TURF AND STUD.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 926, 29 January 1917, Page 2

TURF AND STUD.

THE CHAMPAGNE AND CHALLENGE. By Petronel. Before the week is out, the Middle Bark Plate will have become an event of the past, and our thoughts will be tinning lo the autumn race meetings whereat the two-year-olds will he fully put to tho test. By the end of April we ought to know all about the champion juvenile of the season and if we have gone about the business in the right way, shall have the Derby winner "in our pockets." The Easter racing at Riccarton will be held on April 9 and 10, the Wellington Racing Club's Autumn Meeting will be on April 1!) and 21, and Mr J. M. Johnston will follow on with his Meeting at Palmerston North on April 25 and 26.. It does sometimes happen that the. Derby winner is found by the form shown in the Champagne Stakes and in the Challenge Stakes at Riccarton; but since Orlofl' won the Champagne Stakes and Derby Counterfeit is the only winner of these* two races. Cruciform won both the Champagne and Challenge Stakes, audit' it, had been necessary 1 firmly believe she would have beaten MenschikofT in the Derby, and perhaps the right horse has not won the Derby on some other occasions or the tale of dual success might be different, Bast year Kilboy should never have been beaten in the Champagne Stakes by Good Hope. He showed this decisively in the Challenge Stakes and he won the A..T.C. Derby in very fine style, tie was unable to compete in the Great Northern Derby owing to rheumatism, but. if he should come back to form shortly and remain in good nick then I shall look forward to a very interesting St. Leger. By the way, Kilboy is in the Sydney Cup and, of -course, ho may go over for that, race if he is thoroughly well and the weight, suits. In the old days there used to lie a sort of fixed idea tb*i the Champagne, Stakes winner V/s next year's Derby horse; but I do /lot think the idea is anything morb than, a remembrance nowadays. Treadmill looked like making a Derby winner, and he should have won the race. .His shocking behaviour at the barrier cost him the race. Provocation too, was a "Derby horse in appearance, and we shall never know how good he really was. Autumnus never looked like making a.stayer; but he was never properly tested, so we must remain in the dark as to his true merit. So much for the past. The Two-Year-Old Eace.

Biplane, Hymestra, Simonides and/ Kilrea are the four most prominent two-yeav-ohls of the season. Wo know Biplane can gallop a good six furlongs, and I should think Simonides would find no difficulty in compassing such a course. So far as Kilrea is concerned she has always been running on at the end of her races, and six furlongs ought to suit her. Any doubts on this score will be settled on Saturday, for the filly will, all continuing well, be a starter in the Middle Park Plate. At Wellington Kilrea scraped her leg from hip to hock going out of the birdcage gate, and consequently she was nervous in her race, and could not show her best form'. This half-sjistcr to Taringamutu, frnd full sister to Kilboyne, is a very game filly, and I am prepared to see her race batter in the autumn than she has done previously. The Hon. J. D. Ormond's colt Hymestra raced on each day of the recent Wellington mooting, and his three victories were all very brilliant efforts. Unfortunately I was not present at the meeting; but some sound. judges assure me that they have, rarely seen such speed as Hymestra showed over the first few furlongs of each of his races. I saw him at Rieearton in November, and at Ellerslie at the recent Summer meeting, so I have a very definite opinion about, his brilliance from the mark, and in the early stages of a race. Tn both the Foal Stakes and the Royal Stakes at Ellerslie, Biplane had lo do his absolute best to catch him; but it must be said that as soon as Hymestra was collared much of the starch was out of him. And really this is not to be wondered at, for he set a terrific, pace in both races. The question.about the Hymettus—Straga colt is: Does he stay six furlongs? On Ellerslie running one would be inclined to say that he does not; but taking his Trentham running into account I should be of the opinion that he had improved a few pounds between the racing at Ellerslie and Trentham. Therefore, we need not put down Hymestra as a non-stayer just yet. He gave no quarter to Biplane in the Kelburn Plate, and after leading all the way beat the Comedy King colt easily in 4(1 3-ssee, just 2-ssec outside Conqueror's Australasian record for half-a-mile, established so long ago as 18!)7. It lias been stated that Hymestra may not come to Rieearton, as the Hon. J. T). Ormond will prefer to send him to Ellerslie where the opposition in the Great Northern Foal Stakes may not be po formidable as it is expected to be in the Champagne Stakes at Rieearton. I do not know whether we should accept this as settled just yet. As a matter of fact Biplane, Simonides and Kilrea are all in the Northern Champagne Stakes, and each is as likely to go north as Hymestra is. And when you come to think of it Mr Greenwood and Mr Troutbeck might be eager to go for Hymestra's scalp over six furlongs, so let us put this question in the wait-and-flee pigeon-hole. Now as to Simonides. I have been told that the Demosthenes colt will not get six furlongs; but I really do not believe it. In the Foal Stakes at Ellerslie he shut up suddenly, bin, he finished in third place behind Biplane and Hymestra. His stopping was due, so it was told me with authority, to the colt striking himself. However, the injury was only trivial, for on the third day backed by the public as if they meant it, he romped home in a five furlong race, looking full of running, and as if he could have, gone on for one more furlong with the greatest of ease. So there you are. 1 think Simonides will stay. He goes well on the Rieearton course, and if he travels south at Easter, the Champagne Stakes will give us something to think about. Just this lastly. It. will not do to suppose we have only Biplane, Hymestra, Simonides and Kilrea in the Champagne Stakes. There are a dozen other very useful two-year-olds in the race, and there may be a surprise in store, as has been the case in many a previous year. R. J. Mason occasionally has a foal in pickle for the Champagne, and perhaps one of Sir George Clifford's youngsters will

show the form which has been expected from several of them for some months past. Challenge Stakes Possibles.

Desert Gold has not raced at Riccarton since she won the Derby and Oaks, and Stead Gold Cup, so I need not go into details about the desire of southerners to see the champion in action at Riccarton <luring the Easter racing. The All Black —Aurarias filly is engaged in the Challenge Stakes, in which she will have to carry a penalty of 101b, added to her weight-forage, bringing her impost up to 9.5. Desert Gold did not take on Hymestra over half a mile in the Kelburn Plate at Trentham, although the going was of the nature she does best in. Like Hymestra she is a marvellously epiick beginner, but apparently Mr Lowry was not prepared to risk the severity of the task of catching the Karamu flyer. I Seven furlongs will suit the champion much better than half a mile, and her owner may take heart of grace and send her to Riccarton. Among the horses.over two years engaged in the Challenge Stakes, are The Toff, Egypt; Bjorueborg, Devotion, Probation, Sweet Tipperary, Koesian, Nystad, Cease Fire, Kilboy and Sasanof, so that we may expect quite a good class field. Sasantrf, of course, may go over for the Sydney Cup; it would be far more interesting to yew Zealnnders were he to remain here and have a go at The Toff in the New Zealand St. Leger, and the Trentham .Gold Cup. And if Kilboy got all right, and his owners let him have a go too, we should have a St. Leger worthy of the name, and a record race in the way of sporting enthusiasm. The Two St. Legers. There is, of course, the possibility that Sasanof, The Toff, and Kilboy may meet at Ellerslie, for the Great Northern St. Leger is now worth £BSO, of which the owner of the winner will receive £525. And if Desert Gold journeys to Riccarton the crack three-year-olds may be cut out of the Challenge Stakes and be sent to Auckland, it, however, remains to be seen whether any or all of the three are nominated for the big handicaps run at Riccarton and Ellerslie during the autumn meetings. The Great Easter and Great Autumn Handicaps are very attractive races to horseowners as well as to the public, while the Auckland Club gives some very fine stakes at Easter. The better of the two named above has a rosy chance of winning the two St. Legers, and thus being the first to establish the dual record. Last, year Desert Gold won the Great Northern St. Leger, but she was not started in the New Zealand St. Leger at Trentham, which Eligible won easilv from Nones, form which was respected in the Trentham Gold Cup, a race also missed by Mr Lowry's champion; Because she has not run over a longer distance than a mile and three-, quarters, and only one over that course, is not a reason for doubting her stamina. A horse that can do what Desert Gold has done in races of one mile and a-quarter and of one mile and a-half must, stay at least very well. Regarding the two St. Legers, people are always asking why there should be two such races. I have explained on other occasions that at one time the then committee of the Wellington Racing Club decided to abandon the New Zealand St. Leger on account of the poor competition the race attracted. There;-; upon the Auckland Racing Club decided to fill the breach, and quickly came out with the conditions of the Great Northern St. Leger. Second thoughts are sometimes better than first conclusions, and the members of the Wellington Racing Club wiselymade up their minds not to let the St. Leger drop. Hence to-day we have two St. Legers. Whether both are necessary is a question open to debate. In their favour it can be said that they give owners of three-year-olds two chances, whereas formerly they had only one fixed weight race of a distance of one mile and three-quarters. Wellington's Fine Success.

As was most confidently predicted, the Summer Meeting of the Wellington Racing Club was quite the most successful race gathering that has been held at Trentham, judged from the points of view of attendance and speculation. So far as attendance is concerned, the fixed popularity of Trentham as a racecourse is only a matter of improvement in the railway service. For years I have pointed out the disadvantages of tire obsolete system still in vogue. Time wasted on the journey is so striking that it is enough to make hair grow on a bald man's head; but this is a mild injustice compared to the vile sheep-run method adopted for the ingress and egress of passengers to and from Trentham. Every year it is said the railway facilities will be better next season; but there is no improvement, yet, and J suppose the war is the cause to which the delay in improving the service is now attributed. Tn regard to totalisator investments, the increase was just about £20,000 more than the sum invested at last season's Cup Meeting. There is a marvellous flow of money for amusement in New Zealand, and it is a very good thing that the money spent on a racecourse circulates in so many channels, and does benefit many classes of the community. It is a mistake to argue that increased totalisator business is a marked sign of depravity among the people; but, unfortunately, it is sometimes impossible to make extremists believe that it is a good thing to let people have a healthy recreation whose enjoyment will help to let off their superfluous energy. I was not present at the Wellington Meeting, but I am told that the racing was very good in parts. There were the usual cases of very much improved form from day to day. A horse that ran a duffing race on the first day was selected as a very good thing for the second day, and, as the shaj-ebrokers say, it "duly materialised." One man told me he could not help backing the horse when it won, but he did not half like taking the money! T have only given one instance, but the stipendiary stewards did ask questions in the other cases, though the one I am referring to was allowed to pass. I am afraid our stipendiary stewards have, too much to do. It is quite certain that unless they have the wholehearted support of the honorary stewards they cannot be expected to successfully control a race meeting. I hav& always been a believer in the stipendiary steward system; but it is obvious that the system in use in New Zealand is not meeting with the unanimous support of the stewards of our racing clubs, nor is it attended with marked success. No stipendiary steward can do his business properly by watching a race from the stewards' stand, and I am sure the stipendiary stewards' committee could, if it set to work, draft some fixed rules for the guidance of these paid officials. The system of stipendiary stewards is good, and there

are plenty of racing people who would welcome a scheme whereby starters, judges, and handicappers should be licensed and paid by the Racing Conference. A Judging Story. There are many good stories told of judges of the old days and their efforts to describe the winners, which was a trying task sometimes after a good lunch, and when the haze of cigar smoke obscured the vision. Major Owen Symons of the 2nd Gloucester, writing to "Rapier" from "Somewhere in the Macedonian Mountains," tells a judging story which is new. The Major writes:—"l expect you have heard the old Indian story about the judge of a certain meeting, who, after a big race tiffin, at which he had done himself a little too well, proceeded to his box. The first race he had to judge was run Vver hurdles, and for this there were only, two runners, a grey and a dark bay. They duly started, and presently, coming up the straight locked together, Hashed past the post. There was a long delay about hoisting the winner's number. One of the stewards of the meeting went up to the box and asked what the trouble was. He found the judge earnestly scanning his race card, and heard him murmur to himself, •There's no blooming piebald here among the runners, and I'm blowed if 1 know what's won!' "