TURF TOPICS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1596, 25 November 1920, Page 16

TURF TOPICS.

Of the £36,677 distributed in prize * money at the Melbourne Cup carnival £17,022 was won by Sydney-trained ' horses. The Caulfield Cup winner, Eurythinic,' who won the Melbourne Stakes and the C. B. Fisher Plate at the Melbourne Cup meeting, thus crediting his owner, Mr. Lee Steere, with a further £2217 in has now won £13,312. Mr. Bjlly Maher, the ex-Victorian bookmaker, enjoys a remarkable record in regard to the Melbourne Cup, PoitreFs success in the recent big Flemington two-mil e race marking the 53rd consecutive Melbourne Cup wjhich Mr. Maher has witnessed. In addition to increasing the stakes by £1125 for their Christmas meeting, to be held on December 26 and 28, the, Taranaki Jockey Club have also decided Upon an increase of £1475 in the stakes offered in connecx tion with their autumn gathering. The* four-year-old Demosthenes Las Vegas mare Fluency, formerly owned by Mr. W. G l . Stead, and now racing in Australia in the ownership of Mr. 0. R. Falkiner, ran second to Kingbier in the Carnival Handicap (1%, miles) on the concluding day of the Melbourne Cup carnival at Flemington. The winner’s time was 2min. 6% sec., so that Fluency gives every promise of proving a useful stake earner in the Commonwealth. Had Erasmus, who acted as runnerup to Poitrel, won the Melbourne Cup one of the colt’s owners would have netted the tidy sum of £30,000. Messrs. Moses Bros., owners of Poitrel, are reported to have backed the son of Alwyne for £20,000, while in consequence of all the well-fancied candidates in the Melbourne Cup being extensively supported in doubles with the Caulfield Cup winner, Eurythmic, some exceptionally good wins were experienced as a result of Poitrel carrying off the "second leg.” Superstitious people would have backed Poitrel in the Melbourne Cup bad they known what happened on the night he arrived in Melbourne — P a fortnight before the Cup. A black • cat walked into his stall and there gave birth to a litter of kittens. Until the day that 'Poitrel ran in the Mel- " bourne Cup the cat and her kittens didjnot leave the stall. Poitrel must have had a great fascination for animals. For a long time wherever Kennaquhair, _ Poitrel’s redoubtable opponent, has gone, a bulldog has travelled' with him. Poitrel and Kennaquhair were almost, neighbours at .' Flemington, and the bulldog, discovering Poitrel, sniffed round his box and changed the old love for the hew. R. Lewis, the well-known Victorian horseman, who had the mount on Dunmore an the Melbourne Cup, has only missed riding in two Melbourne Cups since 1895. His 24 rides in the Cup have resulted in him steering ' the winner on three occasions, The Victory (1902), Patrobas (1915) and Artilleryman (1919) being his three winning mounts. Lewis has steered the Winner of the Victoria Derby cn five occasions. Jack Gainsford, the Sydney, trainer, . who close on twenty years ago resided in Auckland, and was wellknown as a horseman, piloting Wairiki to victory in the Auckland Cup on Boxing Day 1903, has of late gained a series of successes with Julia Grey, a smart performer under his charge. Gainsford won the Newmarket Handicap at Flemington on Bungebah in 1891. His son, Clem Gainsford, is doing well as a light- ' weight horseman, and was riding at the Melbourne Cup meeting, one of his mounts being Demonte, who acted as runner-up to Ethiopian in the Cantala Stakes. It is practically certain that the Rotorua Jockey Club’s annual race f meeting, to be held on January 12, i will take place ,on the Claudelands j course, Hamilton, the club having \ made application to the Auckland ; District Racing Commission for a change of venue for the following j reasons: —(1) That the Rotorua race- * ’ course on Arawa Park has been con-

2 siderably damaged by the Maori camp during the Prince’s visit; (2) that i the consequent state of the course | necessitated a thorough overhauling; (3) it was necessary to do this to j bring the course into line with the j prospective appointments of the club which would be right up-to-date; (4) i the committee was anxious to get back its. second day’s racing,- which would not be entertained at all unless * the course were in good order.

The newly-formed a Cambridge Trotting Club have decided to hold their inaugural meeting on January 15, when £6OO will be offered in stakes. The fixture is assured of wide patronage from supporters of light harness racing, and the club’s progressive policy is deserving of a large measure of success. The most successful owners at the Victoria Racing Club’s Melbourne Cup meeting were: —W. and F. A. Moses —lst Melbourne Cup (exclusive of trophy value £150), 2nd C. B. Fisher Plate, 3rd Melbourne Stakes —£7602; W. V. Manton—lst Derby, 3rd C. B. Fisher Plate —£3277; W. Riordan — Ist Cantala Stakes, 2nd V.R.C. Handicap—£2B7l; Ben. O. Bennett —Ist Maribyrnong Plate, Ist Flemington Stakes —£2565; E. Lee Steere —Ist Melbourne Stakes, Ist C. B. Fisher Plate —£2217; W. M. Keogh and E. Moss —2nd Melbourne Cup, 2nd Batman Stakes, £1550; E. I. Body and H. S. Simpson—lst Linlithgow Stakes, 2nd Meloburne Stakes —£1437; V. A. Zed —Ist Carnival Handicap, Ist V.R.C. Handicap—£l3s6; J. V. Veale —lst Batman Stakes, Ist Railway > H. W. Handicap—£ll76.