RACING NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22422, 17 November 1934, Page 21

RACING NEWS

By Sentinel.

Nominations for the Ashburton Racing Club’s meeting- are due on Monday next. V : |t ,■ ' ’ ' The recently defunct mare Eulogy produced some great racers but .not, one stayer., • :• •/ . : ’ ’ Weights for the Auckland Cup and Railway Handicap are due on December The Hunting Song mare Lochard died a few days ago when foaling to Straightcourse. Stakes for the Duke of Gloucester meeting to be held at Trentham range from SOOsovs to TOOsovs. Handicaps for the Waikouaiti and Opmaru meetings will appear prior to the two days’ racing at the Dunedin summer meeting. t Inquiries made regarding the price wanted for Rebel Chief met with the reply that the Robespierre gelding is not . for sale at present. The Lackham filly Brjwn Betty is again in work. As a two-year-old she won three races and was three times placed out . of' eight starts. Nightly and 'Sir Siinpet started equal favourites for the Melbourne Cup, and Theo,. Broad Arrow, and Limbohm were next in demand at a shade over twice the odds, quoted against the favourites. Arrangements are reported) to be well ip hand at Trentham for the royal welcome meeting., next month. Among the improvements is the erection of a new band stand.-It is proposed that the' Duke enter the course through the stewards’ private entrance, proceed up the straight to the false rail, turn and come back, and alight in front of the main, stand, whore special gates wilt be .erected. - Astarth, who figures in the Trial Stakes at the - Waikato meeting, is a three-year-old filly by Chief Ruler from Hyades, and'.-is therefore a half-sister to the brilliant Ammon Ra. She was only ' raced once last year, running unplaced in the Innovation Stakes at the Rotorua and Poverty Bay Hunt meeting in July. Little notice need be taken of her showing of that occasion, as she was verybig in condition, and owing to inexperience failed-to jump away smartly at the start . . ,

Those who object to inbreeding are confronted with the fact that-Peter Pan’s pedigree contains three _ strains _of St. Simon and one of Angelica, a to St. Simon, v Peter Pan’s great-granddam w&i bred in .New Zealand and got by Boniform from Waitemata. He traces back to Melesina, a mare bred in England in 1849. and her most notable descendants include the Carbine horse Wallace, Melos, Richmond, Sou’-wester, Waterfall, Hilarious, Bosworth, Porirua, and Kamo. ■ ; ;- 1 *•- ‘

Totalieator speculation in England is increasing. The/ £4,000,000 mark was passed on- September 28, and that amount was approximately £500,000 more than for the corresponding periodtlast year. It is anticipated that this year the £5,000.000 mark will'be passed,-and that will exceed all previous records. Previous figures’ are as follows: —1930, £3,359,000; 1931, £3,886,000; 1932, £4.017,000; 1933, £4,411,000, The Racecourse Betting Control Board- began its work of introducing and conducting the totalisator in England without funds, and became saddled with a' debt of more than £2,000,000 spent on buildings and equipment. In connection with the latter there was a deal of experimental waste, . but the debt is gradually being wiped off. A market opens' on the .Melbourne Cup after the declaration of Vweights,. and sometimes before their appearance. They have months of a market before the race.

and hence it ,is interesting to note the following business on the eve of the race: —Rogilla was backed to win £25,000, Peter Pan £SOOO, Nightly £BOOO, Hall Mark £II,OOO, Heroic Prince £SOOO, Flail £3OOO, Euach .£IO,OOO, Panto £7OOO, St. Valorey £7OOO, Journal; £15,000, Broad

Arrow £BOOO, Gippsland £SOOO, Sir Simper £BOOO, Limbohm £6000,, Theo. £BOOO, Sylvandale £8000," Sarch'erie £7500, Farndaie £SOOO, Mirabou £2500, Gladswood £7OOO,

Verberry-’-£SOOO, La Trobe £6500, and lolaus £SOOO. Some of the above were backed at prices from 100’s to 1 to 200’s to, 1.. That is the market that draws New Zealanders' to Australia. ‘ Mr S. Higgs, who returned to Christchurch from Melbourne last week, aften selling his three-year-old colt Radiant' Star over there, states that the successes of New Zeajand blood stock in Australia this spring” have attracted widespread attention and. comment, Mr Higgs anticpates that- a' host of Australian buyers will be at Trontham in January for the yearling sales. The wisdom of making ■a-V collective and representative sale of New Zealand yearlings instead of the scattered sales of a few years ago is becoming, more apparent as the years roll on,.,and in this connection breeders are indebted-to the men who-took a leading; part in the change, the most energetic and keenest being Mr O. VS, Watkins. Most of the barriers in use in this country, hold small value as assistance to steadying a field. Some are nothing short of a* joke. In England and France, as nearly everywhere, the stronger six-strand webbing is now used for starting barriers, and it .. has been most satisfactory. “Augur,” of the London Sporting Life, recently made the following reference to the change in England:—“One of the great improvements conducive to the benefit of racing in general has been the scrapping of the old-time tape starting gate for the webbing variety of stronger build. Although some regrettable mishaps, have occurred, involving, for the most part, minor injuries, the stronger barrier has served fits purpose extremely well. In the severity the penalty for taking -liberties discipline has been automatically instilled into the jockeys, while horses, like children, soon learn not to play with fire:” Writing after the easy win of Nightly at Flemington in the C. B. Fisher Plate, in which he defeated Hall Mark and Lough Neagh, a Melbourne writer said: form at the V.R.C. meeting is inexplicable. Even his trainer, F. D. Jones, has endeavoured to account for his weak finish in the Melbourne Cup, making full allowance for the fact that the horse was not knocked about when a place was not possible. It was the opinion of the' rider that Nightly had choked up. and this ha» influenced Jones in a deduction that, with mud flying in all directions in the big race, Nightly may have had a piece forced down his throat, for when the pace was slow and the horse was pulling hard he had his mouth wide open. Nightly’s trip across the Tasman has been profitable, for, in addition to his placing at Warwick Farm and in the Metropolitan at Randwick and the Melbourne Stakes, he has won the Randwick Plate, the Moonee Valley Cup, and the C. B. Fisher Plate.

In hi s comment on Melbourne Cup day, “Vidette,” o£ the Wellington Post, .said: “It is almost impossible to describe the conditions and the plight of the less fortunate section of the 90,000 people in the deluge of rain. The V.R.C.’s provision of accommodation is decidedly limited, almost primitive except for the favoured few in the members’ stand. The result wa s that 20,000 of the 90,000 left before -the second race, and of the remainder 40,000 were thoroughly wet through and muddied beyond belief. The cost of ruined clothes would be tremendous. Visitors to Flemington for the first time on account of the centenary, unless they were favoured, gained a poor impression of the V.R.C. arrangements. In America, where many trainers have very large teams, it appears, that some of them occasionally work together for their mutual benefit, A leading writer comments as follows on this undesirable Sosition: “Numerous horsemen in New Ingland feel they have repeatedly got the worst of it through the activities of a confederacy of three or four of their number who collectively handle neatly 100 horses, and in the same race often run all but two or three of the field. They will not be assigned stalls at the second Narragansett Park, meeting. This is a condition said to exist in other sectors also. They are as vicious as iockey rings, and it is much more difficult to actually pin anything on them.” The stabling at American meetings is on the courses, and when any trainer _ is denied stalls it is a direct intimation that a club does not desire his presence or that of his horses. When the crack French three-year-old, Brantome, won the Prix Royal Oak, one mile and seven furlongs (French St. Leger) in September, it was his first race for nearly four months; It was his eighth successive win, and that excellent judge, “ Faraway,” the Paris correspondent of Horse and Hound, says that Brantome is the best horse ever sired by Blandford, and he does not bar the English Derby winners, Blenheim, Trigo. and Windsor Lad. He added that if Brantome meets Windsor Lad in the next Ascot Gold. Gup, and both are well, he will make a rare example of the English horse. That is saying a lot, as it is certain Windsor Lad is a- fine stayer. Subsequent to this summing up, Brantbme won the Prix de I’Arc de Triomphe, one mile and. a-half, with Asauerus and the crack English stayer, Felicitation, in the other places. Evidently Brantome deserves all the-good things written of him. • '’ ' ' ‘ A contributor to the London Sporting Life says that 100 classic races have been decided in England since 1915, and that members of Bruce’ Lowe’s No. 1 family are in advance with winners of 23 races. The representatives include Gay Crusader,. Blenheim, Cameraman, Humorist, Firdaussi, Book Law, Saucy Sue, Brulette, and 11 others. No. 3 family come next with winners ’ of li events, and the horses include Feletead, Fifinella, Colorado, Straitlace, Udaipur, and Rose of England. The winners of No. 2 family follow in numerical rotation with Gainsborough, Hurry On, Call Boy, Clarissimus, Diaphon, Keysoe, and Diadem. By a coincidence the successful members of No. 22 family were all colts,- and they t include Captain- Cuttle, Manna, Trigo, Sandwich, and Mr Jinks. Windsor Lad, with, Spion Kop. Salmon Trout, Campanula, arid Snow Marten, were all winners for the No. 19 Bruce Lowe family.

Acting on medical advice, W. Duncan, the former crack lightweight, who was seriously injured when Rose Valais fell at. Williamstown in May last year, has announced his retirement from race riding. His arm, which was badly damaged ill the fall, will, according to the specialists, : never regain its former strength. Duncan, who was one of Australia’s greatest riders, won practically every important race in the Commonwealth. His outstanding feate include two Melbourne Cups on Peter; Pan and-Night Watch; two Caulfield Cups (Maple, High Syce), Sydney Cup (Lilypond), A.J-C. Derby (Manfred). Moonee Valley Cup (Wirraway and Royal Charter), Williamstown Cup (Star d’Or), Australian Cup (Accarak and Carry On)., Brisbane Cup. (St. Valorey). King's Cup (Second Wind), Metropolitan (Jocelyn), Doncaster (Simeon’s Fort), Epsom (Metullus), Oakleigh Plate (Cielo, Umbertana, Blematic), Futurity (Father’s Voice). ■ The death of that great brood .mare Eulogy is announced from .Wanganui. She died last week after foaling a bay filly to Posterity. Eulogy wa 8 bred in England in 1911 and was imported to New Zealand by Mr G. M. Currie in February, 1915, in company with the stallion Absurd. She was by Cicero from Kelibia, by Upas from Goletta, by Galopin. Her first foal was Pennon, by Coriander, to English Time, and she had 14 living foals, missing in 1921, 1922,’1925, 1929, 1931, and 1933. Her beet-known and successful progeny were Humbug, Fulsome, Epitaph, Homage, and Eulalie, by Absurd, Commendation, and Praise, by Limond, Pedestial by Thespian, Esteem, by Pombal, and Adulator, by Limond, who was named in Australia. Her two-year-old colt by Posterity was bought by the Messrs Smith Bros, at the last January sales for 675 guineas and is now in T. R. George’s stable at Trentham. Eulogy’s stock won all the leading classic races of the Dominion and some in Australia, both as two and three-year-olds. It is doubtful if a speedier filly than Epitaph ever raced. Her full value as a brood mare is being realised by the continuation of the winning strain in her progeny. Pennon is the dam of Motley, Lysander, Ceremony, Arisus, and Canopy; and Motley is carrying on as the dam of Midinette, Variant, and Legatee. Homage ■is the dam of Episode (dam of Epigram and Burnish) and of Honour, who, in addition to winning the Derby, is leaving very promising gallopers. The stake earnings of the family founded by Eulogy run into the hundred thousands.