RACING NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21989, 26 June 1933, Page 11

RACING NEWS

.'j By Sentinel. , • June the Third has built up during hei« ■pelP and will shortly go hack into commission.; , ■ No fewer than 11 race meetings have been abandoned in‘ South Australia this •cason.' , The Honour—Lucinda filly owned by Mr J. Lindsay has been taken in hand to be tried as a possibility for two-year-old racing, . ’ ■' ; • . .. Silver Ring, who appears' amongst the . nominations for the Winter Cup, has • been training on nicely since being-re-commissioned. . . Although Billy Boy is reported to be booked for Australia he figures amongst the entries for the Grand National "Steeplechase. v ■ , An interesting entry for the Winter Cup is ' supplied by the. .nomination of Cylinder, a winner, of the New Zealand Derby and Stead Gold Cup. Princess Argosy is galloping well in her work and should be-worthy of note when nfext saddled up for a race. She, however, always shapes best after a race. Fast Passage is an interesting entrjlv for the Winter Cup, and very strong-re- 1 presentation from the stable is supplied by Rebel Song, Cricket \Bat, Drumfire,' and Zeebfugge. ". ‘ Amongst the entries for the Winter Cup ’is Jaloux, who_ hag been perhaps the unluckiest horse in training. He has reached the threshold of success in several important engagements, ,but has failed to crow over to success. - , .The Grand National Hurdle ~winner, Garinthia, showed reluctance to face a fence last year,-but nevertheless hope is not abandoned as he figures in the nominations for the .'Grand‘National Steeplechaae. . - What must be a; record in an ordinary handicap has been created by J. Holt in connection with the Cantala Stakes,' tp.be rim at the Melbourne Cup meeting. He nominated 17 horses for the event, and that probably is the greatest number ever entered by one trainer. • The - three-year-old - filly, Berate, ; has thrown off all effects of the accident which befel her some months back at . Eiccartbn, and will be soon put into active commission again. Her injuries were not nearly so serious as at first anticipated, and it is expected that she will return to the good form she Showed in the early part of the,;season. N Nearly 14 years old and still going strong! That is the, record of the wellknown Sydney pony Cykallen, a winner at Ascot (Sydney) recently. Though at ain age when; most gallopers are pensioned off Cykallen retains his vitality Mm surprising fashion, especially, when it 'is recalled that he was an under-sized f foal and -had to be reared on the “bottle ” r Cykallen was bred in South, Australia, and is a son of Cykon and Bronzella. The last-named - died, soon ofter : Cykallen Whs foaled. . ;; : , A., D. Webster , has arranged to sail ffom Wellington for Sydney with a team of horses on July 6, Movie Star, Hunt the Slipper, and a two-year-old are named ias fairly certain to go, - but the exact strength of the -team has - not been definitely settled yet. -J. Barry > will do • most of the riding, while the trainer’s son, T. Webster, will be ,in the party and doubtr leas-will ride when the weights suit, though he has grown too heavy to bc 'of great service. ... • - The . word despondency, does not figure In a spprtraan’s vocabulary, and proof .of the. fact is supplied in the nominations fpr-the principal 'events to be- fun at the Grand) National meeting where all the available material has been engaged. The weights-for the Winter Cup should furnish an interesting problem from the punter’s view_ as the field represents an interesting mixture of class in the way of classic and handicap form. The popularity of racing has been seriously handicapped by rich men : dictating the price of admittance instead of regarding the matter from the point of view of those who are strong in sporting spirit but comparatively poor in pocket., (■ln the list of proposed dates of race meetings for the new season the Banks Peninsula;Club.has applied for October, but the application will not carry the recommendation by the Canterbury District Committee, who considered that there were , too many race days in. Canterbury about that period. The matter has lately been taken up by the club members and owners arid trainers in the Riccarton. area, and a petition to the conference asking that the meeting be allowed to proceed on the date applied for is at present being largely signed. The. opinion is held that the fixture has always served a useful purpose in giving horses a race before the big racing carnival at Riccarton in November, as well as affording some of the smaller owners *> an opportunity which they may not get or. a metropolitan course of collecting some stake money.

The nominations for the principal events to' be run at the Grand National meeting are at least numerically strong enough tp arouse preliminary interest ity the most popular fixture, Held at Riccarton. The fields nominated appear to,contain ail the best available material in training, and should create widespread interest as the principal training centres are represented. ;

It is not often one hears of a jumper being allowed to run in a race, without shoes. But/ such was the case with FayeeTe Ray, who recently won the Brush Steeplechase at Dowling Forest (Ballarat). -The mare is owned and trained by E. O’Neill, a brother of Vin O’Neill, Both are averse to putting even plates on horses in races except in the case.of those with flat feet. They contend (says a Melbourne writer) that jumpers with well-formed hoofs do not require anypro.tection on their feet, and shoes or plates ape only so much extra,weight to carry. Recently Fayee le Ray won a Jumping competition Smohg hunters at Ballarat, andeven then did not have any thing on her hoofs. When the ground is inclined to be slippery through rain the O'Neill brothers have “ tips ’’—light halt-moon-shaped shoes—put on their horses teet. Some ’trainers would not hear of the idea of sending shoeless horses out to jump, iu fact, many have special shoes tor jumping. These have sprigs at each end ot the shoe in order to assist horses to take off without slipping. But the fact that Fayee le Ray was able to' win m comparatively' soft ground at Ballarat proves the- exception to the . rule. v A remarkable record is possessed- by the nine-year-old gelding Brown Jack, who last week won the Queen Alexandra Stakes at Ascot, England, for the htth year in succession. Brown Jack nas proved himself a wonderful stayer, and his many .fine performances over long distances have made him a great favourite with the public. Sold very cheaply ns a yearling, he has now won over £20,000 in -stakes. Bred by Mr W. S. Webb. Brown Jack was sent when a yearling, to the Dublin sales, where he was bought by Mr-'G. Thompson for 75 guineas, borne time later he was passed; on to another owner/ and he was not broken until 1926, when he was two years old, and ihced for the first time in the spring of the following season, running unp aced in- a couple of sprint races in Ireland. Brown Jack was then bought for 800 guineas on behalf of Sir H. Wernher, and was taken to England, where his attention was turned to hurdling. In Sep-tember-of that year Brown Jack ran third in a race at Bournemouth, after whicn /he won five times m succession. Again in 1928 he was successful in two more hurdle races, and on the advice of bteye Donoghue, who became interested in him about this time, it I was decided to race him on the flat. Before the 1928 season had ended Brown. Jack Ead won four fiat events, including v the Ascot (Stakes and the Hwfa: Williams Memo-rial-Stakes at Sandown Park. In tbe years.since then Brown Jack has gone on from success to success,, and his latest victory was the twenty-third of his career and the eleventh in, which he has been ridden by Donoghue. Practically every important long-distance race in the English turf calendar has found him performing with distinction, and his record is without parallel in : racing history. The

fact that he has stood up to so much racing with big weights over long distances is proof that he possesses a , rare robustness of constitution and exceptional soundness. Brown v Jack’s sire. Jackdaw, has been referred to as a freak by an English writer, who states that .when foaled the odds against*, him being able to win‘the. longest race in England, the Alexandra Stakes (or Plate it was in his day) Were incalculable, for his sire, Thrush, was a sprinter and not likely to get anything but sprinters or middledistance runners. As a matter of fact, the average length of the races won by the offspring of Thrush wa s under eight 'furlongs. Jackdaw himself, however, has a place among the sires of stayers because the average distance of the races won by his .stock is 10 furlongs and a-half. Two Grand National winners, .Grakle and Kellsboro’ Jack, are included among his progeny. , y . ; ~