RACING NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22052, 7 September 1933, Page 5

RACING NEWS

By Sentinel. Mr Ken Austin has been appointed president of the Oamaru Jocker Club. The annual conference of Southland racing, clubs will be held at Invercargill on Saturday of this week. Mr H. A. Pierce has resigned his position as handicapper to the Winton Jockey Club. . A special meeting of the Winton Jockey Club is to be held to consider the question of dropping the. membership entrance fee* The North Canterbury Racing Club hag decided to pay three dividends at 70, 20, and 10 per cent. Diamond Jack hag been turned out of training, and Red Racer, who is held under lease, is to be returned to bis owner, . The committee of the Geraldine Racing Club has decided to adopt the win and place system of totalisator betting at the spring meeting on September' 21 and 23, and the necessary alterations to the totalisator house are being made. \ The Goodwood authorities bad something novel for the public when the totalisator was used for the first time at that course at the July meeting. Difficulty in finding space for one building was overcome by setting it into a hillside and .using the roof as a stand for the public. - ' It ha« been decided to hold the Winton Jockey Club’s meeting on December 1 and 2. Formerly it came rather too soon on the heels of the New Zealand Cup meeting, and now the new dates will clash with the Ashburton summer meeting, but without affecting either fixture. A glance at the nominations for the Wanganui meeting will show that owners are reconciled to the fact that they must race for small stakes or allow their horses to eat the unprofitable oatfl of idleness. The great danger of small stakes is that they may be used as a public performance 9nly. If coming events are casting shadows carrying substance it is quite safe to predict a satisfactory nomination list for the Dunedin Jockey Club’s spring mcet- ' inz. • The nominations just closed for Ashburton and Geraldine show that there are plenty of horses in training, and lots more are not yet quite ready to race. _ A number of two-year-olds are now being spun along in their work, and this augurs well for the field to be seen out in the M’Lean Stakes. The Dunedin Guineas also seems sure to attract a satisfactory field, and altogether the prospects for the coming season at Wingatui look rather bright. The question of stakes should be regarded from the point of view that if owners help the club they are also helping theifaselves, as stakes will automatically rise when circumstances warrant an increase. From a stud point of view not nearly as much glamour surrounds the winner of a derby in Australia as it does in other countries, especially England and U.B.A. Nevertheless, studmasters here are starting to pay more attention to our classic winners, as the adverse rate ot exchange makes the purchase of a goodclass English horse an expensive business (says “Pilot”). It is interesting to note that most of the colts who have won the A.J.C. Derby in recent years are imparting a share of their pace to their progeny. ’ Heroic (1924 winner) is outstanding in..thisi respect, and other® who are doing well are Riyoh 19-2), Manfred (1925), and Rampion (1926). Tregilla and Veilmond, who finished first and second respectively in 1930. are both to start their stud careers this season, and will be given splendid opportunities

to make good. . ... The many different way* m which owners choose their racing colours 1 w remarkable. Some jackets are handed down from generation to generation; other* are chosen for their brightness, and again other* are combined because they are the favourite ones of the particular owner. But Mr P. Barrett, owner of Zetheus, Bridal Path, and other horses secured famous colours in an unusual way. • Because his original jacket conflicted with a set that had been registered by another owner (says Fernhill”) he was. requested to change his colour*. Looking around for a new set, he was confronted with a picture of Tom Corrigan,, the famous cross-country rider, seated in the saddle in his own colours—cream, green sleeves and cap. Ihese were not in use, and Mr Barrett had them registered with the V.R.C. The famous yellow and black cap, used by “honest” John Tait, of The Barb fame, away back in the sixties, are still on the turf. The 'late W, S, Hickenbotham, trainer of Carbine, became associated with Tait as a .boy in the seventies, and he used his racing colours. On the death of Hickenbotham theveame into the possession of his son, W. B. Hickenbotham, • who now uses them. At one time the Wellington winter meeting was regarded as a curtain-raiser to the Grand National meeting. In .recept years it has developed into a TlV *“ of the Riccarton meeting. The Trentham spring meeting was regarded in the same fight in connection with the New Zealand Cup meeting, but with its extension to three days it is_ bound to assume a much greater prominence and appeal to owners. The extension may. in fact, make a marked difference to an owner’s plan of campaign for the early spring meetings. One reason for the growing importance of the Trentham meetings consists in the fact that they supply' a much better betting market than most of the fixtures on the calendar. The various races at Trentham are made up by horses hailing from all parts of the racing compass, and each bring more or less following and so create a good market. It is certainly the place to take a horse, preferably one with not fully exposed form and not injudiciously exposed by a gallery gallop at Trentham prior to the meeting. It has to be borne

in mind that at some meetings an owner cannot win much even if he captured the pool on the totalisator, and for the same reason they prefer Australia to even Trentham, Ellerslie, or Riccarton when they have the goods to take to the best market. In recent years three-year-olds have seldom been saddled up for the New Zealand Cup owing, in all probability, to owners and trainers showing a reluctance to subject young horses to such a socalled severe test which with the right horse may be more imaginary than real. Old time trainers showed no reluctance in that direction and with the good reason that a three-year-old only has to carry what is practically a feather-weight. The records show that a really good threeyear has been almost invincible in both the New Zealand Cup and Melbourne Cup. In 1888 three of that age in Manton, Son-of-a-Gun and Exchange filled the places in the New Zealand Cup in a field of 11. The following year Tirailleur and Scots Grey, both three-year-olds, were first and second. In 1891. Thame and Rosefeldt, two three-year-old fillies, were second and* third to the aged British Lion, who carried 6.11. In 1895 Euroclydon won the Cup, Derby, and Canterbury Cup from the aged Chaos with 6.13 with a much better colt in Gipsy Grand in third place after running off the course at each turn. In 1899 Seahorse landed the treble and in 1905 Noctuifonn did the same after making a runaway race of the A.J.C. Derby. One of the best three-year-olds to win the New Zealand Cup was St. Hippo, who also won the Auckland Cup at the same age with 8.9. Apropos of Noctuifonn making hacks of the field against it is interesting to recall a little incident in connection with the race. ' In those days the riders mounted at the stalls in the saddling paddock and rode to the birdcage. When on the way to mount Noctuiform L. 11. Hewitt stopped to greet the writer and said " I think that they have got a cheek to start against me.” and so it proved. At one time an opposition set in against the New Zealand Cup and statements were printed that a winner of the New Zea-land-Cup or a horse that ran in it never did any good . afterwards. The fact remains that Rosefeldt. after being placed as a three-year-old, won two years later. Euroclydon had the bad luck Lo meet the much improved Lady Zetland after winning as a three-year-old when running again the following year. Canteen ran at three years and four years before* winning at five years and subsequently started twice in the Melbouurne i Cup. Paritutu, who ran second to Noctuiform, won the Grand National Steeplechase six years later and scored other wins in the meantime. Three-year-olds would figure more prominently on “ the roll of fame ” in connection with the New Zealand Cup, but for the fact that some of the best of that age were not sent to the post. Several high-class Derby winners such as Multiform could have bolted with the New Zealand Cup and so could others of later date, but they were kept for easy tasks against their own age. A good three-year-old has generally proved invincible in the Canterbury Cup even when pitted against older horses that shaped well in the New Zealand Cup. A glance at the records will show that from 1885 to 1930 about half the Canterbury Cups run have been won by horses in their second season. On two occasions the distance was cut. Once when Menschikoff won as a, three-year-old, but he'could have won if the distance had been doubled. Just what a good three-year-old can do was shown by Aurum in the Melbourne Cup when he had the luck to meet the six-year-old Gaulus 7.8 and the four-year-old The Grafter 7.7 when carrying 8.6. Since 1899 a dozen three-year-olds have won the Melbourne Cup and how Phar Lap lost at that age hangs a story too long to tell here. Suffice to say that, like others of his age, he should have been a sure winner. Of course, it is. unnecessary to add that a.three-year-old should be bred to stay and. what is equally important, trained to stay.