RACING & TROTTING

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLI, Issue 20340, 12 February 1936, Page 14

RACING & TROTTING

On and Off the Track * BUDGET OF NEWS AND VIEWS FIXTURES Racing: Feb. 12, 13—Egmont R.C. Feb. 13, 15—Dunedin J.C. Feb. 15—Tolaga Bay J.C. Feb. 21, 22—Woodville D.J.C. Feb. 21, 22—Winton J.C. Feb. 22—Waiapu R.C. Feb. 22, 24—Waikato R.C. Feb. 26—Opunake R.C. Feb. 26, 27—Gore R.C. Feb. 28, 29—Marlborough R.C. Feb. 29, Mar. 2—Te Aroha J.C. Trotting: Feb. 15—Canterbury Park T.C. Feb. 15, 17—Auckland T.C. Feb. 22—New Brighton T.C. Mar. 7—Wellington T.C. Mar. 6, 7—lnvercargill T.C. Mar. 14—Tlmaru T.C. The first race at Wingatui tomorrow will start at 12.45. Silver Ring went south yesterday to fulfil his Dunedin Cup engagement. As usual, win and place betting will be the rule at the Dunedin meeting on Thursday and Saturday. Tout le Monde, Rebel Chief, Invoice, Silver Jest, and Sovereign Lady will not make the trip to Wingatui. Betting at the Egmont Racing Club’s meeting this week will be under the win-and-place system. Hard tracks have been experienced at Dunedin Jockey Club fixtures so far this season, but there are prospects of softer going this week. Man-o-war, who was destroyed at Kerrytown a few days ago, was one of the very few pacers to win over £lO.OOO in stakes. His gross earnings in the Dominion were £10,095. The Ahburton Racing Club, whose winter meeting is fixed for June 27, has decided to offer no objection to the South Canterbury date being changed from June 20 to June 23. Tire Ashburton Racing Club, whose meeting is to be held on June 27, has decided to offer no objection to the date of the South Canterbury winter meeting ■ being changed from June 20 to June 23 (King’s birthday). This year’s Viceroy’s Cup. the big prize of the turf in India, was won by Mas d’Antibes, owned by the Nwabzada of Bhopal. The winner was bred in France by the Aga Khan. South Island horses won 15 out of 16 races at the Wellington Trotting Club’s meeting, the only North Islander to collect a stake being Ideal, trained at Hutt by L. O. Thomas. The New Zealand bred horse Deputy Ruler, who cost Mr W. Pearson (owner of Amounus) 2000gns. after he had finished second to Hall Mark in the 1934 A.J.C. Derby, was sold at auction the other day for 170gns. The second of the “championship” races at the Perth trotting meeting meeting will be run to-night. Descriptions of the races are broadcast by 6WF, and the principal event will be relayed by 2FC at approximately 1.15 a.m. N.Z. time. The Tasmanian pacer Logan Derby registered 2.9 4-5 in winning his heat of the mile stage of the inter-dominion championships at Perth, and did it with ease. Roi I’Or was on 48 behind, and on a half-mile track would have had to do something exceptional had he reached Western Australia. L. J. Ellis has a ruii book at Wingatui to-morrow. His mounts will be Kinnoull (Cup), Silver Streak (Publicans), Custos (Champagne), Conversion, McHeath, Mt. J/al, Top Coat. A. E. Ellis will be on Silver Ring (Cup), Knockfin (Publicans), and Wild Chase (Champagne). Dunedin Cup riders Include the following:—Silver Ring, A. E. Ellis;

Osculate, J. Dooley; Kinnoull, L. J. Ellis; Greek Shepherd; A. Messervey; Rona Bay. W. H. Jones, Golden King, J. W. Jennings; Horn’s Reef, G. Barclay; Sunee. G. Tattersail; Senior, P. Atkins; Trivet. R. Mackie; Honest Maid, H. Phillips. A suggestion by the Hon. E. W. Parry that when a five-day working week is attained it may be necessary to provide more racing for the entertainment of the people has apparently been construed to mean that the Government contemplates an early increase in the number of totalisator permits. At the moment there seem to be plenty of clubs and racing days, and a few clubs are experiencing difficulty in carrying on. The latest to discuss liquidation is the Masterton Racing Club, which has sent out an S.O.S. for funds. Mr. R. R. Dangar has decided to retire Peter Pan to the stud after the horse has fulfilled autumn engagements. Up to the present Peter Pan has not reached the stage of fast work, but his trainer, Frank McGrath, feels confident that his loss of form in the spring in Melbourne was not a sign that his racing days were at an end. His main mission will be the autumn weight-for-age races, but if he is .allotted a tempting weight in the Sydney Cup he is likely to make an attempt to add that race to his splendid record. The “Village Farm” stables of F. J. Smith are well represented at the Auckland Trotting Club’s meeting and of his ten candidates five, Polly Pan, Baron Alfonso, Rayon d’Or, Travis and King’s Warrior, won at the summer meeting, where Smith drove seven winners. The other two were Kuini and Bonny Azure, who are not competing at the coming meeting. Smith claims three—King’s Warrior, Pegaway and Travis—of the nine acceptors for the principal race, and the combination is likely to start at a very short price. An old rule of the English Jockey Club was that which declared nominations void on the death of the owner. This was not revoked until some few years ago. The death of Lord Rosebery in 1929. which led to the voiding of Midlothian’s nomination for the Derby, led to the old rule being deleted and the adoption of one more in keeping with the spirit of the times. Therefore the nominations that figured in the name of the late King George still stand. Three horses from the Royal stable engaged in the approaching Derby are Fairey, by FairwayPolish Air. Canvas, by Solario— Scuttle, and Vitrics, by BosworthStained Glass. A Question of Penalties: At the Taranaki Christmas meeting there was an event named the Huatoki Plate, “for horses which had not won a race on the fiat at a totalisator meeting; weight for age.” This was won by Sir Tommy, who was rehandicapped 61b for another event later in the day and beaten by a neck, the penalty almost certainly making the difference between victory and defeat. At the Matamata meeting last month Gay Streak won the Puturara Stakes, for maiden two and three-year-olds, weight-for-age, and it was announced that he had not been rehandicapped for a race at Takapuna because the rules provide that no horse shall carry extra weight in any handicap race for having won a weight-for-age race. A weight for-age race is defined as “any race other than a handicap or selling race, provided that a maiden race which is run under other than the appropriate standard scale of weight-for-age shall not be a weight--for-age race.” Each of the races mentioned was run at standard scale weights, the only difference being that one was open to all ages and the other restricted to juveniles. Both came within the definition of weight-for-age, and it is obvious that Sir Tommy was not liable to the penalty which probably brought about his defeat. At one time a weight-for-age race was defined as “one in which weights are apportioned to horses according to their ages, even if there be penalties and allowances, and even if the races be confined to horses of any specified age or ages.” That brought within the scope of weight-for-age every maiden plate except those in which all horses were allotted the same weight, and it placed a £2O maiden plate at a back - blocks meeting on the same official plate as the Canterbury Cup. Even more confusing was the fact that two handicappers operating in adjacent districts

construed the rule in different ways, one contending that it covered only races at standard weight-for-age, and another that all races in which weights were apportioned according to ages were legally weight-for-age events, with the result that at some meetings winners were penalised and at others they were not. The official who held the wider view took steps to get a ruling from a metropolitan judicial committee, and on his contention being upheld he ventilated the position through the official organ. The upshot was an alteration in the rule to its present form. There is now no ambiguity about the definition of weight-for-age, but the position remains unsatisfactory, in that a £2O race for the worst horses in the country still ranks as a weight-for-age event. The absurdity of the position as shown by the following:—lf a juvenile plate is run at weight-for-age, three-year-old colts and geldings in February would be expected to carry 8.7 and two-year-olds 7.0 in races up to six furlongs, and the winner would be subject to rehandicap. If it was advertised that three-year-olds should carry 8.8 and two-year-olds 7.1, which is not standard weight-for-age, no liability to a penalty could be incurred. The rule should be amended so as to exclude from the weight-forage class any race confined to maiden performers, though it should be pointed out that clubs can avoid risk of such a slip as occurred at New Plymouth by fixing weights for all maiden and novice plates particularly when these are restricted to juveniles. When weight-for-age is specified two-year-olds usually have to declare overweight as few riders are available at 7.0 and 6.11, and some are thus automatically penalised.