SPORTING

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23965, 4 June 1943, Page 8

SPORTING

DUNEDIN J.C. PROSPECTS FOR TO-MORROW

The Dunedin Jockey Club’s winter meeting will be concluded at Wlngatul to-morrow. The fields will be up to the strength of the first day’s programme, and a few fresh horses will be produced. Hie win and place system will be in use, and the following horses will no doubt be well supported:— Roslyn Hack Steeplechase.—Shadow Boy, Safelight, Night Scout. Novice Handicap.—Trapeze, Some Sing, Even Calm. June Hurdles.—Heidelberg, Taxpayer, Nlghtcalm. Southern Hack Handicap.—Sir Saladln, Riding Home, Fair Trial. Wingatul Steeplechase.—Noko-Ahglo-French bracket, Valens, Gay Boa. • Provincial Handicap.—Kevin, Bashful Lady, Spanish Lad. Members’ Handicap.—Night Pal, Cruden Bay, Mauretania. General Mac Arthur Handicap.—Fairy Bard, Boolamskie, Paladeo.

TURF GOSSIP

Answer to Correspondent "8.C..” Methven.—2.3o p.m. on May 27. More Overweight Prince Shad, who, weighted at 8-6, carried 61b over-weight in his engagement at Wingatui last Saturday, has 8-5 in to-morrow’s race, and as he will be again ridden by R. Register, he will probably carry 8-11. Evidently his usual Horseman, K. Wilson, who was injured last week, will not be able to resume riding tomorrow. First Appearances Fresh horses at Wingatul to-morrow will be Half and Half. Pal Bill, Brown Bomber, Boucart, Bonnie Chela, Salmi, Papette, Silver Lily, Socks, Damascus, Cross Question, Noko, Auctor, Platform, Sing Sing, and Sixpence. Novice Jumpers Greenbank. who has been trained at Greymouth for some time past, is to be tried as a hurdler and has recently shaped well in schooling tasks. Commemorate has also had some schooling. Death of English Owner The death occurred in Birmingham recently of Sir Charles Hyde, Bt„ newspaper proprietor, and a successful breeder and owner of racehorses. His best horse was probably Baytown, winner .of the Irish Two Thousand Guineas and Irish Derby in 1928. As owner of the very best type of racehorse, Sir Charles had had only one trainer since he became an owner in 1923. Norman Scobie, who was his private trainer at Whitsbury. Scobie, son of one of Australia’s greatest trainers, saddled more than 240 winners and won more than £BO,OOO in stakes for Sir Charles Hyde in the 19 years that he. was an owner. Sir Charles Hyde bred most of the horses he raced. At Omoto . Little Secret is now being trained at Greymouth by M, B. Edwards, who also has Bowmore, a half-sister by Klnnoull to that gelding. Little Secret’s former trainer, J. Stewart, has handed In his trainer’s licence. Highland Dance is being prepared at Greymouth by his owner-trainer, J. L. Leonard for the Wellington and South Canterbury Hunt meetings. Riding in Two Divisions In reply to the request of the New Zealand Owners’ and Trainers’ • Association that permission be granted to Jockeys to ride in both divisions of divided races, 'he executive of the Racing Conference dates there, is a certain provision for this tinder Rule 195 (5) of the Rules of Racing, but it is not considered wise to irovide for a general exemption, as it vould create unnecessary- delay. . Rule 195 (5) reads: "No rider shall ride n both divisions, save with the consent of the stipendiary steward in attendance it the meeting who shall give such conent only if satisfied that no other rider if suitable weight, not engaged to ride n the race is available to ride the horse •oncerned in the division in respect of vhich such permission is sought.”

TROTTING NOTES

Ashburton Trotting Club Special trains leave Christchurch for Ashburton trots on Monday, at 8.40 a.m., 3.50, and 9.5. —6 An Unlikely Starter Kid Wolf Is regarded as an unlikely barter in the All Aged Stakes at Ash>urton on Monday. Answer to Correspondent Clubs, Christchurch.—(l) When Morello von the New Zealand Cup in 1938 he was bracketed with King’s Play, who was Iriven by O. E. Hooper. (2) In 1939 Fine Art (M. C. McTigue) was favourite; 8, 8' King’s Play was driven by S. A. Edwards. 1 3) Lawn Derby started from 36 yards behind. Bracketed on Totalisator The big fields at the Ashburton Trotting Club’s meeting on Monday make necessary the bracketing of horses in several races, especially in the maiden classes. The totalisator- at Ashburton Is as wellequipped as most machines in the Dominion to cater for big fields, and in the two first races 24 different numbers will be on the machine. During the day the following horses will be bracketed:— Longbeach Handicap: Compris and Noble Wave, Doll Axworthy and Nancy Carbine, Hidden Note and Believe Me, Addimus and Paddy’s Choice, Hop Off and Billy Royal, Lady Josephine and Pendennis, Helen Galindo and Jimmy Wharton, Nelson Shrubb and Rerewaka, Phaeton Derby and Quiet Lady, St. Mary and Port Bowen. Trial Handicap; Bonny Axworth and Nonnie Grattan, Golden Pointer and Arion Bingen, Hardy Annual and Nola Wrack, Windermere and Worthy Jack, Princess Maritza and Major Grattan, Cumnock and Galvena, Light Brigade and McAlister. All-Aged Stakes; Countless and Loyal Rey, Special Edition and Stormtost. Tlnwald Handicap: Pontoon and Safety Pin. New Zealand Sapling Stakes: Leonin and Netherby. Acton Handicap: Sports Guide and Glen Travis, Stylish Wilkes and . Mongolian. Winter Handicap: Special Edition and Stormtost. Without Form McAlister, who will be bracketed with the American pacer. Light Brigade, in the Trial Handicap at Ashburton on Monday. is a five-year-old chestnut gelding by David McElwyn from Trusty Maid, and therefore a half-brother to Trusty Scott, winner of the Futurity Stakes at Addington. McAlister has no form to recommend him, but Light Brigade by Volomlte, In the little racing he has done, has at least shown promise.

CHAMPION RIDERS

ARCHER AND RICHARDS The advice from England recently that Gordon Richards had ridden 2749 winners and had thus beaten F. Archer's record of 2748, gives an opportunity to make a comparison between the two great horsemen. Archer had 8085 mounts, averaging a win in a little less than every three rides Richards’s average was one win in very little worse than five mounts. Conditions during Richards’s career have been more conducive to recordbreaking performances than they were in the 'Bo’s, F. Archer’s day. By air and by fast rail service the jockey of recent years could ride throughout the length and breadth of England in a week. It was not so in Archer’s time, when travelling was a slow and tedious business. On the other hand, opportunities for riding have been very restricted in England, and this makes Richards’s feat all the more creditable. Speaking generally, there are not the riders to-day that can compare with Fordham, Watts, Snowden, and Goater, who rode contemporaneously with Archer in the early 'Bo’s. Those men were not only good Jockeys, but they were also brilliant horsemen. Also Richards has been fortunately endowed physically. His small stature and natural riding weight, about 7-8, obviate the necessity for "wasting,” that killing process which saps the vitality of the strongest man. Thus he has been able to claim a wide range of mounts. Archer, on the other hand, was a tall man whose riding weight was nearer nine stone than eight stone, rising in the winter months to 10 stone. Throughout his career he was forced to waste cruelly to keep below his natural poundage. Yet, in spite of all this, he stood out clear above his splendid contemporaries. Winning the Two Thousand Guineas on Atlantic in 1874, Archer appeared in the limelight, and climbed swiftly to the top of the ladder In the 1876 season by riding 209 winners while still in Ms teens. Every year then until his death in 1888 he topped the list. In only three out of the 11 seasons did he ride fewer than 200 winners, and his figures over that period are illuminating; 1876, 209; 1877, 218; 1878, 229; 1879, 197: 1880, 120; 1881. 220: 1882, 210; 1883, 232; 1884, 241; 1885, 246; 1886, 170. A Dangerous Process Archer created further records, rising to success in the Derby on Silvio (1877). Bend Or (1880), Iroquois (1881), Melton (1885), and Ormonde (1886). Silvio. Jannette, Iroquois, Dutch Oven. Melton, and Ormonde brought him success in the

St. Leger,' while he won the Oaks on four occasions, on Spinaway, Jannette. Wheel of Fortune, and Lonely. It was the hard wasting to ride St. Mirin in the Cambridgeshire of 1886 which is thought to have been indirectly responsible for the death of the great jockey. He took many pounds off to fulfil that engagement, and the bitter experience of a narrow defeat coincided with a Sad attack of typhoid fever. While in a morbid state of mind, and worried by illness, Archer secured a revolver and he took his own life. A national figure, feted by princes and people, his tragic ending shocked England. Fortunes had passed through his hands, spent as easily as they were hardly won at the expense of his own health. A Quick Rise There Is a dramatic Interest In the story of the career, of G. Richards, who has been the winning jockey In England for many years, and whose abilities as a horseman are made the subject of much eulogy. A London writer, in referring to Richards’s marked rise to fame as a jockey, says : “When he left school Richards took a humble job in a commercial house, but he was ‘racing mad,’ and, greatly against the wishes of his parents, he wrote to a trainer asking for a situation. He was fortunate in that he addressed the letter to Martin Hartigan, and, although rather older than Is usual, he was taken on as an apprentice. He showed wonderful aptitude as a rider, and in a comparatively short period he headed the list of winning jockeys. The fact that he can go to scale at 7*6 has helped Richards a great deal, but his judgment and the vigour he can bring to bear in handling horses is on all hands recognised.” An Idea of the value of Richards's services is given by an engagement in the season before the present war with the Beckhampton stable to give that establishment first call on his services at a retaining fee of £4OOO a year with 10 per cent, on the stakes won by the horses he rode. It was computed that his earnings during that year amounted to £15,000. Richards has ridden the winners of practically every important race in England, except the Derby, in which he has been In a minor place several times, but has been fated not to be on a winner.