IN A NUTSHELL.

Otago Witness, Issue 4085, 28 June 1932, Page 51

IN A NUTSHELL.

Pink Note is an interesting nomination in the Grand National Hurdles. At a recent Moonee Valley meeting a man was fined for presenting himsdlf at the scales without wearing a skull cap. When the last mail came to hand from Melbourne Captain’s Gift was not in the betting on the Grand National Hurdles. The fences are not usually considered difficult at Ashburton, nevertheless four horses fell in the Dromore Steeples. The 61 nominations received for the Winter Cup represent nine more than the number received last year. Gaine Carrington and Peter Jackson are reported to be doing excellent work as a preparation for their campaign in Australia. Pangolin, who won the Napier Steeplechase and is showing promise of taking higher honours over country, was a particularly good horse over hurdles. It is reported that Copey did well on the voyage to Australia, when on the way to fulfilling engagement in the Victoria Grand National Steeplechase. A jockey asserts that the mental picture he forms of his horse taking a jump makes it successful. A case of thinking it over. Sir Richard, the winner of the Dromore Steeples, is an aged gelding by St. Petersburg from a mare by Handsome Jack. The names of Salmo Salar, 8.5, Rascal, 8.5, and Taboo, 8.5, were omitted from the list of acceptances for the Grange Handicap to be run at the Oamaru meeting. Considering that only two favourites won at Ashburton the totalisator turnover of less than £2OO below last year’s figures is remarkably good. In addition, the attendance is reported to have been small. Reports from the north state that Nukumai is bright and well after recent; racing. _ Apparently he is an equine Tennyson s brook, and threatens to go on tor ever. The two-year-old Splutter, by Tea Tray from Impediment, is regarded as one of the most promising sorts in work at Hawera. Impediment was got by Demosthenes—Kautuku, by Gold Reef. They. race on a much bigger scale in Australia than in this country, but nevertheless manage to get along without an annual conference of delegates from all parts of the Commonwealth.

At Randwick on June 11 the two-year-old Indra was deprived of first place through interfering with Dame Moab half a furlong from home. The stewards reversed the judge’s placings. Mr H. T. Lucerne, who has won five faces on end with Sir Duninald, landed a double worth 14,OOOsovs when Beaufort and Laddie Blue won the Epsom and -Metropolitan.

totalisator at Randwick put during the season, or £31,494 more than in 1930-31. There was an exti a (lay, but even without its assistance the fixtures are fairly even for the past two seasons.

Dr M . J. Stewart MKay claims that there is not one genuine stayer in Australia to-day. It will be interesting to note what the handicappers think about the .matter when framing the principal spring handicaps. H. Rama has booked space on the Zealandia, leaving Auckland for Sydney on July' 22, for Manawhenua and Horowhenua, a full brother, who is yet untried. Taneriri will not make the trip, having been blistered and turned out. Gesture has been taken out of her engagements in Australia, and is now at Elderslie with the object of breeding to Iliad. Gesture was a smart galloper on the turf, and was got by Chief Ruler from Nottava.

The Geraldine Racing Club has decided to provide the same programme for next season as it did this year. It was again decided to pay inward railway freight on all horses starting at the meeting.

From the days of the dark ages the draw for position at the post has been made by the riders. One of the motions coming before the Racing Conference would deprive riders of individually drawing a marble for position. Ringing Cheer, who won at Ashburton, is a brother to Gallant Fox. Ringing Cheer has been off the scene for some time, but apparently the respite did not prevent him from reproducing winning form. The holiday was, however, no doubt responsible for a good dividend. At the A.J.C. June meeting held at Randwick early this month Havaspot carried 10.1 and won over a mile in 1.381. Randwick must have turf laid down on springboards, because Havaspot could not show form of that class when racing here.

The stipendiary steward, and particularly the deputy steward, is not in too secure a position in this country. The fact remains it is the only system by which .continuous control can be carried out, and continuous control is the only method of control worth having. G. Price has won an enormous amount of money for his patrons since he settled in Sydney a few years ago (says the Referee), and during the 1931-32 season at Raiiflwiek he again headed the list of successful trainers. His horses recorded 11 wins and a dead-heat, and collected £14,973 15s in prize money.

As a result of the improved form shown by High Pitch w at the recent meeting at Ellerslie, Mr J. Irwin is con--teniplating a trip to Australia with the bay gelding. If the journey is undertaken High Pitch will be started in jumpers’ flat races, and he should have good prospects of contests of that class. At Longchamps (France) in April W. Sibbrit, the former - West Australian jockey, won the Prix de Challiot on Sainte Louise, owned by M. J. Wittouck, for' whom Frank Bullock acts as private trainer at Chantilly, and the Prix d’Avril on Satrap, owned by Lord Derby, of England. An English paper stated prior to the Derby that Mr Tom Walls would have closed his racing establishment at Epsom

after his severe illness had it not been for the promise shown by his colt April the Fifth. The colt won the Derby, so that Mr Walls must be happy that he did not stick to his original intention. The New Zealander, J. M. Cameron, hag decided to stay in Queensland for a time, even though he had no luck with hig team over the Brisbane Cup meeting. He has Lotus Lily, Nea Lap, and Goshawk engaged at the Rockhampton Cup meeting. Lotus Lily ig a three-year-old filly by Chief Ruler, and she showed pace >n a couple of her races in Brisbane.

The Gainsborough horse Solario is full at 500gns for 1932 and 1933. Son-in-Law is full this seasan at 300gns, and Diaphon is also full at the same fee. Call Boy is standing at 250gns. no foal, no fee. The Hurry On horse Press Gang is full at 250gns. Mr Jinks, by Tetratema, is standing at 300gns. so that it still costs big money to breed to the best. At the Maryland Horse Breeders’ Association’s show at Pimlico (Baltimore) last month, the Maryland Jockey Club gave £4OO in prizes for yearling colts and fillies. Each class received £2OO, of which £lOO went to first, £4O to second, £2O to third, and £lO to fourth, the other £3O being divided among the remaining entrants.

When inflicting punishment on H. J. Ruston for a breach of the Gaming Act, the Auckland magistrate, Mr W. R. M’Kean, said: “I suppose I am as reluctant as other magistrates to send a man to prison for this class of offence, and I do not think I would check the offence if I sent the accused to prison.” A fine of 25sovs was imposed. The extra day at Randwick this season put the totalisator turnover ahead of that for 1930-31, but there was very little difference (says the Referee) in the total for the corresponding days. Last season the investments totalled £740,221 10s, and for the current one £771,716. Deducting the £32,258 10s put through on Bridge Celebration Day, the falling-off this year would be £774.

The wisdom of forcing the pace on a fairly seasoned horse in a hurdle race has sometimes been questioned. The tactics can, however, bear good fruit. It would not be wise, for instance, to set, or allow a slow pace to be set, when such a horse as Royal Saxon is in the field. He would smother the • average hurdler for speed at the end of a slow run race.

L. Wilson is prepaiing a couple of nice youngsters at Hastings, and they took part in the two-year-old parade on Saturday. One is a bay gelding by Lord Quex from Catalini, thus half-brother to Paleta. He is a very sturdy-looking gelding very much like Paleta. The other is a chestnut filly by Chief Ruler from Doree, and she looks the sort to come early.

The proposed programme for the Otago Hunt Club’s meeting on August 27 will have the Otago Hunt Club Cup Handicap, of lOOsovs, as its star item. The race will be for qualified hunters, and the Sea View Hurdles, of SOsovs, will be an open race. At present the programme includes two events for trotters, if permission can be obtained, otherwise an alteration in the flat races will be necessary.

When Prince Kwow and Black Fox won the races on which the tote “daily double” was run at Newmarket on One Thousand Guineas day, there was only one backer of that combination, and he received £7Ol Ils for his half-sovereign. Both were rank outsiders in moderate-sized fields. The books quoted each at 16 to 1, but on the straight-out tote Prince Kwow paid nearly 27 to 1, and Black Fox 19 to 1.

Gordon RichardSj . who headed last season’s list of winning jockeys in England, was going badly up to the beginning of May. He had done more riding than any other jockey up to that time, but of his 143 mounts only 13 had won, and with F. Rickaby, he shared seventh place. W. Nevett and S. Wragg shared first place, with 19 wins, but the former, with 21.83, was first in winning percentage.

The One Thousand Guineas winner, Kandy, wag sired by Alcantara II when he was 20, and Kiao Tchau was 15 when she threw Kandy. The latter was actually by the oldest sire, and out of one of the oldest mares —two others of the same age had runners represented in the race. It is not unusual to see a good performer by a young stallion from an old mare, or vice versa, but it is not very often two old ones are responsible for something first class. J. Scobie, the eminent trainer, censures present-day jockeys for the habit they have cultivated of riding with such shortened “ leathers.” Vehemently does Scobie affirm that jockeys cannot possibly (says a Melbourne writer) have control of their mounts under such conditions. He lets us into a secret, too. Many riders pull up their stirrups a hole or two after getting out of eye-range of the stewards! The trouble is that, through ignorance, jockeys deem it an advantage to ride “ short.” C. Elliott, who won the recent One Thousand Guineas on Kandy, was also successful on Four Course in that race last year, and on Plack in 1924. Another of his good wins last year was on Brulette in the Oaks. Elliott won the Two Thousand on Ellangowan in 1923, and Flamingo in 1928, and the Derby on Call Boy in 1927. When an apprentice, he headed the winning riders’ list in England in 1924, and was second to G. Richards in 1925. Of recent years most of his riding has been done in France, where he is first jockey for M. M. Boussac.

Mercian King, sire of Foreign Queen, was an Australian-bred horse by King Offa from the imported Comus mare Bunfeast, and belonged to the same Bruce Lowe family (No. 16) as Crag an Eran, sire of April the Fifth. He -was a winner of good races in Victoria, and was imported to the Dominion by Mr F. B. Donnelly in 1929 for use at the stud. He did only the one season in this capacity, however, dying the following year. Foreign Queen is the only one of her sire’s representatives that appear yet to have been raced. The 1927 English Derby winner Call Boy had his first winner when his two-year-old daughter, Last Act, dead-heated Cantata for the Stamford Stakes at Ches-

ter on May 4. After the death of Mr F. Curzon, in whose ownership Call Boy won the Derby, Sir H. Mallaby Deelcy bought that horse for £60,000, and put him to the stud in 1928 at a fee of 400 guineas. Unfortunately Call Boy was not sure with his mares, and in consequence has not yet had many. representatives on the turf. This year his fee was reduced to 250 guineas, with a proviso of “No foal, no fee.”

A report from the north states that J. Fryer has not yet a definite date for his departure for Sydney with Peter Jackson and Gaine Carrington. He will return from Hastings to Hawera this week, and consult with the Messrs Smith concerning the trip. It is on the cards that Fryer may have an addition to his Sydney team in the shape of the rising three-year-old colt Inflation. Inflation is trained by Mrs A. M’Donald, at Awapuni, but she is unable to get away, and the question of the colt joining Fryer’s team in the event of his going over was discussed between them at Hastings.'

A horse trainer on a visit to Randwick irom another State received an urgent telegram from his foreman concerning affairs of stable importance. Being unable to read or write (says a Sydney writer), the trainer was in a quandary, because there was nobody other than the stable boy to whom he could appeal. Could he trust the stable boy? He reasoned that he must if he wished to know immediately what were the contents of the telegram. Whistling the youngster, be hade him read. But so that the boy might not hear himself speak the trainer placed his fingers in the boy’s ears.

It was estimated that the fifteen acceptors for the Coronation Cup run at Epsom during the Derby Week held a total value of well over a quarter of a million 1 ounds. They included Cameroman (winner of the Two Thousand Guineas and Derby), Sandwich (winner of the St. Leger), Orphen (placed in three classics), Parenthesis (winner of Coronation Cup last year), and other high class performers. Cameronian, Sandwich, and Orphen were valued at £lOO,OOO. Orphen has since been sold by auction at 6600gns. The other dozen were valued at prices ranging from 25,00050 vs to oOOOsovs.

It is unusual for horses that cost over lOOOgns each as yearlings in Australia to figure in a junipers’ flat race. However, at Moonee Valley (Melbourne! recently Ithuriel, a 2400gng yearling won the Marne Jumpers’ Flat race from Yantara (says a Melbourne writer), who cost UOOgns at the same age. Each is five years old, and Ithuriel is a younger brother of the Sydney Cup winner, The Dimmer. With 9.13 Ithuriel did the mile and three-quarters in 3.34. Good going for a Jumpers’ flat race. 'When Correze, with 7.12, won a mile and three-quarters race in 3.3 at the same meeting at which Carbine won the Melbourne Cup he made a record for Australia. It is now First Acres 2.564, and also at Flemington.

Mr E. J. M att is one of the few prominent New South Wales owners who have any fancy for jumpers. He generally has one or two useful hurdlers under the care of G. P. Nailon at Randwick. Mr Watt’s colours have recently been a good deal to the fore over the battens, through the agency of Lady Doris and Draconic. Both are by the Tracery horse, Dorie, who is known here (says the Globe) through his sons, Aleman, Barbadian, and others. Draconic is a half-brother to Drake, who won several hurdle races for Mr Watt, their dam being Dragon Fly, by Bcragoon (Son of Multiform) from Golden Fly, an imported mare by Your Majesty (son of Persimmon) from Mouclie d’Or, by Bend Or from Chrysalis, by Lecturer. Nailon is expected to pay a visit to Victoria with his jumpers this winter. A journey by road reminiscent of the old days of racing when means of transportation were not available is that just concluded by Seulator. The gelding was put into work in Adelaide by G. Osborne last January, and a few weeks later he began the journey to Melbourne by road. Trotting behind a spring cart, Seulator did not do much training work on the tracks. He raced at meetings in the Rivers district and at border towns in South Australia, gradually working his way down to Woodend, where he raced last week. At Seymour last month the Two gelding defeated Call Bird, who won two races at the Flemington Birthday meeting. During the long trek Seulator competed in 20 races, eight of which he won, while he was only twice unplaced.

According to opinions expressed by “ Cardigan ” in the Sydney Telegraph, tsere is a fortune awaiting anyone witn a horse good enough to take to America. “ Cardigan ” went across from Australia to see Phar Lap run. The similarity between the climate in California and Australia favours the chance of racing horses from this end without much risk of their training off. The class of horse in America, although good, cannot claim outstanding superiority, and a really good middle-distance horse would be a payable proposition to lake across. They do not feature long-distance races, and a mile and a-quarter horse that could speed the distance from end to end is the one to gather a fortune. “ Cardigan ” holds the opinion that Amnion Ra would have a better chance of gathering big stakes than Nightmarch, as brilliancy is the keynote of success.

In some notes on the Chester Cup the Manchester (England) Sporting Chronicle said the race had the unenviable distinction of having been won by a murderer, William Palmer, the Rugely surgeon, who poisoned many of his near relatives, and not a few of his friends. Palmer won the Chester Cup of 1853 with Goldfinder, but being in bad odour with the ring at the time was unable to back his horse to the extent he would have liked. He was reported to have won about £14,000, but most of this he dropped a few weeks later by recklessly laying against that great horse West Australian for the Derby. “ Have you anything to regret, William?” his clergyman brother asked him after the trial which condemned him to public execution outside Stafford Gaol in 1856. “Yes,” replied the unrepentant William. “ I have never ceased to reproach myself for opposing West Australian.”

The Oamaru Jockey Club’s winter meeting will be held on Saturday next. Water Power is liable to be rehandicapped for

the Grange Handicap, in consequence of her win at Ashburton, but the increase has not yet been announced. The fences a t Oamaru will be brush hurdles, and this will not be in favour of horses that have been racing over solid fences. Antrim Boy, Rameses, and Lancer may be most in demand for the Hack and Hunt®f s Porlock, Gold Dress, and Worship are likely to be regarded as a fancied trio in the Novice Stakes. Water Power is on the improve, and if I ’ ofc ®Y erwe 'gl Ited 1 ted may start favourite for the Grange Handicap, and next to her Mount Boa, Dunraven, and Royal Saxon are amongst those likely to be in favour. Craigavon and Ballance may be selected as the .best stayers in the Winter Hack Handicap, and Lord Buchan, Brown Pearl, and First Song will have friends for their chance in the Farewell Handicap.

The announcement that Edgar Wallace had died practically insolvent came as a great surprise to his millions of ad2nEn S and > "ho were of the imFr7end« n tn« at n* 2 V S , wealthy - But his us knew that he had been up ?X erj h - e ,? ade ’ and af t- his tragic death in Hollywood they were pect U s ln o e f y hi anX '-7 1! ’ ab . o, J t the futuie Prospects of his wife and family. The assets « %'l"oH £skfln' 0W - b |" a most open-handed man. His generosity was such that no old colleague in n il fortune-and he had scores of the - e'e r went unrewarded. The other dav at Nenmaiket hi a horses were offered’for Siu fciv'V 1 for W P’S. «>»« >'■« i-'leJ a r‘e n fh“ ye.HiS IS till thTinS: wW * »» E. J de Mestre has relinquished his X Se Pn aln U A nJer English Jockey Club Ar 111 Austr alia, Etienne George a 4i e o- been en £ Eng ’ and 212 1910 att *r J VrJ- n '’ be for some time in South Africa, and was at first associated with the stable ot Richard Wootton. In 1912 Canning W1?T ? f ° F hi ? 2Self at Chop's wiH> 3 h lltslur 9’ and won 20 races with 13 hoit.es. which included Ave Ave who captured the Derby Cup. De Mestre Jan’in ]9l3 1Or ’Th 0 Vr” t),e Ebor Ha»dlfoHowinV 13 aUd Tr he Mancl >ester Cup the in ]9l4”nnV\ r ’ , He , tnoved to Newmarket Tnr ?Pl d i t 0 char S e °f the horses of Loid Glanely I n 1921 he took over the team ot the late Mr Sol. Joel and had a bv St saddH^ fUI Se <T On - He b ogan it well m saddling up Soranus, winner of the and CO £"o 77q ’ • -Mestre won 34 races <nd £o- ? /7S in stakes that year with 19 whin?n a r d - finished second on the list ot him wf- 1004 erS i A ! lotIler “ood year for nn was 19_4, when he was fourth on the y inning list with 31 successes and £29 9*’3 wnn P oq e moncy - Eas t season de .Mestre on 28 races worth £BOl6. and this year he lad saddled up five winners. The first bill 1? iT tl C 1,1 Austra,i an racing history PtJa - , J? ne y el ’y important record, rte tiained five winners of the Melbourne t'.»’wi m e Vl of, ors were Archer (twice), Inn AA hifller, Chester, and Calamia. All ot the horses except Chester raced in his name.