ENGLISH SPORTING

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 5939, 30 June 1906, Page 14

ENGLISH SPORTING

"THE GUINEAS." (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, May 11. The first of-, the'."classic" races of 1900 provided many difficulties for backers. What with doubts as to whether the "cracks ' of loot - season like Admirable Crichton and i-lack Arrow had recovered the ; form they loaf toward the end of their twO-y«ar-o!d days, the relative amount of improvement that tho last few weeks had made in such recent winners as Gingoi, Beppo and Ea red, the uncertainty as to whether Bill of the Play could stay tho mile, and lack of knowledge of the racing abilities of .the rest of the dozen that made up tho field, for tho Two Thousand Guineas, the punters wore hard sot to know how to place

their money. Of anto-post betting there hud been very little, but when the numbers went lip weight of stable money quickly gave Mr Lionel Robinson 9 GingaX the call in the market 100 to 30 Boon being the best price the fielders would lay. BUI of the Play, Admirable Crichton and Beppo wore fancied meet of the remainder and were well backed at the finish at from fives to sevens, frustration also found friends at 10 to 1, as did the Dame Agneta colt and the vicious Black Arrow at 100 to 8. Ramtod at 100 to 7 and Gorges at 20 to 1. As the race showed the "talent” went about as far astray in their attempts to ‘spot the winner” as it was possible for them to have done. Bill of the Play was the first of the favourites “out of it for ho was looaiug the wrong way when the tapes went up and had no chance ot catching the Hying field. Black Arrow Was done with at the Bushes, and Gmgal hevor Boomed able to get on terms with tiie leaders,.which at this point were Ramrod and Admirable Crichton. They • both swerved badly, leaving Gorges at the head of affaire, with the Dame Agneta colt and Beppo in close pursuit. Bam rod was straightened again in time to take part in as pretty a final set-to as the Guineas has produced for some years. Inches only separated the quartette ns they rose from the dip and it was only bv a short neck that Gorges claimed victory from the Dame Agneta colt, which in then bent Ramrod by a nose foreeoond honours, Beppo being close up fourth. The winner la a colt by Ladas out of The Gorgon, owned by Mr A. James, who bred him. Gorges is .engaged in the Derby and St. Loger, but is not likely to Win these events. Ho was indeed distinctly lucky to win at Newmarket for but for Bw.orviug Ramrod —a' sou of Carbine must have beaten him easily.

The value of tho “Two Thousand Guineas” this year was ,£3700, but tho ‘‘One Thousand Guineas” decided over the •eaiue course was moro valuable still, JOIOOO being at issue. This race is for three-year-old Allies only, and though tue field numbered a ,dozen the race was not the / r opon J ' affair that tho colts' event seemed. On paper indeed the race seemed a gift for Sir Daniel Cooper’* flying Bt. Fruemiin fiUy FUir, tho winner of the Middle Park Plato lust buck-end. And backers were quite content to go by the book; indeed they considered tho bookmakers quite generous iu being content to take It to 10 about ber. The only other competitors backed seriously were Victorious, Ulalumo and Snow Glory, but neither they nor any of tho others could make JTlair extend herself. She was content to canter in tho van till passing the Bushes, and then drew clear away from the field winning with ears pricked in a back cantor by three long lengths in the fast time ot 1 minute ,40 3-5 seconds. Flair is engaged in all the principal throo-year-old events of the year, including the Derby, Oaks, and St. Leger, and if she keeps well will very likely prove superior to the colts of her age in the great races. Already Flair has won Sir Daniel Cooper some JIBOOO, and bids fair to add ns much more during the remainder of her three-year-old career. Possibly indeed she will prove to tho Australian knight what Pretty Polly has to Major Eustace Loder—a real gold mine. “Polly, ’ by the way. had an outing at Newmarket, the fust of her five year old career, This was in tho March Stakes uf i 1M65, a weight for ago event decided over a mile and a quarter. Her appearance frightened away all opposition nave that of His Majesty, who carried the same weight as the Major’s famous mare, St. Wulfram, a four-year-old to whom “Polly” was conceding a mere 31be, and Mondamin who had 171 b the best of- the ■weights with Galiimile’s great daughter. The betting was 1000 to S 5 on Pretty Polly, who ambled alongside her rivals till tho Bushes, end then drew away, to win in a cantor by a couple of lengths from Mondamin. You couldn’t call the event a race for the mare was never called upon to extend herself at any part of tho journey.