Page 9 Advertisements Column 2

NZ Truth, Issue 1001, 31 January 1925, Page 9

A Sale! A Sale! ; «. — Heroic's Heroic Buyer Situation Saved For A Second, But A Very Short Second The Finger Of Fate Do I sleep, do I dream, Do I wonder and doubt, Are things tphat they seem Or is visions about ? "* . ■ ■ ' These lines of Bret Harte about sum-up the public attitude of mind towards the reported sale of Australia's champion racehorse, Heroic (says Sydney "Sportsman" of January 13).. And the atmosphere of doubt was made • thicker than ever when the "Daily Telegraph" came out yesterday with a statement that the sum of twenty-seven thousand guineas was "mentioned" as the price paid for Heroic. . . It doesn't cost anything to mention a price, and when they were about it they might as well have "mentioned" fifty thousand. ;; When J. X ■ :Ooi'teen, Godby and Co. crashed over .Purser's Caulfield Cup win and .were sent out for twelve. . months, it became necessary to sell Heroic before the en- ... tries closed for the big events at Easter. The first attempt to sell him was at when a bona fide bid of twelve, thousand guineas was scornfully turned down, and the horse went into the private sale list. The next thing was that some bona fide buyers such as A. T. Creswicjc and Norman Falkiner tried to So business -with the owner of Heroic, but after a few attempts at a deal they came to the conclusion that the price asked was not likely to lead to bona fide business, so they withdrew from -." the field. . / ■ - " \ h "With Heroic unsold and the day for closing of Autumn entries rapidly approaching, people began, m vulgar. parlance, to wonder what the game was. The big. buyers .were choked oft', so where was a man to come, from that would take on the responsibility of owning Heroic ? The hour came, and the man. On Friday last, just m time for the entries, which close to-morrow, Mr. Martin " Wencke, a hotel-keeper of Liverpool-street, Sydney, slipped unobstnisively over to Melbourne and was able to do m one day' what Creswick and Falkiner had failed to do m a month. He bought Heroic. ,' ■ The price has not been officially 1 given out, but it must • have been a satisfactory sale, for it coincided so exactly with the closmg of entries. Three days later, and it would have '.. been too late. ' ' - Mr. Martin "Wencke; the man chosen by Fate to save 1 the situation, is not a newcomer at racing. In partnership with Mr. Pierce he Avon the V.E.C. Derby tif 1918 with Eusebius, and is understood to atill have that horse standing as "a stallion' at some farm up Baulkham Hills way! . . . ',■'■'■■' ■ . ' Here again the finger of Fate is clearly manifest, for Heroic .will come m handy as a stallion at the Baulkham Hills stud, unless Mr. Wencke disposes of him before his •' racing, career is finished. If he should be m want, of a buyer at any time Mi*. Corteen might feel inclined to buy his old champion back again as soon as that little unpleasantness -. about Purser blows over; so no matter what Mr. Wencke gave for the horse he has always a possible buyer on the market. , If all goes well then, and nobody heaves a brick into the machinery, the public will see Heroic m action at Easter, and the situation will be saved. ~ It is. to be hoped that when the transfer comes before the V.R.C. for approval it will not contain the "Telegraph" figures of twenty-seven thousand guineas. r That suni is so far above what the ordinary buyer would give that it might cast doubt on what would be otherwise a straightforward and unimpeachable transaction. * Apparently some weak-minded person threw a brick • for the cables last week-end announced the following to the world: — ■•-- . ■ • '■'*."■ ' ' ' ' \? ' ' • . ... . After the sale of the ' Colt' • Heroic .to Mr. ■ ■■ • Wencke, the latter entered him, for. the New- . market Handicap. •". Mr. Wencke was summoned' before the Victoria Racing Club Committee regarding the ownership of the horse, and later, a statement was issued that the evidence submitted did not satisfy the committee, who decided to reject the entry. ' • ... ' . Heroic 's Heroic Buyer will now have to fix up another sale, * and he has instructed the auctioneers to sell the colt. Perhaps Corteen, or one of his agents will buy the three-year- *' old back.— "Veritas." . . .