RACING AND TROTTING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16323, 12 January 1921, Page 3

RACING AND TROTTING.

(By “ ARGUS.”) FIXTURES. ! fanua-rv IS—Cheviot Racing Glut* ,J 3anuarv 15-Northern Wiiroa B»emg Club. January 19— Rotorua Jockey Club. Januarv 19—Wairio Jockey Club . i Januar.' 90, 22. 24—Wellington Racing Club, g January 21—Wellington Trotting Club. January 21—Otautau Racing Club January 22 . 24—Fextow Racing Club. ' Januarv 26—Tapanui Racing Club. January 26. 29—Takapuna .Tockev Club. January 29—Pabiatua Racing Club. January 29—Canterbury Jockey Club. February 2. 3—Taranaki Jockey Club. ( February 5. 5-Gisborne Racine Club. February s—Taranaki Trotting Club. I February 5, 7—Forbury Park Trotting Club. February 9. 10—Egraont Racing Club February 9 13—Dimeejiu Jockey Club. ; February 10. 12—Poverty Bay Turf Club. February 12 —Metropolitan Trotting Club. ; February 16 17—Hamilton Racing ClubFebruary 16, 17—WoodviUe Jockey Club February 23, 25—Wanganui Trotting Club. ! February 24, 26--Wanganui Jockey Club. February 26, 2F—Thames Jockey Club. NOMINATIONS. January 13—Taranaki Trotting Club. January 14—Egmont Racing Club. January 14—-Taranaki Jockey Club. January 14—Gisborne Racing Club. January 14—Canterbury Jockey Club. January 14—Dunedin Jockey Club. January 21—Poverty Bay Turf Club. January 21—Hamilton Racing Club January 96—Metropolitan Trotting Club. 'January 26—Thames Jockey Ciub. January 28—WoodviUe. Jockey C'lub. January 26—Wanganui Jockey Club. February 2—Wanganui Trotting Club. HANDICAPS. Januarv 14 —Takapuna Jockey Club. January 14—PaJiiatua Racing Club. January 19—Taranaki Trotting Club. January 22 —Forbury Park Trotting Club. Januaj'y 22—Gisborne Racing Club. January 24—Taranaki Jockey Club. January 25—Canterbury Jockey Club. January 25 —Dunedin Jockey Club. February 4—Bppnont Rasing Club. February 4—WoodviUe Jockey Club. February 7—Poverty Bay Turf Club. February 7—Hamilton Racing Club. February 9—Wanganui Trotting Club. February 14—Thames Jockey Club. February 14—Wanganui Jockey Club. ; ACCEPTANCES. ' J anuarv 14—Wellington Racing,.Club. ' January 14—Wellington Trotting Club. '•.January 14—Wairio Jockey Club • January 14—Fox ton Racing Club, i January 14—Rotorua Jockey Club. i January 15 —Otautau Racing Club. January 20—Tapanui Racing Club, i January 21—Pahiatua Racing Club. .Januarv 21—Takapuna Jockey Club. January 33 —Taranaki Trotting Club. ■ January 27—Canterbury Jockey Club. January 28—Taranaki Jockey Club. January 28—Gisborne Racing Club. 1 January 38—Forbury Park Trotting Club. ; February 3—Dunedin Jockey Club. ' February S —Egjnont Raciig Club. 1 February 7—Poverty Bay Turf Club. j February 10—Woodville Jockey Club. I February 11—Hamilton Racing Club. \ .February 16—Wanganui Trotting Club. ' February 21—Thames Jockey Club. ( February 21—Wanganui J.xikey Club. ATTENDANTS AT START. Several T«»m ago the officials of if Trotting Oubs initiated a practice of 1 allowing attendants to go to the post assist in getting horses away at the start, and in a few oases, possibly, the action wan justified-. The practice has * grown-to euoh an extent that it is fre'quently the case now to see nearly every horse with an attendant. Conditions have greatly changed since the . privilege was first allowed, and this '■matter shou!tlv,be taken up by the Breeders* aqd Owners’ Association and ( something;done to discontinue the practice. Several of these Nocalled attendants use their right to go on the trjack for other purposes and information has been frequently given to riders and drivers that should not have been allowed. Further, the men who are officiating are sometimes 1 totally incapable of doing their work at the. start, and in some instances the chances of horses have been seriouslyaffected by those who are unable to get clear of the anxious field behind the horses thej' are on the track to assist. The general principle of allowing assist ams on the course is against good sport. It is the duty of trainers to so control their horses that they can be handled properly at the start, and those who are. unable to do t-o should not. have any advantage over a. good-manned starter. There is the possibility of an accident at the. start of a race and assistance is sometimes needed, but nowadays there are always plenty of officials at the starting point-, , who can attend to this duty if necessary The practice is becoming so general that unless something is done of n drastic nature we will soon reach a stage where all starters will have atlendartts and we will have a crowd of assistants endeavouring to send horses off in the best possible way. Tlie sport has now advanced to such a stage that attendance at the start should bo abolished, and if clubs will not prevent il the governing body will have to bring in a rule prohibiting the practice. The Ashburton Trotting Club has set a good example in this matter, but at its last meeting it made a. few exceptions. C. James's three-year-old colt. by Nelson Bingen - Bertha Belle, is trotting in greatly improved form, and w ill make his appearance in tlio classic race at the Forbury Park Club’s- meeting next mouth. T G. Fpx’s. filly Cat benia looks none the worse for her racing at the Auckland Trtoting Club’s meeting. \ *** The pacer Gipsy King is right at the top of iiis form now. and will be a. nmpetitor at the Forbury Park Club’s meeting next month, where he will be handled by A. Butterfiekl. A three-year-old trotter who is working well under C. James’s charge is the Nelson Bingen Waneita coll. He has come on a lot during the last few months, and will' race in the New Zealand Trotting Stakes at the Forbury ’ Park Club’s meeting. Tlie pacer Coal King is keeping sound under G. M’Gloin’s charge, and should soon he racing prominently. \ G. Wilson’s trotting Derby candidate who is a half brother, by Great Audibon, to Beta Peter, has thrown off his lameness and is working along well at New Brighton. E. Carlyon lias had his colt by Great Audubon— D I.C. castrated, and he will not be worked for some time. Mr W. Stone arrived in Christchurch from the sooth early this week His Invercargill Cup winner Ficus is due to-night en route for tho Wellington Cun meeting. Two others. Silror Peak ■r* J Unsedav. will moke up .M’lvor’s tfcaJto lor i- e north.

P. V. Mason is booked to leave for t the Wellington Paring Club’s summer s fixture to-morrow night, taking with v him Adopted, Egotism and Pluto. c *** c Harold who ha* been indis- j posed since the Auckland Pacing Club’s 4 Christmas carnival, is out and about <■ 1 G. Young, who a short time ago went to Southland to pilot Mr W ] Slone’s ream at the holiday meetings, , is back at was riding work through the Week. j The promising light-weight. D. Hall, whose term of apprenticeship with It. Derrett expiree on Saturday, intends reapprenticing himself to -mother wellknown Riccarton trainer: J. Pearson has had an addition to his team during the week in the bay gelding Agent-General, by General Symons from a Sant Tiario mare. He claims an engagement at Cheviot, next Saturday. The Reaver, by Campfire—Gowrie Lass, recently in F. D. Jones's stable, has been turned out for a. three months’ %-pel i Most of the horses racing at the Christmas meetings on the West Coast arr.ved home las', night. The aged Gazeley gelding Woodrow, who paid a. handsome dividend when he won at Reef ton last week, changed hands duiing the course of the meeting, and was not brought back *to Riccarton. Kolyma, another member of the team taken to Westland bv W. Avery, was ieft behind to be hacked about by her owner for a lew months. Mr J. F. Buchanairs two-year-old, Meteorite, has been put into work again by P. M’Grath. Cambrae loks 1 much improved horse since his travelling experience, on the. West Coast, having built up a good deal despite u sciid racing campaign. It is probable that another couple of horses from Chokeborc Lodge will be sent to Wellington on Thursday night join Sir George Clifford's team already there. It has not yet been decided which they will be. F. I). .Tones, with Euripos and Malaga. will leave on Monday night for the Wellington Racing Club’s summer meeting. The limited size of the figures on the saddle-cloths in New Zealand is a common source of complaint with Maoriland racegoers, and there is no reason why this should be. They do things better in America in this direction \ recent picture of the crack racer, Man o War. shows a figure “one” on the. cloth that could be picked up without any great difficulty on the other side of the course. At the Newmarket October meeting the three-year-old oolt Orpheus won the Champion Stakes, of 1050 sovs, one mile and a quarter, and beat the Grand Prix de Paris winner Comrade by 1 three lengths. Behind them was the Derby winner Spion Kop and a smart performer in Diadem. Orpheus is a brilliant horse over a mile and a quarter—a distance rather short to suit Comrade and Spion Kop. The result, however, was not anticipated, and Comrade started at shorter prices than the winner. Orpheus was got by Orby (son of Orme) from Electra. by Eager from Sirenia. by Gallinule—Concussion, hv Reverberation —Ashwith, by Wenlock. It is usually the people who kilo a least- about horses and horse character that are most suspicious of turf moral--1 xty (remarks an English writer). They are foremost in alleging dubious practices, when they do not happen to have profited in a financial sense, against 1 any owner, trainer or jockey. They find it- so much more convenient to ignore the weaknesses of flesh and blood as represented by the horse, in their instant inclination to hold responsible the > people concerned for what may not be [ leconciled with expectations, or, in ;»n- ---> other word, what we call “ form.” Tne trouble is that the. onlooker does not know all the trainer can know about a > particular horse, and the fact of his f ignorance is some excuse for his allegations oF irregular running. Nevertheless. such ignorance would be greatly 5 lessened if he would trouble to pay ’ more attention to the mental and phvs- * teal machinery of the thoroughbred and make a fairer allowance for the wav it may sometimes operate, to the confusion ‘ ot human calculations. It is so easy to 5 malign a trainer or iockey and hold * them morally responsible for a horse’s running which cannot possibly he explained by what is recorded in races ' past a I’ l the turf fraud* cases in England few bookmakers gaTe evidence in favour of the pearl merchant, Weisy.. They said they did net think Weisz * knew a swindle was being worked, nots withstanding he wagered so heavily on > the race won hy Silver Radge. He a had promised to return the inonev if - there was anything wrong. Mr Gill, 3 for the Grown, in addressing the jurv. t, enid that a great point had been made , of the fact that the bookmakers with whom Weisz had betted on the fraudulent race, were satisfied with his coni' duct, and were anxious for his acquitl In h Ho then satirically remarked: “ The bookmakers are. satisfied with Weisz* s promise that ho will repay them if lie is acquitted of this charge. It is not a question with them that. She 4>pt was made on a, fraudulent 5 basis, but on his promise to repay them - on condition that he is acquitted of 1 the conspiracy, though the fraud is 3 proved against the other defendants. The attitude of the bookmakers is one of benevolent sympathy towards Weisz.” It appears that Weisz won ? about- £3OOO over Silver Radge's race, - I and the evidence went to show that ! Barrie had arranged with him to buy |«n Silver Radge after the race. One 5 witness, on being asked what Weisz 1 "as like on n racecourse, replied: “To s be candid, he was a bit of a fool. He 9 was at the mercy of anyone who could | toll him the tale and give him a supi posed good tip.” However, the jury’s s verdict showed that though Weisz may 3 have come into the game as a flat., he was prepared to act as a sharp when opportunity offered. There is nov" thing unusual about that, either. s MAN O’ WAR, i HIS AMERICAN PEDIGREE, t The fact of Man o' War being inelif gible for admission to the English I] Stud Book is a *ore point with Amer. ie»ns, end. in a recent art;s.]e on the subject, Charles E. Brossman, one of t America’s breeding authorities, remark--1 cd : “Considering the limited number of horses racing in England and France that have a cross of American blood in li their veins, the percentage of good a winners is remarkable. Man can create e a stud book with any kind of requiren meats, but the Almighty creates the k racehorse, and He only creates one like s Man o’ Waa every once in a while. Although to listen to tfie arffiimants of

bp ‘ Bruce Lovre theorists’ one might uppose a racehorse could bo created it.h a bottle of ink.” He then pointed ut that Exterminator, the best of the lder long-distance horses racing in imerica, was from a mare whose pedi Tee was full of those old-fashioned rosses that Americans have been adised to discard if they expected to ■reed serviceable horses. Furthermore, hat- a thorough analysis of the tabuatel pedigree of the successful AY hit - ley-bred horses disclosed that many ineligible for registration in andMr Brossman referred to Man o’ Aar’s grandsire as follows: ” Speudthrift, the great-grand sire of | Man o’ War, and the American ancesor in the male line, was undefeated as • ). two-year-old, and as a three-year-old vas quite first-class, winning five times >lll of eight starts, and second in the. >ther three Spendthrift was defeated t>y the famous Falsetto, who was considered by many horsemen the best up bo his time. Bramble, four-vear-old, R-a.s about the best iri the all-aged class that year, yet Spendthrift, as a three-year-old, defeated Bramble for the Champion Stakes, so that he must bo considered one of the best racehorses of his time. His dam. Aerolite, by Lexington, was a wonderful brood mare. She was a.lso the dam of Miser, Fellowcraft and "Rutherford, all full-brothers to Spendthrift, and each celebrated in his day a« a first-class racehorse and sire. Imported Australian’s place in history would be very obscure if he had not been mated with the old-fashioned Lgxington-Glencoe mares, full of the old-time American crosses. ‘‘ Many of the famous imported sires awe their exalted position to the factthat they were mated to American-bred marcs, and, on the other hand, the l>est product of imported mares have been by Amorican-bred sires. From Lexington mares. Australian sired Spendthrift. Miser, Fellowcraft, Rutherford. AA'ildidle, Springbok, Mate, Zoo Zoo. Pleasureville. while, from a Glencoe mare he sired Joe Daniels, each celebrated in its day as one of the best of its time. Eliminate these horses from Australian's list and he would have little reputation as a sire.” The Lexington “ Thoroughbred Record ” says that, because of his ineligibility for the English Stud Book, many Americans were anxious that he Fhould be given an opportunity of proving himself against England’s best in races like the Ascot Gold Cup. Among these was Major August Belmont, the breeder of Man o’ War, who delivered himself as follows : “It is most unfortunate that Man o’ War isn’t going over to add another laurel to our discredited breed. If you take the Derbies and estimate the number of limes American-bred horses or those with a large amount of American blood in their make-up have scored in this classic, it will be found that our average .is high. Iroquois, bred in the United States, won it, and while Orby and Durbar were both foaled abroad they inherited through their dams a liberal allowance of the blood of our old-fashioned families. When you consider the small number of horses we have sent abroad, and take into consideration the successes scored by them, the average speaks well for our thoroughbreds.” After commenting on Major Belmont’s remarks, the “ Thoroughbred Record ” continued: “The entire question is purely academic, arid had its origin in the fact that the English authorities, after deciding that families giving proof of their excellence through then performances would be accepted, later came to the conclns-ion that cnly those showing a clear title from the English to the American Stud Book would be deemed worthy of a place in their records. Orby was admitted under the first-named condition, and it is well for the English authorities that he was, as the get of this Derby winner, whose dam, Rhoda 8., was by Hanover, have shown great prowess, Orpheus and Diadem, finishing first and third respectively m the Champion Stakes only recently. The inconsistency of the ruling, however, is shown in the fact that a full brother of Orby would not be accepted for registration at the present time. “ It was thue. for instance, that the entire- .Lexington family, one of the best and most-prolific of all the early American thoroughbreds, became taboo. The blood of Lexington, mighty racehorse and record holder, is found in the pedigrees of many of our best present-day performers. Because it is impossible to trace his grandsire’s female line from the American to the English Stud Book, Man o’ AA nr, and scores of others whose deeds proclaim them thoroughbred, fail of recognition at the hands of the English authorities. Spendthrift. the great-grand-si re of Man o 1 AA'ar. was out of the Lexington mare Aerolite. Durbar, who won the Derb\ for the late H. 13. Duryea, acquired the bar-sinister through the Lexington mare Minnie Minor, who threw AA'anda. his greatgranddam '• The early records of many American thoroughbreds were not as carefully compiled as they should hove been. It was this which was responsible for ♦he following announcement by Sander? D. Bruce, the original compiler of the American Stud Book, who, in an introduction to Volume 6. said : “ ‘ There are a number of animals in this volume which cannot be authentically traced the requisite five crosses, but by virtue of their great racing excellence. nnd producing capacity, their retention in the work is justified. | They are doubtless thoroughbred, but I owing to the death of their breeders and loss of records, their pedigreescannot be traced. AAV have been endeavouring for sortie years to establish the pedigrees of several families. which have shown great excellence, not only ns performers, but as producers of great racehorses, both in the male and female lines, notably the Duke ot Magenta, Spendthrift, and Picayune families. The Spendthrift or Melodyfamily undoubtedly traces to imported Kitty Fisher* through Kitty Medley, sister to Melzar, Vol 1. pages 588 to 592. Kit.tv Medley, Vol. 1, page 582, wo? the Medley mare brought to Kentucky.' ” AA'. A. Rowe, the Registrar of the American Jockey Club, when seen atthe office of the Jockey Club, said : “ There is no doubt in the world about Spendthrift being a thoroughbred. The hardest part of this English Stud Book regulation is that it is accepted by our own Department of Agriculture, when it comes to the importation of blood stock from abroad. H they cannot show a certificate of registration they cannot be imported duty free- It works a hardship on the American breeder who may wish to patronise a foTeign sire. l ake die case of the iill.v Afternoon, by Prince Palatine out of Matinee. Mr Whitney vent the mare abroad a number of years ago. AVheu he wanted to bring her daughter. Afternoon, home, he had to •-'ay.” In 1901 the compilers of the English Stud Book decided to admit to Vol. XIX. horses bred in the 'United States and Australia, provided they were able to comply with certain conditions. but in Vol. XXI. there was a notice that this concession had been rescinded. Some Americans reckoned that this was because they were sending too many good-looking yearlings to England, but there is no doubt the compilers of the'Stud Book saw it was necessary to take action in order to preserve the character of that work.