THE CLUBMAN

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1379, 28 September 1916, Page 8

THE CLUBMAN

The large increase in the totalisator turnover at the Avondale Jockey Club’s spring meeting is one of the many clear indications that matters are prosperous with the bulk of the people of Auckland who supply the racecourse crowds, and it can be accepted that ninety-five per cent, of the investments were made by provincial racegoers, the majority beingcity and suburban dwellers who may be described as regulars. We have only to cast our memories back a few years, when racing at Avondale was being conducted there on a very small scale. As meeting succeeded meeting, and the years have passed, there has been one steady advance, with the result that the Avondale Jockey Club is in a better position in all respects than at any previous time in its history. The totalisator is an excellent barometer. In six years, from the spring of 1910, when £27,684 was handled, until the last meeting, when £60,596 was put through the machines in the two days, the rise has been extraordinary, over 104 per cent. —that is to say, more than double —and a lot of people complain that they were shut out from making investments, so great was the run on some of the races, when the attendance was some hundreds over the best previously seen on the suburban course The Avondale Jockey Club is one that has met with a lot of success, and that is due to beingin a highly flourishing racing centre with a big population, and, of course, to the management being up-to-date. Racegoers invest with a great deal of confidence at most Auckland meetings, and the two clubs that have held meetings this season within the metropolitan area, viz., the Pakuranga Hunt C ub and Avondale Jockey Club, have every reason to be well satisfied. In Canterbury, what may be called the first of the spring fixtures, at Ashburton, met with a reverse experience, and it is to be feared that the laudable object of giving profits to the patriotic funds, as the club intended doing, will not be carried out, for the reason that there are no profits to give. In like manner the Government will get nothing from their new taxation, but though the club will make a loss over the meeting the Government will get their percentages from the machine —in fact, always gets a win, no matter whether a club wins or loses.

Last week we referred to the fact that a number of New Zealand horse owners were doing a spring campaign in the Commonwealth, and remarked that some of them liked to indulge in pre-post betting. This they are not permitted tc do in New Zealand, in terms of the conditions attached to the entering of their horses —they may only bet per medium of the tote. Owners who do bet, ignoring the laws of racing, by which they are supposed to be bound, do so surreptitiously or through agents, which is the same thing, thereoy taking risks of disqualification. We are not aware who the backer was acting for in Australia when Sasanof won the Chelmsford Stakes, but it would hardly be on his own account. However that may be he won £6OOO. How much was invested to secure that sum we have no information, but some few backers got as long as 20 to 1, a lot of money was put ou at tens and twelves, and the son of Martian finished up at sixes. When the late Mr. G. G. Stead won the Newmarket Handicap with Lochiel, that owner, who used to bet with the pencillers until the totalisator got firmly established in New Zealand, and stakes were considerably improved, took nearly £5OOO from the Australian ringmen, nearly two-thirds of which he let friends in Canterbury have on the eve of the contest. It is a well-known fact that the brothers Stead backed Vice-Admiral a few years ago extensively to win the Australian Jockey Club’s Metropolitan Handicap when that horse ran unplaced. Since that time the brothers, who were then interested in the horse with Mr. G. D. Greenwood, have raced on their separate accounts. It would be no surprise to learn that Mr. W. G. Stead has had a very good win outside the stake, and that more than one other New Zealander has profited. No secret is

made of what owners do in Australia. It would take a long time to get £6OOO in bets with a Sasanof in New Zealand, or a Desert Gold for the matter of that. Some people thought that Sasanof was being placed a bit highly, but the son of Martian may go one better as he gets older. He has invariably finished well. All Red and Sea Pink, members of the family, were good stayers, by Stepniak and Seaton Delaval respectively, and Sasanof fills the eye better than did Sea Pink at the same age. The chances are that he will thicken.

The Wanganui! Jockey Club’s spring meeting are invariably well attended. This year was no exception, and there were a few horses of a useful class in each department taking part. The form of the first day was well borne out by the results on the second in nearly all the races, but in the Guineas the two most disappointing performers were the favourite colt Good Hope, who won three races last year for Sir George Clifford, and the gelding Hyttus, who won four times for the Hon. J. D. Ormond and was in many quarters regarded as the first

■or second of his age in New Zealand. Both stripped looking well, and no excuse can be offered for their poor showings, unless that they wanted some racing to sharpen them up. Mr. W. E. Bidwill’s colt Elation, by Elevation, but favouring his dam, Intelligence, in most respects, and her sire, Birkenhead, filled the eye best of the two colts, and is forward, though he galloped like a green one. Of the geldings, Hyttus and Bjorneborg certainly have the shape and appearance that would suggest their being above the ordinary, but Splendent, a son of Hymettus from Sunglow, has a light body and would not have been picked on his appearance to beat any of those already named. He looked backward, but may do some good in time. Sweet Tipperary is a really nice-shaped filly, by King’s Guest from Golden Ball, and comes of a rare family, and it should only be a matter of time, with judicious treatment, for her to settle down and become a good stake winner, as she has a world of pace, and that will help her to get further than many have been expecting her to race successfully. She only wanted a little luck to win. Her trainer was permitted to hold her at the barrier and she did no preliminary, but she raced

Elation for all he was worth and was only just beaten by Bjorneborg in very fair time for the mile. Spring form is sometimes unreliable. It was Bjorneborg’s second race this season, and Elation and the Field Battery ■filly Cease Fire had each had a run, and it would perhaps have helped the other runners if they had raced as recently, but on Wanganui Guineas form it is certain that there was nothing with quite so much pace as Sweet Tipperary, and in that respect she stood out ahead of those of her age last season, and in the C.J.C. Welcome Stakes, the only race she won, she beat Good Hope and Hyttus, amongst others, and she was only second in one other of her engagements.

Depredation, who won the two chief handicaps at Wanganui, is bred to stay, being a son of the Carbine horse Campfire from Gosling, by Amphion (son of St. Leger and Watersprite) from Goosander, by Nordenfeldt from Albatross, by Malta from The Auk, by The Marquis from Seagull, by Fisherman from Omen, by Melbourne. Were he in the New Zealand Cup, for

which he was not accorded a nomination, he would have been in on such favourable terms that with the extreme penalty he could have earned he would have had a solid following by this time, and without a penalty he would have appeared a very good proposition at this stage. He is a determined galloper, and under a racing weight Barlow’s colt would have to be reckoned with. The Musket blood is on both sides of his pedigree, and with that of Carbine on one side and the bulldog Nordenfeldt on the other it would be strange if he were not found fighting at the right end. He was only out of a place four times last season, and won five times and was twice second and twice third. |He has started the present season very well, and his owner-trainer has him well.

The two double successes of Depredation and Gaycium—the last-named the best of her sex in the hack races — reminds us of the fact that their respective sires Campfire and Gazeley were purchased in England and sent to this country by Mr. E. J. Watt from the Old Land, and each have, comparatively speaking, been buried in the seclusion of country or back-blocks

districts, as so many horses must be, the number of first-class mares being so limited that only a few get chances. Of late perhaps both have had some better mates than in their first seasons. It is strange that both sons of Carbine that went to the stud in Maoriland were relegated to country places, where ordinary mares for the most part were their consorts.

Few sires will have such a good chance at the stud this season as imported Hallowmas, who is located at Bushy Park, Wanganui. He has a few yearlings, his first gets to represent him, and a number of mares have foals by him, and more that grace the paddocks are yet to foal. Altogether he will have forty-five consorts, and they are all located on the estate. Over thirty are mares with numbers, and those without are mostly dams of winners or members of rattling good families, so that the 'fine son of Martagon can hardly fail to make good. Most of the mares are young and in their prime, but there are several well on in years, and the ancient of the collection is Stepfeldt, dam of Elevation, Provocation, Gravitation, Reputation and other good performers, and that illustrious old lady has improved in appearance since she reached the Park last year and added her fourteenth contribution to the Stud Book in the shape of a neat daughter to Demosthenes. Stepfeldt is in her twenty-fifth year, and is the only living daughter of Nordenfeldt. Her daughter Culmination and granddaughter Imagination are also there, and Ma Mia Rosette, dam of Signor, is there and has also daughters on the property. Space will not permit of an extended notice here, but the names of such performers as Equitas, Gladiolc, Crucinella, Bonny Helen, Armistice, Merrivonia, Blue Ribbon, Denise Orme, Rill, Formless, Helen Portland and True Shot recall some stirring events in which each played a conspicuous part. Gold Cord, dam of Gang Awa, The Native and Golden March; Wailethe, dam of Deviation; Vivandel, dam of Patronale; Clompet, dam of Astor; Fairwind, dam of Leonta; Ukrane, dam of Sasanof; Seaspray, half-sister to Gold Crown and Gold Crest; Rau Ran, dam of Welcome Nugget; Oka, sister to Orloff; Vasa, sister to Nyland; Vite, sister to Submarine and half-sister to Pierene; Celano, dam of Briesis; Zaida, dam of Merrie Lad and Zola; Happy Maid, dam of Ladoga; Simonia, dam of Denise Orme, and a number of maiden mares and others of note or of promise for stud careers.

Looking ahead, and with the Avondale Guineas and Wanganui Guineas form and other three-year-old form as some guide, we have to consider the

prospects for the Great Northern Guineas, in which there are a good many eligibles. We are decidedly of opinion that Sir George Clifford possesses in Wrestler a colt, by the Soult horse Antagonist from Elusive, that is superior to Good Hope, but whether the winner of the Maiden Race at Wanganui will be sent up is, of course, open to question. Elation, Mr. Bidwill’s colt, is engaged, and so is the Messrs. Dwan Bros.’ filly Sweet Tipperary and Mr. T. H. Lowry has a team to select from which includes both the recent runners Bjorneborg and Beltane, who are likely to be more ready. The Hon. J. D. Ormond has three by Hymettus, including Hyllus and Hyttus. Mr. W. G. Stead" has Sasanof, the best of his sex and age that has raced this spring, and there are lots of others in work, including Waiuta, winner of the Avondale Guineas. We are inclined to accept the Avondale running as a fair guide to provincial form, and we expect the Carl Rosa filly to again assert her superiority over those she met there, but her Great Northern Champagne and Victoria Handicap running with Bjorneborg has to be remembered, too, when honours were easy, each winning from the other. If we can only secure the presence of Bjorneborg, Sweet Tipperary, Elation, Wrestler, and a few more, in the probable absence of Sasanof, we shall have plenty of material for a good race.