SPORTING GOSSIP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11754, 19 July 1916, Page 5

SPORTING GOSSIP.

Ob 4^auas

. yrStTTRES. Jtjfr tt>—B*m* v CanterVnrv Hunt. July aT—Brackenriold Hunt. luKiut 16, 17. itf—(Jttuioibury Jockey Club. Nominations for the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club's August meeting will close to-night, at eight o'clock. The South Canterbury Hunt Club will hold its first totahsator meeting on the Washdyke course to-morrow. Tho fields for most of tho events are largo, and are- drawn from a very wide area, 60 that the sport should be tf considerable interest. A special train will lea*v:e Christchurch at 8.5 a.m., itturning after tho last race and reaching Christchurch at 9.52 p.m. This arrangement should suit the convenience of sportsmen from the vicinity of Christchurch, and should result in a large attendance of visitors. About a dozen horses with engagements at tire South Canterbury -Hunt Club's meeting to-morrow, left for Washdyke by thV morning's train. Caher Davon. who was recently taken up after a speii, was on the track at Riccafton this morning, and did steady work. Art was on the track this morning, looking very well after his trip to Trentham. It is believed that the bleeding trouble may have \ been ,duo to a cold, from which he has/ now recovered. Banian was not worked this morning. He still shows signs of soreness, due to a knock while taking part in the hurdle race ho won at the "Wellington Racing Club's meeting last Week. Trirewe (F. Ellis) was given a schooling task over hurdles yesterday afternoon. He blundered through the first obstacle, but jumped the next three in good style. Debonaire (F. Ellis) started out this morning for a round of the steeplechase obstacles. After jumping the brush m front of the stand, he baulked at tho first of tho double and also refused at the other obstacles. Numerous inquiries havo been received for accommodation at Riccarton for the Grand National meeting, and it is expected that there will* bo a largo attendance of North Island horses. Boxes have already been engaged at the Racecourse Hotel for thirteen horses, P. Malone, H. Hickey, G. Puce, J. Gravestock and A. Marchbanks _ having each engaged two, while W. H. Howe, C. Milien and_ R. Butterworth will each hive one. When Luland opened his winning account in Australia, in the Maiden Handicap at Warwick Farm, ou July 8, he started favourite, and beat ten opponents with the greatest ease. He was ridden by the North Island lightweight, Ashley Reed. Snapdragon, who was among the mares sold bv Sir George • Clifford in Sydney last Easter, was unplaced in a Welter Handicap at Warwick Farm this month. El Frogresso, who claims engagements at Riccarton next month, was unplaced in the Victorian Grand National Steeplechase. Mr John Crosier, at one time a prominent owner in Australia, died this month, at tho age of seventy-two. In his early days he resided in South Australia, and at one time he owned the famous St Albans Stud, which was afterwards disposed of to the late Mr W R. Wilson. The delegates -to the New Zealand Racing Conference ha"d xt quieter time than usiial last week. The business did not include many debatable subjects that were new, the result being that a few- hours sufficed to dispose of the order paper. Tho president, Sir George Clifford, in his. annual report, provided a lot of interesting reflections on the relationship of racing to the national defence. Tho "puerile demand for a cessation of racing," which he described as " a cry of the uninstrncted," served as o text for some very pointed comment on those who can 6ee no good in racing and would havo it stopped altogether. The president had some argument for his claini that "ncwhere in tho world is racing better conducted than in New Zealand." The absence of proprietary clubs and the devotion of all profits to the sport can be cited as two strong claims which New_ Zealand possesses in this i respect, quite apart from the influence of the totalisator or tho searching .investigations Avhich are conducted into disputes. The opponents of racing nnist also find it hard to dispute tho fact that the sport is making a big contribution to the financial needs of the times, both in taxation and voluntary donations. Passing on to administrative details, Sir George had a good word to say fcr the work done by the stipendiary stewards, much of which passed unnoticed. Sportshien in general will agree with the brief referenco to the mistaken prohibition of publication of totalisator investments- Whatever the idea of the legislators may jliavo been, it must now be recognised that no good purpose has been served.

The delegates once nioro threw out the proposal for the issuiug of all licenses by the conference. It is hard to follow the reasoning of those who oppose this reform, which would do a jot of good in many ways. The decision to give jockeys the rigfit of appeal in cases of an ''"obvious pull" 'will be received with satisfaction in many quarters, as it is a measure of relief which has been strongly urged for years past by many prominent followers of the sport. The proposal that the conference should appoint racecourse detectives for ail meetings was lost, a decision which caused little surprise*, as many country clubs consider that they can manage this detail quite well enough for themselves, and at much less expense than would be entailed were the business ' controlled by the conference. The report of the Stipendiary Stewards' Committee contained n\uch of interest. The work of this committee and of the stipendiary stewards is giving fiso to much discussion among racing men ; and there are several phases which will call for more extended comment later on. The election of Sir Goorgo Clifford as president of the conference for another term was very largely in the nature of formal business, 'but it was a form which thoie interested in the sport must have learned with general satisfaction

The fact of the stjse cScial being responsible tk?s :.f«c i*r the handicaps 2>* w.u Jieiocmriio Cup an a Cauiiicld Cup has deprived critics of the opportunity they formerly had for huming up the differences of opinion heid by the two handicapped. It is an arrangement which will only last for this year, however, so thers is not so much hostile discussion as would have been indulged in had the idea of retaining one man" 1 for the two leading courses in Victoria been permanent. In the absence of argument concerning the variations in the Melbourne and Cnuliield Cups there has been a disposition to discuss other phases of handicapping. Declaring the weights for i: race months ahead, says the " Australasian. 7 ' -* often assailed

.RACING AND TROTTING NOTE

on the scons in&s the handicappet cannot possibly know how horses will stand ou too day, but it is no use arguing against a success. Tho Australian 'Jociiey Club tried keeping back weights for big handicaps, as au experiment, but they soon reverted to the old plan. The Epsom and Metropolitan weights come out in June, and there is absolutely no penalty for the Epsom, and only one for the Metropolitan. Onco tho weights are. issued they stand, there is no rehandicapping, either by fixed penalty or by the judgment of the handieapper This alteration of conditions has worked so well that the committee of the. Victoria Amateur Turf Club has followed it very closely this year." A horse must win a handicap worth £IOOO before' incurring s penalty of 141b for the Caulfield Cup. This means that a horse must win the Epsom or Metropolitan before incurring extra poundage The Victoria Racing Club has not advanced this far yet, but there are no Melbourne Cup penalt : es at all for races won in July, and £2OO is the limit afterwards. The '• premature " policy with re.cnrd to weights probably chimes in with the views of owners and trainers. Directly the lists are out they cau go ahead/and race the-r horses as often as tbev think desirable. Tt also accords with tho wishes of /-!ubs or. proprietaries racing before the big meetings begin. They getihe good horses as an attraction at their meetings. We doubt if the committee of the Victoria Racing Club has ever given a serious thouaht to +hc suggestion that weights for the Melbourne Cup should he held back until near the day of the race, but it mav be S, iP 'Vl TCr - ° f d °' lls awfly wifn Potties, should it do so. we mav see some increase in the value of the stakes for hind-caps at the fVdfHd an d Moonee \ alley meetings in October.

It has been made apparent during the last tew seasons, a prominent iiiiigiish writer, that tna. high tide of bt bimons fortunes has oceu reached, and that the ebb has now set in. This statement in no way derogates from St Simon s reputation as one of the greatest stallions of all time, but it simply acknowledges the natural and inevitable process by which nature after a while declines to perpetuate too much of a good thing. After a period of comparative quiescence we may pro'ribly and St Simon surging up .to tho top again but for the present the Stockwell hue. is in the ascendant, and malnlv through Bend Or. The position of Poiymelus in England is a verv strong one indeed, for during the past two seasons he has been almost out bv himself among winning stallions, ana his two-year-olds look like maintaining his supremacy this year. Then Woolwinder, son of Ma'rtagon. has done great things on the Continent, while Martian, another Martagon horse, is the leading stallion in New Zealand. There are also descendants of Ormonde rapidly corning to the front, Orby being specially notable among these, and in this connection may ie mentioned Adam Bede, whom breeders are apt to neglect on account of the thoughtless objection that he was bred in the United States Ho was bred there, it is truo, and so was Tracery, but neither horse has a single touch of native American blood in him. Adam Bede is by Adam (son of Frying Fox) out of Grace Gumberts, by Sainfoin, her dam, Maid of Mentmore", by Cameliard (son of Cremorne) out of Corisande (winner 1 of the Cambridgeshire), by King Tom out of Maybloom, by Newminster out of Ladv Hawthorn, This is a splendid pedigree, and Adam Bede is a right good racehorse. He is a thoroughly typical Stockwell, and should make a really great stallion. It must be remembered, however,- that there are other lines of Stockwell besides that of Bend Or, Rock Sand, for instance, being very much in evidence with such sons as Tracery, Rochester and Rock Flint. For the timo being, however, Poiymelus is well in the lead, and he possesses the very great merit of siring stock considerably superior to himself. It is a thousand pities that his threeparts brother. Errv'ldoune, was exiled to Uruguay, for in England he would probablv have been as good a stallion as Mr S. B. Joel's champion Grafton, who was not in the same street with these other two sons of Maid Marian (Poiymelus and Ercildoune), and a roarer to. boot, did wonders at the stud in Australia. STARTING METHODS. 10 TUB EWTOB. Sy*,—l havo read with great interest your reports setting cut the intended now regulation to bo brought in by our premicr trotting club, by which a scheme has been devised to "automatically" suspend riders or drivers for the serious ('r) offence of'beating the starting clock. _ No doubt the framing of this brilliant idea is tho outcome of much thought, expended' and the result of many sleepless nights on the part of the designers. I do not eay that any rider or driver should bo allowed to heat the clock without being called off, but to suspend a driver for being say, half a length in front of his bell twice in the one season, appears to me a very drastic measure, as in nine cases "out of ten o'clccli is not beaten ' by a deliberate intention on the part of the rider or driver.

1 think that in framing regulations aiming at the rider or driver wlio beats his bell the club is. shooting at the wrong person. There is one thing certain, that the driver who beats the clock is always a trier. Can this be said of the one who stand's on the mark ? How many times have wo seen in the papers the words, " the favourite stood on the ■mark,''" or "or the favourite began slowly and spoilt his chance"? Ax, «a recent, meeting a horse was made a firm first favourite. The paper report of the race says he began Siowly and went in patches, and the closest he could get at the finish was about tourth, a long way back. The next, day, in the same class of race, he neither began slowly nor went in patches, but hopped oil and was never headed, winning m only, two seconds slower time than would have landed him in the firing line on thtf first day. Tin's was not an isolated case at the meeting, but i never heard of any rider or driver being "automatically " disqualified for driving what looked like a non-trier. I give- the stewards credit for holding an inquiry on- another race at the meeting, even though no action was taken. You see this sort of thing happen ■ at almost every meeting that id held. In concluding, I would like to point out to the various clubs that the man to be stamped out of the sport, if it is to be kept clean, is not the trier who beats his bell by the fraction of a second, but the one who docs not beat his bell but drives a " dc-ad 'mi." If the stewards' of clubs would only open ' their eyes and keep them open tspoiier of the sport would' scon bo eradicated. —I am, CLEAN SPORT. Christchureh, July 17. (The regulation referred to was mad'.by the New Zealand Trotting Association. —Sp. Ed. "Star.")