KING’S CUP

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 982, 27 May 1930, Page 12

KING’S CUP

VALUE DECLINING INTERESTING SUGGESTION Writing on the eve of last week’s King’s Cup contest, a Sydney critics says: Phar Lap overshadows the King’s Cup field to such an extent that all in- : terest outside of Adelaide has dropped out of the event. With Phar Lap not engaged, the position would be worse, ; for this race—important in sentiment, • if not in actual worth—would be left to stayers with no pretensions to class. A suggestion advanced in racing circles to maintain interest in this race, and to keep it on a high plane, was that the conditions should be altered, so that it be held alternately in Sydney and Melbourne, not in each State in turn, as at present. Under those conditions Australia’s good horses would be attracted. It is an extreme rarity now to see them racing outside New South Wales and Victoria. Phar Lap would not have taken his place in this year’s race in Adelaide but for his lessee-trainer’s (H. R. Telford) desire to assist the South Australian Jockey Club, which body made repeated requests for him to start the champion. Poor Impression This year’s race, coming on top of the last in Brisbane when the topweight was Bacchus, and the winner was Valparaiso, who with comparatively light weights could not succeed in Sydney in the spring, has certainly left the impression that the King’s Cup is not fulfilling the intended purpose. And, according to the racing man who advanced the above opinion, it will do so only when the turns of the V.R.C. and the A.J.C. come along. Then are the good horses attracted, as when Limerick, Valparaiso, Simeon’s Fort, Amounis, and Winalot, finished in line at Randwick in the autumn of 1928. Want Good Horses Were the class of stayers uniform in each State, the desire that it be held alternately would be feasible, and the race would invariably hold Australianwide interest. But where the quality is poor in all but two States, it drops to the level of an ordinary handicap, for the public demands good horses be-‘* fore it will look upon a race as important. Conditions of the King’s Cup, providing for a maximum weight of 9.5, were framed to attract Australia’s champions. But there may be something in the contention that unless the race is confined to the big meetings at Flemington and Randwick, even its sentimental value will ultimately cease to exist.

RACE WEEK BUSY TIME IN WELLINGTON The second week in July in Wellington will be a big week from a sporting point of view. The Wellington Racing Club will open the ball on Tuesday, July 8, with the Wellington steeplechase day of its fixture. On Wednesday the British football team will play the Maori team. On Thursday the Wellington meeting will be advanced another stage, on Friday the annual meeting of delegates of the Racing Conference will be held, and on Saturday the third day’s racing will be disposed of at Trentham. The annual Trotting Conference is set down for Wednesday, July 9, at 10 a.m. No doubt delegates will speed up proceedings so that the open air attraction at Athletic Park will not be missed.

JOCKEYS AND TRAINERS APPLICATIONS FOR LICENCES Under the rules applications from trainers and jockeys for licences have to be lodged by Saturday next. May 31. U~p to the present very few have been received by the secretary of the Auckland District Committee. Those who do not make application within the specified time are liable to a. fine