Chumpion Stakes. —Matchlock. Carbine (twice). Strathmore, Cnrlita. V.R.C. St. Leger.—Culloden, Strathmore. V R C. Sires' Produce Stakes.—Poetaster. A J C. St. Leger.—Matchlock, Finmark. V R.C Autumn Handicap.—Scot's Grey. t ' George Stakes.—Desert Gold, The 1 ' Hawk (twice). 1 Ascot Vale Stakes.—'Tho Monk. Los Gatos. 3 Loch Plate.—Carbine (twice). 1 Governor's Plate.—Desert Gold. Snub. ? Kind's PL to.—Snub. 1 Essemton Stakes.—Carbine (twice), ZalmD ski. Apologue. Th<» Hawk (twice). 1 Rawson Stakes.—The Hawk. Doncaster Handicap.—Rnssloy. Broadsword, A.J.O. Plate. —Carbine (three times), Rapine. . A J.C. Autumn Stakes.—Carbine (twice), Advance, Gladsome. Bobrikoft. Desert Gold, Rapine. . „ , . \ll-agei l . Stakes (Randwick).—Carbine (twee). The Hawk. A.J.C. Sires' Produce Stakes.—Tho Monk, Los Gatos. <, Cumberland Stakes. Carbine (three times). Rapine. . Waverley Handicap.—True Blue. i Adelaide Cup.—Midnight Sun. Brisbane Cup.—Bunting. TTobnrt C„n.—Sea P;nk.. Maithnd Cun— Loyal Irish. Toornk Handicap.—Soultline. . : Chelmsford St-kes S»sanof. Rapine. 7 TTi" Stakes.—The Hn^-k. IVjlli""'st"wn Cup—Carlita. T RooeMll Guineas.—logger Minstrel >A .TO. Chi lien?* Stakes.—The Hawk. Ade'aide f'nn.—Tuirl'nc, M'dnight Sun. Ade'oir'e Birthray Ctm.-MfJ*. , Ade'-'ide Grand National Steeplechase.Troi'blcsome, „, , , , , t Austrian Jorkey Club's Steeplechase.J CHrysoatom. Cun Steeplechase—Continence. Australian Steeplechase.—Ditto. IT.