WOE FOR PUNTERS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 642, 21 December 1932, Page 12

WOE FOR PUNTERS.

Losses at English Meeting Placed at £600,000. BLACK NEWMARKET WEEK. (Special to the “ Star.") LONDON, November 10. Racegoers are familiar with what they call “ Black Ascot,” where favourites have a habit of going down like ninepins, but no meeting on the royal heath was ever more disastrous for backers than Cambridgeshire week at Newmarket. I have previously described how the three-figure chance, Pullover, carried off the big handicap, and it was a blow from which the public were not given a chance to recover. In race after race there seemed a good prospect of regaining some of the losses, but the form was unworthy of the name, and backers got deeper and deeper into the debt of the bookmakers. It was not until the twenty-first race that the favourite got home. This was on the fourth day, and by this time the course was deserted, hundreds of visitors having gone home “ broke.” The successful favourite was Mr Dewar’s Fonab, and so dispirited were the onlookers that they almost forgot to cheer. In the long history of racing at Newmarket I do not think there has ever been such a long losing sequence of well-backed horses. There is no doubt that the weather was largely responsible for this sorry state of affairs. Rain fell every day. and the course was so heavy that the horses required no pulling up at the finish of a race. It. was these conditions which played havoc with form. As in the case of the Cambridgeshire, the light-weights held a big advantage, and it was the runners at the bottom of the handicaps which confounded backers. Form Unreliable. None of the running at the Newmarket meeting could be accepted without reserve. That in the Dewhurst Stakes, in relation to the Middle Park Stakes, which is sometimes described as the two-year-old Derby, was undoubtedly most confusing. In the Middle Park race Lord Woolavington's Manitoba, it may be recalled, was disqualified after finishing first, and the prize went to the Aga Khan’s Felicitation. In the Dewhurst Stakes the latter started at odds on, but, to the amazement of everyone, finished fourth. The winner was Lord Derby’s Hyperion, who is a Gainsborough colt, and he won easily by two lengths from Jesmond Dene. Possibly it was the mud which stopped Felicitation, but he had to carry only the same weight as Hyperion. It is hardly likely that we shall see these embryonic champions again this season, and they will go into retirement for the winter, leaving next season’s classic situation one of more than usual doubt. Of the colts, I think Manitoba can claim the best record, but there are great possibilities in the development of Hyperion. It is not possible to estimate what was lost at Newmarket, but I asked one of the biggest firms of bookmakers what the ring had won over the Cambridgeshire, and he put the sum as high as £500,000. I think the losses on other races amounted to at least £IOO,OOO. So that it will be appreciated how disastrous the meeting was from the public point of view. Walkover For Big Prize. Not for a long time has there been such a dearth of first-class stayers. Valuable as is the prize for the Jockey Club Stakes, there was no challenger for Brulette, and she was allowed to walk over. A beautiful French-bred mare, Brulette has greatly improved since Lord Woolavington bought her, and she has been under Fred Darling at Beckhampton. Just as Myrobella is supreme among the two-year-old fillies, so Brulette stands out as the premier four-year-old. Running with a delightful action, no race seems too long for her.

FOR AUCKLAND CUP.

Owner of Tigerism Reaches Decision. (Special to the “Star.”) WELLINGTON, December 21. Advice from New Plymouth states that Mr A. Lile has decided to send Tigerism to Ellerslie to contest the Auckland Cup. His usual rider, P. Atkins, will have the mount on him, which means that he will carry about 7st 41b instead of 7st. Tigerism was also an acceptor for the Manawatu Cup. RACING FIXTURES. December 26—Waipukurau J.C. December 26—Poverty Bay T.C. December 26, 27—Westland R.C. December 26, 27—Taranaki J.C. December 26, 27—Dunedin J.C. December 26, 27, 29 Manawatu R.C. December 26, 28, and January 2, 3 Auckland R.C. December 31, January 2 Greymouth January 2—Waiau R.C. January 2—Waikouaiti R.C. January 2—Wyndham R.C. January 2, 3—Hawke’s Bay J.C. January 2, 3—Marton J.C. January 2, 3—Wairarapa R.C. January 2, 3—Stratford R.C. January 3—Oamaru J.C. January 3, 4—Southland R.C. January 7—Waipapakauri R.C. January 7, 9—Reefton J.C. IN FORM AGAIN. Sunny Sky, who accomplished the fastest sprint of the morning on the course proper, at Ellerslie yesterday, has not raced since her unsuccessful visit to Australia in the early spring. At the Auckland meeting in June she won over seven and ten furlongs, and was second over a mile. Sunny Sky is an acceptor for the Railway Handicap, and will be ridden by Roy Reed. TO HAVE LONG SPELL. Grampian and Helen Gold are both to have a spell of about six months. Idolize, the remaining member of J. W. King’s team, will not be asked to do much for a week or two, but she will race at Trentham next month. Grecian Prince, in R. W. King’s team, is likely to race at Waikouaiti and Oamaru, but it is improbable that he will fulfil his Inversargill engagements.