RACING NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21599, 21 March 1932, Page 4

RACING NEWS

By Sentinel.

Nominations for the Oamaru Jockey Club’s autumn meeting are due to-mor-row at 8 p.m. Peter Jackson won the New Zealand 6k Leger in the slowest time recorded during the past 10 years. Some of those remaining in the Challenge Stakes were left in by an over«ight. The two-year-old Hilary contracted a cold, and in consequence dropped out of the Pacific Handicap. It is said that The Thorn, who has been showing promising form suggestive of more important wins ahead, is suffering 'from throat troubles. _ As a result of an electric battery being picked up at Flemington, it has been decided to occasionally search riders periodically without discrimination. True Shaft is fancied in some quarters for the Great Easter Handicap. He was running on at the right end of his race at Waimate.

There is a final payment due for the Great Easter and Great Autumn on Wednesday, March 23. A final payment is also due on the same date for the Champagne Stakes and Challenge Stakes. Autopay, Golden Wings, and Great Star, who are engaged in the Great Easter, figure amongst the acceptors for the AJR.C. Handicap. The amalgamation of the Poverty Bay Turf Club and the Gisborne Racing Club is an idea that could be followed with great advantage to the sport, although one or two clubs resent losing identity, Ammon Ra does not appear to have much chance of beating the record of Trivalve as the greatest stake winner at two and three years in Australia and New Zealand. Trivalve in those two seasons won £28.375. Ammon Ra had to his credit £24,013 10s before last Saturday, when his win at Rosehill would be worth about £375,

Visiting horses won 24 races and £17,179 in prize-money during the recent Melbourne autumn campaign. Of the £19,512 distributed during the three days at Flemington, the invaders captured £11,015. During the campaign New South Wales horses won .£6099, New Zealand £OO4O, 'South Australia £3400, Queensland £1640, and West Australia £1525. The Ascot Gold Cup is one of the most coveted races on the English turf, and with the distance two miles and ahalf and the conditions standard weight-for-age, it furnishes a great test of stamina. The list of entries published shows that France is likely to be Strongly represented in the next race on June 16, a trio of notable performers in Tourbillon, Brulette, and Bruleur hailing from that country. In 1924 a French-owned pair, Massine and Filibert de Savoie, fought out the finish, the first-named winning by a head. When Twenty Grand and Mate were engaged in making racing history in America last year, it was said to be likely that they would be sent to England with a view to contesting the Ascot Gold Cup, but neither figures as an entrant,. and apparently the “stay-at-home ” policy is regarded as likely to prove more profitable than a trip to England. Australian owners continue to snap up the best performers in New Zealand, and the latest to go are Karapoti and Hercmia. The first-named sold at 2000 guineas and the latter at 1500 guineas. These prices Are too big for the New Zealand owner, but nothing out of the way for Australia, where, the market provides an opportunity to regard such figures as matters of secondary importance providing they represent the goods. It is quite safe to say that, the Australians would hot keep a 'continuous eye on New Zealand if they could obtain the same quality at the same price in Australia, buta horse that is worth 500 guineas in this country is easily worth, four times that amount in Australia. It is not the stakes in the Commonwealth; but the market, that can make a horse cheap at a couple of thousand guineas. An Australian authority on breeding recently stated that the well-known sire Gallinule was a “ roarer." That is a slip of the pen. • Gallinule was a “bleeder." and, in common with other sires that showed the same trouble, passed it on to descendants. The most notable case in racing history is supplied by Hermit, who bled before the Derby and so went right out of favour for the world-famous classic. He transmitted the trouble to some of his stock, and, although it may be dormant for a generation, seems sure to come into evidence again. Mistakes in training a horse contribute to the trouble, and if a pedigree shows inbreeding to Hermit or Gallinule it may be taken as a dangerous sign, and anything bred on such lines should not be galloped or raced unless thoroughly cleaned up for the task. It is said that Egypt was a better horse than hia more famous sister, Desert Gold, but developed bleeding troubles, no doubt, from All Black, a son of Gallinule. Stepniak, who was a son of Seclusion, the dam of Hermit, was a prolific sire of bleeders. She, a sister to Stepniak. became the dam of Bobadil. and he also sired bleeders. The trouble may effect some members of a family and not others. For instance, Skobeloff bled, but as far as the writer knows his well-performed brother, Meuchikoff, raced without showing any signs of the trouble. There does not seem much doubt that the trouble is hereditary, and this has been demonstrated by tables tracking the trouble back through different lines in the Stud Book. The late, Mr W. Allison, when special commissioner of the London Sportsman, once said that no one can afford to say the truth about a stallion until it dies. Gallinule has, been dead for very many years. The evil that men (and horsesl do .may live after them; the. good is oft interred with their bones. It would not surprise the writer to learn that the first crop or two ,of sires with perfect pedigrees were shot at birth owing to malformation, and that is l whv they were sold to leave England. There is at least one case within the writer s, knowIdge where more than suspicion in that direction existed. Madstar, the Australian Cup winner, has a pedigree which bristles with old and valued blood on the female side. His sire, Stardrift. is by Sunstar from Dame d’Or, by Bern! Or from Dame Masham. by Galliard. St. Spasa, the sire of Madstar’s dam, Misadventure, also was imported from England. Trained by VV. Kelso for Messrs Clark and Robinson, this son of St. Amant won the A.J.C. Metropolitan of 1914. He changed hands immediately afterwards, and credited Mr T. C. Tait with the Adelaide Cup of 1916. It is in the breeding of Misadventure (says “Khedive”) that interest centres. Her dam. Suricka. was by Scuttlecask (son of Maltster) from Comedienne, by Tostig (imp.) from Maze, by Progress (son of Angler) from Charade, by Panic from Puzzle (imp.), by Daniel O'Rourke. Panic’s name in the lineage, of Madstar Will be appreciated, and is in itself indicative of stamina. Half a century ago Progress had the bad luck to encounter Grand Flaneur in the Victoria Derby, Melbourne Cup. and other events. He was obliged to accept defeat on every occasion, but came into his own when the unbeaten colt retired. Owned by W. Branch, a. Sydney bookmaker, he was trained at St. Albans, Geelong, Good performers who ran back to imported Puzzle were Little Jack, a Caulfield Cup winner; Dirk Hatteraick, who won the A.J.C. Derby; and Jessie, a Brisbane Cup winner. The late Mr T. C. Tait. in whose colours St. Spasa raced in South Australia, originally resided at Broken Hill (N.S.W.). Even in that arid locality he took an interest in breeding. The Bit Lady, a pony from bis stud, was taken to India by Arnold Ferry and distinguished herself there.

In South Australia as in New Zealand, wagering on racing is confined legally to the totalisator. This was possibly the first State in the Commonwealth. to feel the depression, a drought having speeded the arrival of that unhappy condition. With attendances and totalisa-

tor returns shrinking alarmingly, the South Australian racing authorities bestirred themselves to find some means of spurring the public interest. One idea adopted was the doubles totalisator and this innovation has proved unquestionably a great success in Adelaide. It had been pioneered in Western Australia, but the South Australians varied the form by introducing the “ exchange ” system. Two dividends are provided for —BO and 20 per cent.—when there are 10 or more horses started in the second race. Under the “ exchange ” system bettors do not have to name the two “ legs ” of the double when they make their investment. They back only the horse in the first race (say, in 5s units), and receive a ticket for that horse, as they would if they backed it on the ordinary totalisator. The doubles pool is rung up separately on a special machine, on which only the horses in the first race are shown, and the public is thus made aware how the first “legs” are being supported. After the first race is run, the holders of tickets on the winner exchange the tickets at a special window for tickets on their selected horses in the second race. There are no money transactions on this occasion, but the machine again shows how the winning tickets are being distributed among the horses in the second race. Those whoso tickets are exchanged for tickets on the winner of the second race have backed the double, and are paid out at the calculated dividend. In South Australia now those who exchange their first race winning tickets for either first or second horses in the second race receive dividends. Under this system, the backer gains a good deal when it comes to picking the scond leg. He has a definite starter, knows the rider, the barrier draw and the prevailing conditions. It also has the advantage from a club’s viewpoint of being extremely simple to operate, requiring no elaborate apparatus.