Was Honour Frightened Out? A SYDNEY VIEW

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 639, 16 April 1929, Page 12

Was Honour Frightened Out? A SYDNEY VIEW

MUDDY CHAMPAGNE STAKES Easter showers are perhaps inevit- j able, and unfortunate for a racing club ; like the Australian Jockey Club. Its executive felt bound to go on ; with the third day's programme in face of conditions that would have moved a shrewd proprietary interest to postpone. The big disappointment of the day, in the circumstances, was the Champagne Stakes, the rich two-year-old classic, in which connections of the New Zealand champion. Honour, were frightened to run, while Holdfast, for the first time in his career, suffered defeat. Whether it was fear of the weather or fear of Holdfast that brought about Honour’s withdrawal is not known. If it was fear of the state of the track, ' this, too, can be sheeted home to the j A.J.C. for deciding to go on with a race meeting under such miserable j conditions as offered. Holdfast’s connections were game ■ and backers laid odds on him. Almost Fell But he got into the “gutter” at the straight entrance and floundered so badly that he almost fell. The wonder was that McCarten, rider of Limerick and other horses, couldn’t choose the best track at Randwick after all the experience he has had of wet weather. He certainly picked the worst path entering the straight, and Holdfast’s legs were seen to go from under him. But even there he appeared to have no ’winning chance. Park wood, who had scored in very last when he floundered at the top of start of the season, had the race well Won. He ran home three-quarters of a length ahead of the dead-heaters, Nedda and Comanche. Big Improvement Parkwood had run poorly in all his j recent races, so that obviously he was J lucky that conditions enabled him to | beat a superior dry-weather horse such : as Holdfast. Holdfast looked like running a bad i last when he floundered at the tpo of ! the straight. Only that he got on a j mound of fairly good going for the run ; over the last furlong he would have ! done so. This enabled him to put i Spanish Galleon into last position. Of such is the value of form in the wet. Holdfast until that race was unbeaten. Spanish Galleon had beaten Parkwood in the six-furlong Ascot Vale Stakes at Flemington last month. Yet he made hacks of them in the mud. Parkwood next year might be the Derby and Cup pi*oposition. Form in the mud, if misleading as to sprinters, is always a sign of stoutness of heart, and, being by a Melbourne Cup winner, Backwood, he might be the stayer of this closing season’s crop of two-year-olds. Therefore he is to be respected if he did score a flukey win. Not to Meet Till Spring “Could Holdfast beat Honour?” is a question that lias been on many tongues since the fiasco in the Champagne Stakes. Holdfast ran, but couldn't gallop in the wet, and finished second last. Honour didn’t meet his engagement in the same race. Unfortunately, they will not meet again, perhaps, until next spring. But although Honour handsomely won the Sires’ Produce Stakes, his only race at the fixture, while Holdfast was beaten in his race, there are still many who would be prepared to back Holdfast to beat Honour on a dry track over six or seven furlongs. Among these is his owner, Mr. Frank Gahan. Afraid of the Mud He admitted that he was disappointed with the turn of affairs in the Champagne, when Holdfast met his first defeat in six starts. But he feared before the start that the mud might affect Holdfast’s racing, and his misgivings were justified. “At first,” he said, “I intended to make a big bet on Holdfast. At the last moment, however, I decided to put nothing on him. I was lucky in that respect, for all it cost me was £22 to find out that my hors'e is no good on a wet track—£2o for the acceptance and £ 2 for the jockey. “I might have put a thousand pounds on Holdfast and it would have been extravagantly expensive.” Asked if he would consider the possibility of a match for £SOO. say, £I,OOO a-side, Mr. Gahan said that sort of race was not of much value to owners. With good stakes offering in open races, the necessity for matches had departed long ago, lie pointed out. "Next time they meet in a race will show,” he concluded. Many Jockeys Receive Injuries MEETING AT RANDWICK (United P.A.—By Telerf.-aph — Copyright) SYDNEY, Monday. For the City Tattersalls Cup meeting to-day there was fine weather. The course was heavy. There were 25,000 people present. Four riders in the Hurdle Race were injured, namely, Troy, Watson, Tiles and Cutler. All are suffering from concussion and abrasions. Another jockey, •Turd, was injured in the Novice Handicap. His skull was fractured. The chief events resulted: DENMAN STAKES SIR CHRYSTOPHER, 7.1 .. . 1 CASQUE D’OR, 7.1 ' •> KING’S ARMS. 7.5 \ 3 Eleven started, including Raasay. Won by a length; a head tetween second and third. Time, 1:13. TATTERSALLS CUP NEW SWEET, 7.3 .. .. 1 OCTEMBER, 7.7 ' ‘ THE BANKER, 8.8 !.'!!! 3 Fifteen started, including Fatadawn which ran fourth. Won by one and a-quarter lengths; a head between second and third. Time, 2.33 J. RACING FIXTURES April 18, 20—Whangarei 1 R.C. April 19, 20—Hawke’s Bay J.C April 26, 27—Xelson J.C. April 27 —Amberley R.C. April 27, 29—Waikato R.C. May S, 4—Marlborough R.C. May 4—Oamaru J.C. May 4—Mar ton J.C. May 9, 11—Egmont R.C. May 11—Franklin R.C. May 26, IS—Wanganui J.C. May 25—Ashburton R.C. June 1, 3—Otaki R.C. June 1,3, s—Dunedin J.C. | June 3,3, s—Auckland R.C. June 12—Egmont-Wanganui Hunt. June 14, 15—Xapier Park R.C. June 20, 22—S. Canterbury. June 21, 22—Hawke’s BaS' J.C. June 29—Ashburton R.C. June 29—Waverley R.C. July 10, 11, 13 —Wellington R.C. July 25—Waimate Dlst. Hunt Club. July 25, 27—Gisborne R.C. | July 27—S. Canterbury Hunt Club.