ROYAL ASCOT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22775, 8 July 1937, Page 9

ROYAL ASCOT

BRILLIANT ASSEMBLY AGA KHAN'S TWO-YEAR-OLDS FIVE RACES TO SIR A. BAILEY [from our own coititi"sr on dk nt ] By Air Mail LONDON, June 10 From the racing viewpoint, the Ascot meeting was a great success—attendances have been enormous, fresh totalisator records have been daily established, the going was never better, and the weather was very pleasantly invigorating, while the majority of the investors, it is said, did better than the bookmakers. Nothing was left undone that could he done to make for the comfort of supporters, who grow in numbers each year. The added money for the 28 races decided on the four days amounted to £15,850, and the value of the cups won was £BSO. The value of the stakes allotted to first, second and third totalled £'81,698.

Each day there was tho thrill, enjoyed by all, of seeing the Royal Procession drive up a mile of the course from the Golden Gates leading from Windsor Great Park to the Royal enclosure. Tremendous cheers greeted tho young King and Queen, who bowed continuously all the way along. The front of the Royal Pox was massed with hydrangeas of pink, mauve and blue, spiked with blue delphiniums and branches of apricot-hued gladioli.

Extensions to the tote facilities included the addition of 92 new windows, making 449 for buying and receiving. Another innovation was the installation of electric bolls in and about the grandstand, to announce any dispute or protest. They were used once. An inner set of rails had been set up on the far side of the course, to give every horse a fair run and eliminate the luck of tho draw, which sometimes has been a decisive factor, particularly in races like the Royal Hunt Cup, when a big field is usual.

Royal Hunt Cup

Very exciting was the race for the Royal Hunt Cup on the second clay. -Mr. I). Middlemas' Fair pi ay was successful by a neck from the French-bred colt Cauvert, in a field of 33. The pool amounted to £42,150 —a record for any race in Great Britain, eclipsing the i 11,797 registered at Epsom on the Derby. The decision to alter the far side alignment of the Hunt Cup course was amply justified. Fairplay was drawn 31, a position looked upon- as hopeless in former years. Fairplay's win was a great triumph. No horse has run more resolutely this season. Jlr. Middlemas bought him as a- yearling for 5-10 guineas, and he has won £6OOO in stakes.

Lady Zia Worn her, wife of Sir Harold Wernher, who had so many Ascot triumphs with Brown Jack, scored the family's greatest success when her fine stayer, Precipitation, won the Gold Cup. A splendid three-year-old, but not a contender in the classic races last year, Precipitation has developed into a better four-vear-old.

One of the few thrills of the race was the way in which last year's winner, Quashed, dashed up from last to third place half a mile from home. Omaha, the American horse, was to have renewed the battle with Quashed, but a tendon in tho near foreleg was found to be fdled, and when inflammation developed, Omaha was scratched. Success of Aga Khan The Newmarket trainer, J. Jarvis, attempted with' Fearless Fox to repeat a rare Ascot double, which he accomplished in 1922 with Golden Myth. That horse won both the Vase and the Gold Cup. Fearless Fox was successful in tho race for the Vase, but he was not placed in the Gold Cup. The Queen Alexandra Stakes is the longest race at the meeting—2£ miles and 75 yards. This was the event that Brown Jack won six times with Donoghue on 'his back. Hopes centred round Mr. Marshall Field's Enfield, last year's winer, but Sir Abe Bailey's Valerian, who had won the Ascot Stake* on the first day, had a decided victory in the field of six.

Fach of the three races for two-year-olds run during the first two days was won by the Aga Khan. On the opening day he took the Coventry Stakes with Mirza 11., a colt by Blenheim—Mumtaz Mahal, beating Lord Derby's Felstead colt, Onslaught, by three lengths. Next day he took the Chesham Stakes with Tahir, a colt by Tetrateina out of Quarrat-al-Ain, who, like Mumtaz Mahal, the dam of Mirza 11., won the Queen Mary Stakes of her year. Queen of Scots, the dam of the Aga Khan's other two-year-old winner, Queen of Simla, was one of the best fillies of her day in France. Another winner for the Aga Khan was the three-year-old Pherozshah, who carried off the Cork and Orrery All-Aged Stakes. The Aga Khan won £9315. T ' Manton Stable Does Well J. Lawson head of the Manton stable, did well for his patrons, one of whom. Sir Abe Bailey, won five raiie.s, capturing the first event with Cold Scent, who beat the Derby runner-up, Sandsprite, by a short head, lie .also* carried off the Ascot Stakes

with Valerian, l)an Bulger won the Rous Memorial, and the New Stakes was taken by the not-too-well fancied two-year-old Ramtapa (Rustom Pasha —Cultan Ranee). Sir Abo won in stake-money £10,640.

Lord Astor, another patron ofManlon, had the manifest pleasure of leading in Rhodes Scholar after the Ribblesdnlo Stakes. He undoubtedly is a brilliant horse, and he ran out the easiest of winners from Gothic.

Diplomat, a brilliant three-year-old

won the Fernliill Stakes 011 the Wednesday and the Granville Stakes on the Thursday, each of five furlongs. This Stratford colt is owned by Mr. M. TT. J). McAlpine, and is trained at Epsom. He now is looked upon as the champion three-year-old sprinter.

Of the six starters in the St. James' Palace Stakes, five had run in the Derby. The winner was Goya 11., "who had to be ridddn all out to beat Full Sail by half-a-length, with Fairford third. As at Epsom, Fairford once promised to win with ease, but suddenly lie lost interest in the race. Mid-day Sun Again

Mid-day Sun was a clear winner of the Hardwieke Stakes. When under pressure Flares began to hang badly at the moment William of Valence was starting his effort, and the latter was not a little hampered. The Derby winner got a big reception on returning; he has won four of his five races, There was an objection to Flares being placed third, and then another objection from Flares' jockey regarding the winner. The stewards did not disturb the winner, but the objection against Flares was sustained, and William of

Valence was placed third. The Wokingham Stakes, six furlongs, the chief feature on the last day's card, was first run for in 1813. With the exception of that for the Gold Cup, it is the oldest race at the Royal meeting. The winner was the lightly-weighted filly Kong, an outsider. yet fancied bv her connections. Mid-day Sun and Kong formed the daily tote double and paid a dividend of £122 13s for 10s.