RACING ON AND OFF THE TRACK

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIII, Issue 22490, 27 January 1943, Page 6

RACING ON AND OFF THE TRACK

| Mr F. C. Christie, of Orari, secured a colt by Lord Quex-Marais for 145gns at the yearling sales. The pool in the Douro Handicap, the concluding event at Trentham. totalled £28,261 lO'-. a record for a single race at a Wellington meeting. Snowman has been rehandicapped to | 8.11 (91b) in the Konini Hack Handicap at the Pahiatua meeting. For 155 lots submitted at the National yearling sales, buyers paid 29.042jgn5, an average of just on 252gns. The Coronach-Lady Phroso colt sold privately at a four-figure price prior to the yearling sales will be trained at Rand wick by M. McCarten. There has been no trotting in Victoria or South Australia for months, but the sport is being carried on in a modest way in Queensland, with a i large proportion of American service- i men among those attending. Prince Shad’s lmin 39sec in the | Douro Handicap is a record for a mile j hack race at Trentham. After a meeting at Harold Park I (Sydney) it was announced that an ' inquiry was held into the running of I the pacer, Orange Princess, and “as a I result the mare’s entry will be refused I during the stewards’ pleasure.” Not i proven, but believed guilty. The Winton Trotting Club was one of those which suffered as a result of I the 50 per cent cut in permits. The I Winton Juvenile Stakes, for three-year-old pacers, will ba run at the Winton • Jockey Club’s meeting next month. | Mr G. M. Currie has had a good ' second day innings at Trentham this ' season. On the second day of the i spring meeting, Stairway and Rink ! were winners and Damask finished I second to Tutere. On the second day of the summer meeting, Stairway and Rink won again and Screen also was successful. Had their owner played up £1 on the trio, the turn would have run into four figures. The New South Wales Trotting Club advertises the Sydney Champion Stakes (£350), to be divided into races for ! pacers and trotters. Acceptances will ’ close three or four weeks before the race, and it is provided that in the event of any horse being scratched . after acceptance day the owner will be ; fined £2 unless a veterinary surgeon j certifies that the horse is unfit to run. In order to curtail the activities of unlicensed starting price layers in Victoria, it has been suggested that the taking of acceptances should be delayed until half an hour before each race. The scheme would be unworkable, and it seems to have emanated from “responsible authorities” who have been misleading the Prime Minister. The proper way to tackle the bootleggers is to order strict enforcement of the law off the courses. The fighting in Russia has been productive of many surprises, not the least of which has been the value of nonmechanised cavalry. The Soviet has immense reserves of horse-power, and in Siberia there are many districts with 30,000 to 50,000 horses in each. Breeding for the Army is carried on on highly scientific lines, different territories specialising in the type best adapted to climate and terrain. The central regions and the Volga area raise | a cross between Russian and American i racing stock. The Don Cossacks produce a special type of cavalry horse; | the North Caucasus the Kabardin breed j which excels in mountain work. Turk- | menia is the home of the desert horse, enduring as a camel; Mordavia supplies the Brabancon, for artillery units; and from Tamboy and Ivanovo come the Clydesdales for heavy duty. It is a long time since a horse was set the task of carrying such weights and tackling such distances as has been exacted from Royal Lancer this season. Seven years ago Silver Ring won the Metropolitan Handicap with 9.13, was second in the Wellington Cup with 9.9, won the Racing Club Handicap with 9.13, the Dunedin Cup with 10.4, the Hazlett Cup with 9.11 and Thompson Handicap with 10.6. Only two of these races were as long as a mile and a half, and the programme was spread over five months. . Royal Lancer in less | than two months was second in the Southland Cup with 9.13, won the New Zealand Cup with 8.11, third in the Metropolitan Handicap with 9.11, third in the Dun-edin Cup with 9.12, first in the Invercargill Cup with 10.1, first in the Hazlett Cup with 9.12, second in the Wellington Cup with 9.3 and second in the Racing Club Handicap with 9.9. | He contested two two-milers and three I races over a mile and a half.