SPORTING

Southland Times, Issue 22473, 8 November 1934, Page 10

SPORTING

NOTE? BY SIR MODRED. The V.R.C. Melbourne Cup meeting will continue to-day and close on Saturday. N.Z. Metropolitan Trotting Club will control racing to-day and again on Friday. Descendants of Wrack (imp.) won the first three races at Addington track on Tuesday. South Australian filly, Alinura, may be first fancy for the V.R.C. Oaks race to-day. Revision, winner of the Brush Hurdles at Riccarton yesterday, is trained at Blenheim. Aged hurdling mare Revision is a daughter of Croupier’s sire, fine horse Surveyor. Kinnoull, winner of C.J.C. Spring Nursery, is trained by J. W. Pankhurst at Washdyke. The New Zealand Trotting Derby Stakes, £5OO (IJm.) will be paced this afternoon. For the Winton Trotting Club’s Annual fixture on Dec. 29 the prize money totals £lOOO. It is expected that Winooka will be racing again in Sydney round about Christmas time. Speedwell Handicap, class 2.23 (one mile) on Winton T.C’s. programme is for saddle horses. It may be instructive to note how Tauramai shapes if started in the Stonyhurst Handicap on Saturday. The Victoria Racing Club’s Spring meeting will continue at Flemington today when the Oaks Stakes will be run. The C.J.C. ’ Stonyhurst Handicap, £2OO (Im.), is a race for three-year-olds only and will be decided over one mile. Judged on their Melbourne Cup running of Tuesday, a number of the starters appear to have lost form in recent racing. Bimbilla, winner of the Maribymong Plate, who cost 300 gns. as a gelding, is by Excitement, by Hurry On (sire of Hunting Song). Duke of Gloucester Cup, £2OOO and gold cup £lOO (one mile and threequarters) will be decided at Flemington on Saturday next. Lame when he went to the post and lame afterwards, Zulu won 1881 Melbourne Cup in a field of 33 under 5.10 {including 31b. pen.). On Saturday, at. Flemington the weight-for-age event will be the Linlithgow Stakes, £lOOO, which should provide a fast mile. Bustling for position in the early stages and running in deep going for the first time appears to have beaten Sir Simper in Melbourne Cup. Carrying 10.10 Dunedin hurdler Lycidas appears to have raced well in C.J.C. Port Cooper Brush Hurdle Race yesterday afternoon. Recovered from the trouble which kept her out of the N.Z. Cup, smart mare Sweet Agness won comfortably at C.J.C. fixture yesterday. Two-year-old Greek Shepherd, by Riad, raced greenly at Riccarton on Saturday, but his turn will probably come later on. Third in C.J.C. Spring Nursery yesterday, Sir Charles Clifford’s filly. Bun Fight, is an improving daughter of Winning Hit—Scrimmage. Roy Reed must be one of the best, renumerated colonial jockeys on record for “standing down” in races in which Nightly has been engaged of late. The Winton Trotting Club Handicap, class 4.47, harness (2m.), next month, will be worth £250, including a desirable trophy valued at £25, D. Munro, who rode Peter Pan to victory in the Centenary Melbourne Cup of Tuesday last, will be entitled to an official percentage fee of £406 5/-, which works out at the rate of more than £33 for each furlong. It is more than likely, however, that Mr R. R. Dangar will treat his winning rider to a present on his own behalf. When Red Boa won the Epsom Handicap, £225 (Im.) on the second day of the C.J.C. Spring meeting he was not greatly fancied by the stable, although his local owner never lost confidence in his veteran representative, who ran a great race to score cleverly in the able hands of A. E, Ellis. The son of Balboa returned better than a double-figure quote in winning and a number of Southlanders profited accordingly. Considering that he presents the appearance of a somewhat undeveloped three-year-old, the Southland-bred' juvenile Tauramai made a bold display in the New Zealand Derby to promise better things in the event of training on and furnishing. He exhibited pace by the way and lasted better than many people expected over twelve furlongs with 8.10 on his youthful back. Juveniles of this calibre are difficult to find and deserving of ample time to reach maturity. • The majority of the experienced southern racing public will not appreciate the Winton Jockey Club’s decision to adhere to the payment of dividends at its annual fixture on the basis of 70, 20 and the ridiculous 10 per cent. Recent experiences at the Gore Racing Club’s Spring meeting convinced observant patrons that the win and place systems of wagering have come to stay and a 70, 20 and 10 per cent, allocation does not appeal as a compromise for the “place” method of betting. When completing a round of halfpace work on the S.R.C plough circuit yesterday morning Irish Birdcatcher’s reins parted and the Songbird gelding gathered racing pace. C. F. Low, who occupied the saddle, sat still and the gelding ran a fast round on the dirt to presently pull up soberly. Generally a somewhat nervous customer T. E. Pankhurst’s pupil was not put about by his unexpected outing and returned to his stall undisturbed. It was a fine exhibition of experienced horsemanship on Low’s part. At the V.A.T.C. (Caulfield Cup Day) meeting recently the totalisator returns amounted to £53,799, as compared with £55,498 5/- last year, but on that occasion there were seven races on the card, as against six events this year. Had there'been a similar number of races this season that record would have been broken. Of the amount invested on Journal’s Cup day, £23,582 15/- was in the win pool and £30,216 5/- in the place machine. The t.otalisator tickets were issued on a fiveshilling basis. These figures show that win and place wagering is increasing in popularity in Melbourne. It is not always easy for drivers to detect faulty gear (remarks Christchurch Press), and in the Spring Han-,

dicap at Addington on Tuesday E. A. Mitchell, driver of Teviot Downs, had an unenviable experience when one of the reins broke with half a mile to go. The leather did not snap, but all the stitching carried away, and Mitchell was compelled to drive'the horse with one rein. Teviot Downs broke into a gallop, but he evidently knew his way round the course,' for he kept to his right track and did not interefere with any other horse in the race. He slackened speed with the others when the race was over. When at the barrier for the Fendalton Handicap (l|m.) at Riccarton on Monday, in which she ran well but finished out of the money, the N.Z. Cup winner, Steeton, was severely kicked on the stifle. The Sutala mare was lame afterwards and the services of a veterinary surgeon had be be requisitioned. It is on the cards that she will forfeit her remaining engagements at the C.J.C. Spring fixture and return to Invercargill unless rapid progress towards recovery is made. The local mare is a very tough proposition and very few of her sex in the south have stood up to mishaps similar to those sustained by Mr J. B. Macgregor’s racing representative. Good but unsound galloper, Charmaine, is at present an inmate of J. M. Maconnell’s stable at Otautau. The Some Boy II mare is in wonderful heart and she is being given light work with a view to seeing if she will stand another preparation.—At the Otautau Stud Night Rose (Night Raid—Rose de Vai) has produced a colt foal by Balboa and has been mated with Irish Lancer (imp.) It has been reported from the Wairio district that novice ’chaser Possum (by Balboa) has been schooling particularly well.—Trainers of steeplechasers at Winton have found the present dry sepll very inconvenient, and with the surface so hard, no schooling work has been done for some time. —“Stopwatch.” The time for the Melbourne Cup 3.401 was the slowest since 1882, when The Assyrian won in 3.40, but a return has to be made to 1868 to find a slower record than Peter Pan’s figures, as Glen eve scored in those far qff times in 3.42 —the longest time taken to win a Cup was in the year of its inception in 1861, when the winner, Archer, is credited with 3.52. Only two horses have won the Melbourne Cup on two occasions, viz., Archer in 1861 and 1862, and Peter Pan in 1932 and 1934. A number of horses have sired two or more Cup winners, but the record goes to Positano, whose male descendants accounted for the race as quoted:—l9o3, Lord Cardigan; 1906 Positano; 1908, Lord Nolan; and 1912, Piastre. This great imported sire was a son of St. Simon. Ranking as one of the best youngster gallopers of the past season Variant came out at Riccarton yesterday to defeat the fancied North Island mare Mother Superior - in the classic New Zealand Oaks Stakes (11m.). Owned by Mr A. Louisson, of Christchurch, the winner is trained by P. V. Mason at C.J.C. headquarters and was specially prepared with a view to the contest for fillies. Costing her present owner 275 guineas' at the Trentham Yearling Sales of 1933, Variant is by Limond (imp.) from Veil, by Absurd (imp.) from Cowl, by King Rufus from Our Lady, by Simmer (St. Simon tribe and imported). Variant, who promises, to stay on well when more seasoned, is a very attractive galloper and ranks as a full sister to that good horse Veilmond. who did yeoman service for his Sydney connections prior to leaving the post for the paddock. A number of the horses raced in the N.Z. Trotting Cup on Tuesday will again meet over two miles to-day, but on this occasion they will start on level terms. The event to be decided will be the Free-for-All, a contest to which experimental conditions- will be attached, as suggested by Mr J. R. McKenzie as the result of experiences and observations made when on a recent visit to the United States of America. Prizes will be offered for the leader at the end of half a mile and a mile and a quarter. As usual, many diehards are opposed to this innovation designed to hurry the competitors up by the way, but it is difficult to see where the objections come in as with regulations as to the suitability of entrants for long distance racing and other safeguards adopted the experiment is worthy of trial—the practice of giving similar prizes in America has been successful. Returned experts, ■ who assisted at Riccarton on the two opening days of the C.J.C. Spring fixture, hold a high opinion of the four-year-old gelding Rebel Chief, who won a race on each occasion, and they expect him to go on to better things. This four-year-old unsexed galloper is a son of imported Robespierre, by Phalaris (son of Polymelus, by Cyllene) from Austral, by Sundu from Cooya, by The Victory (The Admiral) from Cooee, by Trenton (son of Musket). Then Rebel Chief is from Verintia, by Solferino from Anitea, by St. Ambrose (St. Simon’s dam) from Stepka by St. Leger (imp.) from Stepfeldt (sister to Stepniak) by Nordenfeldt .(son of Musket) from Steppe. It can thus be understoood that Rebel Chief is bred in the purple and promises to race up to the best traditions of a stout line of ancestors. The C.J.C. Welcome Stakes winner of Saturday, Symcony, is described as a nice 'filly and trained to the hour, but it is expected that several of the youngsters who finished behind her on New Zealand Cup Day will improve out of all knowledge during the late summer and autumn months. The winner is by Gascony (King John, imp.—First Blow) from Symballo, by Psychology (son of Tracery) from Symbolism (dam of Killashandra) by Symington (son of Ayrshire)—Symbolism was bred in England. Like Psychology (imp.) the sires of the first and second horses in this week’s Melbourne Cup Pantheon (Peter Panj and Archery (Sarcherie) are also English horses by Tracery, son of Rock Sand from Topiary, by Orme. It will be interesting to see if Symcony trains on to gallop fast, as she is bred to furnish into a smart sprinter. If the Southland-owned pacer, Willow Wave, by Waverly from Queen’s Drive, could be induced to leave the barrier promptly and correctly he would soon attain to N.Z. Trotting Cup class. As usual on Tuesday at Addington he appeared to lose his chance at the start of the Riccarton Handicap, class 4.40 (2m.), but O. E. Hooper persevered with him and he led into the stretch to stay on and win by a head in 4min. 25 4-ssec. He first raced as a son of Waverly from a hack mare, but he is now returned as a son of Waverly from Queen’s Drive and this makes him a brother to Brown Admiral, - Bay Admiral, and Master Roy, and a half-brother to Black Admiral, Red Admiral, Promenade, and Pleasant Drive. His dam Queen’s Drive was by General Pet from Harold’s Rest, by King Harold from Polly, by Robin Hood, and she was bred by the late Mr J. J. McMath, of Riversdale, but was subsequently included in the very successful Willowbank Stud of Messrs J. J. McMath and J. Stevenson. Queen’s Drive and other matrons of the stud named traced back in practically every instance to maternal thoroughbred strains. The large attendance which patronized the trotting meeting at Ascot, Melbourne, on October 29 (reports The Age) was enthusiastic regarding the form of the Australasian champion,

, Walla Walla, who was produced in the I Bass Handicap of one mile. Fresh from : many fine displays in New South Wales , and New Zealand, Walla Walla was . handicapped to concede the candidates [ on the scratch mark no less than 144 i yards, a seemingly impossible task. 1 Dalia Derby, whose performances at ■ Ascot have been outstanding, was, ; despite his handicap of 36 yards behind, . always an odds-on favourite. Princess . Myrtle, who had won at Ascot a week ■ earlier, and the Tasmanian representative, Civeus, were considered to have the best chances of defeating him. One of the first to be noticed in the lead was Connie Gio, who, after the field had settled down, was leading from Civeus, Princess Myrtle, Prince Redland, a New South Wales candidate, Jean Pronto, Dalia Derby and Miss Major. Walla Walla was, however, making up is leeway in splendid style, and, before half a mile had been- covered had gained probably seventy yards on the leading division. Turning into the straight, the favourite ran through the field and challenged the leaders, Princess Myrtle a id Civeus, over the final stage. Dalia Derby had little difficulty in winning b(? ten yards from Princess Myrtle, with Civeus a close third. Walla Walla registered a remarkable performance by running into fourth place. He was timfld to run the last half mile in lmin lsec, and unofficial checking fixed his time for the last mile at 2min 4?sec, which would easily be a record for the course. The previous best was registered by Auburn Lad in November of last year, when he won a mile handicap in 2min 13.? sec starting from the 48 yards behind mark, making his rate for the distance 2min 9Jsec. Wirra Walla, a son of Walla Walla, ran a close second to Don’s Best in the Centenary Cup later in the day. N.Z. METROPOLITAN TROTTING CLUB. ACCEPTANCES FOR TO-DAY. (Per United Press Association.) Christchurch, November 7. The following are the acceptances for the second day of the N.Z. Metropolitan Trotting Club's Spring meeting:— 11.45 a.m. WHITELEIGH HANDICAP, £250. Class 3.32. One mile and a-half. yds bhd King’s Voyage 48 Sea Gift 24 Fifa 60 Teviot Downs ■ 24 Explosion 72 New Metford 36 Nell Volo 72 Cannonball 48 Mountain Mist 84 Don Chenault 48 12.30 p.m. N.Z. DERBY STAKES, £5OO. For three-year-olds. One mile and a-half.—Boltaire, Baron Silk. Donalda, Drag Harlan. Flood Light. Gamble. Grace McElwyn, Graham Direct, Ironside, Lord Axworthy, Moana Tama, Red Ranger, Subsidy. 1.15 p.m. COURTENAY HANDICAP, £750. Class 4.28. Two miles. Harvest Child scr Kingcraft 12 Vesuvius scr Silver De Oro 24 Worthy Light scr Sunny Morn 24 Wrecker scr Glenrossie 36 yds bhd Rollo 36 Gold Tinge 12 Wrackler 36 Ayrmont Chimes 12 Sir Guy 48 2.5 p.m. ELLESMERE HANDICAP, £3OO. Class 2.47. One mile and a quarter. Linella scr Eureka Boy 12 Morning Sun scr Muriel De Oro 12 Nelson De Oro scr Prairie King 12 Purser scr Sure 12 Taxpayer scr Tempest 12 War Paint scr Waress 12 yds bhd Master Roy 24 Cloudy Range 12 Roddy 60 Colonial Boy 12 2.50 p.m. NOVEMBER HANDICAP. £4OO. Class 4.35. Two miles. Willow Wave scr Wild Guy 12 yds bhd Arabond 24 Encounter 12 Gay Gordon 24 Major Lind 12 Cloudy Range 36 Manoeuvre 12 Tempest 48 Mountain Ore 12 Probationer 60 Queen Author 12 Avernus 72 3.35 p.m. METROPOLITAN HANDICAP, £3OO. Class 4.40. Two miles. Admiral Wraek scr Elvo 36 Margaret' Jolly Wave 36 Chenault scr William Tell 36 Prince Author scr Young Frank 36 yds bhd Fernbrook Lass 48 Holly Bank 12 Harold Denver 48 Real Burton 12 Rey Spec 48 4.20 p.m. SOCKBURN HANDICAP, £350. Class 3.26. One mile and a-half. Garner scr Biddy Parrish 24 Great Way scr Nicoya 48 Louis Bingen scr Huon Voyage 60 Nell Volo scr Olive Nelson 60 yds bhd Trampfast 60 First Wrack 12 Worthy Queen 60 Mountain Mist 12 5.10 p.m. • FREE-FOR-ALL. £5OO. Two miles.—lmpromptu. Mountain Dell, Rollo, Harold Logan, Roi I'Or, Pegaway, Red Shadow, Blue Mountain, Lindbergh. FANCIED RUNNERS. INCIDENTS ON FIRST DAY. SENSATIONAL TIMES IN THE CUP. (Special to Times.) Christchurch, November 7. Horses that look like racing well tomorrow are:— Whiteleigh Handicap; Teviot Downs, Sea Gift. N.Z. Derby: Graham Direct, Ironsides, Gamble. Courtenay Handicap: Gold Tinge, Harvest Child, Silver De Oro. Ellesmere Handicap: Prairie King, Muriel De Oro, Cloudy Range. November Handicap: Willow Wave, Encounter. Metropolitan Handicap: Fembrook Lass, Rey Spec, Real Burton. Free For All: Harold Logan, Roi L’Or. Prairie King was very unlucky not to have paid a dividend the first day. Worthy Qufeen, who ran fourth just missing a place by inches in the Spring Handicap, went the mile and a-half from post to post in 3min 11 4-ssec. She was slightly lame on returning to the birdcage. Indianapolis’ injured foot was kept in water as hot as he could. stand it for three hours on Tuesday morning and when he was taken out for gentle exercise he would not pace or do anything. It was less than two hours before the Cup that it was definitely decided to start him. Sir Guy in the Cup and Fernbrook Lass in the Riccarton Handicap were indifferently driven. Fernbrook Lass should never have been beaten. Mostly caused by Impromptu, Blue Mountain, Rollo and Silver De Oro lost ground at the start of the Cup. To show that there was no loitering on the road in the running of the Cup, the following sectional times will prove: The last mile and a-half was run in 3min 8 2-ssec; last mile and a-quarter in 2min 39 l-ssec; last mile in 2min 3 l-ssec, last half, lmin flat; last quarter, 30 4-ssec. Nell Volo was a racecourse certainty beaten in the Middleton Handicap, probably caused by the driver of Nicoya as they swung into the straight using his whip which sent the opposing mare to a bad break. TROTTING IN AUSTRALIA. WALLA WALLA WINS FREE-FOR-ALL. (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 10.5 p.m.) Melbourne, Nov. 7. The Trotting Free-for-All Championship to-day resulted:— Walla Walla 1 Auburn Lad 2 Dalia Derby 3 J. Watts drove the winner. ,