THE BIG TREBLE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20493, 11 August 1936, Page 12

THE BIG TREBLE

TWO NATIONALS AND WINTER CUP HISTORY, ANCIENT AND MODERN Since 1884 the Grand National Steeplechase has been a Riccarton fixture, but the big race was established in South Canterbury in 1875 by the New Zealand Grand National Steeplechase Club, which conducted it on various courses until the event was taken under the wing of the C.J.C. The inaugural race was held on Mr M. Studholme’s property at Willowbridge and was won by R. Reay’s Medora. Royalty won the second race, on a course near Christchurch, and Fakir the third on Captain Cain’s property in Timaru. Mousetrap was the next winner, near Christchurch, and in 1879 the Club ran the event at Oamaru, where The Agent registered the first of his three wins. In 1881 the first Washdyke Grand National was rim, but exept in 1883, when Washdyke was again the venue, the race has been permanently domiciled at Riccarton. There have been many notable incidents in connection with the National, the one that may live longest in history being the exploit of Fred Hedge at Washdyke. Clarence (ridden by Hedge) won from Sailor Boy, the only other to escape a fall though ne had missed a fence. Being aware of this Hedge, after weighing in, picked up an additional lead bag, and walked across and mounted the Agent, who had thrown and stunned his rider. Completing the course on The Agent, Hedge achieved the unique distinction of riding both first and second horses in a Grand National. Another extraordinary occurrence was witnessed at Riccarton, when Dromedary, running home alongside the outer rails with the race apparently won, collided with a policeman and lost his rider. No race is so fruitful of past versus present arguments at the National. The real old-timer stoutly champions The Agent and his contemporaries against the moderns, while men of later generations swear by Mutiny, Levanter, Kiatere, Waimai, Coalition and other ’chasers of the past. Racegoers who live in the present pin their faith to the time test, the only one available, and measure the distance champions of the past would be behind the winner if they could be resurrected this afternoon. These discussions inevitably end in a draw, and they give a lot of pleasure to the contending parties. What may be the truth is that the type of steeplechaser has altered so greatly as to make real comparison impossible. The big-boned three-quarter-bred has been replaced by horses with pedigrees that would win Derbies and Cups, and races are run nowadays at a pace that would probably leave the jumper of half a century ago toiling in the rear. Horses appear to gallop faster between the fences, and to jump faster over them. This is undoubtedly the case in hurdle races, and it is strange that one seldom hears it averred that the old-time hurdlers as a class were superior to those of the present. The hardy veterans scoff at the time test, yet everybody is prepared to accept the evidence of the watch or the measuring tape when comparing old and new in other forms of sport. If anybody suggested that South Canterbury’s first New Zealand amateur mile champion, “Pat” Morrison was superior to Jack Lovelock, he would be treated with derision. Figures show that Lovelock can run 176 yards in nearly half a minute faster than Morrison’s best, and the logical deduction to be drawn from this seems to apply to horses as well. The Jumps There are actually ten jumps in the Grand National course, but all these, have to be jumped twice and one of them three times during the contest, so that altogether the number of Obstacles to be negotiated is 21. The most formidable are the big brush fence opposite Cutts’s stables, and another brush near the home turn. This is only half an inch lower than “Cutts’s,” which measures 4ft lliin, and while it is not so wide across the top, it is encountered the second time when the horses have travelled another seven furlongs and are tiring badly. In the past it has claimed more victims than the stouter fence, and this year its position has been changed slightly to allow the horses to approach it at an easier angle. Otherwise the course to-day will be the same as it has been for a long period, and it is a more exacting one than any other in New Zealand. The jumps, in the order in which they have to be taken, are:— Carriage paddock brush, 4ft sin high. Stand double, both brush, 4ft 6in. Cutts’s brush, 4ft lliin high, 4ft across. Sod wall, 3ft 7iin, with ditch. Post and rails, 3ft 6in, with ditch. Kennels double, 4ft lOin x 4ft, and 4ft 6in.

Second sod wall, 3ft Bin, with ditch. Brush, home turn, 4ft Ilin x 2ft. Past Records Five horses —The Agent, Mutiny, Coalition, Oakleigh and Wiltshire—have won the Grand National twice, The Agent having won on three occasions, and it is rather notable that each scored its double in successive years. No horse has yet, however, succeeded in winning the Grand National Steeplechase—Hurdles double, though Haydn won the Steeplechase a year after he won the Hurdles. Aurora Borealis, after winning the Steeplechase, finished second to Carinthia in the Hurdles, and this is the nearest approach to a win of the double in one season. The Grand National has been won on eleven occasions by a horse weighed at 12.0 or over, but this has happened only twice in the last 38 years. The winners with this distinction are The Agent 12.0, 12.7, 12,6, Canard 12.10, Chemist 12.7, Norton 12.8, Mutiny 12.1, Levanter 12.8, Coalition 12.7, Oakleigh 12.0. It should be mentioned that except in the case of Coalition and Oakleigh, the minimum was 9.7 or higher. Under present circumstances Canard’s record cannot be broken, as conditions of the race fix the maximum at 12.7. The time record for the existing course, which has been raced over for over forty years, is 6.53 2-5, standing to the credit of Peter Maxwell; the only other winners to break seven minutes being Oakleigh 6.55 1-5 and Snowfall 6.58 1-5. The most successful horsemen in the Grand National have been the oldtimers T. Lyford, W. Clarke, and G Hope, and H. McSweeney, with three wins, followed by S. Henderson and A. E. Ellis with two wins. W. Clarke won the Grand National Hurdles three times also, sharing this honour with W. Young, and A. E. Ellis comes next with two successes. Ellis, by the way, divides the record for the Winter Cup with A. Oliver, each having ridden the winner three times. For versatility, Ellis’s performance will take some beating. Only one owner, Mr D. Rutherford, has captured the National double in one season, the horses concerned being Ahua and Kulnine in 1892; and no owner has ever won the Grand National-Winter Cup double. Mr Rutherford just missed the distinction of being the one man to win all three races in any season. The Winter Cup was first run under that name in 1899, a year after Mr Rutherford’s grey mare Female Franchise won the corresponding race known as the Winter Handicap. The Winter Cup The Whiter Cup was first run in 1899, the title of the event prior to that being Winter Handicap. It has always been a difficult race to win, and has been productive of many surprises; among the winners who can be remembered in association with big dividends being Magdala, Parky, King Star, Solferite, Mount Boa, and Princess Doreen. No horse has succeeded in winning a second Winter Cup, and no owner has won it more than once. Until four years ago the minimum weight was 9.0, and under that condition the time record (1.40) was made by the little-fancied Aucklander Le Choucas, who pulled the backers of his bracket mate (the hot favourite Nippy) out of trouble. Since the 8.0 minimum has been in vogue, Princess Doreen has reduced the time to 1.39 4-5. Toxeuma won the race seven years ago under 11.5, and so long as the 8.0 minimum remains in force

this is unlikely to be exceeded. Other big weights carried to victory under the old regulations were 10.12 by Vladimir and Kremlin, and 10.11 by Gazique. The Hurdle Race The New Zealand Grand National Hurdle Race, to give it its full title, was not instituted until 15 years later than the Steeplechase, but it has been in existence for 46 years and during that time only three horses have won with 12.0 or more, the three being Liberator 12.6, Record Reign 12.12, and Paisano 12.1. It was as long ago as 1910 that Paisano won, and since then the highest weight carried by a winner is 11.11 by Nukumai. The double winners of the race are Liberator (in the nineties) and Gladful. The distance of the race has been progressively increased from 2 miles to 21 miles, and then to “about 2i miles.” For some years now the horses have been sent away from the nine-furlongs barrier, which added 160 yards to the journey, and this year the actual distance will be stated in the race-book.