RACING NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23333, 27 October 1937, Page 6

RACING NEWS

By Sentinel Cup and Stewards Two Dunedin-owned horses in Cerne Abbas and Alma give every promise of racing prominently in the New Zealand Cup and Stewards’ Handicaps respectively. One-eyed The Bigot is so called because he is one-eyed. He came to New Zealand for the same reason, as one-eyed horses may not race in Australia. Being a half-brother (by Baralong) to Young Crusader, he would have been valuable property in Australia had it been permissible to race him. He is not the first one-eyed Australian-bred horse who has won races in this country. A good winner in the same category was the Auckland Cup victor Corinax. Ben Braggle As a Stewards’ Handicap trial, there could not have been a more pleasing performance than Ben Braggie’s win at Trentham. Ben Braggie was favourite for the big Biccarton sprint last year and failed to do better than fourth, but he is a more solid horse now. At Wanganui, in his only pervious start this season, he was a certainty beaten by Debham through his rider taking things too easy. A five-year-old brown son of the King John horse Gascony, he is owned by Mr G. Gunn, of Napier, for whom he has already won eight races and been placed six times in only 18 starts in all for £1365 in stakes,

Relative Relative's win in the Trial Stakes at Trentham was a fine performance fitting to her breeding. In her first two outings as a two-year-old she showed a lot of promise by finishing second, but In the three previous races she had this season she tailed lamentably Her future form may now be more commensurate with expectations. She is a bay daughter of the Son-in-Law horse Posterity, and it is doubtful if money could buy her from her breeder-owner. Mr G. M. Currie. Eulogy died when foaling her, and she was reared on the bottle. She was her dam's fourteenth foal, the first having been Pennon (dam of Motley, etc!), and the others including Humbug, Epitaph, Commendation, Eulalie, and Homage (dam of Honour, Prestige, Heritage, Courtcraft, etc.). Win*atul Stables

Wingatui stables are well represented in the general nominations for the New Zealand Cup meeting. The list includes Last Link, Travenna, Stromboli, Gambler's Luck, Natty, Nightwings, Great Pal, Janet Gaynor, Lord Nuffield, Atalanta Lass, Norseman, High Glee, Linguist, Daring Deed, Lumiere, Compensate. Combat, Ortyx, and Araboa.

Speed Some remarkably fast gallops were recorded at the Wellington spring meeting but it does not necessarily follow that winners developed extra speed. The track and atmospheric conditions were favourable to fast times, and a favourable breeze helped horses to finish on up the straight. The same horses may win again at the New Zealand Cup meeting in fast or slow time, but it will not mean a gain or loss of speed, but merely that track conditions changed. The times recorded at Trentham may suggest that at the present time some of the horses in training are the equals of Machine Gun or Gloaming, but instead of that being the case track, conditions beat the watch. Some good two-year-olds and older horses were seen out at Trentham,. but their racing merit does not elevate them to championship honours. Royal Chief has been proclaimed as a great three-year-old. and no doubt he is one above the ordinary, but he merely accomplished what good three-year-olds did in the past when racing under the weight-for-age scale against older horses. The Crooner's position at the end of the race for the Harcourt Stakes gives further evidence of how the standard scale favours a three-year-old, and the longer the journey the more the scale favours the young brigade. Still the fact remains that the winners included some sure to achieve notable performances in the future, although they may not climb to as high a pedestal as occupied by. champions of the past. Starting

Good starting does not consist in apparently getting a field of horses in fair line but it is much more important that each horse should be set square on' and ridden straight out from its barrier position until by speed or circumstances of the run a rail berth can be secured. The most surprising fact in connection with racing in Australia is that riders are being stood down at almost every meeting for cutting in too soon in the rush from a start. At the present moment McCarten, one of the most successful riders in Australia, is on a compulsory and. to him, a most expensive holiday, through cutting in at the start of a race. At the Wellington spring meeting horses were cut out at the start of a race but so far as could, be gathered no investigation took place as to whether the loss of ground was due to the field not being properly set or due to interference or incompetence on the part of the rider. These are not isolated cases, but really occur at meeting after meeting. If such a state of affairs continues in evidence in the future as in the past then there must be something radically wrong in connection with the control of racing. The most essential thing in connection with racing, now that it has become so strongly impregnated with commercialism, is that everyone should get a good, fair run for their money. It cannot be claimed that such is the case to-day. Anyone who holds opinions to the contrary has only a rather superficial and not a real knowledge or racing. The rectification of the existing state of affairs would be difficult but not impossible. It would be an unthinkable state of affairs to lay a charge of connivance in connection with, some of the occurrences that are too frequently taking place in connection with racing. Facts are not fancies, and accidents may be unavoidable, but every precaution should be taken towards preventing possible repetition. It is time to strike a note of interrogation and ask if the present state of affairs is satisfactory or open to improvement I ask you.

Wellington Spring Meeting The Wellington Racing Club's spring programme appears to require reconsideration. It starts with a race for stayers and finishes with a card that makes no provision for them. The programme provides the principal handicaps for the first day—an off-day of the fixture—whereas it should be set for the principal day. It is a mistaken idea that the principal race should be run on the first day of a meeting. The Melbourne Cup is not run on the first day of the V.R.C. spring meting, but has never lost any importance on that account. The three days' spring meeting at Trentham seems to exhaust the supply of all the available two-year-olds for the reason that any sane trainer is not likely to start one of them on each day of the meeting unless some special reason exists lor

making so much use of a youngster in the early part of the season. The Wellington spring meeting is in close proximity to the New Zealand Cup fixture, with four days at Riccarton, and hence supplies a good reason why a two-year-old, or even a more or less well-seasoned three-year-old or handicap horse should not be produced more than twice at the Trentham spring meeting. In other words, the Wellington spring meeting is a day too long for the requirements of owners and trainers with horses engaged at the New Zealand Cup meeting. Judging by the fields that went to the post on the final day at Trentham, there is not sufficient material for a three-day meeting. The Wellington Racing Club should consider the advisability of building up the lutumn meeting at Trentham. After the Wellington Cup meeting the calendar does not supply a three-day fiat racing programme during the rest of the season Towards the back end r* the racing year horses should be well seasoned and hence in better shape to stand up to a three-day meeting than in the early part of the season. That is the primary point for consideration, and also the fafit that clubs require to-be-stow more study on the general welfare of racing than on the individual success of a club.

Two-year-old Winnings The amount which it is possible for a two-year-old to earn in stakes in New Zealand is naturally small compared with countries where the juveniles can win fortunes in their first season. In Australia the record is held by Mollison, who amassed a grand total of £17,318.* In England the highest amount stands to the credit of Orwell, with £19,468, but these totals look insignificant alongside that of the American Top Flight, whose two-year-old winnings alone were £45,625. That was in 1930. The highest amount ever won by a New Zealand two-year-old (says an exchange) was £4700 ; which was garnered by Mr Eliot Davis's filly Queen March in the 1922-23 season. That was a peak year for stakes, and in similar circumstances last year's leading money-winning two-year-olds, Royal Chief, £2290 and Francis Drake, £2030, might have approached the record figures. Queen March was out 15 times as a two-year-old, winning six races and being only twice unplaced. Her principal successes were in the Debutante Stakes, Wellesley Stakes, A.R.C. Welcome Stakes, Royal Stakes, and Great Northern Champagne Stakes. Notable two-year-old winners included Autumnus £3070. Desert Gold £3665, Finmark £3160, Surveyor £3050, Humbug £3120, Mermin £4570, Epitaph £4260, Motley £3825, Lady Cavendish £346s,Lysander £3025, Gascony £3385, Gay Ballerina £3950. and Ammon Ra £2535, whose total was compiled in 1931, one of the worst of the depression years. In only two seasons has the winning two-year-old also been at the head of the winning list. The two-year-olds who took that honour were Formby (£2610) in 1909-10, and Gay Ballerina (£3950) in 1928-29 Formby had plenty to do as a two-year-old, and was practically useless the following season. Two-year-old precocity is frequently over-estimated by trainers, and a youngster, while winning his races well, may be burning himself out. A notable exception was Desert Gold, who raced from two years until she was seven in championship form, being unplaced only five times in 56 starts, 36 of which she won.