RACING NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22612, 2 July 1935, Page 4

RACING NEWS

By Sentinel. Doing Well ; A report from Melbourne / states that the members of S# G. Ware's, team have been going on satisfactorily since arrival. Poly dor* • Polydora was schooled over four flights of hurdles at Riccarton on Saturday, and, apart from showing a tendency to rush her jumps, shaped well. Fluctuations x Billy Boy, who won the Wellington ' Steeplechase in 1932 with 11.3 and again last year with 11.5, is in this year’s race itith 10.11. He finished third in last year’s Grand National with 11.13. ■ ■ Mem ho Membo’s success at Moonee Valley ■hows ; that he is not far from fit and ready to run in the V.R.O. Grand National Steeples. As a good stayer with a light weight he : should at least make the top-weights know that they have been on a journey. The Trentham Track A Wellington report states that the tracks at Trentham remained firm for much longer into the winter than usual this .year, but the rain during the past three' weeks , has steadily , softened the going, and now heavy conditions are almost assured lor the coming meeting. Schooling 1 Punchestown was schooled. over 10 fences at Riccarton on Saturday morning last with H. Turner in the saddle. The Thumham gelding gave a fairly satisfactory display considering that he did not have a companion to help towards carrying him into a jump. Over-schooling . The history of the Liverpool Grand National Steeplechase suggests that it is quite'possible to over-school a horse, and may, make them a;bit tired of the game. Recent events-in this "part of the world help to substantiate that opinion. • One winner of the great race at Aintree never saw a fence between his start in one race and his success in the next following 12 months later. When a horse has displayed full aptitude 'for fencing it is generally sufficient to show thdm the way over a couple of jumps before sending them out to race ; in public. Stage Fright v A hunter mare was taken to see a private view of a film in a theatre at South Shields on May 13 (says London Sporting Life). She took fright and wrecked LO sea’ts in the stalls. The-bright idea was to/pee whether racing scenes had an effect upon her. They'had.'’ When horses appeared on the screen the mare pricked her ears; • Shortly:.-'-af ter wards somethingstartled her, and she careered among the seats, dragging her groom.with her. The mairc received cuts on two of her legs, and it'tyas with difficulty that she was extricated from the wrecked seats.

Derby, ob the Derby Before this year’s Derby meeting at Epsom the Earl of Derby presided over the annual dinner of the Derby Club ana referred to his disappointment over the scratching of! his horse. Bobsleigh, from the Derby. “ Kipling’s advice to' his son,” he said, r< is the best that could be given to, Anyone—especially in racing;/If you can" meet with triumph and disaster . . • you’ll be a man! ’ I am not downhearted, and next year I hope to redeem this disaster. I should add that at the moment I don’t know what with! ” Lord Derby added that, a love of racing had, with a single break, been inherited by each generation of his family. It had passed to his son and his grandson. Comparing racing conditions now with some of the things he remembered as a young man, he\itvas thankful we did not live in what were called “ the good old times.” Racing at.'<jpresent was in a flourishing state, because it was straight. Otherwise, it would not last 24 hours. “ Sheathing the Sword ” The passing of the Christchurch'Times and The Sun will leave a vacancy in sporting reporting that will be greatly missed,amongst racing and trotting circles. Both, papers • always, supplied news, opinions, and interesting notes on both branches of sport that established them in the front rank.of sporting journalism. It .would, indeed. be a matter 1 of regret ; If. the capable pens that supplied the notes for both papers , became droughtstricken. One may not‘always fully agree with the opinions but nevertheless they were'always wrapped up in journalese that made interesting reading and were no doubt highly appreciated by readers. Good horses die and go to the "happy hunting grounds,”! and perhaps there is a. Valhalla-for sporting scribes which now’ may after all prove merely a preparatory purgatory ,tp • a greater world where they may yield their pens with: eyen .more' force in the future than they, did in the ""past: The sporting press gall.ery in New ; Zealand has always been a happy brotherhood full of good fellow-ship,-.helping each'! other in the best of sporting •. spirit, and always remaining loyal to their individual papers. To those who have “sheathed the sword,’ sporting journalism will be poorer if they do not-come back .with their pens to keep sport; into the readable prominence as in the past. . . A- Matter of Weight “ Dunmure won , the . Great Western Steeplechase at, Riverton, with 10.6, Royal Limbhd being second -with 9.0. Oh the second day Dunmure 11.5 fell, and Royal Limohd won with 9.6. Dunmure has not started in a steeplechase since then, but Royal Limohd has done a good deal of racing,* completing a North Island tour with a win in the Great Northern with 9.B‘and a third ,in the Winter Steeplechase: with 10.5. In the Wellington Steeplechase Royal Limond has been awarded 10.4, and Dunmure 9.13. As the! opposition in the north was much stronger than that in the south, the handicapper was -quite justified in putting Royal Limohd on top, but at the weights ope is inclined to prefer Dunmure., OnS the first day of the Dunedin meeting Dunmure was weighted at 11.1 and Graball at 9:10. Dunmure did not run at the meetings, while . Graball won each.day. oh the third occasion carrying 11.4. Had there been another day it would have been inevitable for Graball to have been placed above Dunmure, but (says the Timarn Herald sporting scribe) the Wellington- assessment which puts Dunmure slb higher than the other Southlander, seems to have most to recommend it. The Market Those antagonistic to the re-licensing of bookmakers do so under the impression that it would mean a shrinkage of stakes and revenue to clubs. Facts supplied by circumstances ip Australia, where the fielders and totalisator have been operating cheek by jowl, do not substantiate that opinion, because if stakes are comparatively small the market supplied by the fielders is much better than that of the totalieators. If it were not so the annual exodus from New Zealand would not exist. The exodus has been growing stronger from year to year, but even so, very few, if any, migrate with the hone of winning the Melbourne Cup. They go with the hope of success of at the suburban meetings, where the market is considered more worthy of exploitation' than that- at Ellerslic, Trentham and Riccarton, which the hard heads consider the only three meetings in New Zealand where real money can be gathered from the betting market, and simply because, the legitimate bookmaker supplies a market of set prices that anneal far more than the unknown odds supplied by the totalisator. The legitimate bookmaker bqts to the book, which may supply better and fixed odds in preference to .the, doubtful ones, supplied by the totalisator. If a punter obtains a •et bet from a bookmaker the odds ob-

tained are not affected ,by the fact that a last-moment ‘ investment on the totalisator may swamp the price on any horse in a field. There is no law to stop a man from making a last-minute investment on the totalisator and sending _a horse from tens to even money; but in Australia that possible state of affairs does not come , into consideration.