RACING & TROTTING

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20028, 8 February 1935, Page 13

RACING & TROTTING

On And Off The Track. A BUDGET OF NEWS AND VIEWS FIXTURES Racing: Feb. 9—Poverty Bay T.C. Feb. 9—Taranaki J.C. Feb. 9—Canterbury J.C. Feb 9, 11—Rotorua R.C. Feb. 13, 14—Egmont J.C. Feb. 14, 16—Dunedin J.C. Feb. 20, 21—Gore R.C. Trotting: Feb. 9—Wellington T.C. Feb. 16—Kaikoura T.C. Feb. 16, 20—Auckland T.C. Feb. 23—New Brighton T.C. Mar. 1, 2—lnvercargill T.C. Mar. 2—Wellington T.C. Mar. 9 —Timaru T.C. One totalisator, paying 70-20-10, will be operated at the Wellington Trotting Club’s meeting on Saturday. The price paid for the New Zealand filly Capris by a Sydney buyer was 1500gns. Silver Coat, Hot Stuff. Coat of Arms, Disguise. Honeste, Epris, Heloise, Nightform. and Weatherly will represent Washdyke and Orari at Riccarton tomorrow. E. A. Leckie has been engaged to ride Silver Sight in the Midsummer Handicap.

Gaysome’s race in the Craven Plate on Saturday will probably be her last for some time, as it is intended to spell the wayward little mare during Mrs J. Campbell’s absence in Australia with Vintage.

Euge, who dropped dead after doing his preliminary at Tapanui, was by Night Raid from Bran Pie, and was trained by F. W. Ellis at Invercargill. He had shown a bit of pace, but had never managed to earn more than place money.

Cuddle has been paid up for in the Craven Plate at Riccarton as well as in the Midsummer Handicap. A win in the seven-furlong race would not carry liability to such a heavy penalty in the Dunedin Cup as success in the Midsummer Handicap would do. After Euge had dropped dead at Tapanui, only three horses were left in the Stewards’ Handicap. Johnny refused to begin, and the race was confined to Dodge and Song Boy, but Johnny later galloped the distance and collected the small third prize. . A report from Hastings states that T. Quinlivan, who has been on the retired list for a few seasons, is again taking out a trainer’s license, and it is on the cards that a well-known member of the Racing Conference executive will place a couple of horses under his charge.

Nell Volo has been entered for pacers' races at the Auckland meeting, and present intentions are for the American-bred mare to take her place in one of these fields. She has not been set any serious tasks with the straps on at Takanini, but she has satisfied her trainer, F. J. Smith, that the hopples will be no trouble to her once she becomes accustomed to them. Backers of the top-weight Venlte were unlucky in the Tapanui Handicap. The Invercargill mare spread a plate and struck herself in a false start, and the stewards allowed her to be withdrawn. When her stablemate Euge dropped dead in his preliminary the totalisator had not closed and investments on the horse were refunded, but in Venite’s case the machine had balanced and her backers lost their money without getting a run.

King Flight, who paid a huge dividend at Matamata, was having his first race. He is a two-year-old chestnut colt by King Du from a mare by Swift Flight, an imported son of St. Martin and the sire of some useful sprinters ;n the north, including the Railway winner Awarere. He is owned by Mr A. Hirst, for whom he is being trained at Te Aroha by J. F. Eva, and he was ridden by the lightweight ho, soman W. H. Jones, who is shortly leaving for Australia and India. The family to which belong Peter Jackson. Gaine Carrington and Wotan has recently been prominent in Australia. Bivalve, the colt who ran second to Hyperion in the recent West Australian Derby, is by the Melbourne Cup and dual Derby winner Trivalve from Talitha, a sister to Thrax and Judith, by Martian from the Englishbred mare Hebrew Maid. Talitha was bred at the Kinloch Stud, and was bought by Mr R. Acton-Adams for 300gns. Later she became the property of Messrs V. and E. Riddiford, who sold her, in foal to Absurd, to the Victorian studmaster Mr E. E. D. Clarke, the owner of Trivalve. Talitha’s sister Judith was a useful brood mare, among her productions being Palestrina, Wink, Jubilant, and Juniper, all winners; and her half-sister Lovelorn was the dam of Nones, Menelaus, Left and Prince Paladin.

Among the gallopers which usually produced their best at the summer meetings at Riccarton was the Clanranald horse Cannie Chiel. He won the Midsummer Handicap twice, but his most famous exploit there was his defeat of that great mare Cruciform. This was in the Champion Stakes in 1902, when there were only the two starters and the race excited so little interest that only £lO was invested on the machine. Cannie Chiel led round the top, but a cry of “Here she comes” went up when Cruciform’s rider made a move at the home turn. She could not come fast enough, however, and Cannie Chiel won by a length in the slow time of 1.33 3-5. Cannie Chiel was a good horse when in the mood, but he was an unreliable customer, and would have been dangerous property for a battler. When he was retired from racing he did a year or two at the stud in the Fairlie district before returning to Stonyhurst. Dundas, who was raced by Murray Hobbs, had an unusual record at C.J.C. summer meetings. In 1899 he won the Middlepark Plate, and less than an hour and a half later he finished fourth in the Midsummer Handicap. On the second day he was runner-up to Blazer in the Champion Stakes. At the meeting in 1900 he won the Linwood Welter, but he missed the fixture in the following year. In 1902 he won the Midsummer Handicap in the hollowest fashion in the history of the race. Going up the back he was as far in front as Steeton was in the last New Zealand Cup. and the official verdict in his favour was eight lengths, a margin very flattering to Fulman and Cannie Chiel. who followed him home Dundas then won the Dunedin Cup and other races, but 1903 he was started in a selling race at the Riccarton summer meeting, and after he had won there was no bid for him. He finished his career in Southland, winning one race at Winton, and then dropped dead.

A. E. Ellis will ride Nightform at Riccarton to-morrow. C. E. Eastwood, the well-known Riccarton jockey, has accepted an offer to join the Fordell stable, which will in future be in the charge of D. Marks. Eastwood will leave for his new home next week.

Mr Frederick Price, whose death in his eightieth year is reported from Invercargill, was one of the best known figures in sporting circles in Southland, where he had resided for over 70 years, and carried on contracting, farming, and stock dealing. He raced horses off and on over a period of nearly sixty years, but the most notable performer to carry his colours was Rorke’s Drift, a Calibre gelding who was among a draft from Longbeach auctioned in the south. Mr Price paid over 600 guineas for Rorke’s Drift, but with him won more than £IO,OOO in stakes. Although he failed in flat races north of the Waitaki, Rorke’s Drift had a remarkable record at Wingatui, where he won the Dunedin Cup twice, the Otago Handicap twice, and the Birthday Handicap thrice, carrying some very big weights. For all these races Rorke’s Drift was trained by P. T. Hogan, who named his stables at Invercargill Rorke’s Drift Lodge. Later the horse won the Winter Hurdes at Trentham. At the time of his death Mr price owned another good horse in Signaller. Mr F. L. Price, owner of The Smuggler, and the pacers All Sunshine and Lynwood, is a son of the late Mr F. Price, and Messrs F. A. and V, N. Price, and H. A. Price are other sons whose colours have been well known in the south.