RACING NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22827, 11 March 1936, Page 13

RACING NEWS

By Sen tin hi.

Oamaru Acceptances Acceptances for the first day of the Oamaru meeting are due to-morrow. Lochlaggan Scratched Lochlaggan has been scratched for her first day's engagement at Trentham. The Cromwell Meeting The Cromwell meeting will be held on Friday and Saturday of this week. Settling at Riccarton Rex Beale, the hnurdle and steeplechase horseman, has decided to make Riccarton his headquarters. , A Good Beginner Aro Arc is a good beginner and should get a share of the stakes attached to the shorter events at Cromwell. A Useful Team 1 D, P. Wilson’s team for the Cromwell meeting will be Fireguard, Mary Pratt and Surge, and between them they look like getting a big share of the stakes., The St. Leger Field *Ol the six acceptors for the New Zealand St. Leger, two unnamed geldings by Hunting Song appear ,to ’ have been left in by inadvertence, while Night Lass has been paid up for also in the High-weight. Third Win in Succession The win of Concertpitch at Motukarara was "his third in succession, and the Balboa three-year-old appears to have shaken off the effeqits of the fall he suffered at Washdyke in the spring. He was in front all the way in the Ahuriri Handicap, and had no difficulty in resisting challenges from Tooley Street and Colombo. Bred in Australia''. v",’;-;' r Emmeline Girl, who took the lead at*, the home turn in the . Juvenile Stakes at Motukarara andfctalUld off 'iMpersonator,' who finished well after making the turn badly, is a two-year-old filly . by the Melbourne Cup winner Backwood. She was bred in Australia, and had only started once before. Gold Rod’s Brilliancy The brilliancy displayed by Gold Rod in winning the V.R.C, Sires’ Produce Stakes, in which he defeated the hitherto un beaten fitiv fidelity,’ was of . so con-vinbi'flgilS’-i^hSFacter' that it would seem safe to conclude that New Zealand will once more have the credit of breeding the leading two-year-old of the season. So far Gold Rod has won three of the four ’-aces he has contested, and, bought for 330 guineas as a yearling, he is to be regarded as a rich prize for Mr E.. J. Watt. Gold Rod’s next race will probably 'be the A. J. C. Sires’ Produce Stakes, to be run at Randwick on April 11. , The leading feature in the pedigree of Gold Rod is the in-breeding to Roi Herode. grandsons of the French-bred sire being, on the top line on each side. The leading lines in the pedigree are as follows, I —Sire: Chief Ruler, by The Tetrarch ison of Roi - Herode) from Jest, by Sundridge (son of Amphion) from Absurdity, by Melton (son of Master Kildare*). ■ Dam Oreum, by King John (son of Roi Herode) from Desert Gold, by All Black (kofi of Gallinule) from 'Aurarius, by Maltster (son of Bill of Portland). Echo, of Cesarewitch Tommaok, the horse who caused a sensation by developing heel trouble on the morning of last year’s Cesarewitch, for which he had been backed to win a fortune, _is dead. He was found to be suffering from colic and died early in January. A few days before the Cesarewitch, Tommaok, a French-bred gelding by Grand 6uignol,,was tried at home to see whether he had recovered from a fall while contesting the Newbury Autumn Cup. The test appeared to be satisfactory, There was then a flood of money all over the country for him, and at the call-over, two days before the race, he was made a warm favourite. On the morning of the Cesarewitch heel trouble developed, and it was thought that he would be unable to run. After a veterinary examination his owner, Mr G. F. X. Hartigan, decided, in view of the fact that so much public money was at stake, on a fighting policy.- Ridden by Gordon Richards, be showed no eigne of , lameness in the race, running prominently until a furlong from home and pulling up sound; Subsequently he won the Finale Handicap at Lmgfield in November, Waiuku’s Record*

. Although the Thompson Handicap was inaugurated in 1892, there have been two breaks in its continuity. There was no autumn, meeting in 1806, nor was there such a fixture the previous year, though the Thompsdn Handicap then was run at the winter meeting. The other lapse v* in 1918, when, owing to camp activities during the war, the Wellington Club did not hold an autumn meeting. Waiuku holds the record number of wins in the .pace, and also the winning weight record. He took three consecutive 'Thompsons, though, owing to the break in 1896, they were not successive years. The weight he carried in his third victory was 10.3, and the minimum then was 6.7, Waiuku. who was owned by Mr S* M'Guineas, was a four-year-old in 1895, the year of his first win. He carried 7.5, and after always being one of the three leaders, he scored bv three lengths from the favourite, St. Clements. The next day he also won the Autumn Handicap, but was then favourite. There was no race in 1896, but in 1897, as second favourite, under 8.13, the son of St. Lcge.r, an entire horse by the way, succeeded again, and he capped of! the hattrick as fourth favourite next year under 10.3,in Imin 4,3 sec, the fastest time up till that date. No other horse has ever von the Thompson under such a weight, the next, best performances being those of Sasanof and Arrowsmitli under 9.9 in_ 1919,and 1920 respectively. In that third win Waiuku must have put up a remarkable achievement in every way. He Was kept to the rails in the early stages, •'■ud fortnnate'y never had to leave the fence... The small field ran a little wide ut the straight entrance, and he was able In drive through at an excellent moment. At the distance the outsider. Bona Fide, was still well clear, but Waiuku grndu!’l ly overhauled him and finally forged ahead to a narrow victory in the last stride. In his two earlier wins he had b"en ridden b" E. Russell, but on the third occasion P. White, a heavier horseman. was substituted for Russell on the day of the race. The champion did not (■'ntest another Thompson.