IN GAY MEXICO

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 984, 29 May 1930, Page 14

IN GAY MEXICO

£28,000 RACE WON BY VISITOR SIDELIGHTS ON THE TURF Apparently Agua Caliente, in Mexico, is the gamblers’ paradise. Here it was that last month a horse named Victorian won the big race, worth £28,000, in all, and £21,900 to the winner, on the final day of an orgy of 81 days racing! After the race Victorian’s owner refused an offer of £IOO,OOO for his horse. A 4s sweepstake on this event saw the winner collect £10,350. Y'es, Agua Caliente is some great place. Read what this New York writer says about the great turf carnival : 81 Days Racing! Agua Caliente’s first season with the bangtails has closed in a blaze of glory. Most of the nags are back on the ploughs and a couple of car-loads are making for the half-milers. A few have returned to cab duty around Tia Juana and San Diego. Plenty of cash was scattered by the customers during the eighty-one days of racing and most of it remained on the Mexican side of the line. Messrs. Bowman, Crofton, Long and Coffroth may now vacation in ease and return for more dividends beginning July Fourth, when the Summer meeting will start with a bang. The biggest day the boys experienced during the initial sojourn was Sunday. March 23, when little Victorian scooted under the wire, eased up, to take the Agua Caliente Handicap and something like one hundred grand (100,000 dollars, or £20,000) in iron men. It is estimated that more than 25,000 cash guests crashed the gates for the big event and at a saw-buck per pair it is not difficult to figure where the purse came from. Five berries (dollars) was the minimum the wagering public was permitted to venture on any horse in the handicap and it was a merry tune the old mutuels played for the event. The famed two dollar ducat was abolished. Grumbling Figure that out! Just what the future holds for racing at Agua is a matter for speculation. Owners and trainers are grumbling and now that the public is back ai work there is lots of head-scratching. The main squawk of the horsemen has to do with the particular Agua Caliente Handicap. Those whose colour-bearers are among the first four to enter the charmed circle haven’t any kick. The theme song comes from the gang who race day in and day out and have been racing in Mexico year in and year out. Throughout the season six and eight hundred sinker purses (£l2O and £160) are the daily routine with a double-up now and then on Sunday for a handicap event. But the Futurity, Derby, Caliente and the Cup are the big shots. Came, Saw, Conquered Splashing one hundred and forty thousand dollars (£28,000) on one race is where the howl begins. Victorian’s win is an instance. Only shortly before the race did Vic. show at the course. Just several weeks. He ran a conditioner in a short event, out of the money; came back to win in a trial and breezed in for the gob of gold. Victorian’s bed and board and entry fees were only a drop in the bucket in comparison to what the regulars hand over to the track management annually. The Warm Stable folks merely walked in, turned around and trotted out —with the works. Not very much support for the upkeep of the oval. Keeping It At Home Most of the small owners agree that a better distribution of a hundred and a-lialf grand (£30,000) could be made so that all hands would be happy. They want one big race, of course. But a dozen, run one each week-end, with a purse of ten thousand (£2,000) for each special event has more appeal. It would not be a surprise if the high moguls adopted this scheme in the future. That is if they want a bit of class to show at the track in the way of thoroughbred horseflesh. Just at present California is looming up as a big threat for Agua Caliente in the way of racing plants. Tanforan, close to San Francisco is having its meet just now. The track lias been idle for some time due to the strict betting laws of the Golden State. Recently a jurist ruled quite favourably and opened a loop-hole for those desirous of wagering. It seems it is quite all right to purchase an option on a race horse and then decide that you do not care to own the nag. If it has come in one, two or three tlie owner is permitted to be generous or rather the jockey club, as his agent, and return to the purchaser his optional deposit together with a bonus and retain the animal. If it works, Caliente must look out.

It is being noised about, however, that a scheme is on foot to have the popular judge’s decision set aside. It would be tough competition for the below-the-line track to have plants operating in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Money From the Talkies It is the Californian who supports Mexican racing. And a most generous attendance and more generous money flows from the motion-picture folk. With a track operating in Los Angeles; with a population of more than one and a-half million it is certain that the masses would stay at home in preference to journeying 150 miles to see a race. With safe driving Caliente is five hours from Los Angeles. The Santa Fe race special negotiates the distance in the same time. That makes ten hours’ travel no matter which of the two methods one uses, for a little more than three hours of pleasure. And the train is the safest way home after a spell in Caliente. Under all of the conditions at stake it looks as though Agua’s sponsors will have to do a little more catering to both public and horsemen in the future. Purses for the latter and prices for the former. Fifteen, six and three to one, with a very rare twenty to one, was tops throughout the season. Some of the mules should have been 1,500 to 1. In fact, in many instances where the innocent plunger slapped a hundred on the line, the nag could have been bought for fifty and shot to win money. Magnifying glasses and razor blades were the main instruments of the pricemaker all season, with more chisels applied the closing week. The Starting Stalls Although the stall system of starting was used generally in all the races, other than the mile, the getaways were nothing to shout about. The last day was indeed a flop with one favourite, My Dandy, flatfooted and the final event found the favourite Moneysworth and Galloping Jo anchored with an assistant starter swinging on their necks. On the two races the public lost very heavily. One who knows ventures that more money was sunk on Moneysworth, with the crack apprentice boy, J. Redding, aboard, than on any other race of the season. Speaking of apprentice boys and especially J. Redding, here is a lad who will bear watching. He seems to have everything that a horse needs, whether

Walk Easy Ointment for tired, tender feet. Romoves hard skin, callouses, etc. Works while you sleep. No excuse for limping. Tin posted for Is 6’d. —E. W. I-lall, 117 Armagh Street, Christchurch.'—3.

it be over the short dash or at a dis- ! tance. He is alert at the gate (unless I Mister Assistant Starter has the horse j anchored), cool; an excellent judge of pace and is always trying. He will undoubtedly gain much recognition in years to come. Long Shot Expert Of the other youngsters, J. De Peso j looms up. Undoubtedly the most j hustling kid in the saddle and a born j jockey. Many followed this lad during the closing month regardless of the horse and collected handsomely’. He’s a long shot glutton, if ever there was one. Tab him! Even if the Caliente rulers did not hand out such good racing and even if they did padlock the mutuels they have at least given all concerned a whale of a plant. There is nothing like it anywhere. Unless the President of Mexico puts the blocks to things. Anyhow, so much for the track. It iti only a two-minute jaunt from the grandstand over to beautiful Agua Caliente (this name in English means “Hot “Water”). And there’s a spot. Two years ago no one would have bought the land for a shilling an acre. Today try to buy it. There is not a place on the face of the globe with which to compare “Hot Water.” And they don’t even use water to bathe in there. The Palace at Monaco is like a nickelodeon when it comes to class. Settling Day From early morning until earlier the next morning things happen at this little settlement. And “settlement” is right. A bank president may gain an education by watching the boys handle the long green—pardon, it’s silver strictly, in Mexico —at the Casino. Merrily the little white ball revolves on a dozen tables, unceasingly the leaping dominos leap on as many tables; those bird cages with the three big dice swing like a pendulum of a clock and the pasteboards prance everywhere. Then they have the Patio marvel where one eats if the appetite permits, while melodious singers croon to the music of stringed instruments and popping corks. But that is not all. There is a long mahogany table, if one cares to call it that, with a highly polished brass footrail and if one happens to be among the first one hundred to arrive, there may be elbow room. It is there that the thirst is quenched. And how! Also there is a beautiful dog-track adjoining. But the folks have not taken to the canines. They seem to be more partial to the little white ball and leaping domino, so 'tis said the management may sink a swimming pool on the site now occupied by the dog track. At least it isn’t a bad idea. It could be used by many for drowning purposes.

It’s a great place, Yeah! And as the extra girl warbled when the cork popped out of the bottle, “Adios, some one is paging me.”

INTERESTING RESULTS The Sydney “Sportsman” comments:— The reporting of a race meeting is generally done at very high speed and amusing “bloomers” sometimes occur. Wires are sent with little or no explanation, and sometimes they are badly misread. In a steeplechase in England the horses all refused to jump, and the race was declared void. The reporter sent the message, “Race void all refused.” He was astounded next day to see the result in his paper as: Race .. 1 Void 2 All Refused 3 A similar catastrophe was narrowly averted in a Sydney office recently, where the result of Phar Lap’s first race in Adelaide came through his way: “Phar Lap Fruition hard held five lengths.” It was wired as: Phar Lap 1 Fruition 2 Hard Held 3 Won by five lengths.

Luckily this was detected before it got past the first line of censorship. A new chum reporter at an English meeting asked an old hand to give him the correct message about a race which had a strong savour of being a joke and readers of the new chum’s paper were staggered when they read that the three horses “ran as arranged, one, two, three.” SILVER TRAY BACK To see whether the accident that happened to Silver Tray several months back had had a detrimental effect upon her, the mare is to be given a test on the tracks at Waipukurau. She has an unsightly hind leg, which may cause her trouble in her movements, as she moves very stiffly on it. RACING FIXTURES MAY 31. June 3. 4—Dunedin J.C. JUNE 3, 4—Otaki-Maori R.O. 3,5, 7—Auckland R.C. 14—Oamaru J.C. 19. 21—South Canterbury J.C. 20, 21—Hawke’s Bay J.C. 25 Egmont-Wanganui Hunt. 27, 28—Napier Park R.C. 28—Ashburton County R.C. JULY 8, 10, 12—Wellington R.C. 12—Oamaru J.C. 19—Waimate District Hunt. 17, 19 —Gisborne R.C. 26 South Canterbury Hunt. 31. August l—Manawatu R.C. Winter.