RACING NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23354, 20 November 1937, Page 21

RACING NEWS

By Sentinel

A Change Mr P. D. McNab will act as starter •i the Ashburton meeting. A Good Combination A. E. Ellis, who won the Metropolitan Handicap on Argentic, will nave the mount on the Silverdale gelding in the Auckland Cup. Small Fields Some of the fields on the Invercargill card are on the small side, and, as several horses claim more than one engagement, a further shrinkage may .take place. Milford Milford’s third in the Epsom Handicap when he finished behind Trench Fight and The Bigot, seems to justify favouritism for the Southland Cup, Progress Progressive programmes are invariably due to the fact that public .support per medium of the totalisator {mshes clubs ahead, instead of their eading them away by attractive stakes, ' At Flemlngton

During the lour days of the Melbourne Cup meeting £357,689 5s went through the totalise tor, an increase of £58.460 5s compared with last year. Stakes amounted to £36,150, with the smallest at £7OO, the winner receiving £SOO. McHeath McHeath has not been trained at Wingatui since he raced at the Dunedin spring meeting. If fit and well and in the mood he would be dangerous at Invercargill. There are too many doubts about the betting proposition. • / . Eiccarton Returns The attendance on New 21ealand Cup day was estimated to exceed 14,000, the highest for 14 years, and that on Derby day showed an increase of between 4000 and 5000. It is likely that the final figures will show an increased attendance over the four days’ racing of close on 10.000. A Sale At the sp* mg sale of racehorses held In Melbourne at the conclusion of the cup meeting, a two-year-old bay colt by Windbag out of .Lutra. bred by Mr A. G. Hunter, was secured for 110 guineas- by Mr J. M. Steinberg, of Auckland, the owner of Elanage, who has recently been successful m Victoria. Dainty Sue On his return from Australia W. Grindley brought back with him a four-year-old mare, Dainty Sue, for Mr C. Boyle, of Palmerston North. Dainty Sue is by Drake from Masked Battery, by Comedy King from the New Zealand-bred Artillerie. by Royal Artillery from the Stepniak mare Nantes. Two prominent members of this family are Nightmarch and Silver Ring. Big Fields The best method of weeding out rubbish or horses being started only for the benefit of experience is to attach a sweepstake to fields likely to exceed the safety limit. Division races are not desirable from any and every point of view. l

Brother to Come Abbas Commenting upon the result of the New Zealand Cup. the Sydney writer “Pilot” says;—“The success of Cerne Abbas should be pleasing to Messrs A. Williams and W. Kelso, who bought her yearling brother for 425 guineas at the New Zealand sales. He is a wellgrown, loose-galloping chestnut, and races as Carbon. He, too. looks as if he might stay.” Viking Viking, who figures as an acceptor lor Invercargill, has not been seen among the morning workers at Wingatui. He has not appeared this season, but at his best would be dangerous in the Flying Handicap at Invercargill. A Stayer Beau Pere has a staying filly, Belle Parvenue. in England who recently scored over a distance for the second time. In September she won a two miles’ race at Ripon, and at Thirsk last month she was again successful over two miles. This was in the Newby Plate, and she was asked to carry 9.2. Odds were laid on her. and she won running away by three lengths, with the third horse 10 lengths further back. Belle Parvenue is only a three-year-old.

A Possible Difference At the present time it seems more difficult to pick a starter than a winner at Invercargill. Pink Robe, Counterflight, Grand Finale, Ocean Singer, McHeath, Ashaway, Sea Fox, and All Humbug are amongst those with' more than one engagement Hence, fields at the post may look totally different to what they do at present on paper.

Appreciative Visitors There was a fairly large sprinkling of visitors from overseas at the Melbourne Cup meeting, and two from England became enthusiastic regarding the charm and comfort of Flemington and the completeness of the organisation of the meeting—a compliment to Mr Kewney and his staff. The lovely floral displays along the members’ drive and on the lawns came to them as a revelation, as they were not used to seeing flower beds like them on English racecourses. A German visittor, a former cavalry officer, who is keenly interested in steeplechasing, had his first experience of steeplechasing in this country on Cup Day. and, (says the Australasian) he was much more impressed by it than he was by the •Melbourne Cup. He was amazed at the pace at which our steeplechases are run. He thought it a great meeting. but in that respect he does not differ from most Australians. A Fisherman Mr E. E. D. Clarke, who owns Hua, the winner of the V.R.C. Derby, is a devout disciple of Izaak Walton, and for several years has “ whipped the stream” at Temuka. Mr Clarke has the solitary nature of the fisherman, but his reserved demeanour is probably due to shyness rather than lack of desire to associate with others of a congenial nature. His brother, the late Sir "Rupert Clarke, was, on the other hand, more approachable as a man of the world and not afraid to meet people worth knowing. A Lengthy List It is mentioned by an American exchange that when Marshall Cassidy became a steward at New York tracks fa« Inaugurated a system of records.

covering nearly everybody and everything associated with racing in the State of New York. Behaviour of horses at the barrier, as well as their form throughout races; owners, trainers. jockeys, and touts’ records on and off the courses; photographs of every employee on race tracks, as well as those of exercise boys, grooms strappers, etc.; personnel of stables, saliva tests; turf undesirables, with their nicknames and records; and those racing men seen in contact with gangsters, are all entered up. The man who has a black mark against him is lucky if his name is missing from a record that must entail a tremendous amount of work.

Quality Numerically, New Zealand has never had strong representation in the Melbourne Cup, but commencing with Apologue in 1907, it has had four winners up to this year, the others being Sasanof, Nightmarch, and Wolan. Its seconds in the same period have been Paquito and Willie Win, so the Dominion has a good record for its number of starters. According to the opinion of many New Zealanders (says the Sydney Referee), Flood Tide stood a much better Cup chance than Willie Win at their respective weights, and, if so, it is regrettable he went amiss. In the last 30 years New South Wales winners were Lord Nolan, Prince Foote, Piastre, Posinatus, Kingsburgh Westcourt, Poitrel, Windbag, Statesman, and Peter Pan (twice). South Australia’s last winner was White Nose in 1931. A Nod The following is from an Englisn exchange:—“ During the middle of the last century Messrs Tattersalls held their Newmarket sales in the High street of the famous ‘ Turf Town.’ Proceedings were in full swing one morning when Tom Jennings happened to pass. Tom, one of the leading trainers of that era, noticed an acquaintance in the crowd and nodded a greeting. Judge his surprise when the auctioneer shouted out, ‘ Yours, Mr Jennings, at seven guineas.’ Before any explanation could be given the horse, which had been knocked down to Tom, had been led away, and the trainer found himself the owner of a horse about whom he knew nothing. When he did inspect him he passed the opinion that the animal was dear at the price. The nod was surely a gesture of Dam Fortune, for the sevenguinea ‘ nodling ’ blossomed into Plutus, winner of many races, including -the then valuable Great Eastern Handicap, which brought much wealth to Tom.” English Sires There is no doubt about Solario heading the list of winning sires in England this year, as when the last mail left England he was so far ahead of Fairway, the second horse, that there was not the least possibility of his being deprived of the lead. Solario has a margin of more than £20,000 in his favour. Thanks to the success of his son Chumleigh in the St. Leger, Singapore, who, like Solario, is a son of Gainsborough, has risen to fourth place, immediately above him being Fairway and Blandford. • Although he is now an old horse, Gainsborough keeps well up each season, and he occupies seventh position. Bosworth is well up, but he .owes his place almost wholly to the success of Boswell in the rich Eclipse Stakes, which represents £9283 of the £12.805 standing tq the credit of Bosworth. Ksar, who died in the United States a few weeks ago, owes his place in the list to the success of his son Le Ksar in the Two Thousand Guineas.