THE CLUBMAN

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1359, 11 May 1916, Page 8

THE CLUBMAN

A notable passing event in turf history is that of the de?th at the age of 27 years of the famous Frenchnamed English-bred thoroughbred race mare La Fleche, by St. Simon fiom Quiver, by Toxopholite, sire of Musket, whose dam, like Quiver’s dam, was from Brown Eess. La__Fleche was sold as a yearling for 5500gns. and as a brood mare for 12,600gn5., after having won £34,585 in stakes, which included the One Thousand Guineas, Oaks, St. Leger, Cambridgeshire (carrying 8.10), and Liverpool Cup, carrying 9.6, her last success, 1893. The Cambridgeshire was won in a canter with her ears pricked, and was referred to at the time as one of the very notable performances over that severe course. La Fleche was unexpectedly beaten in the Derby of 1892 by Sir Hugo, but she proved that form all wrong in the St. Leger and Lancashire Plate. She ran in all sorts of races, and was unquestionably high class. She won £3415 at two years old, £25,535 at three years —an amount only exceeded by Donovan (£38,448) at that age—and £5635 at four years old. Isinglass (£57,185), Donovan (£54,935), Ayrshire (£35,900) and Persimmon (£34,726) are horses that beat her total, but no other of her sex has come near her. Seabreeze at two and three years and Achievement at the same age were respectively £4CB4 and £6487 behind her, but did not win after their three-year-old careers. Memoir, her fullsister, who cost 1500gns as a yearling, and Signorina, each of which raced three seasons, v on respectively £21,520 and £21,181, and they each won less than two-thirds of the big amount that went to La Fleche, whose earnings are likely to stand as a record for one of her sex for a long time. No two mares from one dam in turf history won so much as Memoir and La Fleche, their combined earnings amounting to £56,105. Their dam bred Memoir when fifteen years old, and La Fleche when seventeen. & * * * We are within a fair cry of the jumping season proper. Hunting has started in different parts of the Dominion and the first meets for 1916 are over in some districts, and that of the Pakuranga Hunt Club, which opened auspiciously on Saturday at East Tamaki, if not on the same scale as on some previous opening days, was still such as to show that the keenest interest is still being felt by the members, and those who either take the field or are spectators taking their pleasures on wheels or viewing from coigns of vantage which the natural features of the country allowed. Hunting has done much to bring town and country together. The members are scattered everywhere, and the town dweller, as his hunting gets further and further away, is under the greatest disadvantage, having to ride long distances to the meets. Motor traction nowadays plays an important part in connection with hunting. Horses can be sent by servants of those who can afford them, and a motor ride to the locale where meetings are now fixed is a matter of a comparatively short time. The whole machinery of racing, and of hunting too, has been greatly changed. At one time in the Auckland district hunting was carried on within a radius of a few miles of the city over suburbs now extensively built over and closely settled, and the city member is no longer in a majority, that is as an active participant of the joys of the chase. The war has made some difference in hunting affairs all over the Dominion, but is still being carried on by practically all the clubs. It was Homer who said the joys of the chase were within the reach of every stage and state in life, but they have been restricted somewhat because so many of its supporters in England and Ireland have been engaged in the war The pastime is a healthy one, and there is not much chance of it dying out in this country now it has been so firmly established, and is so much in favour with the farming community. The prospects for 1916 are good, and if we cannot go so far as the immortal Jorrocks in asserting that all life is wasted that

is not spent in hunting, we know that there is truth in the oft-quoted lines that: “It is better to hunt in fields afar for health unbought than fee the doctor for his nauseous draught.” A good spin across country when hounds are running and giving tongue is a pleasure the active participation of which many of us have to forego, but there is some satisfaction in being able to view from afar when circumstances prevent a closer interest being taken. If Dominion turf authorities were to compile a roll of honour of all those connected therewith who have enlisted for active service since the Empire’s call was sounded there would certainly be fewer people ready to have an occasional prod at the various clubs and officials controlling racing in this Dominion. Apart from the men associated with racing who have gone abroad to fight for their country, statistics prove that nobody is contributing more liberally to the patriotic funds, both as regards the

revenue derived from the totalisato’’ receipts as the result of the 21 per cent, war tax imposed by the Government, and the many generous donations made by the various clubs, than the racing and trotting in the Dominion. Yet the remark is often made in public that racing should be abolished during the period of the war. Such a narrow-minded view of the situation can only find expression where the speaker is either an opponent of true sport, and racing in particular, or has not given the matter careful consideration. Even the fact of the country being at war does not empower, or much less justify, a section of the community in attempting to deprive a by no means inconsiderable portion of the population of New Zealand of their means of livelihood, for racing nowadays in this country has reached a high standard, and provides employment for a large number in an honest and important occupation. In

New Zealand the racing clubs have spared no effort to augment the war funds, and that they have succeeded is known to all who read almost daily of some large amount being placed at the Government’s disposal as a result of the tax on the totalisator returns —a tax which the racing enthusiast has not in any way resented. Of the many instances of patriotism of racing men in New Zealand that of Mr. R. Cooper, the well known Wairarapa sportsman, whose portrait is reproduced on this page, is very much to be commended. Mr. Cooper, who is well known as the owner of the racehorse Chillies, and who has been a large contributor to the patriotic funds, recently enlisted for active service, and expects to leave the Dominion very shortly as a member of the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces. In fulfilling his desire to fight for King and country Mr. Cooper, who is a member of the artillery section, has had to make no little sacrifice. He is a sheen

farmer, 46 years of age, with a wife and six children, so that his devotion to Britain’s cause does not require further comment. He is a crack rifle shot, and one of the deer shooters in the Wairarapa. We heartily join with Gunner Cooper’s manv friends in wishing this true sportsman all the luck possible in his new sphere of operations and a safe return to the Dominion. * # ❖ ❖ Horses that race twice a day at meetings other than one-day meetings are not numerous, and the practice in recent years of racing good horses so often is going out. Oiie race a day is considered sufficient, and two races at a three days’ meeting wall satisfy most owners if those races have been such as to require a strong preparation and extend to long distances. It has lately appeared in an Australian paper that Wakeful and Carbine were not everyday perform-

ers, but we cannot believe that the writer washed to convey such an impression. Carbine wanted racing in public more than most horses to get him fit. He would probably not have won the Melbourne Cup, beating the largest field that started and carrying the weight he did, had he not been raced first at Randwick. He was beaten the previous year by Bravo because he had not had the racecourse preparation so essential to most horses that have won that race. When defeated at Randwick in the All-aged Stakes by Marvel over a mile it was considered to be due to his having raced without plates, and he was saddled up for the Cumberland Plate, a two mile race, the same afternoon and turned the tables on Marvel, who was not such a genuine stayer, though he was a wonderfully good horse and won up to a mile and three-quarters and carried no less than 10.5 home over that distance in such an important handicap race as the A.J.C. Waverley Handicap. In the face of Carbine’s performances it is strange to read that he was not an every day customer. Horses, like human beings, have their days, and are better on some days than others, and Carbine and Wakeful were not exceptions, but they were remarkably consistent performers and never ran really bad races. The records give sufficient proof of this. There were occasions when they were beaten, and excuses can always be offered for beaten horses, some of which should probably not have tasted defeat at all with ordinary luck in training and riding, but though there have been, and are, horses whose form varies very much and whose defeats have caused surprise, and who may well come under the category of not being everyday horses, Carbine and Wakeful cannot legitimately be included. They were certainly not horses met with every day. * * * * Desert Gold’s racing career for the season 1916 closed when she ran at Ellerslie on Easter Monday, as she was withdrawn from the Hawke’s Bay Stakes on the first day of the autumn meeting of the Hawke’s Bay Jockey Club. Fourteen consecutive wins is a record for New Zealand for a season’s racing. As the filly won the Hawke’s Bay Stakes last year and carried 181 b. penalty, it was thought in some quarters that the might be allowed to race this year carrying the same extreme penalty. She has won fifteen races on end and twenty in all, and, as stated previously, has won £12,040 in stakes, including the value of several cups. She claims a number of New Zealand engagements for next season, having been well engaged, but it will be interesting to note whether her owner will be content to allow her to run them out or whether he will send her to Australia to fly at higher game or more valuable prizes. There are a number of weight-for-age races in New Zealand, to win which Desert G’old would only need to retain her best form, unless something at present undeveloped should come on the scene. There is so much more money to be got in Australia in the same class of races that the temptation to race her in the Commonwealth in the spring would appear very great. There are nearly twenty weeks before the A.J.C. spring meeting, and as the filly has had a comparatively easy time since the beginning of the year she should do all right without being thrown right out of work. Mr. Lowry will no doubt announce his intentions in due course. He has other members of a very useful team, and no doubt races can be found for Tete-a-tete and for Balboa and for some of the coming three-year-olds in the stable. The disposition of a racing team of ten or a dozen horses in some places would be a small matter. Mr. Lowry should know better a few weeks hence how many of his team are good enough to travel with. He and his successful trainer, F. Davis, are sure of some of the members now.