RACING IN ENGLAND

Taranaki Daily News, 19 January 1933, Page 9

RACING IN ENGLAND

LONG LOSING SEQUENCE. CAMBRIDGESHIRE WEEK. (From Our Own Correspondent.) London, November 3. Racegoers are familiar with what they call “Black Ascot,” where favourites have a habit of going down like ninepins, but no meeting on'the royal heath was ever more disastrous for backers than Cambridgeshire week at Newmar-: ket. I have -previously described how the 100-to-l Pullover carried off the big handicap, and it was a blow from which the public were not given a chance to recover. In race after race there seemed a good prospect of regaining some of the losses, but the form was unworthy of the name,. and backers got deeper and deeper into the debt of the bookmakers. It was not until the 21st race that. the favourite got home. This Was on the fourth day, and by this time the course was deserted, hundreds of visitors having gone home “broke.” The successful favourite was Mr. Dewar’s Fonab, and so dispirited were the onlookers that they almost forgot to cheer. In the long history of racing at Newmarket, I do not think there has ever been such a long losing sequence of well-backed horses. Therfi is no doubt that the weather was largely responsible for this sorry state of affairs. Rain fell every day, and the course was so heavy that the horses required no pulling up at the finish of a race. It was these conditions which played havoc with form. As in the case •of the Cambridgeshire, the light-weights held a big advantage, and it (was the runners at the bottom of the handicaps which confounded backers. It is not, possible to estimate what Was lost at Newmarket, but I asked one of the biggest firms of bookmakers what the ring won over the Cambridgeshire, and he put the sum'as high as £500,000. I think the losses on other races amounted to at least £lOO,OOO. So that it will be appreciated how disastrous the meeting was from the public point of view.

THE CHAMPION STAYER.

Not for a long time has there been such a dearth* of first-class stayers. Valuable as is the prize for the Jockey ’Club Stakes, there was no challenger for Brulette, and she was allowed a walk-over. A beautiful French-ored mare, Brulette has greatly improved since Lord Woolavington bought her, and she has been under Fred Darling at Beckhampton. Just as Myrobella. is supreme among the two-year-old fillies, so Brulette stands out as the premier four-year-old. Running with a delightful action, no race seems too long for her.

None of the running at the .Newmarket meeting was surprising. That in . the Dewhurst Stakes, in relation to the Middle Park Stakes, which is sometimes described as the two-year-old Derby, was undoubtedly, most confusing. In the Middle, Park race Lord Woolavington’s Manitoba, it may be recalled, was disqualified after finishing first, and the prize went to the AgaKhan’s' Felicitation. In the Dewhurst Stake's the latter started at the odds of 9-tb-4 on, but to the amazement of all, finished fourth. The winner was Lord Derby’s Hyperion, who is. a Gainsborough colt, and he won easily by two lengths from Jesmond Dene. Possibly it was the mud which stopped Felicitation, but he had to carry only the same weight as Hyperion. It is hardly likely that we shall see. these embryonic champions again this season, and they, will go into retirement for the winter, leaving next season’s classic situation one of more than usual doubt. Of the colts I think Manitoba can claim the best crecord, but there are great possibilities in the development of Hyperion.

AMBITIONS OF THE TURF.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) ’ London, Nov. 10.

The closing weeks of the flat racing season have two points of: special interest (writes our racing specialist). Will. Gordon Richards achieve his ambition to ride two hundred winners, and will Dawson Peacock, the veteran Yorkshire trainer, capture Ids hundredth race? The jockey has now 179 firsts to his credit, and a winner a day until the end of the season will enable him to reach the coveted total. I think he will just about do it. Peacock is five short of his aggregate, and he, too, has an excellent chance of doing better than last season, when he unluckily ■ stopped two short of the hundred mark.

If Richards succeeds in his effort, he will be the first jockey to ride two hundred winners since T. Loates rode 222 in 1893. This wonderful total was surpassed by the inimitable Fred Archer, who in 1885 was first in 246 races. Richards is exceedingly keen, and he is picking his mounts with the nicest discrimination. In this he is helped by the fact that he can “do” fairly comfortably 7st 71b, and this gives him a wide selection of rides. Very’ wisely he has so far refused to “ride light’’—that is, to get ■ below his normal weight, by wasting—but he is so determined to succeed, that I fear he may now be tempted to depart from his practice. “Riding light” is a hazardous business in the most favourable circumstances. At this, time of the year it entails physical risk as well as hardship, for apart from the wasting it means riding in rain or a- biting wind with nothing below jacket of silk or satin. It was Archer’s desperate attempt to get down to Bst 61b, to ride St. Mirin in the Cambridgeshire of 1886, which left him with no reserve of strength to fight against the illness which led to his tragic death. For-week after week during tne. season, Archer lived in a state of semi-starva-tion. A hard crust twice a day, with a cup of black tea or small glass of whisky and soda, was his usual allowance. ACCIDENT TO MR. FRANK BUTTERS. Dawson Peacock, the. Middleham trainer, is seventy-six years of age, and he still attends the chief meetings. But his son Michael superintends the details of the stable, and. he has much of his father’s shrewdness in getting the best out of a horse. To’ a large extent Peacock concentrates on North Country meetings where the class of runners is scarcely as high as in the south, but occasionally he comes out with a strong challenge to the trainers of Newmarket and elsewhere, and he is to be feared. Ari unfortunate accident has befallen Mr. • Frank Butters. .He was out on Newmarket Heath with his string, when a yearling kicked him, and broke his leg. Mr. Butters has had a most succesful season. He has won £70,000 in stake money, and is at the head of the trainers list. This is a very remarkable achievement, in view of the fact that, when Lord Derby closed the Stanley House stable two years ago Mr. Butters had to start as a public trainer with two or three horses. Now he has over- seventy in his stable. His chief patron is the Aga Khan, and a large per centage of his winnings have been on behalf of the Indian magnate. His great triumph was, of course, in the St. Lcger, when the Aga Khan’s horses filled the first, second, fourth, and fifth places. From now until the end of the season we shall see large fields, with every type of horse given a chance to win his winter’s corn. It is a dangerous time for backers, and most of the profession-

als have made their last; bet, save haps in the two or three cup races which , have yet to be decided before the curtain is rung down ,at Manchester, and . .' the jumpers come on the scene. Mean-,?? while, racing has no outstanding interest, w It was expected that a strong field w0u1d.??,.; contest the Hurst Park Great Two Year Old Stakes, but only five horses went .' to the post The winner was Mr. y. ;. Emanuel’s Statesman. ?