THE CLUBMAN

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1565, 22 April 1920, Page 8

THE CLUBMAN

The visit of the Prince of Wales is now the all-absorbing topic, and on every side there is evidence that the loyal people of the Dominion will accord him such a welcome as will befit the occasion. Auckland is to be honoured as the first port nf call of the Renown, and thousands of people have been crowding into the “Queen City” for days past to prepare for the arrival of the good ship and her distinguished visitors. The complimentary race meeting to be held at Ellerslie on Monday will afford many thousands the opportunity of according the young Prince and suite a big reception, out in the open as it were, as at Ellerslie there is plenty of breathing space and the surroundings are of the best. A Royal race meeting it is sure to be, and one to be remembered. All that is wanted to ensure its thorough success is a fine day. The people can be trusted to do the rest in getting the business of the day through. Our advice to those who intend going a-racing on that day—and we are assured that there will be many hundreds who have never honoured the Ellerslie racecourse with their presence on a race day before who will swell the representative crowd —that they should get to the scene early.

A few thoroughbreds are on their way from Australia to New Zealand as we write, as the result of the sales of bloodstock there, and others will be following in due course. This is a healthy sign. No very big prices have been paid by or on behalf of New Zealand owners for what they have secured, so far as we know, but before to-day we have secured some very decided bargains in the island continent, and there is always the chance of our doing so again. New blood has its value in so many ways, and frequent interchanges are good on that account. We owed a lot to importations from Australia in the early days, and from time to time since. Australia has been heavily indebted to New Zealand for’three or four decades in having secured good racehorses and good strains of blood, particularly the Traducer and Musket strains, to say nothing of others.

Only a few New Zealand-bred yearlings were offered and sold at the annual autumn sales in Sydney after the Australian Jockey Club’s big meeting, and Mr. T. H. Lowry’s little lot of four not only included a coll that was at the top of the list but it will probably be found that they made the highest average for four from any one stud. The Demosthenes —Tete-a-tete colt has been referred to as an exceptionally 'fine colt, and made 1700 guineas, and the lowestpriced one, by Finland from All’s Well, realised 950 guineas. These yearlings sold so well chiefly because of their relationship to horses that had performed well in New Zealand and in Australia. They were reserved by Mr. Lowry for his own racing, so the note in the catalogue of the auctioneers gave it out, but owing to the projected departure of the Hawke’s Bay owner for England he had decided to sell them. It was further mentioned that during the twenty years Mr. Lowry had been racing his horses had won nearly £lOO,OOO in stakes.

Desert Gold, Bobrikoff, Estland and Finmark were specially mentioned as contributors to the success of r.he stable of Mr. T. H. Lowry in Messrs. Chisholm and Co.’s catalogue, <he last-named trio being by Finland, who performed well in Australia. One is a brother to Bobrikoff, while the Demosthenes colt is from a half-sister by Royal Fusilier to that gelding. All’s Well, of course, comes of the family which gave us Antagonist, Lady Annie, Antionette, Cambrian, Hierarch and co., otherwise the Fanny Fisher family. The colt from All’s Well is much inbred to Musket. The colt from The Hague (daughter of Stepniak and Peace) goes back to Hammock (imp.), dam of Somnus and Siesta, dam of Conqueror, Day Dream, and Dreamland (dam of Elysian). It would thus be seen that each of the lots come from excellent families. All’s Well and The Hague

were bred at the Cambria Park Stud, where Mr. Lowry secured them cheaply. Bobrikoff was bred by Mr. H. Friedlander, and, like his dam (Gossip), he cost Mr; T. H. Lowry* a comparatively small sum; and Finland was got in an exchange, if we remember right. Mr. Lowry has been a very lucky owner and breeder as well. The racing business owes him nothing, as he never raced on what could be called a large scale. .

There has been some activity in the selling and buying of thoroughbreds in New Zealand during the past few months, and the improvement in values obtained can be said to have set in from the time peace was declared. There is no end of money for racing purposes. That- has been made abundantly evident from the returns, meeting after meeting, from

the totalisators. There is no particular district or province that enjoys a monopoly in this respect. It is the same from the furthermost parts of the South Island to the Far North, or as far north as there are clubs with permits to use the same means of obtaining revenue. By the time the present season ends it will be found that the racing and trotting clubs of the Dominion have received well on to 20 per cent, more than they did last year from the same source, and they have certainly received more from horse owners, while more horses have raced than in any previous season up to the present time, and so far as can be estimated by registrations this experience will be maintained to the end of the season. Owners have received more than ever in stakes, and in the season of 1920-21 they will have still more money to race for.

It is what can be won with useful horses that gives them their value, and the wonder is that there are not more of our well-to-do people, and who can afford to own horses and who are regular patrons of the sport, that do not become owners. EVery year, however, there are newcomers to the ranks as others drop out, and they should be welcomed and encouraged to carry on. Clubs are obliged to increase the stakes in proportion to their totalisator receipts, and the majority of them, while doing so, do not forget to increase the nomination or at least the acceptance and final payment fees. From such sources New Zealand clubs get a much heavier

percentage than many clubs in other colonies —indeed, some of the most important clubs south of the line add the niojiey received from owners to the value of the-prizes they give, and they don’t call upon owners to make payments until their horses drop out close up to the time of races being run.

To be able to leave horses in Valuable races right up to the last day, or as is now the case with many clubs, within a few days, or racing without having to pay heavy demands for acceptance fees or final payments, has been one of the features of racing in parts of the Commonwealth that owners have pointed to with satisfaction when comparing the systems in vogue in New Zealand with those in ’ Australia. . If the clubs throughout New Zealand will refrain

from making the cost, after nomination, heavier as they increase the prize money it would be one way of assisting owners to meet the increases the jockeys are hoping for in their riding fees, and which in fairness to them should go up as the value of stakes has been doing. Is it to be wondered at that the riders are seeking better conditions? Let any fairminded followers of the sport go into the matter and there can only be one answer. The whole question of jockeys’ and apprentices’ fees wants adjusting. The riders should be graded as they are in some other parts of the world. A few in New Zealand may be doing very well, and there is always room at the top and good men in any profession should be well paid for their services, but there are many who have been find ing the avocation of jockey fa? from remunerative at existing rates of pay with increased cost of living and travelling expenses to bear. a « ■ r. Another racing season must not be entered upon without seeing justice done to the horsemen of the country, and one way to help in that direction is to lighten the burdens of the own ers in the way of entrance fees and the cost of starting. By doing that —and, indeed, it is sheer nonsense to say that clubs cannot afford it —owners could then pay their trainers a little more per week, as their present fees, at the ruling price for feed, particularly in the North Island, are inadequate to fairly recompense them for their work and expenses. Fodder is now double the price it was before

the war; shoeing (a big item also; and travelling more than double. These are matters for the clubs to think over and for the New Zealand Conference of Racing Clubs to grapple with. There are some members of the Conference who know what it is to foot the bills for racing studs,’none better than the president, Sir George Clifford, who has been one of the most successful of owners. Sir George has not been racing for profit, but largely for the pleasure it has afforded him as a breeder. s o ® • The public, after alt the best supporters of the racing game, keep paying, and paying handsomely, for their entertainment at every meeting, leaving their contributions amounting from hundreds to thousands of pounds sterling according to the status of the meetings which they

patronise. They are free with their money, and they do not want to see horsemen or trainers underpaid. The riders take the risk for pay, and they should be pair adequately. That is the commonsense view. If the fees and the percentages to the winning horsemen should not be largely increased in the future, there is nothing to prevent the clubs paying out of their own funds by way of supplementing the fees to losing riders, say, from 10s. to 20s. per mount according to the status of the meetings at which the boys and men ride. This would be a help to the apprentices, half of whose riding fees have been going to the trainers, most of whom have been glad to take the money to help them under conditions which have existed for some time. Most of the trainers have had a worse time than many of the horsemen. It is a common thing to hear (them complaining, but they can increase their fees for their work, while the horsemen cannot do so. In th,at respect the trainer, the corn merchant, the blacksmith and others connected with the sport are at an advantage. Owners would be glad to be relieved of some of the extra cost to them. By not increasing the cost of running for the prize money, which must be raised considerably during the coming season, the clubs can meet them in a fairly substantial way. By making allowances to each losing rider, whether professional or apprentice, it would not be too great a strain upon the resources of clubs, all of which have had particularly good seasons of late.