SPORTS AND PASTIMES

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14657, 21 May 1921, Page 15 (Supplement)

SPORTS AND PASTIMES

Continued Prom Page 14). SPORTING. RfIOINQ FIXTURES. June 1,3, 4—Dunedln Jockey Club. June 3,4, 8-—Auckland Racing Club. June 25, 29—Auckland Trotting Club. ANSWERS TO OORREBPONDENT9. "0.R.," Hamilton. the Shortland Plate at tho AB C. meeting of 1919. He 3ar-.'U>i 78. Opt 7.7, as figured on the card. R. Reed was the Jockey. -.2) !W; Motuihl was the favourite. -"OLD SPORT," Cambridge.— (1) 'the Steeples on the first day of the Thames meeting in 1920 was won by Marconi. (2) Oaklelgh also started. He llnished fourth. The weights were 9.9 and 10.7, respectively. (3) Irlshland started, but tipped out at the fence at the bottom of the straight. "RECORDS," Raglan.—The Timaru Cup its quite one of the most venerable of the principle races appearing In the Turf Register. Even If we acoept the race won by Castaway in 1875 as the first of the •eries, it is as old as the Auckland Cup, the Hawke's Bay Cup, the Rankitieki Cup, and the Wanganui Cup, a year older than the Taranaki Cup, and only a year behind the Wellington Cup. In 1875 it was 2i miles, but was gradually reduced until 1919, when the distance was fixed at seven furlongs. THE GREAT NORTHERNB. With the Wanganui meeting disposed of to-day, a better line will be permitted to be run through the candidates which have started there, and which are to come on later to the Winter Meeting, which will be conducted at Ellerslie on June 3rd, 4th and Bth. Principal attraction will centre round the decisions in the Great. Northerns —the Hurdles, over it miles, and the Steeples,' over 3i miles. While Wanganui form will act as a preliminary guide, with the whole of the engaged candidates on the scene, their finishing off preparations will be followed . with keen 'interest. Foeman, who won the Steeplechase at Wanganui the first day, will not be seen out in the event at Ellerslie, owing to acceptance being overlooked. Coalition, who finished second down there, must be displaying creditable form, but he has a steadier to * carry over the Ellerslie country. However, he is entitled to all sorts of respects, and his showing in the interval will curry close scrutiny. Master Strawan and Slowcoach were both in at Wanganui, and although they did not figure at the business end, that is not going to count them out of the reckoning next month. The latter was jumping badly in his work prior to Thursday, report .has it. Waimai may not be ready to see out a journey like the Steeples, and age is not an .enhancement Oakleigh, Fisher, Capsal, Tenacious and Peer Rosa, witii others, all have their followings, and an interesting race is promised. The Hurdles event shows Just as many perplexities as the other leg of the big Jumping double. Ngata, which won over 2i miles, with 10.4, at Wanganui, is to come north, but there , are numbers of other good ones engaged. Slowcoach (10.10), Omahu (10.8), Penddon (10.5), Rathlin (9.0) and Guerre a Morte and Multiplane, lower down on the weight list, are among those one hears freely mentioned. However, he would be bold, indeed, who could name the point of success in that Held at the moment. A nearer approach to the eventful day may aid the deeply interested, whose thoughts turn to affairs racing at the seasonable period. (Since writing the above Slowcoach had to be destroyed, as the result of an accident in the Wanganui Steeplechase).ENCOURAQINQ THE APPRENTICE. The greater provision of races restricted to apprentices is a movement now on in Australia (says "Pilot," of the Referee). Some trainers have quite a number of apprentices, but they cannot prevail upon their patrons to give them mounts, and I can recall many lads who gave promise, but dropped out of the game through lack of opportunity. On the other hand, a luoky win or two has brought an inferior rider in the same stable into notice, and for a time, at any rate, he .will get plenty of riding, as owners are usually anxious to secure the lad who is most in the limelight. For that matter, I have also heard trainers denounce some jockey or other as being "unable to ride in a cart," and then seen them running after him when he has been on a few winners in quick succession. It is discouraging to a lad, too, after riding work week after week, to be only given an occasional mount on a horse supposed to have little chance of winning, and this is one reason why many apprentices have broken away and gope over to the unregistered ranks. Owners cannot be expected to be as well acquainted as trainers with the merits of apprentices, and while a trainer may be quite satisfied in his own mind that one-of his apprentices entitled to a 71b or 51b allowance would be preferable to the * rider chosen by the owner for whom he trains, he is naturally diffident about stressing that point. lam not going to say that the opinions of all trainers are valuable where riders are consome holding peculiar ideas. I am in sympathy with them in any attempt to give their apprentices as much opportunity as possible. e- . i. • 1 JOTTINGB. Veloeiform, who paid a great price when he won at Egmont, is a goodlooking gelding by Guinaforte —Velocity. He is trained at Waverley by H. Rayner. So far the well-known New Zealand horseman, L. H. Hewitt, has not gone further on his trip abroad than Australia. Recently he was licensed there by the Australian Jockey Club. It is reported that, Dr. A. W. Beveridge, the well-known owner, intends to settle in Hamilto», and that he will retire from the ranks of owners. Dr. Beveridge recently returned from a visit to England. Tho number of Australian-bred horses in the Dominion must be close on the century mark. Of that number, it is estimated that nearly 50 are stabled in Auckland and province. Pltprop, who won well at the Ashburton meeting, is an English-bred gelding by Newmarket —Pitbrow Lass. Foeman, the winner of the' Wanganui Steeplechase, was jumping the country well prior to the meeting. He is not engaged for Ellerslie; his owner overlooked acceptance closing hour. Roy Reed's appeal was heard by the Hawke's Bay District Committee, and dismissed. A yearling, full brother to Surveyor, which was recently purchased In Sydney, has arrived, and joined Mr W. G. Stead's string. The sister to Mermin in P. Hazelman's stable at Tauhercnikuii has been put through her preliminary education. She is a very quiet youngster, and promises to come to hand early In the spring.

A commission to purchase The Hawk for Australia was recently given, but the son of Martian was not for sale. Tho first of the Demosthenes stock to enter the Jumping business are Athens 11. and Demagogue, which are expected to make their debut as hurdlers this season. The Kcmball stable is doing well this season, and particularly of late. Horses carrying his colours have won nearly £9OOO. Last season the earnings of Mr Kemball's long string ran to £10.395. Coalition, who finished seoond to Foeman In the Wanganui Steeplechase on Thursday. Is reoorted to be in splendid form to fulfil his winter cngagaments. He carried 12.7 over the three miles' Journey, and with , 12.5 for the Great Northern, his \ stocks will go up. However, the Journey !g half a mile greater, and the course more difficult. j Prior to the running of the New- j castle Cup, Mr D. U. Seaton. owner I of Sandbee, was approached by the person who drew the mare 'in a big sweep, who expressed his desire to lay him £IOOO. Mr Seaton accepted but decided that, In the event of the mare winning, the £IOOO would be divided as follows: —Waverley Benevolent Society, Blind Institution, jockey, and employees of the stable. £250 each. Sandbee won the race In question. The victory of Sir Marco in the Adelaide Cup marks another important success in the Southern Hemisphere lor an English-bred horse. Sir Marco Is a hiphly-bred six-year-old gelding by Marco, but the fact of his being awarded the minimum impost may be inferred that he was not regarded as a horse of class. It Is interesting to note that Sir Marco's victory in the Adelaide Cup Is the seventh recorded by an English-bred horse in«that race during the past 10 years. Tho other horses involved in that connection are Bye Glass (1911 and 1912), Hamburg Belle (1914), St. Spasa (1916), Green Cap (1917), and Dlsdon (1918). A striking instance of how the form of racehorses changes In a few months is exemplified In the ease of the Absurd three-year-old Listowel. In September, at Wanganui, he won an open sprint event with the minimum impost, but his form since has been so good that the handlcapper put 9.5 on him in the same class of race, with which he duly landed at Wanganui. , , At the Ellerslie Winter Meeting last June Mr W. R. Kemball gave 1500gns for the jumpers Mill o' Gowrie and Rekanui. The former won the next day, and did not score again until the llawera meeting last week. Her winnings totalled £650, and as Rekanui has not yet earned anything, the deal has not been a profitable one. The Racing Conference has circularised all racing clubs, drawing attention to the excessive use of lead in making up weight in hurdle races, and asking the clubs to give Instructions to the clerk of scales not to weigh out riders who use an "excessive" amount of lead. The conference does not suggest what is to be considered an "excessive" amount. Two of the progeny of the Martagon horse Shepherd King, a Caulfleld Cup witiner, fought out the issue in the Katandra Two-Year-Old Handicap at Caulfleld last month, and at the finish the favourite, Salatis, 9.13, only won by a head from Shepherd Queen, 7.5. The Allies' Grand Steepleohase, of £BOO, at Sandown Park, England, wa9 competed for by four horses from Belgium, and a similar number from France The French horses were on the small side, and rather commonlooking. Not one of the French quartette llnished, and the race was won easily by the favourite, Razzle Dazzle, who is by Dark Ronald from Favourite, and was bred in Ireland. The riders of the eight runners wore uniform, but were distinguished by armlets of different colours j Holt, the trainer of Eurythmic, has prepared the winners of 25 races in Melbourne and three in Sydney tills season, with 11 seconds and 10 thirds. Up to the Caulfleld meeting on Saturday, April 30th, the Holt horses had won £33,248 in stakes this season. Salatis (by Shepherd King—Traquette), who is regarded as the most commanding looking two-year-old racing in Australia this season, won the Katandra Handicap at Caulfleld on April 30th, under the steadier of 9.13. The race in question was run over seven furlongs, and Salatis won by a head from Shepherd Queen (7.3) in the good time of 1.29 J. Salatis is looked upon as a colt likely to play a very prominent part in next season's Derbies. Those who are keeping events ahead under olose scrutiny will be interested to know that Lord Nagar won without any trouble at Hawera. However, his placing will require to be studied, as the good horses are now running themselves into form, and his degree of superior condition will soon disappear. The Auckland gelding, Rathlin. whose engagement in the Great Northern Hurdles is not being lost sight of in many quarters, was pipped by the Kemball stable representatives on both days at the Egmont meeting. Lord Nagar and Mill o' Gowrie were the respective horse s carrying Mr Kemball's colours to victory ahead of Rathlin in the hurdles races in the programme at Huwera. With 34 of the 35 starters for this year's Liverpool Grand National Steeplechase falling during the contest, there was an outcry against the formidable nature of the obstacles on the Aintree course from several turf writers, but the balance of opinion appears to be in favour of leaving the course as it is. "Robin Goodfollow," one of the leading writers on racing, wrote as follows: —"The reason of the failure of all but one horse to negotiate th£ Grand National course this sear without mishap Is not that the horses are bad and the horsemanship poor, but owing to animals being run over what are called 'park courses,' when they quickly discover that the fences do not require to be cleared. Horses ridden so often over small, loose fences get into a style of racing away out of hand, and to imagine that can be rectified during one race is futile . . . The remedy to correct such humiliating 'fiascos' as happened this year is to stiffen all fences in steeplechase courses." A thrilling race in an aeroplane to beat the clock with the Liverpool Grand National film occurred after the conclusion of the race. Camera men hustled the exposed film into a waiting neroplane ten minutes after Shaun Spadah had passed the post. At 4000 feet a 30 miles an hour gale was encountered, which blew the machine out of its course, and it was forced to land at Ipswich to discover its whereabouts. Darkness was coming one, and with his engine working nt its full revolutions, the pilot flew on to London, eventually being forced by the failing light to land in a small field near Romford, narrowly missing a ditch. Cars carried the film to the developing rooms in town, where Ihey were developed, edited, and subtitled with record speed, and were shown in cinemas in London before 10 o'clock. According to a Sydney writer, there j was a good deal of luck attached to ' Sandbee's win in the Newcastle Cup, i as she was almost left In Sydney owing to some misunderstanding in entraining. Mr Seaton says that, al- j though the course was almost a j quagmire, owing to heavy rain and the previous races, the mare was not dis- '

tressed in the least when she returned to scale. She was side-on when the barrier rose, and was at the tail-end of the Held most of the way. Kven at, the turn there were about 20 horses in front of her, but she fought her way through, and her rider said she passed the other horses "just like ninepins," as most "of them were thoroughly exhausted at that point.