RACING NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22053, 8 September 1933, Page 13

RACING NEWS

By Sentinel. Fracas is going on well in her preparation for the Dunedin Guineas. Snub and Mullingar were the placed horses behind Ardenvhor when he won the New Zealand Cup. Azalea, owned by P. V. Mason, has been retired to the stud, and will be mated with Nightmarch this season. Rational II and Royal Limond were schooled over four flights of hurdles at Riccarton on Tuesday, and gave a good display. Gay Crest, has again been thrown ,out of training owing to one of his tendons going wrong. He is to be treated to a lengthy spell. There is a doubt about G. MurrayAynsley bringing Liege Lord down for the Dunedin Guineas. Liege Lord contracted a cold and had to be eased up. .Shortage of spring grass is reported to be the cause of a horse's death in the north. This appears to be one authentic case of failure " to live horse 'til the grass grows." M. M'Carten, who piloted Topical to victory at Warwick Farm on August 26, has been retained for the Windbag gelding in the Metropolitan Handicap. M'Carten was successful on Denis Boy last year. Recalling occurrences of " 20 years ago this week," the Melbourne Australasian of August 26 included the fact that the Australian jockey, Frank AVootton, had ridden eight consecutive winners in races held in one week in England. Three mares have been disposed of by Mr H. A. Knight to Miss Cuff, who has the imported horse British Empire at her stud in Southland. The mares are Shelter, by Silverado from Windshield; Currency, by Paper Money from Kilroy; and a two-year-old by Shambles from Currency. Mr W. H. Ballinger, who has fairly regularly sent horses on the southern spring circuit, has entered Flower and Shootist for the Ashburton meeting on Saturday week, thus indicating an intention to patronise the circuit meetings again. . An American paper, in publishing a cable from England to the effect that Gordon Richards, the noted jockey, believes that Lord Glanely's bay colt, Colombo, is the best two-year-old in England, prints it.under the heading: "Pigskin Star Names Colombo Best Baby Racer in England." Commenting upon the credit balance of the V.R.C., amounting to £SOOO, for the year's transactions, Mr T. M. Burke, chairman of the Owners and Breeders' Association, said: "The V.R.C. has no right to show a profit; rather should it show a slight loss, a* its reserves are immense. They run 100 races a year, and should have added £SO in stake money to each race." No wonder Messrs N. E. Aitken -and H. F. Wood are enthusiastic about Australian racing (says the Sydney Referee). They have made four trips to Australia .with Autopay, and only once have they returned to New Zealand without showing a profit. That was in the spring last year, when Autopay's two thirds netted only £65. A year before Autopay had won £2508 in Sydney, as a result of three successes, including the Epsom Handicap. The trip last autumn was made profitable bv a win in the La Perouse Handicap at Randwick. and a minor placing carried the stakes to £455. The present visit has been an immediate success, for victory in the Campbelltown Handicap at Warwick Farm meant a prize of £3lO. Autopav is of the real bulldog type, short in height, but very sturdily built, and one look at him is enough to suggest the weight-carrier. The most notable withdrawal from the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups was that of Silver Scorn, who has ruled as favourite for the mile and a-half race since shortly after the weights were issued. A fairly big double commission incorporating Peter ' Pan was launched by an interstate sportsman, who probably had an idea of hedging the wager when the opportunity arose. His overtures were sufficient to bring about a contracted piyce, which was taken for small amounts for a couple of weeks. Owner-trainer F. T. Cush made the position clear with regard to the mare when he withdrew her from the. Epsom Handicap and the Metropolitan. In a statement to the Herald he said that her immediate withdrawal from the Sydney handicaps was due to their being held weeks before the Victorian races, and he first desired to see how she would fare with our weight-for-age horses before asking her to carry such imposts. Evidently her latest display convinced him that she would have little chance with such great weights at this stage of her career. As he stated on the day the allotments were disclosed, '* She will have opportunities later to run in the big handicaps." The two-year-olds in commission at Riccarton have been subjected to plenty of sprinting in the last few weeks, but the work has not been serious enough as yet to bring any into special prominence. Those engaged in the season's first juvenile event, the M'Lean Stakes, at Wingatui, will be given more severe tasks from now onwards, and it is hoped (says the Press) that some idea of future prospects will be obtainable from their track efiorts. Riccarton stables have not as big a representation as in previous years, but the class seems to be more select, and all those seen in action recently cannot fail to attract attention. The most forward appear to be the following:—Filly by Tea Tray from Dancing Doll, thus a sister to La Poupee, trained by 1. M'Grath for Mr J. M. Samson; Variant, (illy by Limond from Motley, owned by Mr A. Louisson and in A. M'Aulay s stable; Custodian, colt by Lord Warden from Monoxide, trained by F. D. Jones for Mr C. Draper, of Dunedin; colt by British Empire from Windshield, dam of Shatter, owned by Mr H. A. Knight and trained by F. D. Jones; a colt by Huntin" Song from Oratrix, trained by C. Emerson for Mr R. J- Murphy; a colt by Lord Warden from Firestick, owned by Mr W. Payne and trained by W. M'Donald; a colt by Hunting Song from Bayonne in T. H. Gillett's stable; Orris, by'Paladin from Orange Blossom, and a sister to Chide in*G. Murray-Aynsley's team. The two last-named have been in work for some weeks, but will probably not be raced until well into, the new season. In addition to the above list, the Chokebore stable has six youngsters, but they arc not as forward as most of the others, and their trainers have not been able as yet to make their selection or selections for early spring events. Of those mentioned. Variant, the Windshield colt, the Monoxide colt, and the Dancing Doll filly and the Chokebore selection can be depended upon to carry Ricearton's banner in the M'Lean Stakes. As happens every year, the whole of the three-year-olds engaged in the classic races and the big handicaps of the spring have to be taken on trust in the matter of ability lo get the distances they will now be called upon to run. Two-year-old form (even over seven and eight furlongs, says " Warrawee" in the Sydney Referee) is useless as a guide to what a colt or filly will do at three years. Opinions expressed in print are sometimes accepted as facts. They carry an air of authority, but, nevertheless, may be quite wrong. The writer is not at all inclined to subscribe to "Warrawee's" positive opinion, as two-year-olds frequently give indication of stamina, and so do older horses before they have been tried over a distance. They give the, indication just as surely as a horse in training also gives one as to when he is ready for fast work, and until it comes along they should not be extended in a gallop. A trainer should know if any horse in his stable is likely to stay. In fact, some that the writer has known marie themselves reasonably sure as to whether their horses should be trained for short or long journeys, and adhered to the only reliable line to be followed. They did not, natm-

ally, broadcast this knowledge and teach others who train by rule of thumb methods consisting principally of feeding and galloping horses. In fact, the so-called dearth of stayers is in no small degree due to the fact that present-day trainers have not modernised old-time methods of training a potential stayer. Opinions unsupported by facts of experience are always open to debate, and a few instances of early indication of stamina may be of interest. Some of the best stayers seen out in recent years have been Warstep, Kilboy, Limerick, Amythas, Sasanof, Rapier, Pink Coat, Nightmarch, and Fast Passage. There are others bordering from good, genuine stayers to slow stayers, but each of them gave indication that by early form they would stay on and emerge from the test if competently trained. They supplied a fairly reliable line by public form that they would stay. Warstep gave indication of stamina as a two-year-old and again in the early spring of her second season by winning the Stewards' Handicap in record time, and also by bein«j unluckily defeated in the Oaks, in which she ran second, and also in the Derby. She, however, won the fctead Gold Cup. at the same meeting. vVarstep was then only a smallish filly, but she grew into a big mare and probably the best of her sex ever seen in New Zealand. Kilboy gave an early indication of stamina by carrying 71b "over-weigi.l and galloping away at the finish of the Challenge Stakes. He was considered a 141 b better three-year-old than Sasanof when trained in the same stable. nu«l that is why he was bought for SOOOgns, and started and won the A.J.C. Derby in preference to the Martian gelding. Sasanof won the Melbourne Cup, but the original stable choice was Kilboy. Amythas was one of the best of hie age as a two-year-old and won under big weights and staying on at the right end of a race. He missed form in the early part of his second season, but afterwards proved himself a great stayer and second to none seen out during the pa6t quarter of a century. Gloaming was on the scene at the same time as Amythas. but the former would have been second if they had met over any distance from a mile upwards. R. J. Mason could have saddled Gloaming against Amythas when both were fit and well, but they never met, for the reason that the " wizard of Yaldhurst" was a good judge. Sasanof gave his first indication of stamina by winning the Hawke's Bay Stakes as a two-year-old, and so did The Hawk, but the latter was neve.r trained to stay. When Commendation and Limerick were out in the same season as two-year-olds a controversy arose as to which of them would be the better stayer in their second season. The writer expressed no doubt on the point and based the opinion on the form displayed in the Challenge Stakes. Fast Passage and Silver Scorn both gave unmistakable signs of stamina in their earlv races, as they were going easier at the'finish than at any other part of the journey. Silver Scorn is at present tottering on her throne, but not the slightest doubt exists that in this countr.v she displayed great speed and stamina. She may, like Chide, be comparatively. a rank fa.lure in Australia, but if a sovereign drops in value that does not kill the fact that it was once worth more than twenty shillings in the pound.