FROM TRACK AND STABLE

Taranaki Daily News, 9 June 1932, Page 12

FROM TRACK AND STABLE

HUNTING HELPS JUMPERS

TARANAKI STAKES NOMINATIONS.

BREEDING OF THE DERBY WINNER,

(By

“Hurry On.”)

Entries for the nineteenth Taranaki Stakes close with the secretary, Mr. C. B. Webster, at 9 p.m. to 7 morrow. The Taranaki Jockey Club is to be commended upon its courage in keeping this event on its programme in spite of the hard times that racing is going through. This race has enabled Taranaki racegoai’S to see the very best of the Dominion’s horses in action and it is up to all owners in the province to enter all likely candidates for this season’s event.

Two ex-hunters, Billy Boy and Town Beauty, were successful at Ellerslie yesterday, and their success, along with Copey’s win in the Great Northern, again emphasises the great value of hunting in preparation for the career of a crosscountry horse. It will be remembered that Beau Cavalier was also a product of the hunting field, and it would seem that a season’s following the hounds is never* wasted with a prospective chaser. Hystride scored his first success since he went to the South Island in February when he won at Wingatui on Friday, The course was heavy and this appeared to suit him, He was sold after the race to Mr. J. A. Smaill and it is probable that he will join P. T. Hogan’s stable at Washdyke. French Fleet came through the three days of the Dunedin meeting last week with a notable record, as he won the hack and hunters’ steeplechase each 4ay. He was in receipt of a lot of weight, in his first success, ‘from Valves, who filled second place, but in the other two races the opposition waS very moderate. The Wooqvllle District Jockey Club will place the fallowing remit before the New Zealand Racing Conference next month: “That subject to provision being made for the taxation of all bookmakers’ bets, made either on or off a racecourse, and for the contribution ot a reasonable share of such taxation to racing clubs, efforts be made to obtain amendment of the Gaming Act to allow of the licensing of bookmakers,” Mr. K. Duncan who-piloted Seneschal to victory in the Carbine Plate at Ellerslie yesterday was successful in the same race in 1929, when he won with his own horse Otairi. Air. Duncan has also been successful over country against the best of cross-country horsemen and was on Trouble when he won the Hunt Cup at Marton in 1928.

After Landmark and Alake Up ran first and second respectively in the Great Northern Hurdles on the opening day of the Ellerslie meeting, the chances of Mr. Corry winning at least one other race geemed particularly bright, especially as Appledpre had been schooling well. The team raced unsuccessfully during the rest of the meeting, hut the first day’s stakes would make the meeting a profitable one for the Blenheim owner. Though the Thompson Handicap winner Shrill has not been a very prolific stud matron, having produced only two fouls, both of her progeny, Fathers Voice, by Absurd, and High Pitch, by Sarchedon, have been good gallopers, and the latter has shone over the hurdles as well as the flat, his latest win being at Ellerslie yesterday, Some two years ago Shrill was bought an auction very cheaply by the Bell Block studmaster, Air. - John Gleeson, as it was very doubtful whether she was in foal though she had been stinted to Lord QUex. Air, Gleeson took the risk, and in due course the foal arrived. He will be a year old in August and good judges who have seen him declare him one of the best that they have ever seem As the mare had had a good rest it, is more than probable that this youngster may prove as If PQt better than his relatives, and when he is put up at the national sales iiext January he is to .be the medium of some spirited bidding.

The pick of the seen out at the Dunedin meeting were Captains Gift aiui Aforeba, These two southerners ate likely to reach top cla§s, and if gent up to the Trentham meeting will test out the .northern fencOre. Captain s Gift showed a lot of promise last season, but Morena, who is by the now defunct Taranaki sire is a comparative newcomer to the gameThe Hawera trained three-year-old Davidstock is having an exasperating run of eeconds, having filled that berth in his last four races. He io a good honest sort, but the tMk of conceding both weight and age to good hacks has proved just beyond him. However, with another yOar of age he will do a lot better. He lias never really had a fair deal from the handicappers this season. In her early days the Raper Money mare Equitaut was inclined to be squibby, and though she invariably dW' played plenty of pace she faded out at the finish. Thm'seastm she hap been far more solid, anfl last week v °n both days at Otaki in a decisive manner. Should she continue to improve as she has in the lagt three months phe looks like reaching town hall class. Racing News Coincidences,

The victory of Royal Gallant in the opening event at Ellerslie on Friday was accompanied by a series of coincidences, says The Star, The three-year-old son of Top Gallant was purchased as a yearling in Australia at the Randwick sales for 140 guineas, and brought to Auckland. That victory was his third win, and it is a coincidence that in each case he was ridden by a jockey whose snrnaine begins with “Me,'! the respective riders being McTavish, Mclnally and McDowell. Another coincidence was that the horse was No. 11 in the race book, drew No, 11 for position at the post, was 11th favourite, and the number 11 figured in the dividend declared on the machine. This is the first galloper that the Messrs. Howard, of Devopport, have raced. Classic Entries.

Entries fdr all classic events fall due on Ftiilhy and owners of prospective crack juveniles are busy entering thrift for Darbies. Legers, Champagne btaK6s and the like. In fully 75 per cent, of the eases it is a pure waste of pbpey, but so long as the sytteni prevails few owiiers bafi afford to leave th^ir.youngsters ' out,’ as ’ should thdy prove to be good the safe value is greatly lessened when a two or a three-year-old haA no classic engagements. It jwtt has to be done and that is the end of it, and Oncfe again it js the poor owner who luis to pay and keep oii paying. However, the stakes for the classic events have fallen off very considerably this time and it is more than likely that the entries will not be up to the standard of past years. The Derby Winner. The Derby winner April the Fifth is by Craig an Eran from the Call o’ the Wild mare Sold Again. Call o’ the Wild is by Polymelus, a sire rich’ in Hampton blood, <t valuable strain often found on the dam’s side of a classic winner. When tlie last mail left England April the Fifth had not won a race, but he may have been- successful in the in-

terval. He started three times as a two-year-old, but was never sighted. In his first start as a three-year-old he finished on strongly in fourth place in the Birmingham Stakes, but h e started at odds running into three figures in the Two Thousand Guineas and was never sighted. It would seem that unless he had won a race jn the interval he was likely to have started, at forlorn odds in the big Epsom classic.