RACING NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22810, 20 February 1936, Page 14

RACING NEWS

By Sentinel. The Gore Meeting Acceptances for the Gore Racing Club s meeting are due to-day. Stud Returns Owners of brood mares are reminded that returns are required by February 28 for the Stud Book. A Good Bet A winning double in England recently paid £ll4O 6s for 10s. Only one ticket was taken on the combination. Pelmet Pelmet was brought down for the Dunedin Cup meeting, but developed a cold. She has recovered and will be raced at the Trentham meeting. A Long List Six hundred and eighteen yearlings will be offered by W. Inglis and Son, Ltd., at the Sydney Easter bloodstock sales. The sale will be spread over three days. The Six-strand Barrier Four races will be started by the sixstrand barrier at the Wellington Racing Club’s autumn meeting. This should supply a fair test and may lead to general adoption. The Starter’s Stand At recent meetings at Trentham the starter has been using a portable stand so as to procure an elevated view of a held and avoid leaving a horse through being overlooked. A Racing Hub The Wellington Racing Club advanced Trentham another step as a racing hub in deciding to hold a three-card programme for its autumn meeting. Only three stakes on the programme are less than 250sovs.

An Invitation In conection with the Oamaru Jockey Club’s meeting on March 21 and March 23. at the invitation of Mr Ken. Austin, manager of the Elderslie Stud, all visiting owners, trainers, and jockeys will be supplied with transport if they desire to visit the stud.

A Limit The penalty conditions attached to the Newmarket Handicap limit a rehandicap to 101 b. The same idea should be adopted in this country. If a haudicapper makes a serious mistake in a handicap there is no limit to what he can lift a winner.

Strong Opposition About one thousand yearlings will go under the hammer in Australia this season. This, in addition to the number of youngsters retained by their breeders, shows that New Zealand-bred horses do remarkably well to win against such strong opposition. Night Raid’s Stock Night Raid’s stock have not as a rule come to hand early enough to win as two-year-olds. At Rosehill on February 8 Capaneus, by Night Raid from Sennight, won the Second Juvenile Handicap from 11 others. It was the first time the colt started, but vcent out second favourite. Capaneus cost 675 guineas as a yearling and was formerly trained by J. T. Jamieson. t Groundless Protests It is time the stipendiary stewards took a stand in the matter of groundless protests. At different times (says a Sydney paper) during the current season several have been lodged that had not the slightest chance of being sustained, and suggested that, if the rider was responsible, he had little idea of what happened in the race. An occasional fine of £5,

when it is palpable that a protest is frivolous, might tend to reduce the num- ' her of those of the “ off chance ” nature. Racing in England During his recent visit to England Mr E. L. Baillieu attended race meetings at ' Goodwood, Newbury, Doncaster _ and Kempton. As a member of the V.R.C. committee, he naturally paid close attention to the manner of carrying q,ut the racing arrangements. <f In the conduct of racing,” says Mr Baillieu, “ people at the other side of the world could learn a lot from the Antipodes. Probably this is due to the fact that the owners there are finding most of the money they race for, and the general public are not so much partners in the game as is the case in Australia. for the comfort of the public on English courses are primitive, compared with what they are in Australia.” American Two-year-olds

Two-year-old racing commences in America on January 1, but for ths first few weeks the youngsters are not asked to run beyond three furlongs. Some of the early races are decided at two furlongs, and at Alomo Downs, San Antonio (Texas), on January 2 a filly named Kentucky Wonder won easily in 22 4-ssec, which was a record for the track. Santa Anita Park (California) also had its opening two-year-old race on January 2, and it was won in 34sec, for three furlongs, by Milky Way, a hot favourite.' In July, 1881, a three-furlong race for yearlings was run at Randwick, and was won by Mistake, with Alice M'Gregor second and Morpeth third. Mistake also won at two years, as did Morpeth, who, at four years, was successful in an Australian Cup, two miles and a-quarter. Early training evidently did him no harm.

In Ireland It was anticipated that the legalisation of the totalisator in Ireland -would do a great deal to Benefit racing in that country. but it has not realised expectations. A London exchange states that Irish race committees have benefited to the extent of £3OOO as a result of totalisator operations in 1934, Although investments were £IB,OOO greater than in 1934, the total turnover was only £123,778. According " to revenue returns, the bookmakers doing business on the same courses turned over £2,000,000 for the same period. Evidently the Irish punter likes to know the exact odds he is getting in preference to taking the chance of doing better by transacting his business through the machine. \ The Claws of the Law In America recently, H. J. Smith, of Rutherford, New Jersey, petitioned the Board of Tax Appeals to redetermine an alleged income tax deficiency as a result of tax payment on winnings in the 1932 Irish Hospital Sweepstakes. Smiths ticket won £22,700. and he paid income tax on one-fourth of it. contending that the ticket was held jointly by himself, his mother, father and sister. The Internal Revenue Bureau taxed him on the whole winnings, charging him with a tax deficiency of £7BOO. and a 00 per cent, penalty of £3894. This, together with the tax paid by Smith on his one-fourth, would give the Government considerably ’ more than half the winnings from a sweepstakes which it does not legally recognise.

System on Doubles A statement has been made by a London paper that syndicates bet to a system bn the “daily double” in England. As is generally known, backers do not take the second leg of the double until after the decision of the first in that country, and, as in most systems, the favourite is the basis, lor instance, a syndicate has £SO to invest, that amount representing 100 units. On the favourite 30 tickets would be taken, on the second favourite 20, and so on, in lesser numbers until every horse in the race is backed. If the favourite wins, there are 30 tickets to spread over the runners in the other race, in varying numbers, but even the rankest outsider would not be omitted. At Newbury recently, the favourite won the first leg. and there was only one ticket on the second, the return being £ll4O, tlioTrjli it is not stated tlint a syndicate collected.

The Best Month April in England is equivalent to November in Australia, in respect to a horse’s age. Out here a November foal is regarded as very late, but one foaled in April in England avoids the winter, and that, by some breeders, is regarded as something gained. Of the 17 English Derbv winners since the war, 10 were foaled in April. They were Grand Parade, Bahrain, Hyperion, April the Fifth, Blenheim, Trigo, Felstead, Call Boy. Coronach and Humorist. Tngo narrowly escaped being a May (December in the Australian season) foal, being thrown as late as April 29. _ Since the war Derby winners foaled in January were Captain Cuttle, Manna and Cameronian. Sansovino was a February foal, and Windsor Lad. Papyrus and Spion Kop were March foals. The only April foals in this year’s Derby are the Bossover colt, and the French colt Abjei. Bala Hissar was thrown in February. From the Beginning

It is generally known (writes “ Mankato ” in the Sporting Chronicle) that not only all orthodox thoroughbreds extant in the world, but all racehorses ineligible for the English Stud Book but entered in the stud books of other lauds, and all the halfbred racing strains m Great Britain and Ireland trace in the male line to one of three racial parents. (1) The Darley Arabian, imported m 1704 from Aleppo, by Mr Brewster Darley', of Buttercrambe (Aldby Manor), near York, or more correctly sent to Mr Darley by his son Thomas, resident at Aleppo. (2) The Byerley Turk, the property of Captain Byerley, of Goldsbrough Hall, Yorkshire, and ridden by him as a charger in King William’s expeditionary force at the Battle of the Boyne, 1690. This Turk is said to. have been taken at the first siege of Belgrade in 1688. At the conclusion of the Irish campaign he returned to Yorkshire and stood at Goldsbrou"h as a covering stallion. (3) Ihe Godolphin Barb (commonly, but erroneously, styled an Arabian), imported from Paris in 1729 or 1730 by Roger Williams, keeper of the St. James Coffee House, and given or sold by him to Mr Edward Coke, of Longford Hall, Derbyshire. To Him that Hath

American papers state that Mr A. G. Vanderbilt entered the ranks of racehorse owners purely for sport, but the dollars will keep on chasing him. He headed the list of winning owners last year with 303,605 dollars, and his horses won 88 races, were second 69 times and 72 times third. Mrs A. M. Creech took first place, having won 107 races. Mr Vanderbilts winnings exceeded those of the Aga Khan. The five most popular riders in America all had more than 1000 mounts, J. Wagner having 1215, which gives the impression that the Yankee jockey leads a busier life than the English wonder, Gordon Richards, who had 948 rides in the last racing season. On the 18 principal courses £1,412,000 was distributed in prize.money, the leading club, Narragansett Park, disbursing over £151,000. The Agua Caliente Jockey Club only gives away about onethird of the total of the leading club, and ranks seventeenth on the list of stake givers. Narragansett, Santa Anita, Detroit, and Belmont Park are the only ones to top the £IOO,OOO mark ifl stakes for a season’s racing.

“ Boxer Hat ” Man’s Busy Day The cash punter who is now known as the man in the “ Boxer Hat,” had a busy day at Williamstown. He wagered on the seven events, backed four horses m more than one race. At the end.of l the day (says a Melbourne writer) I totalled up and found that he had backed 1J horses, making 22 wagers in doing so. He was on four winners, four seconds, and three thirds, which shows that he sums form up accurately. Some people would consider the amount he is charged in betting tax a good winning day. It cost him £3 6s to place his £2150 worth ot bets! Consolidated revenue certainly benefits from his turf transactions. How he arrives at his conclusions, and what is the urge that spurs him on to making colossal cash wagers has everyone guessing. One of these days I will tell his story. He is a lever of good horses, and is never afraid to entrust £SOO to his chief fancy in a classic. In his quiet, unobtrusive manner he is likely to maintain, his onslaught on the bookmakers for the next month, when he contemplates an extended holiday, which, incidentally, he intends to have at the bookmakers’ expense.