RACING NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23165, 15 April 1937, Page 7

RACING NEWS

By Sentinel The Tlmaru Meeting A rather pleasing list of nominations was received for the South Canterbury Jockey Club’s meeting. Oamaru Nominations In the Oamaru Jockey Club nominations, Surge was omitted from the Pukeuri High-weight Handicap on the second day. Jolly Beggar Jolly Beggar was responsible for a pleasing school over six flights of hurdles on Tuesday morning. Joyous . , The Chief Ruler—Limelight mare Joyous is shaping well in sprinting gallops at Biccarton. She is engaged at the Waimate meeting. Hunting Go Hunting Go is being schooled over fences at Invercargill, and shaped in very creditable style in his initial attempt over timber. . ■ Nolano The Night Raid filly Nolano, who is engaged at Waimate, covered half a mile! with Full Throttle on Tuesday in 49 2-ssec. She is a sister to Rose of Tralee. The Oamaru Meeting Owners have bestowed excellent patronage on the Oamaru Jockey Club’s programme, and the list of nominations contains more than ample material to furnish a very successful meeting. At Oamaru As usual, very good fields have been nominated for the light-harness events on the'Oamaru Jockey Club’s programme, and will help to build up the attractiveness of the meeting. The Difference Over 20 Wingatui-trained horses have been nominated for the first day of the Oamaru Jockey Club’s meeting, and less than half the number from the same quarter for the one-day meeting at Timaru. The difference apparently represents how owners regard the Cost of. patronising a one-day meeting. There will he a two-day meeting at Timaru on May 20 and 22. Jewel of Asia 1 , . Jewel of Asia, the dam of the Llmohd colt . purchased by Mr Vf: H. Gaisfprd, was got by Grosvenor (sire of Rbsenorl from Ayesha 11, by Ayrshire from Armenia, by. Westminster from Gravity, the dam of William the Third, one of St. Simon’s most successful sons on the turf and at the VP Recruits ; .'••r.v:• A pleasing feature of the nominations for the South Canterbury Jockey Club’s meeting consists in the fact that several recruits to the ranks of hurdlers figure in the list. Racing over, hurdles and fences has always beeii a most attractive form of sport, and hence the pleasure of seeing additions to the ranks, which are never too strong in numbers. Racing at Randwick In referring to a shrinkage in the attendance at the A.J.C. autumn meeting, a Sydney paper said: “Admission charges are not the only drawback to attendance at races, The sport has suffered considerably through adverse criticism, not all of which is undeserved, and firmer control and a more general understanding between racing committees and the people might be the key that would turn condemnation to approbation, and command a following.” Considering the Trainer Tile Newcastle Jockey Club is making a departure by offering special prizes, to the trainers of, winners, in the principal races at its two-day meeting at the beginning of next month. The trainer of the winner of the Newcastle Newmarket of 200 soys, seven furlongs, will receive a cash prize of £SO, and there will be a similar prize for the trainer of the winner of the Newcastle May Day Handicap, of 200 soys. Inquiries Judging by the number of inquiries held during each day’s racing at the principal meetings in Australia, there seems to be something radically wrong with the control of racing in the Commonwealth. Interference seems to be quite a common affair, and punishments and censures are handed out almost every day, On the final day of the Randwick autumn meeting three horses were galloped on during the running of the Fernhill Handicap for two-year-olds. They each had to receive „ veterinary attention. One of them, Light Dragoon, had both hocks stripped and cuts about the tendons. This -may be taken as evidence that some riders cannot see where they are going in a race, and hence the mishaps mentioned above. Meting out punishment is not the remedy for interference. What is required consists in a more capable tuition of the riders. This can be best achieved by compelling riders to use a seat that allows them to see how near their mounts are striding to another horse. In another race Heroic Faith was badly knocked about. He cut an artery and bled profusely. Baffles The Blandford stallian Baffles, who was bought to support Hunting Song at the Hillcrest Stud, Hamilton, is due to arrive in New Zealand this week. This horse was sold as a yearling for 6000 guineas, and six of the progeny of his dam, Waffles, sold for an aggregate of 30,000 guineas as yearlings. saffles is bred on the same lines as Bahrain, both being by Blandford from , a mare inbred to St. Simon. Buckwheat, sire of Waffles, was from Sesame, by St. Simon, and the dam of Waffles, Lady Mischief, was also a daughter of that great progenitor. The greatest racing son of Waffles was Manna, who was sold as a colt for 6300 guineas, and won the Two Thousand Guineas and the Derby, his stake Winnings being £23,534. Manna has also been a great success at the stud. Stallion for Southland The English stallion Salmagundi, a beautiful type of chestnut, arrived at Wellington . yesterday creating keen interest through his wonderful conformation, size and quality. He is a half-brother to Salmon Trout, the successful English sire which won the St. Leger, the Princess of Wales Stakes, etc., with stakes totalling £15,800. His dam, Salamandra, was sold for 16,000 guineas. Her dam, Llectra, winner of the One Thousand Guineas Stakes, produced winners of £13,000. Her next dam produced winners of £30,000. Salmagundi, who should arove a wonderful acquisition to Mr Mex. Chisholm’s Southland stud, will in-ive in Dunedin on Saturday.

"The King of the Ring” An old-time sportsman once informed the writer that the famous ‘‘leviathan of the ring,” the late Mr Joe Thompson, once operated behind a piscatorial barrow on a;site now occupied by the front of Dunedin’s new and magnificent Post Office. It is evident that Mr Thompson was a “ real trier” from the outset. He not only rose to be “ king of ring ” in Australia, where he operated on> a very large scale, but in later years he also became a prominent and popular figure on the English turf. He must have been a most remarkable man to start from I scratch and, by his own energy, integrity, and personality, to rise to the most notable personage ever identified with racing in Australia and England. ■.Mr Thompson won the Melbourne Cup of 1873 with Don Juan and, incidentally, won a big stake. This success helped to elevate him to the “metallic throne” which he occupied with credit and distinction so long as he remained in Australia. It is rather interesting to attempt to visualise the site of the new Post Office occupied by “a man behind a barrow” and the architectural mountain that stands there today. It may be said that Thompson was the only real “king of the ring” in Australia. The Question of Evidence An Australian writer recently discussed the question as to whether an owner should be judged by the betting if his horse’s running is under investigation. It appears to be the case in Australia, as the betting has generally been the principal factor in coming to a decision. Any owner or trainer whose tactics do not bring them under suspicion would be very deficient in racing knowledge if they backed a horse merely because he was a starter. A trainer should be able to sum up a horse’s chance on condition and the handicap and know whether he had a betting proposition or not. If the chance was remote, it would be extremely foolish to bet on the offchance of what would amount to a surprise. There is no law to compel an owner or trainer to back a horse, but if the said horse runs better than anticipated, then there is also no law to say that the said horse should not be well supported for his next race. In the first place, the horse may be improved by a race, and, furthermore, the handicap may be considerably more in his favour, and then again the opposition may not be so, strong. To challenge u horse-racing man under the suggested conditions strongly savours of regarding racing with far too much suspicion and, to a certain extent, lack of knowledge on the part of the officials. Supervision of the actual running of a race must be primarily based on eyesight and knowledge of racing. Because a horse shows an apparent or real and marked improvement in form, it does not necessarily follow that he was not doing his best in the previous race. If he was not ridden to win, then an ■inquiry should have been promptly held after the race. If a doubt existed the fact that a horse was not backed should not be taken as evidence of guilt. Neither should a subsequent win be taken as evidence as guilt. It is quite possible that a big betting stable may provide insurance against risk by placing money on a horse that may only be out for an “eye-opener,” and the money placed in that way may be a mere bagatelle to the bet made when really out for business. When a good horseman is on top he can make it very difficult to detect or even arouse suspicion by getting into little “accidents," that make it hard for a horse to win without obvious pulling. The liltle; accident provides a reasonable explanation unless it is preceded by talk which acts as an alarm clock to the officials. There is such a thing as too rhany inquiries and the fact creates an atmosphere of suspicion that should not exist in connection with racing. As a rule those inclined to indulge in clever tactics only require sufficient rope to hang themselveis, and when they do so their racing life should be terminated and not administered k comparative tin-pot punishment that fails to act as a not-to-be-ignored warning to others. It really seems incredible that a case quoted by the Australian writer mentioned above could pass muster. He said: “ The epic case of this was provided by the late Mr Ned Moss. His humane outlook on life regretted disqualification for anybody, and he often came to the rescue when he backed a horse even unbeknown to the stable, to volunteer evidence which got people out of scrapes. But there was one case where a horse was deliberately pulled up, because Mr Moss had stepped in and backed it on his own initiative, without consulting the stable. It proved a glaring hot case, too, and the stewards could not miss investigating the form. Mr Moss had put round £7OO of his own money on, an,d he was a little heated after the race at such a raw deal for his money, but when he heard there was an investigation he performed the miracle of kindness. Some would have wished disqualification on the parties and serve them right,’ but not so Mr Moss. He hurried to the inquiry, told of the £7OO he had put on, said he thought the - horse tried, but might have got into a bit of bother through mterference —and got the parties off. How many backers anywhere in the world could have swallowed their own injury to do a thing like that? To which may be added that apparently the officials did not believe the_ evidence of their own eyesight and judgment. Racing at Randwick Although most other branches of sport are attracting larger crowds, racing in this State is not making any advancement in that direction. In fact (says the Sydney Herald), it is gradually losing its patronage. Such a state of affairs should be disturbing, not onlv to racing officials, but also to the Government, which derives a materia' amount of its revenue each year from this source. The officially-estimated attendance on the four days of the autumn meeting at Randwick this year, when weather was good on each day, was 151,500, as against 152,800 last year. The decrease was not great, but if allowance is made for the improved general conditions throughout the community, there should have been a decided increase. The attendance on the fourth day was 24,700, as against 28 500 in 1936. The totalisator investments on Saturday were £28,487 10s. compared with £34,330 on the fourth day of last year’s meeting. The aggregate investments for the whole meeting this year were £165,031 15s, and in 1936 they amounted to £167.941. When racing slumped in sympathy with general depression there was nothing for the clubs to do but to trim prize money and expenses in accordance with attendances. There have been attempts to regain ground, but the problem was much bigger than could be met with spasmodic bids for popularity. Apart from professionals, racing is supported normally by a changing crowd. In ordinary years there is a fresh influx of young men to restore the balance caused by the withdrawal of regulars, who. say through increasing family obligations found it too expensive to continue. Depression left the younger men short

of money for pleasure, and the remarkable growth in the popularity of sports such as golf and tennis in recent years mav be one reason why racing continues" to drop from favour. There is still the Australian's love for a race and a flutter on it, but there is a less expensive way of satisfying the craving, and unfortunately for racing this attraction has increased in its ramifications, in circumstances which for- it were exceedingly favourable.