AUSTRALASIAN HORSES IN ENGLAND.

NZ Truth, Issue 80, 29 December 1906, Page 2

AUSTRALASIAN HORSES IN ENGLAND.

.',:.-■.■'■ Noctuiform's Defeat. ■ :•' After Nbctuitorm's /inglorious dis"plai* m the Cesarewi'tcli, general comments were made regarding^ the ' ability, oE Australasian hbi'Js'esscbinpared, with the English ' thoroughbred, the j majority . stating that the latter outclassed the: visitors. .'■;■ '" '-, 0" '"'■ ">'y .'•

"Sportsman'!; (Eng;); whoK has' -a very, warm spot for colonial ' lior^s, made the following comment, :—'■ •

How to .explain what occurred is no doubt beyond the wit of any br^mary man, but m the attempt to do so it is foolish. 1 6 ignore certain bedrock facts I read m. one contemporary thajb sundry, Australians .present at Windsor 'expressed doubts ias to/ \yhis-.ther-the hp rse's / Austratas'iah'. f orrii Was ; ; as good as gehefally tepbrfted. K%v, this.-is: mei?e / fobli'shnes's, : for that ■-'•; Np6tUifo'rhi was immeasurably thq. best three-year-old m Australia <>r JNew Zealand is as certain as that Pretty Polly, was the best of her year m this: country. . .

, So utterly superior was he to all the Australians that he beat Lady Wallace by ...some 15 lengths for., the A .J.C. Derby, and his stable companion' .Sungod also finished m front pf .her. - Moreover, Sungod won two races . on .subsequent ddys of- that meeting, again heating; Lady Wallace m one of them . Lady Wallace frqm that time oinVard continued ,to beat all the best Australian form m eight consecutive victories. Nor is there i, anv. ■.-.question of Noctuiform being short of speed when at 'his best, for he won two Der bibs, and the Sydney one \vi\s- done iii 2min.32^sec— -well j under the record tirii'e.;- • Wn , surel v kriow enough now to pass ihv the . ehildisii 'argument ■'" that the ! form out there is nothing- like w.hajb it

is here

A p : ood

horse is a fi;ood

j :ii<ii'f*e all , the -world over. ; and we Tliavp' seen' adairi' and • again that the Austral,!,'*' an thoroughbred, when pi'q- . tierlv nrclinVat-i'-cd does ■ not suffer by ... r6n*rtr*r,iso*i with' his relatives m this It r-pedf! milv to enumero.fo ■j "**nr<rr . '^•"e**''. Monnar . Oeor^ie. ; ;' T^i'iiv-v , Thy ';. ai-aftpr, Australian l.'^lrtr'. \*A NewhaVch. ''.-.. •""'•.

i Gteat. Scot is too old to be seriously considered,;-, but : he, too, has -won, and ■■?of~'- these > wi fch .the .possible ex-. cei.'tioh\ .ofc ftewHaveri— an' uncertain customer at hest— not oae had any pretensions whatever to rank with Noctuiform , so . far as Australasian form is concerned. When a.-.three-vear-old - .is- out -by. himself the best m two countries where, racing isj largely encouraged, it is safe- to assume that v 'he' is a good one. If there are several who can ' With difficulty beat one another, then there is no such - ! certainty o but with Noctuiform and the' rest of the three-year-nlds at thp Antipodes ib.wasa case. of Eclipse iirst and the rcsfc 1 nowhere. It is well to start from that standpoint of knowledge, for, as I "have stated m a lirevioiis article, I know as much ahout Noctuiform as any Australian or New iZealandcr can possibly know, and .v a sqod deal more than most of them 'do, m fact', know. The question, tlic-n, is whcthei Noctuiform is himself or not , and, if so why he ran as he did at Brighton It may be lemembered that Jlaluma. for evample, did not come to her form until two yeais after hen. arrival m England, but when phe did come she wa 1 : quite "too hole," and never so pood as when, eip.l t years old she met her death m running at Manchester: ..or/. Liverpool— l forget which 1 maW ibis statement on the authority of -her tiainer, Robinson, who told me m the sprmct of that year that 'both Malunia and Merman would be better than evei liwiy had be.-*.* before Maluma came to jrrief, as. already stated, but Meiman won the A?*cot Cup. and .showed himself t 0 be fu.lv 33 lb beU°r than he \vas on tbe Cesatewitch day when he won Now Noctuiform may be like Mel> mon oi Maluma m nr.t havm?-, renamed onylhme. Lite his best form so nmckly as to fcp yeacly for the forthconunc; Cesruf-vitcb, but tlie I*-ev.'ilder-w - feature of the situation is' Lhat thee concerned have been sufficiently salislkd with hi t * work at Home m back lum to win a bin; < stixlcc That he lv"? bo,aten C olden Measuie over a. mile oiui„a half, sfld that he has civen still further satisfaction at two miles .and a quarter, I know. Is it possible thpt ho has aimed thief on account of being asked three li'ist's to iace wliSn he 'was not wound on 0 I Can" hardly believe this to '< ? so, thoiiDh his. lunnm? at Windsor made one suspicious Tt Sva?' __.eni.n_. cent of drunken men I ha l vc seen, who mn to a ter t am. no.nt because ther cannot walk I have 'seen nclh-nr, like it since Admi LaWe 'Crichton lan for the Middle Paik Plate, and that was very like it indeed

Mr Spencer Oollan .; can .si Ye " more irifohiiation: than .anybody m Country. about the doings of imported thoroughbreds. He ' has brought over a., considerable number; both far; racih^ and/'chasihg, and has : had a fairmeasure v of success with' such as, Australian' Star and Mdif aa, but ' he has told ,'jne more ' than once; that some pf '---'the . highest-class/ horses'-"- which be"' has imparted have entirely lost their action m this ' country, /and proved toi be useless. . while infinitely inferior class one's have done well. .j should have some -fear 'on these -lines "about Noctuiform were it not -that' m his home gallops he,, has . so thoroughly satisfied his connections. It '■-'■ -may" - turn ' but that' his '.Windsor running was as incorrect as : that, of Slim Lad at Newmarket- I have little doubt that Slim-Lad— iiriless ; ,he btj ; 'iT thie'ff-wili; prove tliat.'fdrni-> to have - beeii' ill: wroiig : 'wfren -'■ next • he Vuiis •' '- and v _3tf"it -is; - a_id will/ever- be. with 'horses who '•' fail; from the Want of liavirir been ' sharpened 7 up m public -The late Duke' of Westminster ;insistedbri selling Star ; Ruby ;*by Hampton out of : Ornament) -because, as a, green two-year-old, he did not win at Goodwood. He was sold^acr cb"i.dindy for a- toifle,. and won fifteen . races' m- 'America before - becoming, i pne of tlte yefy /best stud, horses m- that country. As -to N6otui•form , there axe, many inaccurate statements-- of what was'pavdfor- him; some toihe effect thafcitwas TSOQ. guineas.^ It well, under the circumstances, that -the true prioe /should be known. It was 5000 igiiifeas.;/' :: -.'. //--', -' ' o:.-.-.o; .