GOSSIP OF THE TURF

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12433, 29 April 1926, Page 10

GOSSIP OF THE TURF

Talk from Track and Stable

(By

“CARBINE”)

FIXTURES.

April 29 and May I—South Canterbury J.C. Autumn. April 30. May I—Hawke's Bay J.C. Autumn. May 1 and 3—Waikato R.C. Autumn. May s—Waverley R.C. Winter. May 7 and if—Marlborough. R.C. Autumn. May 13 and 15—Egmont R.C. Winter. ACCEPTANCES. April 27 —Waikato R.C. Autumn. April 27—Hawke's Bay J.C. Autumn. April 30—Waverley R.C. Autumn. April 30—Marlborough R.C. Autumn. May 7—Egmont R.C. Winter. Hawke's Bay to-morrow and Saturday. The classics there should be among the best races of the season. Baldowa's brother has been named Red Boa. The origin of the name can be gathered by those who know the parentage—by Balboa from Redowa. An idea of the money to be won at racing in Australia is furnished by a the experience of Valicare, whose winnings for her seven races total £9400. Yet there are somo. who assert that. New Zealand clubs do better in the way ot giving prize money. During his racing at Awapuni, Tiega got knocked about through being forced on to the rails, with the result that he is now one of the hospital lot, and the barj luck for his trainer, Donovan, did not end there, as the after-results of the escape of Bennanee has compelled his retirement also. The ex-New Zealander, George Price, trained three winners at the A.J.C. autumn meeting, representing stakes to the amount of ,£9346. Murray King won *£5185 for his success in tho Sydney Cup, and Windbag accounted for £3661 Dy his two wins ana a second. Pericles, winner of the Second Steeplechase at the Australian Jockey Club's autumn meeting, was bred by Mr E. J. Watt, and is by All Black from Perseis. The Humbug—Tigritiya youngster, Te Koroke, was expected to score at Wlinngarei on Thursday, but had to strike his colours to Serang, the full-brother to Loyal Irish.

Baliymov 11. is having an easy time and tho chances are that she will not do much more racing this season. Her stable-mate Lady Ridicule has been on the easy list since returning from Trentham.

Merry Je6t, winner of the Borough Handicap at Manawatu, boasts English breeding on both sides of her pedigree. Her sire is that successful stallion Absurd, and her dam, Yes, was also bred in England, and is by Valens from Aye Aye by Firing Lemur. A recent arrival in Australia from India is Captain Pearson,, an amateur rider, who is reported to have shown himself up ,to professional standard over the jumps*' Charlatan has been nominated for tho open steeplechase at the Egmont Racing Club's meeting.

David has finished racing, says a Sydney writer, that is, unless his owner changes his mind and decides to have him trained again after next stud season. W. Booth says the old fellow's legs are quite sound. Though he had no chance of success in the weight-for-age race, but would have made a good bid for a minor handicap if that nad been made his mission. David goes back to Widgiewa Station, and, as his chance of adding to his w.f.a. record is hopeless, his owner is not anxious to run him in minor races, the probabilities are that this time the turf has seen the last of him as a racehorse./ He has earned permanent retirement. * , Mr W. Handley, the manager of Mr I. G. Duncan's Elderslie Stud, was greatly Impressed by some of the horses he saw racing at Rand wick during his recent visit to Sydney. Windbag he described as a good racehorse, but from his conversation he appeared to have taken a special fancv to Heroic, a horse who was equally at 'home aa a sprinter or stayer. Yalicare he described as a great galloper, but he expressed the opinion that she was lucky, in the All Aged Stakes, to catch Top Gallant below his best.. This English horse, according to Mr Handley, has exceptional speed, but ho Was not ready to run out a hard mile. Among the two-year-olds he saw racing, Mr Handley unhesitatingly gave the palm to Rampion, a handsome colt and a good galloper, who only has to winter well to be a great Derby horse.

Some Australian sportsmen seem to think that the record made by the yearling brother to Valicare will stand for many years. Frankly, writes “Cardigan," I do not, as next year the Thompsons have half-a-dozen Valais?youngsters for sale, while there are several outside breeders whose mares have Valais foals, and perhaps the high prices will tempt the small breeders to sell their Valais youngsters. It can be taken for granted that the Thompson yearlings will be good sorts, and from highly-bred mares, and perhaps a new record will be made, especially if the high-priced colts of this year’s sales prove out of the drdinary. Buyers are realising, in fact quite a number have already realised, that Valj ais is not a jsire who gets a good one j occasionally, but a horse whose stock are 1 all likely to be good performers, some over a distance, and others over short courses. There have been “booms" for other sires' progeny before to-day, but usually the bubble bursts after a year or two. In Valais's case the demand for his stock grows more keen each year. It is not to be wondered at, as although the season is only eight months old, his progeny have already won more stuke-raoney in one season than the get of any other sire in our racing history. George Young underwent a very painful experience in the Doncaster Handicap at Randwick. While at the post on

Fujisan, he was kicked on the foot by Linlithgow. He seemed to be 60 badly hurt that the officials at the start suggested that he should return to the enclosure and get a substitute. But Young decided to go on with the contract. After the race'the stirrup leather had to be removed from the saddle, because the iron was jammed on to his foot as the result of the kick. The foot was badly swollen. In the circumstances Fujisan ran a good race, as he was one of the bunch that finished just behind the placed horses. Young could not have been much use to his mount.

Valicare has entered upon a well-de-served holiday with her record still unstained by defeat, states a Sydney exchange. In the All-aged Stakes at Randwick she handsomely accounted for Top Gallant, The Night,Patrol, Metellus, ana Fujisan at weight for age, running in the mile on a .pretty heavy track—it rained for nearly an hour before the race—in lmin 40Jsec. Only Top Gallant, who looked a bit * above himself (appearances are sometimes deceptive in the case of these English horses), made a race of it with her, and she had his measure a furlong from hoine. The Valais—CbuTant bay has been pronounced “better than Wakeful." She is probably as bviliant up to a mile and a furlong, which is the farthest she has yet travelled; but she will have to shine as a stayer before she can be accepted as a superior, or even equal, to the great mare who won the Sydney Cup with 9.7, and ran second in the Melbourne Cup with 10,0, conceding 3st 61b to a realy first-class three-year-old in Lord Cardigan. Whether she is a stayer or not will be proved, barring accidents, next season, but, with her beautifully easy action and strong finish, she should certainly be as capable of galloping 12 furlongs as Beauford, who won the A.J.C. Spring Stakes, beating Gloaming, in 2rain 33isec.

Mr C. B.'Kellow, who is on his way to England, was interviewed at Adelaide, and said Heroic might winter in that city. Relative to that horse’s price when offered at auction in Sydney, Mr Kellow said the reserve was 20,000 gns., and he was really glad he was not sold. Well, a at. the reserve mentioned there was little likelihood of Heroic finding a buyer, writes “Pilot." The chestnut is now sure of a lot of weight at any distance, and though he is sure to win more weight-for-age races, 20,000 gns. would take a deal of getting back. If he won that much, it would increase his earnings to over £53,000. Of course, the value as a stud horse must be taken into consideration, but though in breeding, galloping ability and conformation he has so much to recommend him, imported horses always have the call over those bred in Australia, even though, like Heroic, they may be the progeny of an English sire and dam.

BEST HORSE AND BEST MARE

ORMONDE AND SCEPTRE. Mr R. S. Sievier, whose connection with racing in Australia and England is full of sensational incidents, has recently been publishing his memoirs, and in places he touches with interest on the great racing mare Sceptre, whose death was announced a few days ago. “Doubtless somo people might imagine that if I was asked which was the best horse I had ever seen in my existence, I should be sufficiently - egotistical to reply 'Sceptre,' but this would not be my answer." he writes. "Both Ormonde anil St. Simon were undefeated, so the superiority o? one over the other can only bo gauged by the quality of the horses they defeated. The one that beat the better class created the achievement, whereas with the other this would still remain problematical. On these grounds, without going into confrontation or pedigree, I say Ormonde is the best horse I have ever seen, and, similarly, Sceptre the best mare; and taking into account the class she defeated, she most certainly was superior to Pretty Polly. . . It w r .s said that I caused my famous filly Sceptre to be 'pulled* in the Derby of 1902! I am only speaking the untarnished truth when I say that I would have given my right hand for Sceptre to have swept the classic board in that fateful year. Not once in my forty odd years of racing in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, have I ever been called before the stewards to explain the running of any of my horses, and I challenge anyone to prove to the contrary. . . . Wheel of Fortune, belonging to Lord Falmouth, was an excellent filly; and La Fleche was another, as was Pretty Polly. But I have no hesitation in selecting Sceptre as the best. She was unapproached over Newmarket Heath, never knowing defeat there, and her four-year-old, performance, when she beat the Triple Crown herq. Rock Sand, by four lengths, giving him no less than 9lb above weight-for-age and sex, is far above anything Pretty Polly ever did. A year earlier, in the Two Thousand Guineas, she beat Ard Patrick by six lengths, and he was probably the best Derby winner the late Sam Darling ever trained. I then saddled her again forty-eight hours later, when she won the One Thousand Guineas. llow she was defeated in the Derby lias ever mystified me, except that I fear her jockey, Randall, was truly over-wrought. Anyhow she was beaten, though she subsequently won the Oaks in a canter. May I here mention in parenthesis that I had so much money on Sceptre in the Derby which she lost that I went to Messrs Pratt and ‘Co., who kept my racing account, and asked them to advance me a very substantial sum of tho stakes for the Oaks, so that I might meet my liabilities on the Monday. Messrs Pratt hospitably obliged me. This is eloquent evidence of how much 1 got out of Sceptre by her not winning this Derby! Yes, the best horse I have ever seen is Ormonde, and the best filly Sceptre.