NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 19927, 1 November 1913, Page 2

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

(BY "EARLY BIRD.")

Owners and trainers stuck un with their charges at Trentham will probably com© through to Wanganui to^ have them shipped to Lyttelton direct/Some are due hero to-day, and more may be expected to-morrow. '. Horses left for Onehunga yesterday via New Plymouth were returned from the latter place, and went to Auckland by train.

The V.R.C. Spring Meeting will be opened at Flemington this afternoon, when the.principal races to be decided are the V.R.C. Derby and the Maribyrnong Plate. # The final acceptors in these events were published yesterday. The winner of the Derby, if one of the light-weights, will have to carry a penalty in the Melbourne Cud next"' Tuesday.

The well-known cricketer Mr Clem Hill lias been appointed stipendiary steward by the South Australian Jockey Club. His prowess with the willow at least proves that he possesses a keen eye. As showing what enormous profits the unregistered proprietary , clubs around Sydney have been making, it may be mentioned that a company has recently been formed with a capital of £300,000 for,.the purpose of a&juiring the Victoria Park racecourse, in, which Mr. .James Joynton Smith, late of New Zealand, is heavily interested. The new company is entitled the Victoria Park Racing and Recreation Ground, Ltd. There were 23 starters for the Caulfield Cup, and when the judge's box was passed for the first time. Midnight Sun was acting as whipper-in, with Wise King. M.r E. J. Watt's horse, who is said to have been interferedl with, was still last about six furlongs from home, but he eventually finished tenth. He carried 8.6, and it looks as though he must have a- reasonable chance of winning his second New- Zealand Citi under 8.13.

There seems to be some prospect of the New Zealand Derby being won for the second successive time by a gelding. Last year Bon Reye. scored, andriow: Jeannot is coming into favour. Jeannot, .} whpisf owned by ...Mr ;<I-r B- ; Reid.. :'i&- bv^ Charlemagne- II;, frditi"tTanefc/ (dam. <>V Scotty," Royal Fusilier, and Apbllinaris) He made his first appearance at Ashburton last September, when he won the Trial Platef Since then he is said to have improved' considerably, and on Saturday last he traversed ?. mile m most imoressive rstyle.

M^erton, who won three races at the Greymouth Jockey Club's Spring meeting, is a four-year-old gelding by Men i wee —Rose' Seaton. He was bred by Mr E. J. Watt and raced in that sportsman's colours as a two-year-old, but la.st season was owned by 'a HawkeV> Bay sportsman who races as "Mr J. Berwick." Only two or three weeks ngo ho was acquired by his present owner, Mr P. Donnellan. who has not had *v wait long before getting back some return for his purchase money.

Mr F. H. Pyne sustained a severe loss on Tuesday night by the death of his two-year-old filly Back Chat. While galloping on the Riccarton tracks on Tuesday morning, Back Chat broke ia blood-vessel, but at that time no serious results were anticipated. The filly's condition became much worse later* in the day, and she diiedl in the evening. Back Chat had shown a good deal of pace on the tracks, and although her only effort, namely, in the Hawke's Bay Stakes, was not crowned with success, it was generally recognised that she was more than useful. Back Chat was a full sister to Historiette, and as a yearling was sold for 210 guineas. She was bred by Mr I. G. Duncan., her dam, Chinwag, being by Finland —Rumour, by Eiridspord—Eleusis, by Barcaldtine.

By tall occounts, this year's St. Leger was one of the most sensational ever decided on the Donoaster Town Moor. The winner, Night Hawk, who was the rankest of outsiders, was in last position six furlongs from home, and yet he won by two lengths in the record time of 3 mm 3 3-ssec. for the race, which is run over 1% miles and 132 yards. The second and third place getters. White Magic and Seremond, were unfancied, whist the last three to finish were the favourite Louvois and two *»ther well-backed candidates in Aghdoe and Bachelor's Wedding. Night Hawk is evidently a great stayer, but the "Special Commissioner" believes that if White Magic, who did not appear ready, trains on he will prove to be the better horse.

Commenting upon the N..Z Cup race and the penalties for which entrants are liable for winning certain races, "Sentinel" has the following:—ln an endeavour to eradicate the evils of the turf, it is not much use snipping the foliage from a tree of trouble whilst 'he roots are allowed to grow with undisturbed vigour. Remedies of a merely superficial nature never bestow a permanent cure to a deep-seated trouble. Great-cures are frequently made by drastic methods or an -important change of treatment, which gets clean away from the old stereotyped, cast iron ideas. So it is with tracing. Continual endeavour is being made to improve the tone of the sport, but vvhilst a source of evil is allowed to remain it is obvious that fresh trouble will bo always cropping up. There is riot, much doubt that fixed penalties for important races are a prolific cause of fraudulent running. One has only to recall the form displayed by some winners of important races prior to their great success to have suspicion thrust prominently into the mind, because 'by u.o stretch of imagination could previous running be said to indicate a "great triumph in the near future. Tins is no new thing. It has been fairly prominent season after season, and yet thero is no indication of a change being made which will bring about a much-*o-be desired improvement in its train. Such a nace as the New Zealand Cup stands for both good and evil. It arouses the ambition of every owner of ■* good horse, but some owners, if they *iave something that can be classed as % likely winner, are not above allowing *ihe desire to win have a 'slumber whilst declaration of a handicap or the visk of penalties are in the air. The bugbear of a penalty causes owners to Tun Cup horses in races which are not the most prominent on a programme. They desire to give their horses a race, but they do n,ot want a penalty, henco it is fairly obvious that they do tiot always want a win. There is solid ground for saying that the penalty conditions attached to our most important races want re-modelling, and until something is done the atmosphere surrounding the running of a far too large percentage of horses with big engagements ahead will be unhealthy, because it tends to hide rather than reveal iheir real form. Some of our leading clubs vshould follow the example set by tho Australian Jockey Clab, and do

away with penalties for their big events. If horses claiming engagements in the New Zealand Cup escaped penalties unless they won over a greater distance than a mile and a-quarter irrespective of the value of a race, it would do a great amount of good towards purifying the running which takes place prior to the big event at Riccarton. There is a vast difference between a race over c ight or ten furlongs and one over 16 furlongs, and there does not seem much reason for penalising a winner over a comparative'sprint for a race over.a journey that but few can accomplish. In addition to helping to improve the tone of the running, the alteration of the penalty conditions in the direction indicated would lend material assistanco towards the progress of minor clubs, a^s many 'horses that are kc'^ in their boxes under present conditions would appear and obtain the race or two which some think is so essential towards bringing them into perfect condition for an important engagement.