RACING & TROTTING

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19946, 2 November 1934, Page 10

RACING & TROTTING

On and Of! the Track A BUDGET OF NEWS AND VIEWS. FIXTURES Racing: Nov. 3—Waipukurau R.C. Nov. 3, s—Avondale J.C. Nov. 3,5, 7. ’o—Canterbury J.C. Nov. 8, 10—Whangarei R.C. Nov. 10—Hawke’s Bay J.C. Nov. 17—Carterton R.C. Nov. 17, 19,—Waikato R.C. Nov. 24. —Levin R.C. Trotting: Oct. 25, 27—Poverty Bay T.C. Nov. 6,8, 9 —Metropolitan T.C. No. 22, 24—Forbury Park T.C. Dec. I—Northland T.C. Dec. 1, 3 —Nelson T.C. Dec. B—New8 —New Brighton T.C. Dec. B—Te Aroha T.C. New Zealand Cup to-morrow. The N.Z. Derby will be run on Monday. Sweet Agnes has been scratched for the New Zealand Cup. A. H. Eastwood may ride Nightform in the New Zealand Cup. Chancellor is suffering from a bruised heel, and is unlikely to come to Addington next week. G. Barclay is mentioned as Silver Sight’s New Zealand Cup pilot. This will entail some overweight being carried. __ t The first race at Riccarton to-morrow is timed for noon. On Monday, when the card comprises only seven races, proceedings will commence at 1 o’clock. Win and place machines will be operated at Riccarton during the Cup meeting. At Addington there will be one totalisator only, distributing the pool on the 75-25 basis. Silver Coat is not engaged in the Welcome Stakes, but it is intended to give him a run in one of the two-year-old handicaps on subsequent days of the Cup meeting.

The V.R.C. Centenary meeting will begin to-morrow, when the Derby, Flemington Stakes, Maribyrnong Plate and Cantala Handicap are to be run. The Melbourne Cup will be decided on Tuesday.

The Trotting Cup meeting will commence at Addington on Tuesday, when the big event will be run. The Derby and Free-for-all are the features on Thursday’s programme and a two-mile Free-for-all is set down for Friday.

The Jamieson stable invested £IOOO on Upoko Ariki when the Chief Ruler gelding won the Weribee Cup in Victoria, and recouped part of the heavy losses sustained recently on Closing Time and others of Jamieson’s team.

Rebel Star and Sam Smith appear to have most to recommend them in the Spring Plate at Riccarton to-morow. This meeting -null mark Sam Smith’s last appearance in hack company, recent wins having made him ineligible for further nominations in this class.

Of the 13 Stewards’ Handicap acceptors, only Pin Money and Giand Sport are North Islanders. Right through the first day fields the northern representation is smaller than usual, and of an aggregate of 112 South Island stables account for 85, or approximately 75 per cent.

Nell Volo is slightly sore at present, and her owner-trainer, F. J. Smith, was a day or two go undecided about taking her south. Should she recover and make the trip her owner is prepared to race any trotter in the Dominion. best three out of five “flying miles,” for a stake up to £SOO. She would have to be good to beat Worthy Queen over that distance.

Only three times in 20 years has a Dunedin Guineas winner gone on to win the Derby, and on revealed form the much-discussed Tauramai does not look like emulating the achievement of Winning Hit, Count Cavour, and Silver Scorn. When Tauramai won on the second day at Gore he was in receipt of 141 b. from Osculate who finished third. If Osculate were allowed to try the Running Rein trick and race in the Derby, few people would wish to back him, and on form to date he is superior to Tauramai.

Latest news and anticipations for Derby Day at Flemington will be broadcast by 3AR Melbourne at 9 tonight. To-morrow night at the same hour complete results, with dividends and starting prices, will go on the air from the same station. At 9 o’clock also, from 3DB (or 2UW Sydney), will be heard a broadcast of recordings of Eric Welch’s descriptions of all races run at Flemington during the day. Similar arrangements have been made to cover Cup Day (Tuesday) and Saturday of next week.

“Greatest certainty ever beaten in a big race—Sir Simper pocketed while horses fight out finish” are Sydney “Referee’s” headings to its Caulfield Cup story. This confirms the view of broadcaster Eric Welch, and others. After his defeat Sir Simper advanced to second favouritism for the Melbourne Cup. Theo is first selection, and Nightly is on the third line since his win at Moonee Valley. If the charts are a guide to popular opinion, the New Zealanders, Theo, Sir Simper and Nightly are given a good chance of filling the places, as Nightmarch, Paquito and Phar Lap did in 1929.

Indianapolis has a slight crack in a front hoof, but he is being worked regularly on grass. It will be unfortunate if the Trotting Cup favourite is not at his best on Tuesday, as with everything in his favour he would have no easy task to defeat Harold Logan, Ror l’Or, Blue Mountain and Red Shadow. Recent racing has demonstrated that Blue Mountain and Harold Logan are at the peak of their form, and Red Shadow’s preparation has been timed for Cup day. Ror I’Or is reported to have done better than ever, and if that is the case, and he happens to be caught in the same mood as when he hoisted 4.14 2-5 in August, the Cup would be as good as over. Under the the conditions prevailing, that performance was the best seen at Addington over two miles and equal to close to 4.11 under perfect autumn conditions.

If Custodian is to win the Derby, he should show up in the Riccarton Handicap on Saturday with 8.8. This race, the last on the Cup Day card, has always been a favourite Derby trial, and during the last twelve years it has been won eight times by three-year-olds—Commendation 9.9, Cylinder 9.3, Laughing Prince 8.12, Gold Light 8.8, King Colossus 8.4. Admiral Drake 8.2, Nightly 8.0. and Tresham 7.8. Of these Gold Light did not run in the Derby, but Commendation, Cylinder, and Nightly all won the classic. Nightmarch was an exception'" during the period named, as he finished off his Derby preparation by winning the

Lin wood Hack Handicap; Silver Scorn did hers in the Spring Plate. It is noteworthy that during the period under review only one Derby winner has been beaten on the first day of the meeting. This was Black Ronald, who finished second in the Spring Plate. A reform badly needed in racing is a uniform system of entry, acceptance, and forfeits in connection with handicap events. The trainers of Ventrac and Walton Park, who with their horses have never left New Zealand, were fined for failing to scratch for the Moonee Valley Cup. and the owners have become liable for full payment of £25. because they failed to pay forfeit before October 24. The forfeit system may be all right in connection with classics, but it is a trap where handicaps are concerned. The new evidence tendered to the Wellington District Committee in the Polydora case was to the effect that M. Kirwan was thrown from Polydora before the start of the race at Trentham, and reopened the break in his collarbone. Kirwan was having his first ride after a previous accident. It seems extraordinary that he did not mention this at the first inquiry but jockeys are prone to conceal minor injuries in order to avoid loss of engagements. The position is now more satisfactory than it was after the first investigation. Two months for allegedly pulling a horse was a ridiculously inadequate penalty, but it was too severe if the rider was physically incapable of doing his mount justice. The appeal that was heard by the District Committee was not Kirwan’s, but a second one entered by the chief stipendiary steward, who apparently desired to draw others into the net.