H. GRAY COMES HOME

Taranaki Daily News, 1 May 1930, Page 5

H. GRAY COMES HOME

MAORILAND’S PREMIER HORSEMAN LICENSE REFUSED IN AUSTRALIA THE DECREE MAY BE FOR THE BEST Granted his “brief” after serving four years of life disqualification from the Turf, Ilector Gray staged a come-back this season which proved conclusively that he was the premier horseman in the Dominion. In four and a-half months, having given other riders three months’ start, he beat them. Nothing succeeds like success, and at the conclusion of the last Wellington meeting Gray decided to try his hand on the other side of the Tasman at the behest of Trainer W. Booth. With the standard of riding in the Dominion at a low ebb, his departure was viewed with regret, but New- Zealand sportsmen realised that Gray’s talents might be availed of in Australia with more remunerative results to himself, and he carried away with him good wishes from both islands. Fate may have appeared to have been against Gray when the Australian authorities plainly put out the “not wanted” sign, but perhaps everything was for the best, and in five days’ racing since his return (including the first day at Avondale), Gray’s 31 mounts have won 10 races, run 6 seconds and 2 thirds, the stake money in all approaching close on £5OOO. For New Zealand that is a big sum-of money, though the rider of the winner of many big races in Australia may have won that amount in one effort. However, even Hector Gray would need top-class mounts in Australia to win the big races. It is very easy to understand Gray’s instant success in New Zealand, but Australian owners hold their horsemen in high esteem and justly so. Munro, Duncan, Pike, Lewis, Young, McCarten, Wilson, Bartie, Daniels, Davidson, A Reed, Toohey, Cook and Simpson are a few of Australia’s fashionable horsemen, and these aces of jockeydom rank equally, with Gray. In addition, the majority of big training establishments retain their own horsemen, and as the best class horses all have their regular pilots, Gray would have found his greatest difficulty that of securing a footing. The big money to ba won in Australia certainly presents an alluring picture, but the big money, is as far away from inferior horses with good jockeys as it is from inferior horses and inferior jockeys, and it seems that fate has taken a hand in the right direction. Gray is known throughout New Zealand and at any meeting he can command a full list of mounts. Perhaps he was a disappointed man when he returned from Australia, but at his first meeting, Waikato, he rode good winners in Pompeius and On Top, and rode them well. At the same meeting he rode Te Hoia, Sir Archie and Leitrim into second places, while Sister White and Hampton Park just failed to participate in the dividends. At Easter, Gray was found riding in great form. He opened the meeting at Ellerslie by guiding Star Stranger home, and in the next race, the Oaks, finished third on Duellona. Gray and Pegaway proved a great combination in the Easter Handicap and pulled off this rich prize from a high-class field. In the next race, the Cham-/ pagne Stakes, Gray had an armchair ride on Cylinder, but Biddy’s Boy ran unplaced in the Onslow Stakes. In the final-event of the day, Don Quixote was badly interfered with but he ran British King to a head. Six rides, three firsts, a second and a third was a fine record. . . .

Another classic was credited to Gray when Don Quixote won the St. Leger on Easter Monday, and Tenakoe was another winner for'him. Love Song paid a second dividend and Star 'Stranger, Leitrim and Hipo all ran good races under his persuasion. The Avondale meeting opened with a winner in Sir Mond, and in the All-Aged Stakes, Gray, on Lady Quex, outrode McTavish, who had the mount on the favourite, Paganelli. His third winner for the day was Awarere, the brilliant but unreliable Swiftflight gelding, who paid a nice price in the Railway Handicap. There is certainly no-horseman in New Zealand who can approach Hector Gray in the finer points of race-riding and quick thinking and, though getting up in years, there should be several more seasons of lucrative riding for this knight of the pigskin.