RACING NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22419, 14 November 1934, Page 11

RACING NEWS

i By Sentinel.

ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT Inquirer.—Yellow Hammer was got by ;. Third from Yellow Bird, by Hihd —Miss Stead, by Ledlinus—Miss Laara. Mira was got by Soult— Fauhei, by Castor —Vivandtere. Hilad was got by St. Leger—Hilda, by Mu3ket —Ouida. Cough has been sent south to rejoin Fred "Ellis's stable. . It is reported that Synagogue is undsr offer to an Australian owner with the price at 2500 guineas. According to reports the broadcast is killing racing in Tasmania. Punters have been devoting the bulk of their business to races in Australia and as a consequence local racing has fallen away. In England the Racecourse Betting Control Board is again making a contribution from the totalisator to horsebreeding. This year it is .supporting the premium stallion scheme to the extent of £2OOO. Up to December last year. L. J. Ellis had ridden only 11 winners, but he finished the season with a total of 83. In view of the fact that already this season he has had 29 wins, he must be gi<wi a chance of topping the century this season at the rate at which he is scoring, but, says an exchange, as he said himself at Riccarton, it is a feat that requires] a lot of doing and plenty of luck. H. Gray and K. Voitre are the only New Zealand riders to ride over 100 winners in a season in the Dominion. Voitre rode 123 in the 1932-33 season and Gray 116 in the 1930-31 season. During his career L. J. Ellis has ridden 453 winners. When. Theo won the A.J.C. Derby, Dominion papers stressed that he was New Zealand-bred. London Sporting Life, in chronicling his win, put up the two-column heading, "British Blood in Pedigree of Sydney Derby Winner." In the course of its comments the London newspaper said: "Theo is by the phenomenally successful sire Limond. ~'■.-.

Mirabelle went to New in 1928. She had raced in Belgium, where, she won 15 races. , Her cost was about £4000". The writer adds: The-sales list, reveals that thq dams of the winner and the-third were purchased by the British Bloodstock Agency," which agency also bought Limond. for Mr Currie, El Cacique for Mr Allen;;" and .'Moabite for .Sirj.S. Hqrdern, whoi.passed him on to Mr Thompson when-the son of Phalaiis wrenchSdia Vtendqp-soott 'sifter his arrival in „New South Wales. ,'Jt must surely bei« : : nriique .record "«jsn'regasds ; a classic race ' for the; sires off;all"r';tnree placed horses L tad the dams'of the winner an! the; tihird :to have been exported by the same agency. •■'.;."., In his introduction to volume XVII of the Australian Stujdißook, published last week, the keeper,.'"Mr ' A. Loddon Yuille, says that overseas' buyers of Australian horses for racing are showing reluctance to consider any animal; for which a stud book certificate cannot ba produced. This accounts for the number of issued" stud Book certificated having increased'fourfold in.the last,few years. The keeper of the Stud Book states that breeders can materially assist the export trade by properly recording in their books, at: time of weaning, all marks and brands of produce reared by them. Neglect to do so hitherto has proved a serious hindrance to,the issue of Stud Book certificates.. Another point empnasised is that the adverse trade conditions, with Great Britain are reflected in the very marked decrease in the number of stallions and brood mares imported during the period covered by this latest volume of the Stud Book. Tne Australian-bred sire. is certainly being afforded his opportunity now and perhaps more Heroics and more Windbags may be discovered. A writer in Horse and Hound seems to have his doubts about the maintenance of the standard of class of English mares. He says: "Perhaps we should do well to consider that, although our colts and stallions still remain the best in the world, and other nations are continually finding the necessity for refreshing their blood with English stock, the Home-bred fillies seem to have fallen behind. In three consecutive years the Oaks have been -won by animals with a large amount of French blood in their pedigrees —Kose of England, by Teddy, Brulette, by Bruleur, and Adaipur, a daughter of the famous French mare Uganda; while ; the French-bred' Kandy scored in the One Thousand Guineas of 1932, and in 1933 one of the best fillies of the year was Betty, by Teddy. The results are indeed startling. Whatever the cause, it shows that our bloodstock cannot claim the indisputable supremacy of former times." Yet the fact remains that year after year English-bred horses successfully resist the "foreign invaders " in distance races. This season two of the greatest performers in France (Admiral Drake and Brantome) are by English sires, and Cavalcade (the champion three-year-old of America) is Eng-lish-bred. Up to the middle of September the stock of Blandford had won a total of £62,077 for the season. This beats StockweM's record (£01,305), which had stood for 68 years. In Stockwell's day, of course, stakes were much smaller than they are now, so that the record of the " Emperor of Stallions" is still to be regarded as the most remarkable. St. Simon's record was only a little below that of Stockwell. Stockwell wa3 a grandson of Birdcatcher, and Blandford comes of the same illustrious sire line, being a tail-mail descendant of Oxford, son of Birdcatcher. Blandford has now sired three Derby winners in six years —a feat that also stands to the credit of Cyllene, Waxy and Sir Peter. With ordinary luck he should at least equal their record of having sired four Derby winners before his career ends. Next on the list to Blandford, Stockwell and St. Simon among the great one-season winning sires is Hurry On (Barcaldine line). In 1926 he had winners of £59,109. Two years later Phalaris (another descendant of the Birdcatcher line) had winners of £46,393. In 1925 Phalaris had winners of £41,475. when he also headed the winning sires' list. Only Blandford, Stockwell, St. Simon and Hurry On have had better records for one season that Valais in Australia. In the season 1925-26 the son of Cicero arid Lily of the Valley had 28 winners of 58 races worth £57,368. The best year of Polyinelus (sire of Phalaris and five times in the premier position) was

1920, when his stock won £39,704. Polymelia, Phalaris and Valaia all descend in tail-mail through the Birdcatcher line, and another descendant (Heroic) has been champion sire of Australia for the past two seasons.