RACING ON AND OFF THE TRACK

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIII, Issue 22620, 28 June 1943, Page 6

RACING ON AND OFF THE TRACK

I The appropriate name of Wild CFy has been registered for a yearling by Pink Coat from Full Fling 'dam of Wild Career and Secret Flight*. A colt by Battle Song from Lady Graceful has been shipped to Australia, having been purchased by a Melbourne man. . The Dozer ran in the hurdle race at Hastings, but at Trentham next Saturday he will tackle the Wellington Steeplechase. He has had no racing experience over big fences. Town Survey, winner of the Great Northern Hurdles, is to return to flatracing at Trentham. He is an acceptor for the Whyte Handicap. Talenta’s win at Hastings was her first over hurdles, and her only previous success this season was gained in a highweight handicap in the spring. She is an acceptor for the Trentham Hurdles on Saturday, and runs a risk of being rehandicapped. Hasten, who effected a surprise in the Winter Handicap at the Hawke’s Bay meeting, has been mixing jumping with flat racing lately, and she won the Hunt Club Hurdles at Ellerslie early in the month. Hasten has not incurred liability to a penalty in the Trentham Hurdles. The fact that Black Musk will carry No. 1 in the Trentham Hurdles is an indicatiton that the class is moderate. The Dozer and Gold Spot will run in the Steeplechase, and Town Survey is to revert to the flat for the day. Apart from the penalties imposed on classic winners, it is not expected that there will be any radical alterations in the trotting handicapping system as a result of Conference remits. Other changes that may ensue will be in form rather than in effect. Still the discussion will be useful. For the first time the critics have offered concrete proposals for amendment. Some northerners expect a good deal from Red Glare, the young jumper in L. G. Morris’s stable. Red Glare is by the Day Comet horse, Rocket, and except that his dam, Martianess, is by Diacquenod (a sire of speed) he has a stayer’s pedigree. Martianette, dam of Martianess, is by Martian from Equitas, whose daughter. Oratress, was responsible for Oratrix and Concentrate. Red Glare is to race at Trentham this week. Abbey Lu, who won the Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase, is an Aucklander, but for the time he is being trained at Opaki by A. Jenkins, who rode him to victory also in the Green lane Steeplechase at Ellerslie. Abbey Lu is by Lurina, a little-known horse by I Lucullus from Catharina, by Soult. Abbey Lu’s objective at Trentham is the hack steeplechase, and in this he is sure to receive a penalty. Miss Dorothy Paget, owner of the Derby winner, Straight Deal, is reputed to have invested more money in racing stock than any other owner except the Aga Khan, whose total outlay has exceeded half a million. Before the war Miss Paget’s annual income, derived from the American Whitney millions, ran a long way into six figures. Until she captured the Derby, her most spectacular success was the Grand National Steeplechase with Golden Miller. Why Hurry, the Oaks winner, is the property of Mr J. V. Rank, another big investor in yearlings over the last five or six years, but he did not have to wait so long as Miss Paget for a classic winner. Scottish scored in this race for him in 1938. Winterset. Australia’s best steeplechaser, has been given topweight (12.7) in the Victorian Grand National. Winterset is probably the most brilliant steeplechaser of all time in the Commonwealth, but he has so far found three miles his limit. He is the ruling favourite for the Grand National, which is to be run on July 17. There is a cosmopolitan entry for this year's Melbourne Cup, and one commentator sums the position up aptlv: “Genuine Cup horses, novices, sprinters, trial-platers, hurdlers and steeplechasers are all there. The only class not represented is the hunters, probably because there has been no hunting.”

If the Wellington Steeplechase were run over three miles, Spendthrift would look unbeatable. The Paper Money gelding is inclined to pull, and the extra two furlongs might not assist him. but taking a line through Noko his prospects are roseate. He can carry weight, has more speed than any steeplechaser in commission, and is a cleverer jumper than is supposed. The only trouble is that he is not 100 per cent sound. The programme for the Metropolitan Trotting Club’s August meeting is an unusual one. Only 10 of the 16 races are handicaps. On the first day the card includes a National Four-year-old Trotting Stakes for unhoppled trotters: Stewards’ Free-for-all (for trotters 3.46 or faster for 13 furlongs); Canterbury Three-year-old Stakes, and August Free-for-All (2.4 G or faster). On the second day there will be run an Intermediate Free-for-All for trotters (3.473.55 for 13 furlongs) and Metropolitan Four-year-old Stakes, of 13 furlongs. In the National Stakes, Canterbury Stakes and Metropolitan Stakes, winners of any race during this season will be penalised 24 yards, and horses which have rim second 12 yards. The extreme penalty in each case will be 24 yards, irrespective of the number of races won.