Turf Notes

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 813, 6 November 1929, Page 12

Turf Notes

CONDUCTED BY "EARLY BIRD"

Change of Quarters L. Knapp took the aged chestnut gelding Bright Day back to Awapuni with him when he returned from the Waikato Hunt fixture. The First Chief Ruler A. Quinlfvan, of Awapuni, has received First Ruler (Chief Ruler — Twinlock) to train once again, he having won races with the four-year-old in her earlier career. The same mentor has also taken in hand the Leighton-Sundew two-year-old which ' the Manawatu sportsman, Mr. Hugh G-illies. purchased at the last Trentham sales. In the Wire J. Boyd has taken over the Gasbag gelding Grattan, who has been trained at Feilding of lute, and will be prepared now at Awapuni. He was also to have received a full-sister to Grand Acre, but a day or two before she was due to come in she got into wire, with the result that she now boasts a damaged knee. J. Hastie has had his team increased by the receipt of an Acre-Wench three-year-old, and the {Shambles —Moutoa’s Gift two-year-old. Both are good types with plenty of bone. Trip Abandoned It was the intention of A. Quinlivan to tak© Masher and Pari from Awapuni through to the New Zealand Cup meeting, but owing to the former suffering a slight rick, he has decided against making the trip. In any case his weight, on the basis of his performances against Austerity at Masterton and Trentham, does not compare very favourably. Waiting . J. M. Buchanan is not asking Respirator to do much in the way of galloping, but be is bowling along nice and freely in his work and should strip an improved horse at his next start. At the KUerslie meeting at the commencement of last month Respirator must have pleased his trainer, for competing against recognised performers in a mi'e event he was in fourth place at the end. form which suggests that the son of Tea Tray is going to prove equal to winning in open company. Respirator shows a partiality for concrete going, and under these conditions is a horse worth noting. Eaglet Form Horse The Auckland filly, Eaglet, is the outstanding performer in the Oaks. She has won twice at a mile this season, against opponents of her own age, but her effort in the Harcourt Cup left the impression that she is at her best a ; a sprinter. In the Oaks, however, she may not find anything to test her stamina. Stately, though a maiden, has done enough on the tracks to make her a good prospect, and she should st y. Disorder, Speedlight and Aspirin-; are a trio who can sprint well. < - < on.-w ;• has not had a rare vet. hut she is in no worse position than Pride, who won last year.

Waikato Acceptances Acceptances for all first clay events at the Waikato spring meeting close at 5 p.m. on Friday with the secretary at Hamilton, or at the same time with Messrs. Blomfield and Company, Auckland. Takapuna Entries The spring meeting 6f the Takapuna Jockey Club, set down for Saturday and Monday, November 30 and December 2, promises to be as popular a fixture as evey with racegoers. Entries, also the final payment for the Takapuna Plate, are due at 5 p.m. on Friday next with the secretary, Mr. F. D. McVay. Te Kuits Handicaps Weights for the first day of the annual race meeting of the Te Ivuiti R.C. should make their appearance next Monday, and acceptances close the following Friday, November 15. Delightment Delightment was scratched for the Whangarei 'Gold Cup on Saturday morning last—the day after the acceptances were posted. 9 At First Time of Asking Warzone, who signalled his admission to Mrs. McDonald’s establishment by scoring n t his first start at Masterton, lias built up considerably of late. The Bisogne filly will be a runner in the Pahiko Hack Handicap at Otaki. in which Patearoa and Great Lady are also included. The latter pair are j likely sorts from the Awapuni training | centre. For Australia Next Week j Our Manawatu correspondent writes: The threat to place Commendation on the schooling list has determined Mr. W. H. Gaisford to send the Limond gelding across to G. Price in Sydney, and the local centre and the Dominion will thereby lose the champion three-year-old this year. By his success in the Wainui Handicap at Trentham, Commendation gave indication of a return to his old form and the intimation from the authorities must have come as a severe blow to his owner and trainer. Many patrons at Trentham were of the opinion that the action was quite uncalled for, despite the fact that he was slightly fractious at his first appearance. On the second day in the Harcourt Cup he was much more sober, and it was consequently evident that he would improve as he advanced. While the Dominion loses a good horse, it might well prove a monetary gain for Mr. Gaisford, for the gelding should win good races on the other side. He will bid farewell to the land of his birth on Friday week. In his essays on the turf across the Tasman. M. McCar: n will he associated with Commendation. 1 arrangemmts having been made to j permit of such.

Still to Win Disrank has still to open his account this season. A period of hunger striking’ curtailed his activities for quite a time, but he is once agan carrying out track duties and will in all probability be a contestant in the Taumanuka Hack Handicap at Otaki. However, his delicate constitution is apt to always be against him. Under the Dentist Blue Paper, who was suffering from dental trouble in addition to a cold some little time back, is back in the active ranks at Awapuni, almost herself again, although fretting prompted Mrs. McDonald to bring the Paper Money filly back earlier than had been intended. Jumper Back Elicit, who h&s had his activities restricted to road work for some time past, will join Mrs. McDonald’s active brigade at Awapuni in the very near future, while Red Fuchsia was due to be jumped this morning, although it is more than probable that he will do some show ring jumping before racing over the sticks again. Locarno Mending Little evidence of the injury suffered by Locarno at Riccarton during the winter is apparent when the Elysian gelding is in the paddock, and hopes are now entertained that he will make a complete recovery. Riding At Riccarton T. Green has been engaged to ride Seatown, Goblin Market, Praise and Honour at Riccarton. He will also be associated with Honour in the event of the chestfiut being a runner in the Stead Gold Cup. T. Metcalf likewise makes the trip south to Riccarton, where he will ride Tcheka. Speed Light and Mount Boa in their engagements. Believes In Hunting Songs Star of Gold, by Hunting Song from Etoile d’Or, who had been out spelling, is back at Awapuni with G. W. New’s team. The filly was having her first outing on the tracks on Tuesday morning, and she unshipped her pilot (Aynsley) early. While she galloped around to the back of the course, she escaped injury, as did her pilot. New has added another Hunting Song representative to his string—his sixth of the family in the stable. Opposed by Veterans Moutoa Treasury made the trip : through to the Carterton fixture to fill j a minor place in the Maungaraki | Handicap. The Paper Money mare j is due to make her next appearance ir j the Iverehi Roera Handicap at Otaki, where she will have those two vetcrans Peneus and Imperial Spark ah opponents. The latter pair, more particularly the former, are showing 1 much of their old form in their track ’ .‘ssays : t Awapuni. and might well prove worth persevering with.

t Scandal of the Pony Courses ; TRENCHANT CRITICISM For many years now pony racing i has been a thing of the past in l New Zealand. Apparently this i style of racing in N.S.W. is about to be relegated to oblivion if the 1 following criticism is taken cognisance of. 1 In a leading article recently, entitled “The Scandal of the Pony Courses,” the “Sydney Sun” said: Apparently the shooting, in a 2 friendly of one perfect gentleman 2 by another, creates little stir on a l ' pony-course. £ The “sport of kings and other j scoundrels” goes on, in these unneces- £ sary places, with the kings absent. Though many folk must have seen the assassin, hardly anybody appears to have thought it his duty to give the police the slightest aid. The incident q raises a fear that the gathering round the ticket windoAV of the pony-course I may be likened to the gathering in a thieves’ kitchen in gangland. Allowed Free Play It is a matter of plain knoAAdedge that about the pony.-races many of the cl undersirables of this city gather; a e collection of felloAA's, often with guns I and razors in their own pockets and e their hands in everybody else’s. ° In the . courses confc**>lled by the b legitimate racing bodies there is at T least some attempt to stem this surge - of rascality at the gates. Convicted pickpockets and thugs are firmly warned off by the management. No doubt some manage to pass the cordon, n but they are not alloAved to drift in - unchecked, as they seem to do on the pony-courses. r There seems little advantage in y gathering the scoundrels of Sydney toil gether—unless it is proposed to turn a d machine-gun on the collection, a point e to which our civilisation has not yet v advanced. The statement that it “improves the I I breed of horses,” has not the slightest application to a course where the horses are the undersized culls from the racing stables, utterly hopeless so p | far as utility is concerned. 11 Credit For Victoria I In France, as General Anderson £ Points out. a proportion of the total- . isator receipts is earmarked for the L purpose of supplying farmers with blood sires for their stock. This idea, s incidentally, might be considered by e our Government, the attitude of which g to Australia’s greatest curse has been k ; very flabby indeed. To the credit of II i the Victorian Government ir did set I itself to begin the reform of the Yic-

L " ” : torian turf, but so far our legislature t lias not made any attempt to clean up what is a scandal in this State, i All that is accomplished by the ponyt racing organisations is not to improve i the breed of horses, but to spoil the i race of men who are associated with ) it. It attracts two classes to its meetings, the members of the great one-a-minute brigade which supplies the money, and the sharks and hawks 1 which are attracted to any low and - doubtful sport. 2 The people of New South Wales can find no use for this mid-week travesty , of horse-racing, and when its courses F become the duelling-grounds of the i Sydney underworld it is time that the i Government should consider whether f some of them should not. be closed - with the ill-conducted hotel and the - disorderly house.