Topics of the Turf

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20233, 17 February 1934, Page 13

Topics of the Turf

J /Votes and news from everywhere

for the Waimate j “*■ Racing Club’s annual meeting on March 15 will close next Friday, at 8 p.m. * * * * Handicaps for the Banks Peninsula meeting are due on Tuesday. Acceptances will close at 6 p.m. next Friday. An appeal by the jockey, A. Tinker, against the suspension for three months imposed by the Rotorua Racing Club will be heard by the Auckland District Commitee on March 6. RUSSELL TO GO XORTH. The Riccarton apprentice, A. Russell, will be riding at the Te Aroha Jockey Club's meeting, which begins next Saturday. He has been engaged to ride horses trained by J. W. Cathro, of Matamata. INELIGIBLE TO RUN. Poi Dance was handicapped for the Waitoa Handicap at Te Aroha next Saturday, but he is not eligible for the event, which is for horses that have not won a race of the value of £75, or over, to the winner. Poi Dance won the Trial Stakes, worth £75 to the winner, at Stratford last month. FOR AUSTRALIA. London “ Sporting Life ” on January 11 stated that Sir Laurence Philipps had sold his five-year-old Wyvern, and that the son of Coronach and Salamandra had left J. Jarvis’s Park Lodge stables at Newmarket for shipment to Australia. Wyvern’s successes include the Suffolk Nursery and the Select Stakes at Newmarket. He finished second to Orwell in the Imperial Produce Stakes at Kempton Park, and was fourth in the Two Thousand Guineas to Orwell, Dastur and Hesperus. TO RACE AT TRENTHAM. Prince Val was not nominated for the Te Aroha meeting because his owner, Mr J. Clothier, decided to reserve him for the Wellington meeting next month. If Prince Val makes the trip to Trentham from Matamata, he will be accompanied by Woodful. FRACAS OUT AGAIN. Fracas again went sore, and she has been sent to the Stonyhurst stud for a spell of several months. Her failure to stand training this season has been disappointing, as she was one of the best of the Dominions two-year-olds of last season. AN AINTREE HOPE. Mr J. Metcalf, who goes over from America every year to see his colours carried at Aintree, seems to have a chance of winning the Grand National thi* year with Theras, whom he bought specially with a view to the great Aintress race. Theras on January 4 beat a good field in the Worcester Steeplechase. GENTLE ART OF NAMING, Not very gallant* is the naming of the West Austrian performer, Tea Party. He is bv Windbag from Lady Day. Richmond Tiger, who won the Steeplechase at Launceston (Tasmania) on February 3 has football and Leer to thank for his name. One of Melbourne’s cracky football teams is Richmond, who are known as “ the Tigers,” owing to the war-cry of their barrackers, who love to exhort their idols in times of stress to “ eat ’em alive.” Mr P Grant Hay, who owns the steeplechaser, is one of the principals of the Richmond brewery, which took its brand, “ Tiger,” from the footballers. Rather subtle is the naming of the South Australian performer, Mixed Bathing. He is by Two from Ganges, and the waters of the Ganges are sacred bathing placees of the Hindus. GOLDEN HAIR. Mr G. F. Moore has decided not to send Golden Hair to Australia this autumn. She will make her next public appearance in the North Island Challenge Stakes at Trentham next month.

HON G. LAMBTON. The Hon G. Lambton, who has been succeeded by Colledge Leader as trainer to Lord Derby, was presented on December 22 by the staff of the Stanley House stable with a silver salver inscribed: “ Presented as a token of respect to a great and good master from the staff of the Stanley House stable with best wishes from all.” In acknowledging the gift Mr Lambton said: “There are three factors, in the many years that I have been trainer here, of which I have been especially proud: they are the goodwill, the friendship and the efficiency of the men and boys who have done so much to make a success of the stable. We have always been a happy family. It has nearly broken my heart to break away.” INDIA’S WAY. A correspondent in India of London “ Sporting Life ” mentions that in reading “ Horse Breeding ” he came across the following in an article about Stud Farms:—“ The ticks were swarming, but now there are no more, and this happy state of affairs can only be ascribed to a miracle. All the resources of science, medical and veterinary, had failed to make any impression on the ticks until the officer in charge made an offering with pravers at the little temple on the farm. The ticks almost immediately disappeared, and now there is not one to be found.” DAUGHTER OF LYSANDER. Rust, who won the Victory Hack Handicap at Wanganui on Thursday, is the first of the prbgeny of the Absurd horse Lysander to win a race. She is a three-year-old half-sister to Alloy and is raced by her breeder, Mr G. M. Currie. Benedictine, who finished second, was in the money for the first occasion. He is a five-year-old gelding,' but did not race before this season. Mr S. R. Hammond bred him and sold him privately to Mr G. R. Taylor. Benedictine is by Peach Brandy and belongs to the same family as Otairi, Cashier and Fiji. BRILLIANT FILLY. Star Artist is a brilliant filly and she should reach high class tips season. At the recent Takapuna meeting she won the Wynyard Plate in great style and was' very unlucky to have been beaten in the Suburban Handicap on the second day, a fact that she showed at New Plymouth last week. On the latter occasion she raced on the outside of British Columbia and. Souchong for a couple of furlongs and then gradually drawing away was first round the home bend and won going away. She is engaged in the Waihou Handicap, the chief sprint on the opening day of the Te Aroha meeting, and with 7.11 should take no end of beating, for’ she is in great form just now. JOCKEY CRITICISED. Commenting on what he describes as “ a farcical race ” for the Earle Stakes, which attracted only three starters at Wanganui on Thursday, the Wellington writer, “Rangatira,” says:— “ Plateau proved to be wholly unsuited by the style of rac’e that B. H. Morris required from him. As a horse who can stay a mile and a quarter and has always raced at a mile or over, he was ridden yesterday in just the last way to succeed in such a field. No horse in the race could have been less well served than Plateau by a short sprint home, and yet that is what Morris elected to make it. His tactics were without much doubt an appreciable factor towards the winner’s success.” BOOKMAKERS AND RACING. In bygone j'ears, Tasmania produced high-class racehorses, but the breeding industry long ago languished in the Island State and ceased to possess any importance. The reinstatement of bookmakers has caused a big revival in Tasmanian racing and it is now hoped that breeding there will also regain its lost ground.

TOTE SYSTEMS. Results achieved by the different totalisator systems at present in use in the Dominion continue to be verymixed and club execuDves are not obtaining clear guidance from them. The weather was gloriously fine at Wanganui on Thursday, but the totalisator with the old single pool system shewed a decrease of £426 compared with the corresponding day in 1933, when win and place was in operation. NEW SIRE ARRIVES. M. Grogan, stud groom for Mr J. Donald, at Westmere, went to Wellington to take charge of the imported horse Beau Pere, who arrived there from England last evening. Beau Pere, who is a six-year-old by'- Son-in-Law from Cinna, is a half-brother to Gay Shield. He will be taken up to Westmere by float. VIOLENT DEATHS. M. Keogh, an Irish jockey, received fatal head injuries when his mount, Aquilus, fell in a hurdle race at Manchester on January 2. Keogh was a “ chum ” of R. Fawcett, who was killed in a motor accident in December while journeying to a race meeting. Keogh was married and had a family. Under the National Hunt Accident Fund a percentage deducted from the amount of surplus on sales, the moiety of the fee paid by a jockey for his license, and part of the fees paid by owners, are applied by the National Hunt Committee as a contribution to the Accident Fund for any purpose that the N.H. Committee decide. Subject to the directions of the stewards of the N.H. Committee, the managers of the fund have power to grant benefits in the event of bodily injury to a professional rider whilst carrying out his duties between the time of weighing out and weighing in. The amount and method 6f pay'ment are at the discretion of the managers of the fund. The scale of maximum benefit in the case of death within six weeks of the accident is: “ Lump sum to, or in trust for, widow', children, or other dependent of £IOOO, or weekly' allowance to widow °r other adult dependent for her or his own maintenance of £2.” There is also an allowance for each child under sixteen maintained by widow or dependent of ten shillings. Injured jockeys receive a weekly allowance of five guineas for a period not exceeding twenty-six weeks for temporary disablement. None has any legal claim on the fund.