TURF TOPICS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1551, 15 January 1920, Page 14A

TURF TOPICS.

Beloved . (Gazeley—St. Amy), owned by Mr. G. Penfold, has become an in- • mate of G... Garment’s stable. ' R. J. Mason is considering another trip to Australia in the autumn with Gloaming, and, possibly, the Auckland Cup winner Karo. In answer to a correspondent, ■. Arrowsmith has only started twice in public in New Zealand, and has won . both engagements. Whi-Le is the only two-year-old that has started in Australia this season more than once for which it can - be claimed that he has won all his races. J’eff (by Kilbroney), King Kurio (by King Rufus), and Miss Valido (by Valido); at one time owne.d by Mr. Greenwood, were recent winners at Rosebery, N.S.W. Lady Hurst, a crack Australian pony in the 14 hands class, who recently won carrying 11.2 over half a mile in 50%sec., was purchased last week for export to India. She has won quite a lot of races in her class. Reports from Wellington state that the veteran Porirua trainer, J. H. Prosser, will shortly receive half a dozen' jumpers belonging to a prominent North Island sportsman. Ali Cerise, the All Black —Martian Princess filly,, .trained by T. Long, contracted strangles.' prior to tlie Marton .-meeting, which accounts for her absence from that fixture. .Mr. J. 'A.-.Philp, a one-time • Auck- - lander, now editor of “The Courier,” Brisbane, returned by the Maheno ) last .-week after a short visit to the Dominion, following a long absence. He? filet many old friends in Auck- . lan'cl/ but found his trip all too short. ■ The.. Auckland Racing Club in the • midst of its success' lias not forgot- ' ten charity' 'institutions, At the re■'c'eiit.meeting.jOf.the committee a num-..-’her of-donations .were made. The summer meeting' was the most- suc- . cessful in .tlie., club’s history. ■ In answe : f', to W.A.A., Hamilton: Our-., quite correct. Comedy C]pijefjs time in the Great ~ . 'Northern •Handicap was 2min. 19sec. and-- in tfid , Handicap 2min. r :; i4vT-ssec.‘‘tiook 'again. : The names of the races have been confused by ope of the/..parties’ to the wagfifA' Lady. • Bbfiifdrm ■ won the Jockey ~ Club Handicaps o£> a mile and a-quar-teryat Wallsehd/iN.SW.) comfortably in 2min. ,7%sec7, equalling the course , record. .. .Roniform has left a few pretty usefadr. daughters, though his colts hayefwoh him„most distinction as.,^'’sfr§. : . /<■-.< The gdoifiniitte’e ; pf'- the Auckland an early date -to decide firiaJlyy' the -question of sites for the new totalisator house and other build- • ings at/Ellerslie/ The question, as to /;.tfye' fq£ £he totalisator house, -./and also its* sizey is a matter of great ■ '■'importance/.to tile club and --the in- • /yestors. . Mr. F. ’S. Easton’s hurdler Gang ’Awa was .taken- to -the .Manawatu R.C. summer?sweeting- with a view of fulfilling his'T-engagements, but soon after, .arrival-£t. Palmerston North was found to be - .sailing,• whereupon it was decided -to send’ th'e* "son of Provocation., hackto his . owner’s home at Fax ton; wfiejfe he is present being fixated. spell. " /•“/-; ' TipperarV'/'was prevented froih' : ’«t the Marton ‘fixture in; consequence of a 'mishap- which befeb' her ; several days prior to ,the . mating. While being exercised she over-reached heirself, with the result that she sustained an injury to her near foreleg. ’ • Lt. if. - ’ J. M. Malone) born in 1853, where he/was a■ amateur athlete in,the ’seventies, became a professional champion dft. Australia and gained a wd^rd-widh'reputation as an albround' man) ’ Sydney on December. 29, three days: after his 66th birthday. .--r-.t' Mr. A. E. Whyte, .secretary of the Wellington' Racing Club/' lias;, on behalf- of the Australian 'jockey Club, accepted the entries of Golden Bubble, Surveyor, .Spanner, Arrowsmith and Karo for. tlie.. Doncaster Handicap, and Kilrush and Karo' foi; the Sydney Cup. The insurance rate On horses is heavier now than it . has been for a long...timfe;' ( -.especially when overseas journeys are being undertaken, but many- horses have been ’shipped to Australia from the Old Lajnd and have not been covered, their importers pre- ■ ferri-ng to take the risk than -pay heavy* premiums. -.

Mr. Charles Carr, one time of Feild- ; ing - and now of Rotorua,, returned last week to the Dominion after a ’. trip to England, and is looking well. Several of the two-year-olds sold ■at the Auckland show grounds on December 31 were purchased by clients of E. J. Rae, and remain in that trainer’s stables at Greenlane. A number of New Zealand horses have been nominated for the V.R.C. Newmarket and Australian Cup handicaps, and for the Australian Jockey Club’s autumn meeting. The Belgian newspaper “Sport-Ele-vage” states that Frank Wootton is to ride over 'obstacles in France this . season, and that he has signed an agreement with the Ambatielos stable, controlled by C. Halsey, at Chantilly. ■ Nominations for all events to be . run at the Taranaki Jockey Club’s autumn meeting on February 4 and 5 are due with the secretary, Mr. E. P. . Webster, Box 33 New Plymouth, on Friday next (January 16), at 9 p.m. The chief event is the Taranaki Cup Handicap, of 75050v5., 1% miles. The attendance at Randwick on Boxing Day was-estimated at 52,000 by a Sydney writer. The tote turnover amounted .to £56,549 5s. —considered light by- comparison with what the- books held —and £16,000 odd went through on the chief race of the day.

Some apprentices run to . weight quickly and .-get fewer chances than others, for 'the one reason that the • handicappers, unt.il.'.it;..i? made an allround rule, will ..stick -to : too light • minimums. It would pay all country clubs, far . better .to -fix the;- Siinimums of their races at 7-. L-and 8.0. -Excepting in 'the leading Tong-distance races and most of the important short-dic- , f ,.ta.nce. events .7.0 should be fixed as the minimum. A -few -6.7 r riders- can be got, but not many/ *■' ■ ’ ■ ' '

• 'ln'Adelaide totalisator''figures have reached to larger s ’proportions than 'ever.'; The' population is larger than Auckland/, aiid).race .meetings are held more frequently. At the Port Adelaide December meeting the figures •for two days /poached £46,03)4.,;,. or . nearly £16,000 iri’/excess of previous records for the meeting. For- the metropolian area in- South. Australia . the figures stand at : £.427-,lsoi in.-1917, v £520,171 in 1918, and in '.1’919 “' they /..were £602,065. The Australian. Jockey, Club’s committee have . amended) ..rule Jlo7a to read thus;—“lf in a handicap to be run., at ahyr-aegistered meeting, for which a .final fprfeit .or acceptance ,is to be lieclared “prior to the day of the race, the highest weight of the ‘horses accepting ijq such race, or divi,/sion thereof/.,. 7 was -/originally handicapped at;'less: than? 9:0, it shall be raised to. .that weight,-and the weights Of the other acceptors equally.” This rule comes into force forthwith. • o .Fob the first time at Randwick the starters for- the- Villiers Stakes were ’paraded r up/tlxej .straight as far as. the /Je'ger stand.- jyith ./the clerk of the •course, Mr. Tom -Luckey, at their head. This iiirfovdti'dn/ says “Pilot,” was ,TOJ£h appreciated, as they made a striking scene, and leger patrons had an opportunity of seeing' the horses before they went to the post. This idea was ’suggested by the N.S.W. Breeders, Owners and Trainers’ Association.; and was adopted by the A. J.C. t .at Their meeting. The-' f ! dx-Australian horseman B. Carslake has been//a.§sociated with .all ' the victories of tlie,. .crack unbeaten colt'Tetratema, w-ho is. already' a hot favourite for -thie“English Derby. A • striking fact about Tetratema is that he has won all his races' in a canter, and is. already hailed in England as “the colt >Qf the-century.” During the season recently closed in England the son of The ’ Tetrarch —Scotch Gift proved the principal stake winner, the five races credited to hint totalling £10,951 in stakes.

During the week a .representative of this paper met Mr. .Geo; Niccol, on whose behalf the Australian two-year-olds were sold by the N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Agency on December 31, and was informed tljat so far from having come out of his. .speculation well he had made an actual loss, but that would not stop hini .'from having another fling. There were unforseen circumstances connected with the venture, heavy shipping rates and much expense that might have been avoided jf normal conditions had prevailed. If Mr. Niccol has not done a good service to/the country by bringing so useful-looking and well-bred a lot to Auckland many will' be deceived? .-<•••••-

A record investment for one race in Southland. was established during the summer carnival of the Southland Racing Club at Invercargill, when £5235 was registered on the Final Handicap.

The list of winning horsemen at the Southland Racing Club’s summer meeting was headed by A. Ellis, G. Young and F. C. Porter, with two wins each, while I. Tilson, R. McLellan, W. Bush, W. Robinson, S. Walls and R. C. Reed were successful on one occasion each.

Nominations for all events to be decided at the Dunedin Jockey Club’s autumn meeting, on February 11 and 14, are due on Friday next, January--16, at 5 p.m. The principal event to be run at the gathering is the Dunedin Cup, of 1500sovs, one mile and a-half.

Owners and trainers should not overlook the fact that nominations for all events to be run at the Gisborne Racing Club’s summer meeting on February 5 and 7 are due on Friday evening next (January 16) with the secretary, Mr. H. E. Dodd, at 8 p.m. The principal event to be run at the meeting is the Gisborne Cup Handicap, of 500sovs., 1% miles. The Taranaki Trotting Club will hold their inaugural meeting on February 7, and will, as will be seen from the programme appearing in this issue, distribute a fair amount in stakes .for a’“Start. Nominations go in on Thursday, of this week, and it is expected that sportsmen will bestoW' their patronage liberally. Trotting is bound to take a strong hold there in the near future. The Judicial Committee of the Greymouth Club inquired into the reason for Golden Morn and War Tax standing ,on the mark. in the County Handicap. V. Lee, the rider of Golden Morn, and S. Gibbs, rider of War Tax, were fined £5 each and given a severe caution.

The consistent but unlucky Wonderland, who registered three seconds at the Auckland' Trotting Club’s-sum-mer meeting, continues to lack the brilliancy required to land. the big end of the stake, for at- the Waikato Trotting Club’s annual meeting at Hamilton on Saturday, be. again acted as runner-up in the Hamilton Handicap, in which he was defeated by Gold Rod.

Waimatao, whose feet give his owner-trainer some trouble, had three hard races at Awapuni, and won on his only appearance at Marton, where the going was. also of- the . solid order. Mr. Williams'informed “Sir Lancelot,” of the /’Wellington Post,” that he may give tfre useful Bezonian gelding a let up for a month or six weeks until the sting is out of the ground.

• / 'The ex-North Islander, Lucid, who acted as runner-up to Mascot in the Canterbury Cup (two miles and aquarter) and was considered to have bright prospects of landing a; stake at the Southland' Racing Club's New Year meeting, struck himself while working on the eve of that fixture, and in consequence was prevented from fulfilling engagements. It is probable as a result- of the mishap that Lucid will have' to be treated to a fairly lengthy ' / At a meeting ’df ( the .‘Judicial Committee of the Greymoutb--jTpckby Club last week an enquiry was held into the running of/'Fiir/ing in the Farewell Handicap.;. After hearing the evidence of the owner, trainer, and jockey, tlie committee decided, that no further action should be taken.’ L. Hagerty tvas asked to explain why he broke his engagement to rid'd War Tax in the Farewell Handicap, his defence being that the breach was not a wilful one. The stipendiary steward warned Hagerty to be more careful ’in the future when making engagements, as owners must fie protected as well as jockeys. 'Under the circumstances'the committee administered . a warning.. ,"'■ /

On collateral form, the Invercargill Cup winner, Amythas, works-,out as the best three-year;dl'd of the ' season, so far as qit-ha-s "’gbne (remarks “Sentinel,in the “Otago 'Daily Times”). In the Riccartori Welter, run over nine furlongs, at "file New Zealand Cup meeting, Royal Stag was beat a length when attenipti\g to give Royal Star 71b. In . other words, the form suggested that Royal Star was jn November last more than a match for Royal In the Great Northern Derby Royal Stag showed his superiority 'to Rossini, and in the Invercargill Cup Amythas was at the least , 141 b. better than Royal Star, and. .hence a/far better three-y.ear-old than Royal Stag. ;

At the recent sale at the Southland Metropolitan A. and P. Society’s grounds of a draft of thoroughbreds from the Longbeach Stud owned by Mr. J. C. N. Grigg, Eight Bells (ViceAdmiral — Midnight) was purchased by Mr. W. Swale, of Centre Bush, for 120gns. Deflection (Calibre — Windy Steppe) realised 26gns„ while the four-year-old brown filly by Kilbroney—Glory was quitted for 20gns. A quartette of two-year-olds by Calibre averaged about 40gns. apiece. A yearling by Fleetham —Sevres China was purchased by Mr. D. Kilkelly, of Invercargill, for. ,44gn5... ,