Curons Last Race Wakepil's Doneaster

NZ Truth, Issue 1063, 8 April 1926, Page 14

Curons Last Race Wakepil's Doneaster

WHEN Aurous was galloped on m Wakeful 's Doncaster of the epochal year of 1901, one of the most difficult racing problems ever put before turf followers remained unsolved. Indeed, the extraordinary manner m which both Wakeful and Aurous were backed straight out for the Ddricaster, and then criss-crossed m doubles for the Sydney Gup, is often discussed to-day. In this article the story is told m detail for the first time.

BEFORE narrating the details ofO- ' the % Wakteful-Aurous commission, I may be permitted to recall one or two performances of this pair of il- \ lustrious mares. - ' x Wakeful, with an Oakleigh Plate arid * Newmarket to her credit, and Aurousj £ with a Futurity Stakes topping her £ prize-list, naturally attracted atten- I tion when the weights were published c for the big- Easter double m Sydney, £ and so big prepost backers sharpened their pencils and waited for a- lead from the L. A. fylacDonald stable. A market had been established, and Wakeful : was nominal favorite at 3 to "T, while 16 to 1 was on offer' against Aurous; but nary a lead came from the Usual com- ( missioners for the big-betting, dangerous stable, . I! Both mares. 'had arrived at Randwick, and still "speakers" were m a quandary as they watched Phil Gl'enister, the shrewd a:id imperturbable old warrior, who had generally launched Leslie Mac Donald's assaults on the ring. But the watchers only saw silent shakes of Phil's silver head. Meanwhile, a lot of other horses were being Tbacked m doubles and straight-out for both races, but Wakeful was still nominal favorite for the Doncaster. SHORT AND EXPLICIT. Then from something I had heard I booked for Sydney and on arrival called on Leslie Mac Donald. When I left him that afternoon his message to me ' was short and explicit. I remember his words as I wx'ite: "Go to the. club to-night and don't refuse any offers of 8 to 1 Wakeful, and down to 14 to 1 Aurous for the Doncaster, and couple them each way for the double at corresponding odds." He added that if Wakeful won the Doncaste'r Aurous would certainly win the Sydney, Cup. . Though feeling inwardly a particularly important person, I quietly enter- [ ed Tattersall's Club that evening and found a big crowd animatedly discus- 1 sing the coming races. I was .chal- i lenged. by several bookmakers, but re- ( fused to take less than 10. to 1 Wake- £ ful, or 16 to 1 Auroua. . <

Eventually I was laid a few hundreds it those prices) but tfcrough my back-ing-of both mares for .the. same race Lhe bookmakers "believed I was not inspired, and even after I had booked 3ome thousands at their first-offered prices, and had secured the double as commissioned, books and badkers were still puzzled. Next morning some sporting writers doubted the genuineness' of the commission, and suggested to their readers the wisdom of waiting for a definite lead from the right quarter. : If those who read this advice acted 5n it they are still waiting; for let it IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIU

be told just here that . the problem punters were trying to solve was a complex one to tooth L. A. McDonald md Hugh Monro, owner and trainer )f the two great mares, for neither of

these humans were certain which-was the better of the two equines. So the game carried on. Each afternoon and evening I went to the club, and took every offer against- • Wakeful at eights and Aurous at fourteens. >„ ' ■■■'•■ In the interim a circumstance hap- • pened which led me to accept a couple of hundreds about a double apart from those I had been backing- * Harold Smith, the then crack amateur cross-country rider, and nephew of "Tucka Tucka" Smith, breeder of - Gaulus Grafter, Blue Metal, and' other famous stayers, invited me to lunch on the Thursday before the poncaster. - Naturally the question, arose as to which was the better of MacDonaJd's i pair, and-; I truly told Smith that one > of them would surely win, but I couldn't say which. Harold smiled confidently as he replied: ' - "Well, old man, if you're m | doubt about the. Doncaster, . I'm not about the Sydney Cup, for San Fran is a good thing, and don't you forget it." ". I didn't forget, because that r night I took 200 to 4 Wakeful and San Fran. ■ „ ■; Oh the morning of the Doncaster ; the stable stood "to win more money j on Aurous than Wakeful, whos6 price . was then 4% to 1, but should the Trenton mare beat her stable com- i panion m the big mile Aurous wag </ a coupled with her for a fortune 'In , doubles. """,-. , :■•" :. ' THE RACE. ■: . . •■..-( Of course Wakeful cantered home m the Doncaster, and Aurous, after be- V ing severely injured m the running. finished a good fifth, .but with, the eternal perversity of all things ; con- > nected with the grand sport backers of the Futurity Stakes winner for the x * Cup'never got a run for their money, > as Aurous (was unable to start; m fact, she never, ran again. Well, with Aurous out, San Fran, - 6st. 121 b., proved a real good thing, and m any case Harold Smith's tip might have been a correct one, for mr the following spring San Fran easily won the Metropolitan, and' a few weeks-later carried 9st. 71b. into sec- > ond place behind the mighty Revenue* 7st. 21b. m the most sensational Melbourne Cup ever pontested.; • • Thus San Fran narrowly missed' upsetting Leslie MacDonald'a great Coup, arid a tremendous f betting plunge just failed. Thus , with all Mac Donald's fine/ judgment and the magnificent material he had at his command m Sydney I that Easter, to this day it is a gues- w tion whether Aurous.would have won the Doncaster, or missing it, and notmeeting with her accident/would her^ name occupy San Fran's space m thef i scroll of winners of the Sydney Clip?' ===" -. '.w .:• - I MAGAZINES RECEIVED * — • ♦ •'• .■ ■ ':'"•. . : From Messrs. Gordon and Gotch "Truth" has received copies of the \ February numbers 6f the "Sovereign/-' ; '.'Hutchinson's,". "True Libve Stories,?, d and "Corner." They are four excellent, a magazines, packed with, first-clfcsa reading. Cosmo Hamilton, "Sapper," William Le Queux and other writers have stories m the "Sovereign," while Rafael Sabatini* the master of historical romance, heads the lengthy list m "Hutchfnson's". H.\M,. Bateman and W. Heath Robinson provide humorous drawings for the latter publication, a feature of which is an, article on the new French Tango. Wiitfam L 6 Queux and Warwick Deeping are the outstanding contributors to the issue of: "Corner."