ON THE TURF AND OFF

Southland Times, Issue 23946, 12 October 1939, Page 12

ON THE TURF AND OFF

Success Of Melfort’s

Stock

RACING AT CAULFIELD ON SATURDAY

By SIR MODRED

For the Caulfield Guineas on Saturday the field of 11 includes high-class juvenile performers.

Recovery from an attack of lameness may mean Royal Chief racing at the N.Z. Cup meeting.

Under a cloud in Melbourne the Cup aspirant Pageant (8.2) is a five-year-old horse by Windbag.

To be decided on Saturday at Caulfield, the Toorak Handicap has attracted 24 acceptors.

Leif (N.Z.), winner of the Final Handicap in Sydney on Saturday, is a Melbourne Cup acceptor at 6.9. The running of Baran, by Bulandshar, in the near future may provide some interest. ' Labelled with an erratic turf reputation, Te Hero, by Heroic, may prove a good stud horse in Auckland. At the Marton J.C. spring meeting' five horses each with No. 3 saddle cloths were returned winners. If he can be returned to the Dominion fit and well, 9.6 will be Royal Chief’s N.Z. Cup impost. F. D. Jones’s pupil, Moorsotis, has of late displayed improved form on the tracks at Randwick. Phoebe is a smart Sydney two-year-old filly. She is a sister to the great horse Peter Pan. Victorine, by Melfort, and a winner at Randwick on Saturday, is a filly in the stable of J. Pike. Consternation probably reigned supreme in select Adelaide racing circles on Monday when the filly Dreamsome vzas beaten into third place in the South Australian Derby. As winner of the

Adelaide Guineas and Port Adelaide Guineas Dreamsome was looked upon as the best of her sex bred in South Australia for some time past. The announcement from London that totalizator wagering will not be permitted in England and Scotland until the end of the year may puzzle the colonial racing community. This decision has probably been prompted by a desire to afford licensed bookmakers to make a livelihood during the war period, and, at the same time, free totalizator operatives for services elsewhere. SCOTLAND’S SUCCESS A veteran of the turf won recognition on Saturday when the gelding Scotland accounted for the Opotiki Cup (l|m.). A very useful racehorse down the years the nine-year-old gelding Scotland was by Acre (bred in Australia) from Bonny Mabel, by Robert the Bruce (a horse of Trenton maternal family) from Little Mabel, by Medallion (Musket sire line) from Kilmorey (imp.), by Kilmarlin (a noted performer in Great Britain). The promising Sydney-owned galloper Vergure cost 610 guineas in England and more than £BOO to land him in Australia. Three wins have brought in £206 and investment returns. He is expected to add to his winning account before the present season closes and mark his success by victory in an important race. Bought in Australia at 1000 guineas, the three-year-old gelding Cornaro, trained at Trentham by H. A. Telford, is descended from a noted New Zealand family. A son of the Commonwealth’s leading sire Heroic, the gelding’s dam was Ashtar, by Moabite (imp.) from Otterform, by Multiform from Otterden (imp., and dam of Martian), by Sheen (a good horse). The Wellington-owned juvenile should repay keeping in memory, as he is undoubtedly bred on the best of lines to win races.

The opening occasion of the Victoria Amateur Turf Club will be staged at Caulfield on Saturday. One of the features of the afternoon’s sport will be the Toorak Handicap, £lOOO (one mile), which is listed as one of the most important races of the Australian turf over eight furlongs. The contest should be well worth witnessing with 24 brilliant gallopers claiming engagements. This is the coveted stake won by Mr W. T. Hazlett’s good horse Sir Simper in 1934, when the son of Grand Knight from Simper defeated 17 rivals with F. Dempsey in the saddle to weigh in at 8.7. BRED BY MELFORT With many valuable two-year-old races to be decided in Victoria during October arid November the results of the three events for baby racehorses staged at the recent A.J.C. meeting in ! Sydney are of special interest. The majority of the youngsters filling the places at Randwick are engaged in the races for their age at Melbourne. The third two-year-old race at Randwick was run on Saturday when the Canonbury Stakes, £7OO (sfur.) resulted in a filly called Victorine defeating 16 other starters, with two colts finishing second and third respectively. The easy victory of this filly is of some interest in Southland, as her sire Melfort (imp.) is the horse for whom an Invercargill breeder bid up to 7600 guineas before leaving the field to a New South Wales studmaster. Victorine is by Melfort (the only son of Colorado, by Phalaris, in Australia) who proved himself a rare galloper in England. A newcomer at the stud in Australia, Melfort can claim a winning son in the North Island racing as Colfort. The filly Victorine is from Gallant Victory (imp., and a winner in Australia), by Somme Kiss (son of Sunstar) from Marie Galante, by Mareo. In the Randwick race the scoring filly was followed home by a colt in The Elk, by El Cacique (imp., and son of Tracery)

from Yule Cake, by Tressady (imp.) from Waianui, by Cooltrim (imp.) from Sarsa, by Grafton (imp.) from Sarsaparilla, by Lochiel (N.Z.) from Pie Crust, by Martini-Henry (son of Musket N.Z.) from Rusk (imp.). The St. Simon-Musket cross is prominent here through Grafton and Martini-Henry (Melbourne Cup and V.R.C. Derby). Placed third in last week’s contest the colt Peruke is by the New Zealandbred Veilmond (a noted performer and son of Limond-Veil) from Periwoo, by Woorak (a speedy performer) from Pereskia, by St. Anton (imp., a sire of brilliance and son of St. Frusquin, by St. Simon) from Liane (imp.), by Wolf’s Crag from a mare of Isinglass-Ormonde sire line.' The breeding of the trio of two-year-olds quoted is above the average in the respective instances to reproduce meritorious galloping ability. Indications point to Ajax having, if not quite, reached the end of his tether, as one of Australia’s great racehorses in active commission. A succession of minor troubles preceded lameness in the shoulder and now foot affliction. It is suggested that he may race again following the Melbourne Cup meeting, but it looks like the beginning of the end, as patched up brilliant gallopers seldom endure where such spontaneous action® is demanded. If it should come to pass that the son of Heroic leaves the racecourse for the stallion’s quarters he is not likely to be neglected by stiidmasters, as has been the case with so many great Australian horses classed as "mere colonial-bred sires.” He is a worthy representative of the noted sire line, including Valais (imp.) and his son, Heroic.

A DERBY WINNER The South Australian Derby winner, Lusson, who holds a nomination for the V.R.C. Derby to be run at the Melbourne Cup meeting in November, is owned by a sportsman of long standing in Mr E. E. D. Clarke,, to be prepared by Australia’s veteran trainer, J. Scobie, in Melbourne. Mr Clarke and his trainer have paid many spring visits to Adelaide in the years that have fled to account for several Derby contests and other good laces in combination. It may be remarked that the colt referred to is engaged in the Melbourne Cup at 7.2 Costing 650 guineas as a yearling in Sydney, Lusson is "by Melfort (imp., and by Colorado) from La Morna, by Bardolph (imp., and son of Bay Ronald, grandsire of Son-in-Law) from Steel Belle, by Bright Steel (imp., and son of St. Simon) from Carbelle, by Carbine (son of Musket) from Tourbillon, by Robinson Crusoe (a horse whose blood strains are to be found in Southland) Lusson did not quite race up to expectations as a two-year-old, but J. Scobie was not perturbed and afforded the tall youngster ample scope to develop and grow up with a three-year-old career in prospect. The intimation that Cuddle has produced a colt foal to Croupier and is to be mated with him again will create interest in Australia and New Zealand. A strong, healthy colt will be known as a son of Croupier, a good performer by Surveyor (.son of Nassau, imp., from a mare of Stepniak-Wallace-Carbine sire lines) from Pellet, by Thurnham (imp.) from Pell, by Hymettus (imp. and son of Cyllene) from Pellicule, by Birkenhead (imp.) from Film, by Eiridspord from Margaret, by Yattendon from Gossamer (imp.). The breeding lines reproduced will convince students of stud lore that a worthy mate was selected for one of New Zealand’s racing mares. On the other hand Cuddle (half-sister to Padishah, by Chief Ruler) was by Psychology (imp.) from Caress, by Martian (imp.) from Trichas (imp.), by Thrush. The valuable brood mare Caress was bred by the late Mr J. F. Buchanan, of Canterbury, but it was for Mr J. A. Hennah, of Hastings, that she produced Cuddle and Padishah. At a later period of her career Cuddle became the property of Mr R. J. Murphy to win for the Wellington owner a sum beyond her high purchase price.