THE SPORT OF RACING

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12076, 2 March 1925, Page 9

THE SPORT OF RACING

IE MM AND FINELLI IT TE MOM VIEWPIiNT AND MECALO AT NELSON SUCCESS OF VALIARD, THE HAWK AND SPEARFELT DEFECTiVE STARTING GEAR DISCUSSED WHO REPAIRS THE LOSSES ?

The. V4st*jind ever-growing army of racing enthusiasts had much to interest them on Saturday. . At Te Aroha the Cup was won by Te Kara, and the J open sprint hy Finelli. King Lu beat the two-year-olds.'"'' ' ■ . Viewpoint , won the chief event at Nelson, and Megalo scored over six furlongs. Australian "racing was particularly interesting. At Randwick the; Newmarket Handicap was run, and the victory went to the heavily-backed Valiard; , - They Victorian St. Leger was won by Spearfelt, and in the Essenden Stakes The Hawk beat Heroic and Backwood. *

NOTES AND"COMMENTB ; (By "Carbine.”) It wag ascertained definitely this week that Gold light’s trip to Australia has been cancelled. . H- Gray; R- Reed, JT Bat*y, I<. A. Pine.H- Wiggins, E. Manson, J. .Gray, and B. Rosen went north after riding at ? Woodville* to ride at To Aroha on Saturday.'They will ride there again to-day, and then south for. the'Bannevirke meeting whieh opens: on Wednesday. J, O’Shetf was engaged to ride Te Kara in the-Te. Aroha 1 Cup, but he underwent ;an operation on Tuesday afternoon; and H. Gray took the ride. . The present is a quiet time 1 at Trentham, as there are horses away at.Wofadville and Nelsop. and 1 on 1 Saturday there was hot much doing on the tracks. On Saturday Carawockhadfiis first wallop since his spell, and he went very >well. . He is being got ready for, the j umping season; and is in great ''heart. : D. McCauley returned from. Wood Ville on‘Thursday, but left Ilka rand Tresham there, vto' be sent .? on to Banneyjrke, :where-they will race this wpek. ■■ \ ; J. Ayres, who ’took- a teamto Wood- : villef goes on I to the Dannevirke meeting. ' Swift was well baoked in the Trial at. Nelson on Saturday, hut was beaten into second .place by Some Abbey, who started an oddoon favourite. Swift is one of ’the team trained at Trentham- by S. JReid for Mr V. Riddiford. Swift is a t bay filly by Arrowsmith from Exclusive. She 1 ran at Tauherenikau at New, Year, and finished second to Phantasy:" Those Ishe beat have dong- very little,-and the imost striking thing abdut her performance was her fine-finishing: run, • , J. Barry had the mount on Royal Pre'Sent. one .efc the: well .fancied ‘.candidates for the Te"Aroha' Cup. !' if. Gray and R. Reed, who rode their ‘chart of winners- at Wanganui .and iWpodville, .were, successful, again at Te Aroha on Saturday. Gray rode ■'’out ’firsts (Ngarara, Ring Isi, Ye: Kara, and -Passionate), and R. Reed won ; on Curraghmore.

l ; T* Kara ires favourite . f*r. the Te ? Aroha Gup, and paid only a little over •evens. ■ -1. - ■ ' Curraghmbre paid the heat price of the day: at Te Aroha,- returning more • than the liipit. One* of the surprises of Saturday’s racing good half the. limit—paid by Megalo. Te Aroha concludes to-day. There will be racing at Dannevirke on Wednesday and Thursday, and-at Blenheim on Thursday, and Saturday. ; ■The fall v which J. --O’Shea received through ■ the barrier at .To Kuiti failing to rise (has had serious after-effects-. O'Shea’s throht swelled .to an- enormoussize and bled badly, with the result t'’at he entered a private-hospital to he operated on. Saturday’s racing at Nelson marked the return to form of Kilmar, who n rriee the colours of Mr \W. Fuller, a regular patron of the Nelson-Blenheim circuit.- Kilmer.-was a: useful .and Eolid two-year*old, and if she keeps right will wjn again in :the-class she met off 1 Saturday. • ■ - ... - _So far this season the- two-year-old Jyjng XjU has somewhat disappointed his admirers, and when he and Aair Queen met at Te. Aroha on Saturday, Air Queen was. the better backed of the. pair. King liU. who was ridden by H. Gray, -ooti well, and. .paid a fair price for a second favourite in-a rather week field’ .<

ANOTHER COUP PASSIONATE’S WIN AT TE AROHA.* Some little time ago one of the biggest Wins secured off a. .New Zealand horse iii recent years was brought off at Te Aroha. Un Saturday another big: one went down to the credit of. the same, course, for when Passionate scored he wap.one of the most heavily backed horses that has started for quite a while,. In the. north, tfiey _oannot know .Passionate' as well as tffey' might be expected to. Had the San Francisco geld' ing beem ..running fn- this end of the island he would .not have paid the bendy price, he yhd. at Te Aroha. -His win at Wanganui was as good f a testimonial as any. hack requires, -.‘i TEBTINC BTARTINC BARRIERS : ; IS';THE|!jE NEGLECT? ' At-.,one or ,-,twp.'recent l meetings ineonvenjetice - and Joss have been occasioned through .failure ‘to test the starting bavner before ..‘a race; th'e’ Welling-‘ ton , trotting fixture* in JanuAr.v the field for the. Gold to be Tecalled after what the istaVterv intended should be the dispatch, v,, The trouble was that- only a portion* of the barrier had gfan«- up, with the result,that some field had been;, .unable; to get away. »: Those who 1 had * left thevjaark were ..recalled, the' defect tin the/barrier, attended to. and a,proper start. wass*cured. • But all this occasioned: great delayvend venience. set .the: whole of the rest of the events far “behind time, and resulted } n people leaving, the course at a very late hour., some of them, .perhaps, missi“Bn*a; connection- Vith their transport facilities.' Now. ‘the defect in thatharrier could -have'been, discovered andremedied in * good* time had the starting apparatus been tested before the horses were lined up. . -More seridus still, was the occuirence at' Te Kuiti. In a; raw* • there one ritl©.;.of the barrier failed to the, result that a jockey riding the/evehtwas caught round'.the neck by the' rope which was being used as a bajnei- and v was "hurled from, his horse. He was ■ lucky* enough tb' escape being trampled on by the horses;! out his injuries ure far from light, and he is now in a private hospital, honing;-to recover from an operation’ which- the accident necessitated. . Moreover, the connections of the horse and its backers got ho run for their money. It is said that this

barrier was 1 not tested before the race, and if that is the case things are not as they ought.to be. If it is nobody’s job to test the barriers before they are used, -there is a defect which the Minister or the Conference ought to remedy forthwith. If it is the starter’s job, and he has neglected it, his neglect has had serious consequences. If the responsibility, lies on the clubs, they should not be allowed to escape the consequences of rany neglect which has . been theirs. Starters are club employees, and the Conference' might deem it necessary to act through ite representatives’ at race meetings, the* stipendiary stewards. The, .point is that every barrier .should be tested before' a race. If this is not done, reasonable precaution is not taken.

WHO PAYS? ■ AN INTERESTING CASH ; A keen follower of racing writes to point out what he considers is a case of hardship- Hd_ refers to the case of ;J. O'Shea, who was. injured through portion of the starting barrier at Te Kuiti failing to go up. Though injured O’Shea fulfilled his retaaiping engagements at Te 'Kuiti and those he hadi at Rotorua, but ’lts waa unable to carry on longer and had to enter a hospital. for treatment. There an operation was decided on. Meantime, he hod to miCs the Wanganui meeting, the- Woodville meeting, Te Aroha and, probably he will, miss Paeroa. .As he is recognised as one of the best horsemen in the country, his services would, nave been in great demand, particularly at the Auckland district meetings. Ope of his mounts was to have been Te Kara, who won ’the Te Aroha Cup on Saturday. ' It is clear: that the toss in .riding fees is‘"heavy, even- if tjho percentage' of winners had" been small. Add to ! this' hospital," operation/«n'd’ 'incidental' costs, 'arid the loss is-’greatoi'' ..still* Who pays? My correspondent thinks O’Shea has no claim • on'• anyone. I have made reference; to the cate, not solely in the interests of. O’Shea.- but in the interests of jockeys in general. If it is not fair that a claim, should lie against any person or institution, perhaps a fund could be established, to cover such cases. > <

THE NEWMARKET WINNER HALF-BEOTHER TO poitrel. Valiard, who won the. Newmarket. Handicap on Saturday; was' very : heavily backed to win the race. ; Eor a time The Night Patrol was favourite, but a little over a week ago the. exceptional track work of Valiard brought Jhim into prominence. Valiard has a big betting team behind him and gradually, he ousted - The Night Patrol from' the head of the quotations. The Night Patrol drifted-in the market because cf recent failures. His last chance to redeem himself bpforo the Newmarket was in-the Futurity Stakes, and; as ho failed there, he wont out of favour. Valiard, who is a half-brother to the great Poitrel, )3 regarded by Randwick touts as a class horse, and his win of: Saturday suggests that they are not far astray.

AUSTRALIAN CUP TOMORROW BACKWOOD IS FAYOURTfE, Tlio Australian Cup, whioh is run over the unusual distance of two miles and a quarter, is. to bo run to-morrow. The latest advices to hand show that Backwood is a strong favourite, and that others well fancied' are AccarOk. Amaldi. Lemiha. Prince Woorak .Spearfelt. and Lemma, Prince Woorak, Spearfelt, andham. are stablemates of Whittier, with whom both were backed for the Nowmar-, ket-Australian Cup double, but- Whittier failed to win-his leg. 1 Accarak.camo into .favour through running second in the Bond Cup a fortnight ago, and the winner of that event was Lemina. who is now in big demand for tho Australian Cup. Prince Woorak has been heavily coupled with Valiard, and, as tho first leg. hag won, the stable has a reasonable chance of a big win. However, it is unlikely anything will oust Backwobd from tho position of favourite.

THE ILL WIND THAT BLEW O’NEILL THOUSANDS. The ill wind that removed, Nigger Minstrel and Heroic - from the / map # for a while blerw a lot of good to the owner of Spearfelt. Heroic, Nigger Minstrel, and Spearfelt fought a great finish in the A.J.C. Doxfby and crossed the line: heads apart. Heroic won, ana Nigger Minstrel was third. Nigger Minstrel went wrong and Heroic, was otherwise put out of action awhile. Consequently Spearfelt won the V.R.C. Derby without the opposition of the colts who had dc feated him at Randwick. On Saturday he won .the V.R.C. St, Leger, and he is to go to-Sydney to contest the St. .Leger there. The two St. Legers are. worth about ,£4OOO. t Spearfelt has a/"special interest for Zealanders, as he is'a descendant of Car* bine and his trainer and part owner, Mr V. O’Neill, is a well-known Nfay Zealander. :

NAPIER MEETIIR CUP AND FLYING NOMINATIONS-. Thv following nominations have been received for the principal events at tbe Napier Park meeting : ■ NAPIKR. CUP; on© mile and a quarter: —Cleasanjra, Startle, little River, Donetter 4 Kilceit, Theic, Good Sport, Guze, Koodoo. Malatour, Tresham. Correspondent. Disertation. Duo, Te Kuri. FLYING-—Crisis, Civilforru, Startle, Misgovern, Good Sport, Koodoo, Ilka, Crown Gem, Princess Ngata, Tutankhamen. Simonette.

(Baling continued on following nose.)