GOSSIP OF THE TURF

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12527, 17 August 1926, Page 10

GOSSIP OF THE TURF

“CARBINE.”)

(By

Talk from Track and Stable

FIXTURES FOR COMING EVENTS August 21 —Pakuranga Hunt Club. August 25—Egmont-Wanganui Hunt Club. August 28—North Taranaki Hunt Club. .September 1,2 Marton J.C. September 4—Otago Hunt Club. September 4—Manawatu Hunt Club. September 9, 11—Wanganui J.C. September 15—Dannevirke Hunt C»ub. September I(3—Dannevirke Hunt* Club. September 18, 20—Otaki Maori R.C. September 21, 25—Ashburton County R.C. September 24, 25 —Napier Park R.C. September 25, 27—Avondale J.C. September 30, October I—Geraldine R.C. October 2—Hawke's Bay J.C. October 7—Kurow J.C. October 7—Masterton .R.C. October 7, 9—Whangaiei R.C. October 9-—Oaraaru J.C. October 11, 16—Dunedin J.C. October. 16—Carterton R.C. October 23, 25 —Wellington R.C. October 25 —Waikato Hunt Club. October 25—Waipawa County R.C. October 23, 25, or 25, 27—Waverley K.C. October 25—North Canterbury R.C. October 25, 27 —Gore R.C. October 28, 30—Poverty Bay Turf Club. October 30—Banks Peninsula R.C. October 30, November I—Thames J.C. November 2, 3—Cromwell J.C. November 3—Birchwood. Hunt Club. November 6. R.C. . November 6. 8, 10, 13—Canterbury J.C. November 13, 13—'Waikato R.C. November 17, 18—Winton J.C. November 20—Levin R.C. November 24—Ashluirst-Pohangina R.C. November 27, December I—Takapuna J.C. . November 30, December 1 —Feilding J.C. December 4—Methveil. R.C. December 4—Tauniarunui R.C. December 8. 9—Woodville District J.C. December 10. 11—South Canterbury J.C. December 11 —Waipa R.C. December 16, R.C. December 27—Waipukurau J.C^ December 27, 28—Westland RX. December 27, 28—Taranaki J.C. December 27 , 28 —Dunedin J.C December 27, 28, 30— Manawatu R.C. December 27, 29, January 1, 3—Auckland December 31, January 1, 4—Greymouth J.C. - It is staled that the Auckland lightlueight, W. H. Jones, who has been visiting Australia, will remain m Sydney for the A.J.C. spring meeting at Randwick. Jones recently rode several winners in Queensland. The Piedmont mare Uralla is back at work again at EUerslie, under the direction of W. H. Patterson. She is big and bright after a spell, and in nice order to commence a preparation. The stable mate© King Merv and Muscari continue to stride along nicely in their work, especially King Merv, who is in great heart. This pair should credit Mr J. Fraser Smith with a stake or two at the spring meetings. Wharncliffe, who won the Spreydon Hurdle Race at Riccarton, is a six-year-old gelding by Thurnham from the Finland mare Miss Locliiel. Wharncliffe was bred by the Hon. E. W. Alison. An acceptance of 29 for the Dunedin Handicap, to be run at the Pakuranga Hunt meeting, makes a division of the field a certainty. Muraalii was one of the disappointments of last season, for the only occasion on which he finished in a place in the 19 races he was called upon to contest was his dead heal: with Desert Glow in the decision of the Hamilton Handicap, run at Te Rapa last November. Advices to hand from Taranaki credit the son of Camp Fire as training on well, and matters, it is said, shape promisingly for his being ready to race in the spring. Muraahi, it may be remarked, is now in his ninth year, and thju<h that, of course, does not put him ovt of court, it may be concluded that he has seen his best day. The death of the steeplechaser fr'turdee while being schooled at Hastings hns formed the subject of not a little eonraent. Under the appropriate heading. "An Abomination/' “Wayfarer'’ penned the following in the “Referee" • -“Rtnrdee's fatal fall while schooling at Na pier, I am told, was over one i f those abominations popularly known r-s hencoops, which ©till survive to the Disgrace of some of the steeplechase roarjes m the North Island. If Sturdee had been a human being—as he very nearly was if ‘horse-sense' counts for anything in the superior race—an inquest" would havt been held and an intelligent coroner would have returned a verdict cf manslaughter. The hencoop is a structure of wood formed in the shape .f a steep house roof, and resting on its base presents an angle of about 45 deg’oes cn each side. Its height may not be very formidable, perhaps no more than 3ft Sin or 3ft 4in, but its vice lies in the fact that if an unwary horse hits the top of the roof the take-off side of the structure is raised up by the "dlijiou and the unfortunate offender is attacked fore and aft, so to speak, by a moving death-trap." It transpires that the English-bred filly Phosphates, who was a stable-mate of Beauford, was the one that kicked the old campion, which caused injuries sufficiently severe to cause Beauford's retirement from the turf. Australian writers favour the chances of Windbag, Heroic, and Valicare to that of Rapine in the spring weight-for-age races If Jefferd can get Rapine back to his form of last autumn, then :t may be found that Rapine will be much harder to beat than Pilliewinkie, which last season put up quite creditable races against the best in Australia. Rapine is now an aged gelding, and one rarely finds such old performers showing their best, but, like many of the Martian breed. Rapine has improved with age, even up till his autumn retirement. Says an exchange:—''On the debate on the Gaming Act Amendment Bill it was generally expected that the usual amount of lack of knowledge of the matter would be shown by someone. 4 These persons usually make up for this deficiency by pouring forth a lot of 'hot air' iii the way of what one is justified in describing as wild and abusive statements. During the passage of the bill a few days ago an opponent of the measure described racing as 'a dirty game.' Now, anyone with an oxmeo of knowledge of the conditions and management of racing in this Dominion knows that the sport is nioro efficiently managed and conditions are stricter than in any other sport. The sport is controlled by a body of men that intellectually, morally or socially would certainly compaie favourably with either Houses of our Legislature. In all our cities, towns or villages the chief officials of the various racing clubs arc men of high standing, while in Australia and England the loaders of racing nro the 'cream' of the land, and stalwarts of the notion in time of trouble, and it ill becomes one having the title of Honourable attached to his name to make such sweeping statements. The game of politics has not got such a clean reputation, and in comparison the sport of racing managers certainly compares fnvournblv with, many holding high places in our political world."

A leader oi a Government comes in for very little more criticism than an active stipendiary steward to an important racing body, but the politician is well situated a© compared with the turf guardian, inasmuch as he is in no way restricted from replying to his critics. Mr Higgins, chairman of the A.J.C. stewards, and his assistants, have been condemned time and again |>y persons acquainted with only one side of the cases under consideration—and that the side of the fault-finders have been championing, says the Sydney “Telegraph." There is an old saying to the effect that when mud is thrown some of it always sticks, and it is particularly applicable in the circumstances, which forbid a steward to publicly defend his actions against unfair and obviously interested criticism. The latest charge preferred against Mr Higgins and his men is that they acted unjustly, and without -reason, when they prevented Castles from contesting the hurdle race at Warwick Farm while the inquiry into Black's riding of the gelding at Canterbury the previous week was not finalised. To this there will be no official reply, but the fair-minded will understand how undesirable from the stewards' point, of view it was for a capable horseman to be given an opportunity of shielding the jockey under, suspicion by riding CastEs a race similar to the one the gelding ran at Canterbury • without making his aim apparent. (The inquiry ended wmC. Black being disqualified for two years under rule 171, clause a, “ . . . guilty of dishonest, corrupt, fraudulent, or improper practices on the Tunf.")

It transpires that the Auckland-owned colt Royal Ten was struck out of the Hobartviile Stakes owing to a misapprehension on the part of his owner, in a reference to the matter the Sydney “Referee" had the following" Royal Tea was duly nominated for the Hobartviile Stakes, but, in error as to when the race was run, his owner scratched him some months ago. . It is improbable he would have beaten Rempion, but he has done so well during the winter flat his trainer regrets that he cannot run. Royal Tea’s effort might have given a fair line as to his future prospects wh<-n opposed to the best." The Hobartvill© Stakes carries a stake of *BIOOO, but M;e value of the race will be considerably augmented by the forfeits and sweepstakes. The race, which is exclusively for three-year-olds, is run over furlongs at stipulated weights. No doubt exists as to the %or6e that stands out as the greatest sire posse-rsed by Autralia at the present juncture, for descendants of Valais have placed the son of Cicero in a very prominent position. In the season just concluded the progeny of Valais captured stake-money to the extent of .857,368, which beats the best previous record of any sire in these lands by many thousands. A computation of the amount won by descendants of Valais in the four seasons in which they have figured on the turf ieveals that they have won in stakes *l-128,-515, and admitting that prize-money is very different to what it was a decade back, the record can be regarded as wonderful. Valais was foaled :n 1913, so that he ranks as 13 year© old at the present period, which in rhe ordinary course of events leaves the English horse with many years of usefulness ero his career closes. When the Arrowfteld Stud was submitted to auction in the autumn of 1924 Valais was sold for 14 400 guineas to the Messrs Thompson, of Now South Wales, and, though the sum named was high, it has been widely recognised in the interval that Valais was really a great bargain. A feature of the Ascot (England) meeting in June last was a dual success registered by a French-bred colt Highborn 11. The colt won the Fern Hill Stakes (five furlongs) and then carried the steadier of 9st 12lb to victory in the King's Stand Stakes, run over a like distance. It is related that Sir H. Cun-liffc-Owen was so impressed with th 3 performance of Highborn 11. in the lern Hill Stakes that he bought the French colt prior to his contesting the King’s Stand Stake©, and, further, that the sum involved in the transaction was 10,000 guineas. Highborn 11. is a descendant of St. Just (son of St. Frusquin), and grandson of St. Simon). THE NATIONAL WINNERS Peter Maxwell and Comical, the respective winners of Grand National honours in New Zealand this year, are both descendants of imported sires (writes (“Phaeton"), and it will be gathered from the following recital of the leading lines in their respective pedigrees that they come from stout families: — v P ETERI MAXWELL. Sire: Marble Arch, by Isinglass (son. of Jsonomy and grandson of Sterling) from Mall, by Ladas (son of Hampton) from Serpentine, by St. Serf (son of St. Simon). Dam : Jena, by Cuirassier (son of Musket and grandson of Toxophilite) from Castorline, by Castor (son of Zealot) from Sapphira, by Leolinus (son of Caterer) from Lyra, by Thormanoy (son of Windhound). COMICAL. Sire: Merry Moment, bv Count Schomberg (son of Auglirim and grandson of Xonephon) from Merry Gal, by Galopin (son of Vedette) from Mary Seaton, bv Isonomy (son or Sterling). Dam : Mint Queen, by Developer (son of Pioneer and grandson of Galopin) from Minting Queen, by Minting (son of Ixjrd from Antithusiast (son of Enthusiast). MARBLE ARCH AS A SIRE. “Whenever a descendant of Marble Arch- has triumphed in an important race my mind invariably goes back to the day in 1910 when he reached Auckland bv the Union steamer Maheno from Sydney" (writes “Phaeton"). “Along with several other enthusiasts we went down into the hold to have a lookout the new arrival, who had a 3 a companion another stallion in the shape of Penury. Marble Arch cut a somewhat sorry figure that day, and it would, I think, have been safe to bet that had a vote been then taken few would have been cast in favour of the Isinglas-s horse. Coming from Queensland) —tstoc'k from which State had to' go into quarantineMarble Arch was sent to the island of Motuihi for several weeks, and I can safely say I never remember such a transformation being worked in a horse’s nhysiaue ns in the case of Marble Arch. Indeed, it was of so pronounced a character that th© horse that came from Motuihi could scarcely be recognised as the animal that was inspected on the Maheno a few weeks previously. The transformation worked in Marble Arch conld be accepted as a strong reminder not to form hurried conclusions in summing up th© thoroughbred family. “No one requires to be told that Marble Arch has proved a stud success, and that, too, in the face of not being advantageously placed. In going through the records bearing on the performances registered bv the progeny of Marble Arch sine© they mado their debut on tne turf in the season of 1913-14 T find that they have captured stakes to the value of '<8100,221. The son of has therefor© won a place on the Fires' list very much higher than was generally anticipated as possible."