RACING AND TROTTING

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVI, Issue 21379, 23 June 1939, Page 11

RACING AND TROTTING

ON AND OFF THE TRACK A Budget of News And Views FIXTURES Racing June 24—Waimate Point-to-Point. June 24—Waipa R.C. June 24—Otaki-Maori R.C. June 24—Ashburton County R.C. July I—Danncvirke Hunt C. July I—Oamaru J.C. July 4, 6. B—Wellington R.C. Ashburton races to-morrow. Entries for principal events at the Grand National meeting must be made by 8 p.m. to-day. The win and place system will be used to-morrow at Ashburton, Otaki and Waipa. Under the amended Rules of Trotting, all stablemen are required to be registered, and to pay into the Provident Fund an annual fee of 10/-. Ruaform won the Wanganui Century Hurdles in 1936, and subsequently met with a bad accident in the ’'addock. After this the Ruapapa gelding never produced his old form, but he is in training again after an absence of ten months, and has now joined C. M. Thomson’s stable at Awapunl. Prior to the Rules of Trotting being redrafted, application for registration had to be made 14 days before a horse could be nominated for a race. Now there is a further requirement that before a horse can be entered for a race it must have been in the hands of a licensed trainer for at least four weeks. R. K. Smith was responsible for a fine riding effort when he won the Bay of Plenty Steeplechase on Mahala. His saddle slipped round when about six furlongs from home and he had a most uncomfortable ride in the final stages, yet he kept his mount well balanced when she was seriously challenged at the last fence by Biform. The Marton-trained Lady Callaghan won in a canter at Wanganui from a useful horse in Glenvane, and a repetition of that form would find her very hard to beat in the cross-country event at Otaki. Lady Callaghan has more pace than the average steeplechaser and she is jumping better this season.

Gold Vaals, winner of the main flat race at Tauranga. has not been harshly dealt with in being penalised 51b in the woodstock Handicap at the Waipa meeting. One which might worry him is the erratic mare Gay Rose, who carried 51b overweight at Tauranga, but under a higher scale will not have to do so to-morrow. Gay Rose likes the going soft.

According to a Wanganui report, should Lowenberg shape satisfactorily in his approaching engagements at Otaki and Trentham W. H. Dwyer may take him to Australia in the spring for the Melbourne and Caulfield Cup. He will have to improve to be worth taking across but his chance looks better than Wotan's did three years ago.

Silver Jubilee’s win in the sprint at the Bay of Plenty meeting was the Romeo gelding’s first since he scored at Rosehill, N.S.W., nearly three years ago, and his return to form makes his engagement at Te Awamutu all the more interesting. He is now trained at Opotiki by M. B. Abbott, who has had a good innings this season with Llangollen, Scotland, and others.

Mr J. Greenhead, of Rotorua, who. during the last few seasons has enjoyed a fair measure of success with Erination and Master Musk, has again produced what is considered the makings of a very useful hurdler in Royal Nation, an aged gelding by Illumination from Miss Killarney. Royal Nation's success in the Otara Hurdles at Tauranga was impressive, and he owed his victory to his splendid jumping.

Mosaic, the New Zealand-bred colt who would not eat and won the Sydney Cup on a diet of apples, has developed an appetite since he has been on holiday at Richmond. His trainer, J. Abbs, expects there will be no more worry over Mosaic’s diet. Abbs sets one day a week apart to visit his horse, and states that the colt has improved out of ail knowledge since he has been in the paddock. Mosaic is to be prepared for the Melbourne Cup.

When Uenuku, the find of the pacing season in the north was about 18 months old. R. A. McMillan inspected two young pacers. Their owner put a much higher price on an Edna juvenile than he did on a colt from Bicolour. The Edna youngster created the greater impression on McMillan and he was tempted to buy it, but, finally, decided to take the cheaper horse. Racing as William Direct, the former has now earned £10; Bicolour’s son, now known as Uenuku, has rewarded McMillan with £1895.

Under the Rules of Racing in New Zealand, horses are not allowed to run in hood or blinkers. At the request of the Racing Owners, Breeders and Trainers’ Association the executive committee has fathered a remit permitting the use of blinkers, the Con-, ference to approve the type which may be worn. The remit has the backing of the Manawatu Racing Club. Blinkers are permissible in England and Australia, but many people consider that they assist the rogue and for that reason disapprove of them.

The six-strand barrier at the mile and a quarter post at Trentham has become a thing of abhorrence for most jockeys who attend Wellington meetings. It is now’ more than probable that it will be removed next season. Some time ago the jockeys

through their association made representations to the Racing Conference to have strand barriers prohibited in the Dominion. The matter was before the executive committee last week-end, but discussion was deferred till the next executive meeting to allow for fuller consideration.

When Steady Fire paraded for the Waioeka Hack Handicap, at Tauranga, few realised that they were watching the closest relation to Carbine now racing. He is rising sixteen, and had not raced for eight years—since June 1931. Even in his youth, he won only two minor events, but he has one distinction, in that he is the only grandson of Carbine in training. He is not, however, the oldest horse to race in the Dominion. That honour probably belong to Organiser, who was nominated for the Auckland Cup of 1932, and actually raced that year at Gisborne. Organiser (SabretacheOlga), Maori-owned and trained, was 23 at the time, and raced accordingly. Second most successful jockey in the Dominion last year with a total of 72 wins, C. G. Goulsbro is well down the list this season owing to accidents preventing him from riding at many meetings. He had a welcome change of luck when he won the Waioeka Hack Handicap on Spinning Wheel at Tauranga. It was his nineteenth win this season and his first since he scored on Ramleh at Hawera on May 4. The fractured leg he received when kicked while riding Anopheles just before the start of the Wellesley Stakes at Trentham in October proved costly to Goulsbro. who was unable to ride again until the Te Aroha meeting at the end of February. He had another misfortune at Pukekohe on March 6, when he had a fall from Cometarium in the opening event and received a badly bruised arm.

Perhaps the most contentious remit on the order paper of the Racing Conference is one (to be presented on behalf of the Executive Committee) providing that “no change of rider of any horse in a similar class of race during the progress of a race meeting shall be made without . . . the special permission of the chairman of the judicial committee and the stipendiary steward which shall be granted only on good and sufficient ground.” The Trotting Association has had a rule of this nature in operation for years. The object of the proposed addition to the rules is to cover the case of a horse running on one day of a meeting with an inexperienced rider and on a later day with a capable horseman. In many cases where this has been done the change of rider has been used as an alibi for a reversal of form and betting. Unsympathetically administered such a rule might prove very harsh, but properly used it might prevent some undesirable happenings An owner is entitled to engage the best rider available, and no obstacle should be placed in the way of improving the chances of a horse by substituting for an inferior horseman a better one who might not have been available on an earlier occasion. There have been, however, cases in which a crack jockey has been secured for a horse for a later day of a meeting without any attempt to engage him for an earlier day, and it is no doubt this kind of ramp which has made stipendiaries ask for the new authority. IRISH DERBY WIN FOR MONDRAGON United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, June 21. The Irish Derby, run at the Curragh, resulted as follows: IRISH DERBY, Of £3000; three-year-olds; 11 miles MONDRAGON, ch c by Sea SerpentFab Day i CRUSHED CORN, ch c by TrigoCedarhurst 2 CORNFIELD, b c by Trigo-Arena . 3 There were nine starters. Won by half a length, a length between second and third. Northumberland Plate At the Newcastle meeting the following was the result of the NORTHUMBERLAND PLATE, Of £1500; 2 miles ORACIAN, ch m by Apelle-Ojala, 4yrs i WINNEBAR, br h by Winalot-Tab-aris, syrs 2 IRISH STEW, b g by Irish BattleSweet Scent, aged 3 There were thirteen starters. APPRENTICE RIDERS EXTENSION OF FACILITIES By a remit to be placed before the Racing Conference next month, the executive committee of that body seeks to extend the compulsory provisions for the staging of races for apprentice jockeys. At present the rule applies only to clubs holding three meetings in the course of a year, but the proposed new clause would make it obligatory that an apprentice jockeys’ race be on the programme of every race meeting, provided that upon a stipendiary stewards’ certificate that no such jockey is available, to ride any horse, any other jockey may be substituted, on condition of the horse carrying a penalty of 141 b. On the same subject, the Marton Jockey Club seeks to substitute the following clause for the existing one:— In the case of a club holding a meeting of more than one day in the course of any year or any which falls in the period from September 1 to April 30 inclusive, at least one flat race, not being a maiden race or a race in which two-year-olds can compete or one of less distance than seven furlongs, be included in which only apprentice jockeys shall be eligible to ride, provided that if no such jockey is available, any other may be substituted on condition of the horse carrying 101 b. extra.