RACING & TROTTING

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 20146, 28 June 1935, Page 6

RACING & TROTTING

On And Off The Track \ BUDGET OF NEWS AND VIEWS FIXTURES Racing:: June 59—Levin R.C. July 3—Dannevirke R.C. July 9, 11. 13—Wellington R.C. July 20—Hawke’s Bay H.C. July 24—Rangitlkei H.C. July 25—Waimate District H.C. July 27—South Canterbury H.C. July 27 Manawatu R.C. Trotting: June 29—Auckland T.C. July 25, 27—Poverty Bay T.C. Levin races to-morrow. The Auckland Trotting Club’s winter meeting is to be concluded to-morrow.

Nominations for the New Zealand Grand National Hurdles and Steeplechase, Beaufort and Lincoln Steeplechases, Sydenham Hurdles, and Winter Cup close to-night. Polydora was handicapped to give Adult 21b at Ashburton, but did not start. At Trentham she is asked to concede 51b. to the Washdyke gelding, so that she gamed nothing by remaining at home.

The Victorian Grand National Steeplechase, for which Membo went to Melbourne, is to be run on July 13. Through oversight the New Zealander was not entered for the Australian Steeplechase to be run at Caulfield later in the month.

So far this season J. S. Shaw’s stable has won 18 races, and provided 15 seconds and nine third (the stakes won totalling £1958) with flat racers. He seems to be gradually drifting out of the trotting business. Automatic totalisator machines were used for the first time at the Newmarket meeting last month. They are on the coin-in-the-slot principle, the investor choosing his number, indicating win or place, inserting a florin, and receiving his duly-stamped ticket.

Graball was booked to leave Invercargill this week for Riccarton en route to Trentham, but the arrangement has been cancelled, and the Cynic gelding will be given a run or two with the Birchwood Hounds at Mandeville before going north for the Wellington Meeting.

If A. Fullarton wins the Victoria Grand National Steeplechase on Redditch he will equal the record of the late Tom Corrigan, who piloted three winners, Great Western, Game and Wymlet. As Fullarton is still in his early! twenties it is likely that he will not only equal but will beat Corrigan’s record as the years go by. When Black Duke won the Greenfield Hurdles on the concluding day of the Dunedin meeting he carried 11.6 and gave Palmary (second) 81b. and Lycldas (fourth) 111 b. In the Winter Hurdles to be run on the third day of the Wellington meeting next month Black Duke has been handicapped to give Palmary 71b. and Lycidas 111 b. The extra six furlongs, however, will suit Lycidas.

If F. Fox, who rode Bahram in the Derby, is to be believed, there is little reason to fear that the Aga Khan’s colt will be defeated in the St. Leger. After the Derby Fox told a newspaper man that the race “was never in doubt; I could have won anywhere I liked. I tracked Gordon Richards and was never out of the first seven, and came into the straight about fourth. When I drew up to the leaders below the distance my horse had nothing to do but take command and proceed to a very easy triumph.” In accordance with the Rules of Trotting five members of the Board of the New Zealand Trotting Association retire at the end of two years, three from the South Island and two from the North Island. This year it is the turn of Mr S. W. Kelly and Mr B. McCarthy (North Island) to retire, and as they offer themselves for re-election, and Mr A. N. lies has also been nominated an election will be necessary. For three seats for the South Island, the Hon. W. Hayward, M.L.C., Mr H. W. Kitchingham and Mr J. B. Thomson have been nominated unopposed.

Haakon was one of the best performers produced at the Great Northern meeting, running second in the Hunt Club and winning the Hunt Club Cup and Winter Steeplechase on the concluding days. Haakon is a great jumper and good stayer, and if he could be kept sound he might prove one of the best ’chasers for quite a long time. Haakon has been nominated for the Wellington Steeplehcase and the July Steeplechase at Trentham, and after that is to cqme to Riccaton for the Grand National.

London, one of the lightweights in the Wellington Steeplechase, is claimed to be one of the most improved jumpers seen out this season, and at his first start at the Auckland winter meeting he ran second to Clan Ronald in the Green Lane Steeplechase.- He was saddled up for the Great Northern Steeplechase and finished third after giving a good display of jumping, tils next effort was in the Winter Steeplehcase and he was in front at the last

fence on the hill when he came to grief. If he had stood up he might have caused Haakon, the winner, a lot of trouble.

It is reported that Mr A. D. Mclvor, of Riverton, who has acted as starter for nearly all the clubs in Southland and Otago for some years, contemplates retiring from the business.

The mortgagees who “sold up” the Marlborough racecourse were the Nelson Diocesan Trust Board, the Salvation Army, and the Cawthron Institute. Lest it is supposed that the religious bodies named advanced funds on a racecourse security, it should be explained that they received their share of the mortgage as a legacy from the original mortgagee. Although the course has been sold and is reported to be likely to be used for farming, the Club may still be able to race there.

Valpeen failed in the Wellington Steeplechase Ist year, but he went on to Riccarton to capture the Grand National Steeplechase and the Beaufort Steeplechase. Since his return to Auckland he was successful in the Sussex Steeplechase at Ellerslie in January, and at the recent Great Northern meeting, after being third in the Great Northern Hurdles, he ran a great race in the Great Northern Steeplechase till the last time up the hill, where the weight got the better of him. In the Winter Steeplechase he was always one of the leaders till finally ascending the hill, where he again dropped back and eventually finished fourth. Valpeen will be better suited by the flat country at Trentham, where he has not been harshly treated with 11.4.

Some time after the Derby, H. Wagg (rider of Theft) was cautioned by the stewards of the Jockey Club for pulling out on Theft to make an opening for Bahram. Wagg was quite frank about the matter in a statement he volunteered after the race: “I had a lovely position going up the hill,” he said. "I had intended to go along just behind the leaders and not wait, as so many people thought I would do. Before we got to the top of the hill I heard somebody shout. I had a glance over my shoulder and found it was Fred Fox trying to squeeze through. There was not room for him to do so, but when I found it was Bahram, and as I was also riding for the Aga Khan, I gave way and he was able to take up the position that might have been mine.”

Betting Shops. There are men in New Zealand, with the interests of racing at heart, who have advocated the licensing of betting shops, believing that part of the taxation derived from these would be paid to the clubs. A couple of years ago betting shops were legalised in South Australia, coincident with the licensing of bookmakers, but instead of racing clubs receiving any assistance they are being bankrupted under the conditions now prevailing. Bookmakers pay an annual license fee which is retained by the State Treasury, and they have to pay an additional fee to the clubs if they desire to bet on the racecourse Very few of them find it profitable to do so, and they are forced to become proprietors of shops. There is a tax of 2 per cent, collected on the turnover of the betting shops, and in the case of meetings in other States the whole tax is retained by the Government. On South Australian meeting." the Government takes 40 per cent., but before clubs get a share of the remaining 60 per cent, an expensive Betting Board has to be maintained. The clubs receive very little, and attendances on the courses are so small that their revenue from betting on the course is dwindling. There are over 400 bookmakers licensed in South Australia, but only 20 paid for the right to bet in the inside enclosure at the Adelaide Cup meeting, although the fee was only £l3 for three days There are about 150 betting shops in Adelaide and suburbs, equipped with lounges and radio equipment, and some are right at the racecourse gates. The Government, which grabs nearly all the revenue, the Betting Board, whose members have nice billets, and the police, who are spared the jibes that used to be levelled at their inactivity, are quite satisfied with the present state of affairs, but if some relief is not given to clubs there will soon be no racing worth mentioning and the goose will be killed. It is greatly to be feared that if betting shops were legalised in New Zealand it would be more for the benefit of the State than of racing clubs, though the New Zealand Government might not be so rapacious as the South Australian.