RACING NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21544, 16 January 1932, Page 16

RACING NEWS

By Sentinel.

- Arisus is amongst the acceptors for the Telegraph Handicap. Lord Argosy has been suffering from a damaged foot, but is again working •oundly. Golden Wings and Lack will bebracketed on the totalisator if both start in the Wellington Stakes. F. D. Jones’s team for Wellington will be Dunraven,- Shatter, Taragona, and Hilary. ■ • _ Nominations for the Dunedin Cup meeting are’due on Friday of next week, when several Wingatui trainers will be at the Wellington Qup meeting. A win on/the'’first'day of the Wellington meeting will not assist a horse’s chance in the Douro Cup. Two .horses were recently poisoned or doped in Adelaide: . Sttange no official' ’■actio'h- ■is ' beirfg ‘ taken 'by either the South Australian .Jockey Club or the police authorities. The first race meeting in the history or New Zealand was held in Petone in 1842. Previous to 1838 the horse is said to have been unknown in the country. • The first thoroughbred to land was Figaro, imported from England in 1841 or January 1842. , Tenterdeh was supported _ for a large ium to win the Sefton Handicap at Warwick Farm on January 2, but he was an arrant failure. He' had- the race won three furlongs from home, but with unexpected suddenness dropped the bit and fell back last. It was an ignominious defeat for a horse that had proved himself among the Dominion’s beet weight-for-age talent, and his trainer, W, Moroney, is finding the Chief Euler gelding a real puzzle. , There is no doubt he has turned roguish, and his prospects of winning a race in Sydney far from bright. _ Thermopylae, one of the most promising hurdlers, in Adelaide, died at midnight on December- '3l, and; it was alleged by his trainer, J. Bell, that the gelding was tampered with, Thermopylae started a hot favourite, in the hurdle, race at .Chelteuham; on December .28,".and .was - tailed off for way.' ’A’ipMt-mortem examination',conducted by'Mr.E. A. Mil- ) ler, veterinary-burgeon, revealed,that the, geldingihad : CJ;, It is some, years since, a horse frqmthe Auckland district won the Telegraph. Han-; dicap at Wellington. The northern repreBentatiyes/in the chief sprint, approaching { meeting are High Comedy and Tea" C%at, and both' these gallopers are entitled, tq.respect.» High Comedy put up a good effort, when, he blushed second to Arisiia ini, the Bowen Handicap at Ellerslie, and if‘he repeats that form (says “The Watcher”) at Trentham he should be in the picture. He raced well at Trentham as a two-year-old. _ At- Trentham on Tuesday Prince Pombal, Michael Angelo and Teastream went, down to the half-mile barrier and, starting a length behind the mark, Teastream was the first to find his feet, putting, a break on the other two. They caught him in the straight and then went away, Michael Angelo holding a length s advantage over Prince Pombal with Teastream beaten off. Timed from the ]ump-away, they ran 50 3-5. Michael -Angelo and Prince Pombal went well. It was intended to geld Michael Angelo after the New Year racing,, but it has been postponed until after the Wellington meet-

There are few jockeys in Sydney riding with., more virility and confidence than the youthful New Zealand, horseman 1. Webster, who increased his number or wins to 18J at Warwick Farm on Saturday.; He now occupies fourth place on the winning jockeys’ list. When Webster decided to remain iu Sydney he acted wisely, for since the spring meetings he has ridden a fairly high percentage of winners, and is doing so well that there are strong indications of his being nea the top of the ladder .at the end of the present season. Sydney trainers were impressed with his handling of N.E.F, and Cathmar at the Randwick meetings, and affirm that he is the most improved horseman in Australia. Despite his youth, Webster has ridden numerous important winners in'New Zealand, and in Australia has also won the richly endowed A.J L. Breeders’ Plate and December Stakes, besides many other good races. The death at Auckland of the promising young horseman. Walter-Muir Gray, has caused much regret g racing circles in Stratford, where he had^a r wide circ le of friends Although' born in Patea, ne worked all his life- in'-Stratford, chiefly in the employ of J. Butler. A nephew of Hector Gray, he was carefully coached in horsemanship! arid even in his apprentice days Vas the rider of winners He came into-prominence when « rode Mr A W. Budge’s horses Pouma and xoma to* win important races. He also had the mounfs on’ other well-known Taranaki horses, and was regarded as one of the province’s foremost jockeys. He was only • 24 years of age- when a sudden attack of influenza in Auckland turned to a relapse, and he died 'after 10 days ill - ; two-year-old with the unaristocratie name of Old Riley was one of the developments at the close of the recent season in England. In 10 starts Old Riley won seven races, the last being the Hurst Park Great Two-year-old Stakes of £1550, six furlongs. Old Riley was an outside chance in the field of nine, the favourite being the Aga Khan’s Firdaussi, with Pompier, The Divot, and Short Hand—all good performers—next in demand. They were outstayed by Old Riley, who, owing to being a gelding,.is. not, a Derby candidate. It must, however, have been quite a shock to many English racing men to see one of the unsexed division down a number of crack colts. Old Riley is by Old Rowley (son of The Tetrarch) from Pearl Oyster, who has Musket blood on each side of her pedigree. Her sire, Argosy, runs back to Carbine, and her dam, Collar Mark, to Trenton. A few days prior to Old Riley’s success his bookmakerowner, Mr H. Brueton, said that if he won he would have a bullock roasted whole and entertain over 200 residents of Solihull. Old Riley cost 310 guineas at the Dublin sales, • and has won nearly £4OOO. ' The name of Mr E. Lee Steere is well known throughout .racing circles in Australia, and more prominence came to it on New Year’s Day when Bonny Note, who, is owned by him and Mr J. Forrest, won’the Perth Cup. As the owner of Eurythmic, Maple, and Second Wind, Mr Lee Steere has won a Sydney Cup, two Caulfield Cups, and two Williamstown Cups ‘and it is fitting that as chairman of the W.A.T.C. his name should beiconnected with the winners of Berth Cups. Eurythmic dead-heated on 1919 with Eivofte in the Perth Cup, and now Bonny Note-lias captured the event. Mr Lee Steere purchased Bonny Note as a year-ling,-‘and later sold a. half- interest to Sir Forrest. Because of the fact that Mr .Lee Steere already possesses a number of handsome trophies, he intends ro hand to Mr Forrest the Perth cup, won by their horse. Mr Lee Steere will, however, have a small replica of the • cup made to add to his collection. .... H. R. Telford is a keen student ot thoroughbred pedigrees; he claims to have selected Phar Lap on his breeding lines, and in a similar manner he appears to have got another good horse. Last year he cabled to his brother in New Zealand to buy a colt by Tea Tray from Refinement. The catalogue had told him that the colt was bred on similar lines to 1 bar Lap. the dam of both going back to famous Chelandry. Telford secured the colt for 350 guineas, and two days later he was worth much more, for his haltbrother, Mystic Peak (by Romeo from Refinement) won at weight for age at Moonee Valley. . Named Agomoni, the colt scored in the Criterion Handicap at Flemington on New Year s Day. He had shown promising form by finishing fourth 1 in the November Nursery _at the Mclj 0 urn» Cup meeting. He is still rather

backward and is growing. Next year he may develop into a good performer, though Telford believes that he will be only a sprinter. A lot of money was won over the success of Agomoni. Chance played its part in shaping the destiny of Gordon Richards, who headed the winning jockeys’ list in England, in the recent season. Seeing, an advertisement in a racing paper, which stated that there was a vacancy for an apprentice in Martin Hartigan’s stable, Richards applied for the position and from many applicants received it. Since then he has never looked back. He has had a happy association with Hartigan, and whenever available he rides for that trainer. There is a feeling in England that Richards modelled his methods on those of- Steve Donoghue. This he denies. He explains that a rider finds his true level, and success or failure comes according to how they are founded and how they develop. South Australia has discovered anotheT stayer in Celotex, who won the Port Adelaide Cup. It was not considered by any means a strong field. The form, might therefore be overrated, but it can be, claimed for Celotex (says the Globe) that he displayed some, stamina. Perhaps he will be thought worthy of a nomination in the Australian Cup and other distance events of the autumn. St. Simon and Musket both figure prominently in the, pedigree of Celotex. His sire Salatic was got by Shepherd King, whose dam was a daughter of St. Simon, and the same influence comes in again on the dam’s side through St. Serf. Musket is represented by Trenton and Carbine. Annexit, who produced Celotex, is by Trafalgar (son of Wallace) from Miss Mayfair, by St. Serf from Madge Robertson, by Kendal. To lownit Annexit threw that smart sprinter Double It. A better result has been achieved in her alliance with Salatis. Few of the stock of the son of Traquette -have shown any great liking for a distance, but he is stoutly bred enough for anything. Great Britain has been, very fortunate in the Irish gamble.. British subscriptions to the sweep, it is estimated, totalled about £1,000,000, and Great Britain has received in prize-money £1,345,000. Of this England’s share is £1,160,000; Scotland. £165,000; Wales, £19,850. Next ‘comes .thev.-TJnttpfl •iS taies with ■ a prize total of'"£l6i),2oo; Ireland, with : £144,200: South Africa, with fO.S.SOOfiCanada, with : £78,740 ; 'AustfaUa,; , with '"£i7)6oo; Federated Malay States, with- £17,580; Fr’ance. with £15,000; Egypt, with £11,560;, China, with £11,300; Holland, with’fOlOQj India, with' £6820; New Zealand, with £516.0. ;While .the;'.English- hospitals are,]' in the direst want, writes a special correspondent of the Daily Telegraph; well !over £1,000,000 has -been contributed by the English'public in’less than , a year to hospitals-across the Irish Channel.. That is one of the outstanding consequences of the Irish sweepstakes, and one of the most disturbing. If the sweep on the Manchester November Handicap be, included: the Irish hospitals will have received in the year about £2,000,00,0, and it is admitted that considerably more than half of this sum came from this, side of the: Channel. Nor. does this one-sided munificence end here. Four years was the limit imposed by the Irish law, and until this term has expired, there is , every likelihood of English wealth pouring into Dublin coffers in an ever increasing stream. To appreciate just how fortunate Dublin is by comparison with London, . one, must remember that a third of the sweep proceeds has been allotted to hospitals which are already deriving assistance, from the rates. Hence English money ia not merely relieving the Irish public of the full responsibilty of supporting their own hospitals by charity, but is actually tending to keep down presumably inadequate rates.’ The history of the sweeps shows that more and more Irish hospitals have succumbed to the lure of sudden wealth. .The total prize-money and allocations to hospitals on the first three sweeps. —the figures for the present one are not yet available —were as follow: Prize- -V v ■if’ ■ .y. money. Hospitals. NO c rp m i 9 r 30 Hand " f 417:585 £131.797 Grand National, 1931 1,188,415 ‘439,858 Derby, 1931, ... .... 1,940,500 .698,365 Totals • • £3,546,501 £1,270,022

Among the winners of £30,000 in__thc Irish Sweepstake are the Barmaid Who Knows Finance; an eleven-month-old baby; an unemployed labourer who, because of the new beer duties, became teetotal, and in consequence was able to buy the winning ticket with the pennies saved on beer; and a widow who had only threepence in her purse when her golden dreams came true. .Only one North Drift ticket came to ? London, the holder being a poor widow who lives at Dalston, and who works in a slipper factory. She sold half of her ticket for £BOO -before the race One of the Scottish: first. prize-winners (Mr Andrew Dowie. of"Cupar, Fife), is a currier at a tannery. He sold half of his chance to an Edinburgh bookmaker for about £700; the balance of his ticket is shared with Mias Annie_ Macdonald, his fiancee. Mr Dowie is a champion of Cupar Golf Club. Forty employees of the engineering department of the Ediswan Cable Works, Ltd., Forest of Dean, share one of the Signifer tickets under the nomine de plume “ Forty Thieves.”, Mrs Barker, Leeds, who wins £15,000 with her Signifer ticket, is 77 years old and her husband is 75. “ I’m too overwhelmed to talk sensibly,” she said, "but this I do know —my husband and I will achieve our greatest ambition immediately. We shall go to France to visit the grave of our son who fell in the war.” Mr Sam Myles, of

Manchester, was sitting in hospital by the bedside of his fiancee when he learned from a telephone message that SignifieT had brought him £15,000. Mr Arthur Reeves, of Barford. near Warwick, who wins £15,000, got his counterfoil through only just in time. The counterfoil was intercepted in the post and returned. A Leamington business woman was sending some sausages to Dublin, and she placed the counterfoil inside one of them! Mr Thomas F. W. Brown, of Darlington, who won £15,000, is assistant yardmaster on the railway. “A few days before the race one of the shunters at the yard dreamed that Signifer had finished second,” he said. “ Then on Friday I received an anonymous letter with the Blackpool postmark, containing the words 'Don’t sell.’” None of the six New Zealanders who were the fortunate drawers of horses in the Irish Sweepstake on the Manchester November Handicap won more than the £660 7s 6d which became theirs when the draw took place. When the race was run on November 28 the nearest New Zealand-drawn horse was Eedeswood (A. F. Long, Gisborne), who came in fourth, beaten a head for third place. But it so happened (says our correspondent), quite unexpectedly, a one-time New Zealander who now lives in England, and who owns many racehorses, nearly secured the honour of lifting the cup. Only half a length separated Mr Boydie Davis’s horse Signifer from the winner, called North Drift, owned by Mr J. P. Downing, a well-known Sheffield starting-price bookmaker. North Drift is a brown colt by Hainault or Bachelor’s Double—Waritza; the jockey up was C. Dowdall. Signifer, a brown gelding by Harpocrate—Sunless, was ridden by F, Sharpe. Mr Davis bought Signifer -at Deauville, giving something like £2OO for him. He is strongly-built and short-backed. Each person who drew the first horse gets £30,000; each one who drew the second gets £15,000, while ticket-holders of the third, Pard, a brown gelding by Parman—Graphite, owned by Major F. B. Sneyd, a well-known owner-trainer, gets £IO,OOO each. Signifer and Pard were both outsiders. Sir Lindsay Parkinson's well-fancied Eedeswood, ridden by W. Nevett, trained by D. Peacock at Middleham, was close up fourth. The New Zea-land-drawn horses which were among the “also ran” were Summer Princess (Mrs Jessie Evans, Timaiai), and Six Wheeler (Mrs A. M. Inwood, Christchurch). Nonrunners were Codicil (E. T. Taylor, Wellington), Bonny Boy II (W. Reilly), and Notice Board (E. R. Mathieson (s.s. Waimea). Lord Waleran’s ticket drew Advancer, who “ also ran.”