RACING NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22352, 28 August 1934, Page 4

RACING NEWS

By Sentinel. ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT W. H. L. C., Mosgiel.—The list of winners only dated back to 1888. The first race was run in 1876, and to 1887 the winners are as follows: —Royalty 10,0, Fakir 10.5, Moustrap 11.4, Agent 12.0, Agent 12.7, Clarence 12.2, Katerielto 10.0, and Kosciusko. Some of the tables are too lengthy for full publication. Nominations for the New Zealand Cup are due on Friday next. Chhota has been struck out of her Australian engagements. They still have a 0.7 minimum during the winter months in Victoria and New South Wales. There is a prospect of the Hawke’s Bay Guineas being revived after being oil the calendar since 1930, Acceptances are due to-day for the Otago Hunt Club’s meeting, which will open the local racing season on Saturday next. Some of the New Zealand horses that ran at Warwick Farm on Saturday made a bold show in their races considering that they may not be so forward in condition as the best of the local lot on the day. Mr John Porter has decided to send two of his mares south to be mated with Elderslie sires. Rawene, by-Winkle from Jeanerette, will visit Night Raid, while Iliad has been chosen for Lucinda, by Martian from Lady, Lucy. The well-known trainer, J. M. Cameron, has been an inmate of a private hospital Of late, but his friends will be pleased to hear that he is now doing very well, and in a short time should be about again attending to his duties. Though Huntique walked in lame after he won the Grand National Hurdles at Ricoarton, the latest reports are that the trouble is not likely to be serious, it is probable that it was due to the twisting of a plate, and he may resume racing soon. New Zealanders racing in Australia last season included Mr W. R. Kemball, whose horses won five races worth £2658 10s, Mr G. F. Moore won £lslO, and Mr W. T. Hazlett £ll3O. Mr Haslett’s total does not include the recent wins by Sir Simper, The English Racing Calendar provides what is probably the only instance in the world of a race being named after a jockey. At Newcastle they have the John Osborne Plate. The race perpetuates the memory of Osborne, whose career as a jockey extended over a period of nearly 50 years. One of the fastest two-year-olds in South Australia is Petunia Belle, who won both the trials in which she started during the early part of the month. She was got fay Petunia from Oudh, by Lucknow—Little Joan, by Pistol from Aurari, by Trenton from Aura. She belongs to the same family as Desert Gold. Owners and trainers have frequently complained of the shortage of jumping races on club programmes, and there has been a lot of criticism from them regarding the replacement of hurdling events by high-weights. While it is true that there are grounds for their complaint (says “The Watcher”), it must be admitted that owners of jumpers themselves contribute to the cause of their lamentations. The Hurdle Race at Marton next month, for instance, sees only six nominations. Clubs generally are always anxious to meet the requirements of owners, but they cannot be blamed if they protect themselves from financial loss by replacing unprofitable races with events of another description. Red Sun is being schooled over the hurdles at Trentham. As recently as on the eve of the Grand National meeting Red Sun put up excellent track work, but appears to haVe grown too wise to exert himself in a race. Such horses sometimes make good over hurdles because they are not fully extended the same as in a flat race. A course of hurdling may restore a horse’s courage and confidence, and they subsequently make good on the flat. It is an old axiom of racing that when a horse has speed try him every way ajjfl at anything before selling. A horse trained for speed may be a stayer a? they sometimes fail to stay a short course because the pace is too hot for them. Sometimes a horse fails through being asked to show too much speed or stamina on the track. Alinura, who was the best two-year-old in Adelaide last season, made a good start for the new season when she won the Adelaide. Guineas a week ago. A busy programme has been mapped out for her. Her next start will be in the Port Adelaide Guineas on September 15, and she will then be taken to Melbourne to run in the Edward Manifold Stakes, at Flemington on October 6. The owner-trainer, 11. Jenkins, has ambitions to win the South Australian -Derby, and after racing at Flemington, Alinura will be returned home for the classic. Whether she wins or loses that race she is to go back to Melbourne to take her place in the field for the Oaks, a race that has been won now and again by Adelaide fillies. Alinura is by King of Mirth from Menura. Comment on the fact that the Stratford Racing Club has been unable to secure a suitable date during the year on. which to operate its permit for an extra day’s racing, chiefly owing to the objection of other clubs, was made by the president (Mr D. J. Malone) at the annual meeting of members. “I am sure members were very disappointed at not getting our extra day or racing,” said Mr Malone. “When we were granted the use of the permit I thought we would have no trouble in securing a suitable date to race on, as one-day meetings are usually of a local nature, and providing the distance separating the clubs is sufficient, they should not interfere with each other. The fact that five clubs are permitted to race in the North Island on January 1 and 2 should confirm this view! I am of opinion,” he concluded, " that sufficient days of racing are provided in New Zealand, but they are not satisfactorily distributed. We are hopeful that by the amalgamation of certain clubs’ interests, days of racing would become available for redistribution on a more even basis.” F. D. Jones made an excellent start last week on his present Australian campaign. He produced Two No Trumps to win a division of the Maiden Welter at Menangle Park on Thursday. Two No Trumps, now three years old. was purchased by the Sydney owner, Mr E. Moss, at the Trentham yearling sales last year, and was placed under the care of Jones, on whose advice he was bought. He did a little racing in the autumn, but he was not hurried, partly because of doubts regarding bis soundness. He had shown speed before he left for Sydney, and if he trains on he should win in much better company. He is by The Ace, his dam. Rose Willonyx. being by Prince Willonyx from Barcarolle, a sister to Cherubini, Soldiers’ Chorus, Tannhauser. and Rossini, by Martian from Grand Opera, by Gipsy Grand from lima, whose dam. Ranee Nuna, was a sister to Neva, the dam of Danube. It is a family which has produced stayers as well as sprinters.

Record Reign, who holds the weightcarrying record for the Grand National by winning under 12.12, was subsequently raced in Australia and India, and then taken on to France, where he met with a fatal fall in a steeplechase. France has a very valuable cross-country race in the Grand Steeplechase de Paris, the equivalent of the Liverpool Grand National in England. Its value is about £SOOO to the winner, whose breeder also receives £SOO. It was run about the end of June, the distance being a little more than four miles, and was won by Agitate, who carried 11.0. He is a seven-year-old stallion, and is said to be one of the finest types of strongly-made steeplechasers to be found in France, and it is considered probable that he will later be purchased for one of the Government stud farms. He is by Melbourne (grandson of St. Simon) out of Fine Feathers, a mare that was bought in England for 300 guineas.

It must be confessed that the jumping season this year has been anything but a satisfactory one, as fields have been small and the horses, with few exceptions, of very ordinary class. No doubt the depression, which caused many owners to curtail their expenditure, and the high cost of racing jumpers have been contributing factors to the decline in the quality of the horses. The time has come for the leading clubs to talce serious stock of the position (says “Chiron” in the Australasian), because unless there is some concerted and definite action steeplechasing here will simply fade out ns it has done in New South Wales. It would be nothing short of tragic if that happened, but it is inevitable .unless something is done very soon to place the sport on a sounder basis. There are only four clubs in Melbourne which cater for the genuine steeplechaser, as the so-called brush steeplechases on the other courses are nothing more or less than a travesty of steeplechasing. Brush fences are to be preferred to the solid post and rail obstacles and stone walls, even though well padded, but the brush fences should be made high so that horses will have to be steadied to jump them, and thick enough to ensure that they will have to be jumped and not brushed through, as many of them are at times. It is remarkable how auickly some horses realise they can take liberties with some of the brush fences, and that often leads to them taking risks at the more solid fences. A curtailment of the time between races has been under discussion, but whether it is long or short there would still be the last moment punter who will not bet until working every source of information. If people would bet on their own judgment instead of different sources of inspiration they could start betting as soon as the totalisator opens for business on each race. They do so to a much greater extent at Trentham than anywhere in the South Island, and frequently a fair volume of business is done. There, as soon as the horses do a preliminary. Of course, the journey to Trenthom allows about an hour to con over the card and finalise ideas before reaching the course, but that does not appear to be the reason for the more prompt opening of business. In the South Island there seems to be a strong tendency to watch the progress of betting until the end before making a bet. A lucky inspiration may be gathered in that way, but the fluctuation of betting on the totalisator may be very misleading at times owing to the plating of lastmoment bets of more than average size and this may not be recorded until the machine has shut down or until it is too late to follow them. There is no need to urge people to bet at Trentham the same as at a number , of meetings in the South Island, where the afraid-to-win-fear-they-lose punter takes as long as possible to separate himself from his money. What really seems to be required is more confidence on the part of the punter. There is more satisfaction in losing than getting shut out on a winner through dilly dallying over an investment.