SPORT IN BRITAIN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19366, 24 July 1925, Page 6

SPORT IN BRITAIN

THE BRILLIANT SAUCY SUE THE WEEKLY REVIEW CPr. >m Our Own Correspondent All Kights Reserved) Lord Astor’s brilliant filly. Saucy Sue. has captured the hearts of English sporting fraternity, and there is little doubt but that she is a wonderful performer, the best since Mumtaz Mahal, with the additional asset of remarkable stamina. Saucy Sue’s meeting with the best of the opposite sex is being awaited with the keenest interest. Other sporting topics from the Old Land are fully covered in the latest letter from our London correspondents.

THE TURF A PERFECT LADY. SAUCY SUE—CHAMPION FILLY. LONDON, June 4. 1925. Saucy Sue (writes 4 ‘Centaur,” our racing expert) won the Oaks as easily as Manna won the Derby—and in fas ter time, too! But she had a weaker opposition to face and drier turf on which to gallop. No one. not even her trainer, the famous Alec Taylor, can know precisely how good' Sau'-v Sue really is. One can only conjecture. But at least she has demonstrated that slit' is far better than any of her sex. Whether she is the best of her age can only be a matter of opinion. All bring well, the St. Legcr. which is still a long way off. should make us wiser « n that most intriguing point. It is a long time since the same filly won the One Thousand Guineas mid the Oaks; just as we had to go back for 1911 for an instance of the winner of the Two Thousand Guineas and the Derby. Manna and .Saucy Sue have shown by their recent triumphs that consistency is not yet a lost pos session with our high-class thoroughbreds. In all the circumstances the starting price of Saury Sue for th*Oaks. —100 to 30 or. —was a wonderfully good one. It was not attractive, of course, to the small barker, but, as a reflection of her chance by comparison with the rest, the figures were absurd. Personally, I had expected to see something like 100 to 8 on demanded. Apart from her unbroken winning record, it was known that she had done well since the One Thousand Guineas. : nd, so pronounced is her superiority. Lord Astor might have availed hini>olf of the Declaration to Win rule. 1 was glad, however, he did not do so. It was, surely, far more exhilarating to note the wonderful ease of her win ..nd the honest attempt of the other 'iily in Lord Astor’s ownership—Miss Gadabout—to beat her. Had there been no Saucy Sue, Lord Astor would 'till have won both the One Thousand and the Oaks. One rather tires of stressing the great good fortune Lord Astor has enjoyed with his fillies—in contrast particularly with his terrible ill luck in the Derby but then he is fully entitled to the honours, ami the immense satisfaction he must experi•n e. for, after all. he lias bred them it his extraordinarily successful stud • f mares at t’lievedcn. HOW THE LADY DID IT. Samy Sue swept her way Io the post in such a way as to leave no doubt about her absolute supremacy. You scarcely nerd d the exi icneo of the race itself after that. And yet it was with a feeling of curioily one watch • d to see .(list how >he would run her race, whether stamina would >er\e her. as it must the best oxer lhi> distance of 1 miles, and exactly how far >he would win. Manna had gone into the lead quite a mile from home in the Derby. Trank Bullock simply had Io let Saucy Sue have her way shortly after the mile and a-quarter post had Leon passed. From that point she waset with a very lonely furrow to plough. Slo- just “loped” along in h<*r irresistible way. Twice up the ,'traight Bullock took glances over h.s 'hotihi -r. only to see Miss Gadabout next in attendance, with Donoghue urging Mr Anthony dr Rothschild'.' Riding Light to make sure of a place. A hundred yards from home Sam-y Sii" appeared Io hang away from the rail.' and slightly wandered into the middle of the <-ours:*. I am sun' some onlookers. anxious to find signs of weakness in her stamina, would at once conclude that she was tiring. I have no doubtun that point. She was merely wonder ing what all the people were doinp there aril why liny were cheering! No wonder she stared at them, prick • d her ears, and for the moment took her attention off racing. Shr wa* tight out by herself, and had been sc for well oxer a mile. She might ever : iaxe thought it wa> time to pull up! She was in mi wax - «li<t re><rd. and though I suppose it could not be so 1 certainly got an impression, as she •ood uroadd;- !. that she ha' -liner appreciably ■•• *. 4 |ity. With her won ■ l“rful lengir,. r >plendid galloping quarters, an ' her perfectly slopec 'boulders, she i> the ideal racing ma chine in flesh and blood. But beside: these are those other qualities thai help to make the high-class racehorse qualities of the will to race, to en joy racing rather than be subjected t( it. and. of by no means least import nnrp. the virtue of stoutness of hear and constitution. A GREAT TRAINER.

Si many of Lord Astor’s breeding) have splendid courage, and one cannot I doubt that his contributions to the i breeding of the thoroughbred horse in' England are going t" be of immense j value to bloodstock generally. 1 have i no intention of belittling w hat Saucvj - -

| Sue showed u> by stating that her opponents. with the possible exception of Miss Gadabout, were altogether un- ! worthy of her. Iler pre-eminence is ! too firmly established :>nu acknowI lodged for that. Yet. taking the rest i 'of the ihrec-year old fillies of 1925, I they du. indeed, seem a poor and most disappointing lot. Saucy Sue is fairly I certain to be seen out at Ascot, and |it may be that we shall not see her I again until the St. Legcr, though ;-he limy haxe attractive engagements in j the meantime. Counting two New Oaks triumphs in the war period with Sunny Jane, and My Dear. Saucy Sue was Alec Taylor's seventh winner of the premier filly’s classic. Others were Rosedrop (for Sir William Bass), Bayuda < for Lady James Douglas). Love in Idleness (for the late Lord Manton » and Pogrom and Saucy Sue (for Lord Astor). A very remarkable record, on which the trainer has been rightly inundated with congratulaI lions. GOLF SCOTSMAN WINS THE AMATEUR GOLF. After having competed in the event for eighteen years, Robert Harris won iihe amateur golf championship at Westward Ho! in overwhelming style. In the final, over thirty six holes, he I settled the match on the sixth green in the second round, beating Kenneth I Fradgley by the record margin of thir- ’ teen up and twelve to play. The last -time there was anything like this rr- : suit, was in 1921. when Willie Hunter, who is now in America, defeated Alan ■ Graham by ten and eleven. There was a ready explanation for the hollowness 'of the. victory. Fradgley has suffered ! from a serious illness, and the strain of , playing two rounds a day for five days was more than he could bear. In fad j he expected, and almost hoped, that he . would be beaten in every round. He I had little or nothing to eat for twentyi four hour- before he went out to play j Harris, and his defeat was inevitable. He lost ihe first hole, and was six down at the seventh. Thus early was the i bottom knocked out of the match. How 'poor was Eradgley’s golf will be realI ised from the fact that he took as many . as ninety-one for the first round, and it was not surprising in the circumstances that he went into lunch, which 1 in his case consisted of a glass of milk ; and a piece of toa>t. nine down. Harris. { at the start of the match, played in i great style. FALL OF THE GIANTS. J ‘I It was a difficult golfing day. with a high wind, and he played the first seven holes in an average of fours. : He did not keep up this form, which ■ was so good that it would have given him an advantage over almost anyone. ' but his opponent was so obviously unable t<> do himself justice that lie ' perhaps felt that it would be kind Io io temper his play with mercy. A 1 Scotsman, born in Dundee. Harris came i to London when he was twenty—-he i> “now forty-three—and he has only miss 1 I <-d two championships since 1901. He . h:td twi<e before been in the final, but ' in 1913 he was defeated by Harold Hi! 1 : ton. and two years ago lie lost to ' j Roger Wcthere l. At Westward Ho. ' ! however, he was from the start the • i most outstanding player, and long before the final was reached it was declared that it was to be his year. Il was a remarkable championship. Tin* _ ; holder. Sir Ernest Holdcrne.'S, was '’i knocked out on his first match, and both Cyril Tolley and Roger Wcthered '■wire dismissed in the second round. So the path for Harris was soon made fairly ease. Only once was he in dan- • ger of defeat. This was in tin* seini- | tinal. in which lie niei Noel I.aytoi), ''who fought most pluckily. The latter (however, when he appeared to have " i gained a definite advantage, missed a I tiny putt of under two feet to gain • i the load on the fifteenth green. One • i up, w ith three to play, would have ’• ; been a very strong position, but Lav r j ton not only lost this chance, but he ' ! forfeited the next hide, and was 1 I knocked out at the home green. Harris - ■ was a very worthy winner. but on ' : the whole it was a most disappointing ! championship. Most of the interest ' ; departed with the passing of Holderf i uess. Tolley and Wethered. and no one e 'arose of conspicuous merit to take their 1 ; places. Indeed, it almost seemed as 0 i though the standard of golf had gone • back. and. if the Americans had come Hover this year, it is long odds that | the cup would have been captured.

CRICKET HOBBS CREEPING UP TO GRACE, j It is doubtful whether Hobbs has ever revealed liner form than this sea son. His fifth match was against Nott' nt Trent Bridge, and he scored his fifth century. This was his 118th threotigure innings, and he is therefore now within eight of W. G. Grace’s record. His mastery over the varied Notts bowling was complete. No one could even restrict his rate of run-getting, j when once his side were in a good posi- i tion. and. remaining at the wickets for nearly live hours he made 189. It was one of the finest innings of his long career. But Surrey could not force a win. for the reason that they have not the match-winning bowlers. Whitsuntide saw every county engaged, and the championship table underwent a | striking change as the result of the | games. Yorkshire, for example, were di'played from the leadership. and there is now no side with the full hundred per cent. The champions lost their position through being beaten on the first innings by Lancashire. It was the. usual stern struggle, and neither side ever attained a position when it was possible to take any risks. A STIFF FIGHT. Yorkshire batted first, and were at the wicket the whole of the opening day for 232. Lancashire replied with 265. Tt is not possible to say what tirn result would have been if the game had been ployed out, but so far as it went. Lancashire had the better of matter*. F. F. Warner has tipped Lancashire for the championship, an honour which they have not gained for twentyone years, and. if the weather will let them finish their matches at Manchester. which Gilbert Jessop has facetiously called the inland watering place of the North, they appear to have excellent prospects of ending at the top of the table. On hard wickets the fast bowling of McDonald, the Australian, is a great source of strength to them, i The record of Lancashire is onlv i slightly superior to that of A’orkshire and Surrey. Middlesex are fourth, and it. is notable that J. W. Hearne is beginning to show his best form with Ihe bat. He had his benefit against Sussex at Lords, and made a fine century. But j everv batsman has been overshadowed | by Hobbs, who in nine innings has , scored over eight hundred runs. TENNIS LAWN TENNIS CHALLENGERS. The lawn tennis championships begin a fortnight hence, and entries are now being receive<l. both from players at home and abroad. -I. Anderson, the Australian, entered some lime ago by cable, and already he has been made favourite for the singles. In the doubles he will be partnered by Rudolph Lycett. who lived in Austra-, lia for several years, but has been in this country since be left the army, fhe pair were successful in the doubles three years ago. In addition to Anderson. Australia is to be represented by three women players, but so far they have not shown form good enough to suggest that they have a chance of winning at Wimbledon. As usual, France is to send a strong team. There was some doubt about Jean Borotra defending his title, but he. has been officially nominated for the event, and. moreover, he is to partner Mlle. Suzanne Lenglen. We have hoard little about the French girl this year, but she has evidently recovered from the illness which caused her Io withdraw from Wimbledon last summer. For she has been entered for all the competitions. In the women’s doubles she will be partnered by Miss Ryan. Other French challengers are to be Rene Lacoste, who was beaten in the final last year by bis fellow countryman. Borotra. Henri Cachet, the finalist, in the Olympic Gaines, J. Brugnon. who is rated as the sixth best player in Franco, and P. Foret. Mlle. Lenglen will have as her companion Mlle. Billiout. What are the English players to do against this formidable array of tale in ? The prospects are not encouraging. BOXING CONTRASTED STYLISTS. About the time these linos appear in print overseas (writes Mr Eugene Gorri) the light al Holland Park under N.S.C. auspices for the middleweight championship will have been lost anti won. It will be a disappointment to me if the contest does not prove one of the most expiring and memorable of the year. It will present an extraordinary contrast in fighters. This contrast is expressed in nationality, temperament. physique, and boxing style. The best dc.-cription of Bruno Erat t ini. who is Italy's outstanding boxer, is that he is an enlarged version of the Frenchman. Charles Ledoux. A more conscientious champion in training quarters I have never met. Fraltini is almost as bad as Jack Dempsey from the point of view of his sparring part ner>. Dempsey's firm belief is that, if vou cramp your style in training, by taking some of the sting out of your hitting in consideration for your sparring partners, you are running serious risks of impairing your fighting form. The result is that it costs the American not a small but a fairly big fortune, hiring sparring partners who are willing to take a risk against the worbl’s most formidable human fighting machine going all out. Moreover, even the most willing of Jack Dempsey's sparring partners are

apt to get used up and become battle casualties. Fortunately for his train ing assistants, Frattini has not the build or the punch of Dempsey, but he is an extremely powerful young gentleman for his weight and height, ami one of the most hustling lighters imaginable. SCOT v. ITALIAN. I find it difficult to envisage what will happen when Johnny Milligan, on whom all Scotland has put its money, faces this Southern earthquake. Milligan is a dour, subtle, cool lighting Scot. As a boxer he should prove incomparably more skilful than the Italian and certainly more experienced. So the problem that confronts us at the moment you will know the denouement when you read these lines—is whether the calm boxing skill of the Scot will rattle ihe fighting vim of the Italian, or whether, on the contrary, the Italian's whirlwind pugnacity and fierce hitting will fluster the calm Scot :i4id put him out of his stride. At the risk of convicting myself as a false prophet. I. venture to put my money on the Scot.