RACING.

Otago Witness, Issue 4032, 23 June 1931, Page 50

RACING.

FIXTURES. June 23.—Egmont-Wanganui Hunt Club. June 26, 27.—Napier Park. June 27.—Ashburton. July 4.—Oamaru. July 14, 16, 18.— Wellington. July 18.—Waimate District Hunt Club. July 23, 25.—Gisborne. July 25.—South Canterbury Hunt Club. TALK OF THE DAY. By Sentinel. A POPULAR MEETING. The South Canterbury Jockey Club has, like others, been walking somewhat timidly during the last season or two, but the evidence of last week’s meeting and the previous ones of the present racing season show that it can well afford to play a bold front when things are anything at all favourable. The South Canteibury Jockey Club hold assets second to none in the South Island. In the first place it provides a track giving a horse every reasonable opportunity to display rac ’"g superiority even if it is only under ie temporary opportunity of a favourable handicap. The average owner wishes tor nothing better than a fair chance to win. and this can be obtained at Timaru, where the scope of the track and reasonable horsemanship leave very little to be desired. Despite the decidedly wintry weather, bitterly cold and cheerless, quite a good attendance turned out to view whatever possibilities of sport the card carried in its pages. It proved to be well worth bearing up against tne asaults of the weather to witness several good races, and in some cases really good horsemanship that made all the difference between winning and losing. Horsemanship on the part of A. E. Ellis on Sleipner decided the result of the No'ice Handicap, and again on the part ot D. O’Connor on Royal Saxon m the Prince Edward Handicap. Both horses got home with little or nothing to spare, and although it has been said that. there is less than the length of a walking stick between the best and the worst jockey in the world, it would take more than all the timber in a very tall tree to balance real horsemanship and the lack of ability to make the very best use of a mount. Perhaps the result of the Seadown Handicap might have been different if some of the field had not been in such a hurry to get home. The hot pace set—and 1.13 1-5 under a 9.0 minimum proves it lett several of the field without a finish, and then Mount Boa. the only proved stayer in the field, came along and won, racing away at the finish after being one of the last to leave at the rise of the barrier. It has, to the writer, always been one or the marvels of racing why riders on speedy non-stayers go out and force the pace, and so adopt tactics utterly opposed to their chance of winning. There is still room for improvement in Mr Hastings s starting, but the management of the Timaru meetings and the atmosphere of friendly sportsmanship on the part of the stewards continue to win appreciation on every side. A STRONG STABLE. There has never in the history of racing and breeding in Otago been anything approaching in numerical strength and potential power the stable which has just been established by Mr J. M. Samson at Wingatui. Last week seventeen horses arrived at Wingatui to be trained by C. Gieseler. The list includes two imported colts and two imported fillies. One imported colt has been placed m P. T. Hogan’s stable at Timaru as a stablemate to Tuki. In addition, eight rising two-year-olds and others that have performed in public complete the list at present under C. Gieseler’s charge. Io supply a future possible strength, M.’ Samson has some present . earhngs al } d several mares to foal that should help

to keep up the strength and value of the stable and provide it with the necessary material to turn out winners. The breeding of the imported colts, Lord Argosy (who won the Middle Park Plate) and Lord Buchan, has been touched on in a previous occasion Lord Argosy is in fine robust condition and in excellent shape for next season. Lord Buchan is a big colt and a very,, nice mover, but unfortunately he is showing a tendency to “ whisper,” which may not stop him from winning, or bar the way to success at the stud, as he lacks nothing on the score of breeding. It may be interesting to take a glance at the breeding of some of the young stock that have yet to appear in public. Everyone is greatly taken with the Paper Money—Skydream filly. She is a wellgrown bay with plenty of size, scope, and quality, and from top to toe looks a galloper. Skydream was got by Skyrocket from Little Thoughts, by Flotsam —Little Tinks, by Bread Knife—Weir, by Galopin—Dee, by Blair Athol. Skyrocket was got by Sunstar from Maid of the Mist, by Cyllene from the famous Sceptre. Flotsam was a good winner in England, and his stud value was recognised by a repurchase from America. lie was got by St. Frusquin, the grandsire of Paper Money, from Float, by Sheen (son of Hampton, and sire of Martian’s dam), from Footlight, by Cremorne (Derby and Grand Prix de Paris) from Paraffin, by Blair Athol. The Paper Money—Sky dream filly thus possesses a very remarkable pedigree full of the most successful strains. The writer has suggested Wealth as a name for the filly, as her pedigree represents a wealth of everything. Skydreams build castles in Spain or on the turf, and money on paper creates dreams of financial power or from every possible point of view. She may race as Wealth or Starlight. There is a brown filly of compact stamp, suggestive of early speed, got by Paper Money from Lava, by Solferino— Formless, and so claiming relationship to Wakeful, Noctuiform, Nightfall, and other good winners. Inbreeding to St. Simon has proved a great success and may do so in this case. There is another smartish-looking filly by Weathervane from Lake Uru, by Sunny Lake from Arai te Uru, by Birkenhead —Fair Nell, by Apremont from Idalia. The Idalia taproot has been a prolific source of success, and may prove so again with the Lake Uru filly. A very nice and well-set-up filly is a w’hole chestnut by Hunting from Etoile d’or, or by Polydamon (son of Polymelus), from Perle d’or, by Multiform, from Aura, the dam of the Melbourne Cup winner Auraria and that very great three-year-old, Aurum. The imported filly Anne Shakespeare is also in work at Wingatui. She was got by Spearwort (Spearmint)* from Encouragement, by Chaucer (son oi St. Simon) from Miss Tailor, by Orvieto. She is a nice type of a bay mare, well grown and a nice mover in her slow paces. A well-grown and shapely brown filly is a daughter of Cygnus and Kish-le-shee, a mare by Acclaim (son of Amphion) from a grand-daughter of St. Frusquin. Cygnus was got by Sunstar from Mangalmi, by William the Third from Vampire, the dam of Flying Fox, who was sold at 39,37550 vs and stood at a 600 guinea fee in France. Flying Fox is best known to us as the sire of The Welkin, who got Gloaming. The above lot make a strong team, and in addition there are two Australian-bred rising two-year-olds by East Tor, and others that will come up for notice when they go into training.

SELECTING A SIRE. A card player usually discards the weakest paper in hand and retains apparent strength dictated by commonsense knowledge of the game. Holding weak cards in the hope that they may score a point, at some time or other, is on a par with playing billiards with a bent cue that can only achieve success by a fluke or not at all. • A good house can never be built -with bad material, which at best can only erect a jerry-built edifice more than likely to warp and diminish in value because of the faulty material used in the structure. So much is commonsense knowledge of everyday facts. The same ideas should be applied to racing and breeding. Non-producers should go into the discard, and so should horses that cannot carry a winning saddle. Still, the fact remains that some breeders will not discard stock of their own breeding even when their racing merit is a mile below possibility. To make matters even worse, they include fillies in their stud after they have proved worse than useless as racing prepositions. Such fillies may breed a winner the same as anything entitled to admittance to the Stud Book, but in doing so they are really striving to construct a successful racing stable on a foundation of the sands of failures. Only the other day the owner of a brood mare discussed with the writer the selection of a sire for her, and asked an opinion about the matter. He was requested to leave the matter over for a day or two, and then the writer presented him with a list of how every mare of the line bred and to what particular line of stallion they had achieved the best results. The owner of the brood mare then mentioned the name of a stallion, and in reply it was pointed out that the horse

had been several years at the stud, and his best was not, at the best estimate of racing value, a really good second-class performer. No one wishes, when looking to the future, to go to the time, trouble, and expense of breeding a second or third class performer. If the result is a filly it becomes of very doubtful value for the stud, and if a horse of mediocrity or worse, it becomes impossible to sell. This result is found after perhaps three or four years of waiting and a waste of money. Rather than breed a mare to a stallion that has achieved only second raters, it would be better in the interests of the future welfare of the thoroughbred to send her by a short route to the happy hunting grounds where all good equines go when they die. Breed mares to sires with present or potential value and leave the cost of service as the last consideration. Work on those lines or get rid of the mare. It takes at least three years to see the result of a service, and at that time the breeder should have at least something that really looks well, at anyrate on paper, and so has a selling value or a racing value worth retaining. On the other hand, if a mare is bred to a “ cheap ” sire the result cannot be sold on anything like a par with the cost of rearing, and very probably something that can barely pay its way in moderate company or not at all if the whim of a weight-adjuster holds a too exalted opinion of some performance or other. These are points that owners of brood mares should ponder before making a final selection of stallions for the coming season.

SCARCITY OF STAYERS. Stayers are steadily disappearing from Australian racecourses, and we are now paying the penalty of our folly in sacrificing stamina for speed in our horses. After the last V.R.C. spring meeting a well-known trainer, who has had a long experience of Australian racing, and has prepared several winners of the race, declared that the field beaten by Phar Lap was the worst he had ever seen in a Melbourne Cup. He went further (says the Australasian), and predicted that the next Melbourne Cup field would be worse than that which Phar Lap so readily disposed of. A glance through the entries taken for the cups recently strongly confirms that view. Nearly 300 horses have been nominated for the Melbourne Cup this year, and the stayers with any pretensions to class among them can be counted on the fingers of the hands. Phar Lap is the outstanding horse among those entered, and The Dimmer, as the winner of the Sydney Cup, must rank next to him, but there will be some difficulty in naming the remainder. The three-year-olds this season were far removed from top class, and the best of them were Veilmond, Tregilla, and Balloon King. They, however, were easily beaten when pitted against the older class horses in weight* races and in handicaps. They are not likely to figure prominently in the class races next spring. The outlook as far as the coming three-year-olds is concerned does not appear to be much brighter. There has been no outstanding two-year-old in Australia this season, and nearly every important race restricted to horses of that age has produced a different winner. BETTING CONVENTIONS. Most games nowadays have their conventions, notably contract bridge; in fact there are some opponents of that pastime who say that it is all conventions, no game. Things are not quite so bad on the turf, but even there we have our conventions. The uninstructed player goes up to the bookmaker and says, “ I want a fiver on the favourite.” If his choice wins he collects his money and pays tax on the transaction.

The player who knows the conventions goes to the bookmaker, states his wager and adds the mysterious words, “ One in five.” This is a new convention, recently introduced into the game; but (says a Sydney writer) it is universally understood, and it has the effect of cutting down the tax. on any wager. It is understood that this convention is not likely to last much longer. It is becoming too well known, and there will be rules against it in the immediate future. It is not etiquette to. ask a trainer straight out whether his horse is likely to win. If you show him a handful of the right material the response. to this convention is apt to be immediate and satisfactory.

Lady punters in search of a winner are apt to be very thorough in their inquiries; they are not content to be told one winner, but they wish to discuss the chances of every horse in the race. The denial bid in this case is to say, “Well, madam, you cannot entirely eliminate the element of risk from horse racing,” which usually closes the bidding. A knowledge of these few elementary rules, and a fixed determination not to speak out of his turn, will carry a man a long way even among the elect of the turf. SUCCESSFUL SIRES. Taking the two most noteworthy winners in each case. Magpie’s progeny head the list in the matter of stake-money captured, but (says “ Phaeton ”) in the event of Phar Lap reproducing his pre-

vious form when he comes to race next season, the leading position may go to the progeny of Night Raid. The following are the respective figures:— By Magpie. By Night Raid. . £ £ Amounis . . . 48,250 Phar Lap . . 51,662 Windbag . . . 35,939 Nightmarch 29,488 £84.189 £81,150 By Valais. By The Welkin. £ £ Heroic . . . 38,062 Gloaming . . 43,100 Manfred . . 29,830 Furious . . 20,172 £67,892 £63,272 The outstanding feature in the above figures is that three of the sires mentioned trace to the famous Bend Or line. Night Raid is by Radium, son of Bend Or, Valais is by Cicero, son of Cyllene and the great-grandson of Bend Or, while The Welkin is by Orme, son of Ormonde and grandson of Bend Or. With the marked reduction in prizemoney decided upon all round it may be regarded as pretty certain that the records of recent years are likely to stand for some time. In one swoop, for instance, £3OOO comes off the Melbourne Cup stake, and, although the added money for the Australian Jockej- Club’s Derby will this year amount to £BOOO, it will in 1932 only be £5OOO. A GREAT RECORD. Percy Johnson, who is now a trainer at New Plymouth, holds the best record in connection with the riding of winners in the Great Northern Steeplechase and Great Northern Hurdles (says an Auckland paper), for he succeeded four times in the steeplechase—Jenny, Muscatel, Dummy, and Kaitere—while in the hurdle race he scored on Mutiny, Cavaiiero, and Battleaxe.

He was born at Taranaki, and in his early days he was withrtfis father, who was an accomplished horseman. He commenced riding at an early age, his first mount being in a hack race, at Waitara. After riding numerous winners on the flat, he won his first hurdle race on Le Clair. Then came Jenny, Pawa, Good Day, Sailor Boy, and Lifebuoy. On the lastmentioned horse he had to tie two bullock chains around his body to make up the weight. On lonic he won four races in one day at Waitara, the distances being one mile and a-quarter, six furlongs, one mile and a-half, and one mile, a total of four miles and a-half, which must be a New Zealand record. During one season he won 30 jumping races, and has won more events of all descriptions than any other horseman in a similar time —flat races, hack and open hurdle races, cross-country events, and a few trotting races. He has won all the principal cross-country events, being successful on Dummy in the New Zealand Grand National Hurdles and Steeplechase, Jenny in the Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase, Muscatel twice in the Wanganui Steeplechase. Nat and The Friar in the Wellington Steeplechase, while he also deadheated on Whalebone and Oeo. He also won the Egmont Steeplechase on Rambler, Whalebone, Booties, The Friar, Union Jack, and Nat. In a steeplechase he won on Waipipi at Egmont there was no money invested on his mount, and the investments were returned. On a trotting horse called Tommy he won and paid a dividend of £69. and on another called Stoper, he paid £3O. Though he had a good many falls in race riding, he was never seriously hurt.