SPORT IN BRITAIN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19443, 31 October 1925, Page 5

SPORT IN BRITAIN

SOLARIO BEATS DERBY WINNER

PREPARING FOR THE CRICKET TESTS

(Special to “Chronicle.”)

THE TURF I I MANNA’S SEDAN. I ’STORY OF SOLARIO’S st leger. LONDON, Sept. 10. Manna Das not (writes “Centaur,” our racing correspondent) won the Triple Crown after all, and the critics, who have all along maintained that lio is not (a true stayer, have come out best in the end. The same tactics that were adopted so successfully in the Derby with him, setting the pace from the beginning, did not have the same result in the St. Leger. He was beaten just after entering the straight, and Solario and others were able to pass him easily. Solario, as I Dave written often in these notes, is quite a different horse to-day from w'hat he was on Derby day, though even on that fateful afternoon he was declared by his jockey, Beary, to have been the mluckiest horse in the race, insomuch as he was mixed up with the tapes at the start, and lost a lot of ground. Beary was unfortunately unable to obtain revenge himself at Doncaster, as in the meantime, he fell under the tern- j porary ban of the Jockey Club, and, I while he was in such enforced idleness, I

it was deemed advisable to offer the mount of Solario to Joe Childs, the King’s jockey, who would not be required to carry the Royal colors in the last of the classics. Chil« has the deserved reputation of being our best long-distance rider, and, though no subtle tactics were called for in the present Leger. he rode in his best style, and piloted Solario past the post the easiest of winners, .the Aga Khan’s Zambo being second, and Lord Lonsdale’s Warden of the Marches, a stable companion of Manna, third. Childs rode the 50-1 winner Polcmarch a lew years back, but Donoghue has yet to win a St. Leger. Solario started joint favourite with Manna at 7 to 2 against, while Zambo was easily the most popular each-way bet. It was la disastrous result for the layers, but vastly welcome to the largo body of professional backers, most of whom wire “on” first and second. Picaroon’s Running.

Picaroon, after all, was sent to the post, and, such was the confidence expressed in him by the famous Manion stable, that he was bucked from 10 to 1 down to 7 to 1. He ran extremely well, considering the setback in train- . ing he has had, but just failed to get a. place. He certainly proved that the York running with Spelt home—mentioned in my last article—was all wrong, for ho showed up much more prominently than the last-named colt, who, no doubt, will find compensation in the Irish Leger, which a stable companion of his, Zodiac, won last year. It was an atrocious day—just another Derby day so far as the conditions prevailing were concerned—and the ground w'as all against Picaroon’s chance. Still, whatever may have been thought of him before the heelbug attack laid him low—and he was undoubtedly regarded as a certainty for the Derby at that time—there is no denying the best horse of the year now is Solario. Ho was folmost as good j as Picaroon as a two-year-old, and the | proved superior of Manna, and, though I it has taken some time, he has come into his kingdom fot last. Reggie Day, •of Tishy fame, trained the Sr. Leger j winner for the wefolthy brewer, Sir John Rutherford, and he deserves every credit for the way he has brought the coll on. There is little need to say much about the rest of the runners. Warminster made the running into the straight, with Manna, but, like the Derby winner, he was beaten at that point. He has been purchased by Senor Unzuc, the Argentine, the buyer of Town Guard, and I have no doubt ; he will be shipped to Finance to raco in future. Bucellas, Pons Asinorum, * and St. Becan were all conspicuous ' failures. Zambo, presumably, will now be prepared for the Cesarewitch. in which he has been allotted 6st 31bs—the top weight being Hurstwood—provided Zambo does not gain a penalty through winning the Doncaster Cup in the meantime—with 9st. 21bs.

Ideal Cesarewitch Horse. It will be recalled that the Aga Khan’s Teresina, after being placed in the St. Leger, was subsequently trained for the big long distance handicap at Newmarket two years ago, and she wfos only beaten on the post by the French horse, Rose Prince. Zambo is a stout stayer—he was beaten for finishing speed in the Leger by a horse of superior class—and should be ideally suited to the Cesarewitch requirements. Spelt borne is another of the Leger horses in the Cesarewitch, and he is rated 31bs inferior to Zambo. I should say he is quite that. At any rate, I know which of the pair I should back. Son of Spring, at fist. 131bs, from the same stable as Solario, is already being spoken of as one of the “very probables,” and it should be remembered that, even if Reggie Day had something of a fiasco with Tishy and later with Ceylonese, he had trained the winner of the race twice previously in Son-in-Law and Bracket. Son of Spring is a brown son of Son-in-Law and has shown evidence of inherited stamina on several occasions. Next week, perhaps, it will be worth our while delving into the possibilities of other Cesarewitch and Cambridgeshire candidates.

CRICKET MEN FOE THE TESTS. The cricket season is nearly over. The last of the festival matches are now in progress at Scarborough and other holiday resorts, and the curtain will be rung down next week, when Yorkshire, as the worthy champions of a most successful season, will be opposed at Lords by a side representative of the best of England’s talent. Hobbs has scored still another century to make his total 128, and his performances have of course overshadowed every other feature, but it will be best to wait until the records are complete before reviewing the season. But already it is possible to weigh the possibilities of success against the Australians next summer. Hobbs’ forecast that we ought to win on a wet wicket, but that under favourable batting conditions we shall experience great difficulty in getting the Australians out twice in a game confined to three days, is genertilly accepted as sound. Oni Great Need. The great need is a fast bowler. We have not anything like one. A. E. li. I Gilligan is probably our fastest, but ! he has done nothing since his return | from Australia, and, unless ho regains his best form, he can hardly secure I a place in the eleven. Already it is i taken for granted that A. W. Carr, the ■ Motts captain, who has had a great ! season, will lead England. But badly as we want a fast bowler, it is a very significant fact that the slow left hander has usually occasioned Australian batsmen most trouble. This is rather, curious, but, if one gl’ances through the records, the bowlers who have done best have been Peate, Peel, Rhodes, Woolley and Colin Blythe. Unfortunately, now that Woolley has lost a deal of his deadliness, we have not a finger spinner to compare wit>h any of these bowlers. Perhaps the best is Parker, of Gloucestershire, and he is not a good field, fend cannot be depended on for many runs. For bowlers we shall have to rely chiefly on Tate and Macaulay. For batsmen wo are probably as well off as, and.may be a little better in the first six places than, the Australians, but I cannot see how we are going to avoid a “tail,” and in this respect the tourists will no doubt, as is usual with them, hold an advantage. If the England team had to be chosen to-day, I think the following would bo certain of places: A. W. Carr, (captain), Hobbs, Sutcliffe, Holmes, Hendren, Tate, Macaulay and Strudwick.

SOCCER THE NEW FOOTBALL. Though one is now becoming accustomed io the changes in the Soccer game brought about by the alteration of the off-side law, the result generally has not been very pleasing. Those who were responsible for the granting of greater freedom to forwards point out that the number of stoppages have been very materiality reduced, and that far more goals are now scored. All this is true, but it is equally true that the standard of play has not improved. Just as was feared would be the case, ihe tendency is to adopt kick-and-rush ttictics. There is little or no co-opera-tion between half-backs and forwards, owing to tho fact that the former players are afraid to follow up an attack, in case tho ball should come back quickly. In that event, the two backs would be left to deal with the opposing forwards, and probably be beaten. Goals are now easier to score than ever before in the history of the game, and there is the possibility that they may occur so frequently that they will lose their value as a spectacle. For, instance, last week-end in the game between Newcastle United and Notts County, as many as nine were obtained, six by Newcastle United and three by Notts County. Such scoring would have been almost impossible under the old conditions. Six goals in a match were quite common on Saturday last, and only in one case were there no goals. The players are all against the new conditions. They stay the play is now so severe and exhausting that they cannot last out a game at full, speed. Indeed, we are told that the men will rebel on the ground that the game fe.s at present played is taking several years off their football lives.

How the Clubg Stand. Most of the dub have now played four games, and in the senior competition only Sunderland and Tottenham Hotspur have won them all. Sunderland, who it was feared would suffer through having transferred Buchan to the Arsenal, have discovered a most effective centre-forward in Halliday, who joined them from Dundee. To date he has obtained as many as seven goals. The side gained a notable win at West Bromwich by five goals to two. West Bromwich, who -were runners-up to the champions last season, were selected before the programme smarted as likely to be one of the most successful Sides. But they have experienced wretched luck through their men getting injured. Indeed, the team which opposed Sunderland included four reserves. Still, their heavy defeat came as a big surprise. Tottenham Hotspur have not accomplished anything of note in the way of scoring, but they have excelled as a team. Thev hAve adapted themselves better to the new conditions than probably any other club, with the possible exception of Sunderland, and this has been the secret of their success. Tn the second division, Middlesbrough are the only club who nave won all the points at stake, and in the third division Ply-

| mouth Argyle hfevo been even more prominent. In three games the Argyle have scored fifteen goals, twice getting six, and only Millwall have kept pace with them. This western club in recent seasons have had a most unhappy experience. For four years they have ma do a great effort to gain promotion, but each time they have finished second. They have now made a wonderful start to achieve their ambition.

BILLIARDS SMITH CHALLENGES THE CHAMPION. For three or four years Tom Newman and Willie bmitn have been the outstanding billiard professionals. {Smith won the championship on the only occasion he competed lor it, and Newman has held the title during the other years. The latter is now the reigning champion, but the honour is ratner an empty one, inasmuch as last season his only opponent was Tom Reece. Smith was still at loggerheads with the ruling authority, and refused to pl'ay. In the circumstances, it is only natural that Smith should not be satisfied with the position, and he has challenged his rival to three games. Newman at once accepted, but made one condition. He pointed out that he was handicapped under the rules in being allowed to make only twenty-live ball to ball cannons, whereas there was no restriction on Smith in running up a sequence of losing hazards. In the circumstances, if he was to play Smith, the latter must agree to the number of consecutive losing hazards being limited to twenty-five. Smith’s reply was to the effect that he would pl'ay under any conditions that might be proposed. So we are promised three of the greatest matches the game has known. Both Newman and Smith are wonderful players. Judging them on their powers as break-builders, wo have never before had their equals. John Roberts was, of course, a master player, ai/l there is the possibility that he was even more accomplished than his performances led one to suppose. He was so much of the showman, however, that he was content to win by a small margin so long as ho was able to keep the game even, land draw the public. He was always bluffing, and it was seldom that ho scored all tho points that were possible to him. Not so long ago I was shown a series of diagrams, which he had drawn up, and which 1 clearly indicated his mode of play, and I general tactics. .Suppose, for instance, i he had scored a hundred, and the balls | were still in perfect position. He w’ould I then deliberately make a stroke to squander them. But it was all done by design. He broke the position it is true, but in such a way as to leave him U spectacular all round cannon, say, in order to grip the attention of tho spectators.

No Showmanship. This he would make, and then smile his acknowledgment of the cheers. As I have said, he had prepared twelve positions, in order that he might bring off his stunt, and it was in this way that he seized tho imagination of the public. Neither Smith. nor Newman lend themselves to such tactics. Every time they go to the table their effort is to score tho maximum points, and. tho more they win by tho better they arc pleased. As public entertainers, however, they have much to learn as compared with John Roberts, tind it is on this account that they do not earn anything like as much money. I think Smith will bo favourite, and beat the champion. Ho has a dominating personality, and it is said, with a good deal of truth, that he exercises such a strong moral influence over his opponents that ho has won most of his matches before ho strikes a ball. As ta matter of fact, he was the first man who really stood up to Inman. He played him at his own game, and it was not long before Inman was affected in the same way ms he was accustomed to affect other players. Smith’s billiards may not be so picturesque as the game played by Newman, because he prefers to score his points all over the table instead at the top end, but he is a desperate fellow to beat, and there will be no surprise if, in the three games, he has the better aggregate, and so wins the stakes. An important change has been made in the conditions governing the amateur championship. Hitherto, the event has been decided with ivory balls. This season, however, composition balls will bo used. Lt is a revolutionary change but it is expected that it will make the competition more popular and attract far more entries. Most billiards is play(ed with composition balls, and as a result manv fine players have been prevented from competing in an ivoryball championship. The change has, of course, met with a great deal of opposition, and the older players hiave threatened to boycott the championship, but it is still thought thtit it will be justified. It will be greatly in favour of entrants from abroad, where billiards is almost exclusively played with composition balls.

BOXING AND BOXERS The autumn boxing season (writes Eugene Corri) like the autumn weather, is now upon us in full blast. Last week, at any rate, was particularly eventful, and, from what. I am told by promoters and boxers alike, few weeks will pass by, from now on to Christinas, without something of interest happening. The outstanding event of last week was, of course, the defeat of Phil Scott in Spain at the hands—or should it be head?—of Paolino, the Basque. As I think I indicated in these notes, 1 rather febred that something of the sort might happen, though I must admit that I rather thought the British representative would punish his opponent more severely than he did with his left. Apparently, he made the fatal mistake of taking the bull by his horns, instead of baiting him into impotence first of all. The idea of beat-

ing tho Basque at his own game did credit to Scott’s fighting spirit, but, although he is no weakling about the body, ho was no match for such a

powerful and furiously determined man at close quarters.

So, at least, tho stories of the fight seem to indicate, and, whether or no Scott was butted, or hit below the belt, or whether he merely weakened under body punching, there can be little doubt that his tactics were all wrong. I, for one, do not propose to rub in the defeat by adding that it destroys all of Scott’s pretensions to a championship in the future—after all, even Dempsey allowed himself to be knocked out of the ring bv Firpo, a big edition of Paolino—but I must say the defeat filled mo with regret that Scott ever should have been so ill-ad-vised las to undertake the venture. As it appeared to me. Scott had everything to lose and nothing to gain, except perhaps financially, by the match. Ono can only hope now that Scott will bo given the chance to win fresh laurels and experience in his own country, before venturing so far afield again. Certainly he deserves the chance, for he is clearly a good sportsman. and quite probably our best available heavy-weight.

Roland Todd’s Return Next in importance was the effective return to serious fighting of Roland Todd. Tho Doncaster middleweight always has been a master of defence, and more than once, las in his second fight with Kid Lewis, ho proved that he can hit quite hard enough for practical purposes. But Ido not think his best friend would like to state on oath that he thought Todd has always dono himself justice, or that his passive stylo was likely to prove attractive to tho general public.—let lalone tho Americans who expect boxers to fight as well as box. However, wo are dealing with modern, not ancient history, and it may bo granted that Todd’s recent victory over Charles Ring was fairly convincing proof that he is once more a force in tho land. In the earlier rounds, to be sure, Todd was his old Aggravating self, and, but for tho referee’s intervention, the contest might have had to bo written down as a failure. Todd always was clever enough, but it was left to Ring to make a real fight of it—ironically enough, to his own downfall. Tn the eighth round. T think it was. Ring’s adroit mixing of his blows enabled him to open a cut high up on Todd’s left cheek. Then tho crowd were given *a few glimpses of tho Todd who boat Lewis by punching as well as by defence. Todd, in fact, began to use most of the weapons in the firstclass boxer’s armoury with real force as well as skill. Some of his jabs and hooks were magnificently timed, and his heavy countering to the body gradually wore down even such a gtiilant fighter as Ring. Tho Australian was in a bad way when tho referee stopped tho fight in the IGth round. It mAy bo that Ring had reduced his weight unduly, hut he also was outfought. once Todd was roused into doing himself full justice. I rather fancy that oven Tommy Milligan will have to be at his very best to beat Todd on last week’s form. The prospects of another mooting between Todd and the coloured boxer, Len Johnson, open up particularly intriguing possibilities. Here two exceptionally clever fighters would bo in opposition, and almost anything might happen. Welters Up And Doing

There is also a considerable stirring among the welters, who appear to have been joined by no less a personage than tho present holder’ of the lightweight belt. Certainly Harry Mason has undertaken to provide the chief event tit the next Albert Hall tournament by meeting Johnny Brown, of Hamilton. Brown may not be a great boxer, but ho is a rare worker, and Mason may find the difference in the weight of punches more than he fancies —at first. If, of course, Mason develops into a true welter, he is quite clever and well built enough to fight in tho class with some credit.

By the way, I hear thAt Kid Lewis, whoso ability to meet welters or middleweights with equal facility has always attracted my admiration, has expressed himself ready to take on Mason at approximAtely the welter-weight. Lewis will appear at the Albert Hall on the same night as Harry Mason, and, should he beat the Dutchman, Van’t Hof, ho will bo entitled to feel he has at least half "come-back.” Lewis, I may Add, is quite as ready to tackle Todd once more as ho is to show Harry Mason that he—tho Kid, I mean—is still one of the most unpleasant people to meet in the ring under eleven stone. Tho smallest men, or most of them, continue to keep themselves fit by work in the ring, though ono regrets to note that Mick Hill has yet to engage in some preliminary contests to the one which is almost sure to come off against Johnny Brown, of St. Georges.

Last week, another bantam of great repute in Bugler Lake lost ground, as it were, by being defeated by ono of the Harveys, of Plymouth. This was Private Frank Harvey, who punished the former champion so severely that the referee had to stop the fight at the end of the tenth round. Unfortunately, some of the credit due to the winner was thrown away by his persistent habit of boxing into his opponent with lowered head. Unless Harvey is careful, this bad fault will cost him valuable fights. Len Harvey, the light-weight, also has done well by beating Bill Handley so decisively. Harvey, indeed, almost outclassed his opponent at the longer range fighting, and, although the infighting was evenly contested, it was Handley who "broke” And retired in the eighth round. Len Harvey is still in his teens, and clearly is one of our hopes.