RACING NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22211, 14 March 1934, Page 11

RACING NEWS

By Sentinel. A. Russell will have the mount on Irish Lancer and Tizzy'at Trentham. Worship has been showing signs of soreness and, was not taken to Wellington. Irish Lanier, Tizzy, - Cherry Queen, and Kerbside were taken north on Monday, The following is the field for the hi ew Zealand St., Leger Stakes, which will be the third race at Trentham on Friday:— New Zealand St. Leger Stakes, of 250sovs. Three-year-olds; colts, 8.10; fillies and geldings, 8.7. One mile and three-quarters. Sir Simper, Dazzling Raid 8.10, Werohia, De Forest, Limbohm, Counterplay, Final Shot, Red Manfred, Kindly Light, Catalogue, Melisande, Palm Queen 8.7.

Martian Chief, Top Rank and Tuirau have rejoined C. Emerson’s team. Grecian Prince has been taken up again after a six months’ spell in the paddock. Copyist ; is shaping well in hig work and growing in favour for engagements at Wellington. The win and place totalisator will be in operation at the* Oamaru Jockey Club’s meeting.

H. Cuttg has taken Cricket Bat, Heather Glow, Copyist, Scarlet Rambler, and Silly Owl to Wellington. Friday Night, the brother to Rhar Lap, is booked to have his first race at the C-J.C. Easter meeting. Final Shot will start in the St. Leger at Wellington and then travel north for the Auckland meeting. After the Dunedin Cup meeting Gaysome iVas eased up, but is again gettiag through solid work for the Easter racing at Riccarton.

Several of the Riccarton hurdlers are being schooled over the brush hurdles in view of the Easter meeting. The / ’chaser Copey is-bowling along freely in’ his work at Hawera, and shaping’particularly well in, his schooling. Winners of any race after the declaration of-handicaps for the Riverton meeting may be rehaudicapped. Winners of a race or races valued at SOOsovs after the declaration of weights for the Great Easter, and Great Autumn are liable to be rehaudicapped. '. *>.' It is rather interesting to notice a classic winner in Gustavo at the minimum in the'Gardiner Memorial Handicap.

Golden Hair, Red Manfred, and Autopay are the ruling favourites for the Thompson Handicap, and Golden Hair, Diatomous, aiid Royal Hunting for the Railway Handicap. . Diatomous, who is' the ruling favourite for the Railway Handicap, meets Cranford on 61b worse terms than when a neck separated them in the Metropolitan Handicap, Cricket Bat will be acting over his pet distance when saddled up for the Thompson Handicap. ‘He is particularly hard to beat from seven furlongs to a mile, and in addition stays on Well to a. mile and a-quarter. The “soft sex” has done well in connection with the New Zealand St, Leger Stakes. Since 1900 Mies Delaval, Cruciform, Nightfall, Isolt, Ingoda, Counterfeit, Merry Roe, Afterglow, Lady Ram, and La Moderne have enrolled themselves as winners.

The New Zealand Racing Conference has issued a •circular recommending that clubs appoint patrol stewards for different parts of the course,. these to report to the Judicial Committee and stipendiary . steward at the conclusion of each race, -* *■ ,

A comparison of weights reads as follows:

The atmosphere of racing has greatly changed in the-last 20 {years, and I am sorry to say (says “ Chifon ” in-the Australasian) the change, {las been for the worse. Nobody is giveij credit for being honest. A sinister interpretation i« placed.upon ,the most -innocent incidents. If a leading perfoftfier is reported to be amiss before a face it is now the custom rather than the exception for people to ask, “Is it genuine or merely ail attempt to bluff everybody so that they can get a better price? ” • j Waialcu put up a record in connection with the Thompson Handicap likely to stand for all time* He won in three consecutive years with 7.5, 8.13, and 10.5. the weight carrying record for the race. Waiaku won liis-races at Hutt Park. The first Thompson' Handicap’ at Trentham was run in 190 G and won by Mystification. ' A throe-year-old filly has never won the Thompson Handicap since Helen Portland won with 7.3 in 1907. She is, in fact, the only one of the Same age and sex to win the race, but this will not stop them from' backing Golden Hair if she is sent to the post. The Waimate Racing Glub has been sentimentally adhering to ,a date as near as possible* to the seventeenth of old Ireland, but as it clashes with Wellington a forced change has occurred. The Canterbury horses and consequent absence "of Riccarton trainers makes the Trentham a too serious clash with Waimate. • >v:.

The light scale of weights adopted in connection with the Thompson Handicap seems to crush the chance of the light weights. Autop'ay won with 9.4 last year in Imih 37Jsec and Gay Crest with 9.4 in Imin 37|sec. This year Autopay reads well treated, at 9.5, which means that anything capable of beating him will have to put up a race record. When a club puts on a race which makes a widespread appeal it may have half its interest wrecked by over patronage. This appears to be the case with the Champion Hack Cup Handicap to bo run on the second day of the Wellington meeting. If the race is run in divisions it will tend to wreck the interest and incidentally createia Cjiumdary in connection with the ISOsovs gold cup attached to the stakes. A. substantial sweepstakes. might have helped to save the situation and incidentally materially contributed to the stakes. • Brisbane trainers recently approached the Q.T.C. to discontinue using a white pony as a buffer between the horse drawn No, 1 and the rails in races. The Q.T.C. has agreed to the suggestion, and in future a bay pony will be used. The reason given for the objection to the white pony was that some horses become definitely restive at the barrier because of his colour. If that were so, racing clubs, might be asked just as reasonably to ban all greys from racing. Progeny of Gainsborough, the leading sire in England in 1932 and 1933. have won stakes to the value of over £270,000. An analysis of Gainsborough’s record as a sire reveals a large proportion of goodclass winners among the colts and geldings and of such winners among the

fillies. Gainsborough’s best winners have been Orwell £29,251, Hyperion £28,284, and Solario £21,387, while only three of the fillies have won over £3OOO, Moti Begum having the best total with' £4459. More is likely (says a Melbourne paper) to be heard of a race decided at a recent meeting in Melbourne. It is said that a jockey was instructed to take his horse to the front early in the race, the idea being that if this were done the horse probably'would tire. Tfie rider did as ordered, hilt the horse did not tjfe and he won the race. Subsequently a man abused the jockey—even threatened him, so it is said—for having won the race. The matter came under the .notice of the Stipendiary stewards, and it: is understood an inquiry will be held into the case. When the imported mare Playaway won the Newmarket Handicap in 1905 she was followed home by her stable companion, Lord uilin’s Daughter. With Playaway out of the Way the “second string”’ Would have won comfortably. The previous year Playaway had won the Futurity, so that she had good credentials for the straight six. 'Both horses belonged to Mr Francis Foy, for whom they were trained by the late John Allsop. Three days after that Newmarket Lord Ullin’s Daughter .showed that she could stay as well as sprint by leading home the field : in the Australian Cup. Another Sydney trainer in William Forrester had a strong hand in The Watch Dog and Serasati in the Newmarket of. 1900. He finished first and,',third respectively. The Watch Dog was„by ; far the more fancied of the pair, and/the forward showing of Sarasati came as a surprise to his connections. In niftier life The Watch Dog joined the ranks of the jumpers. He ended his career by breaking his neck in a hurdle race!' !

The Victoria Amateur Turf Club has decided to hold a gala race meeting in conjunction with the centenary celebrations. For its meeting on Saturday, November 24, a sum of £SOOO will he provided in stakes. The principal event will be the Consolation Stakes, a race valued at £2500, and run over a mile and thfee. furlongs. This event will be in the nature of a consolation for horses beaten in the cups. . The club has already announced'big increases in stakes for its spring meeting, and with the Melbourne Cup carrying a stake of £IO,OOO Australia can look forward to a racing festival unheard of previously in the history of the sport.- These high prizes are an indication of the state of prosperity in which the turf world stands at present, says a Melbourne paper. Big improvements in attendance have been the order of the day in recent years, and increased totalisator returns are a regular feature every day’s racing. The totalisator undoubtedly has been the chief cause «of bigger attendances. Its popularity is undoubted,, and the prospect of pacing going back to the booni days before the depression can be looked forjward to with confidence.

Autopay , Thompson <Jreat Easter Handicap. ■ Handicap. .. .. 9.5 '' 0.4 Silver Ring .. | 9.3 Cadland .. .. .. .. 8.13 il 8.10 ! ; 8.4 Cricket Bat .. .. .. 8.7 Argentic .. .. . 7.8 Irish Lancer .. 7.8 Manetho .. .. .. .. 7.7 ' 7.5 Miladi . • .. 7.0 JJavolo .. .. .. .. 7.4 .7.0 Ranelagh .. .. 7.4 7.0