Litten’s Impressions Of Sport In United States

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27397, 9 July 1954, Page 4

Litten’s Impressions Of Sport In United States

TROTTING

The West Melton trainer, J. D. Litten, who returned from a visit to the United States early last week, told “The Press” that he thought the trotting meetings he saw on the trip were much less spectacular than meetings in New Zealand.

“There is no doubt that their horses are good, but every race follows the same pattern,” he said. “Soon after the flying start, the small field settles down, the runners racing in Indian file, and that’s about all there is to it. You never see a horse pulled out to make a run until the straight is reached, and it is not often that the horse which has managed to reach the lead in the first run for positions is beaten.” Litten said he thought that it was to provide the thrills that were lacking from the ordinary trotting events in the United States, that “quarter horse” events were held by some clubs. “These quarter-horses are about three-quarter thoroughbreds,” he said. “They gallop over distances up to 550 yards. They are flat out from the start, and the crowds really enjoy it.” At some meetings in San Francisco, the programmes comprised five events for quarter-horses and five for pacers and trotters, Litten said. Training- Methods “I was disappointed in the American training methods,” said Litten. “All the horses are bred to be champions, and trainers’ jobs are thus made very easy. However, I think they ask their horses to do too much in too short a time, and this is borne out by the fact that a horse’s average racing life is far shorter than that of our horses.” Litten said he took particular interest in the soil on the training and stud farms. “I thought the land in the ‘blue-grass State’—Kentucky—was the best; but even there they have many more hundreds of varieties of weeds than we have,” he said. “They

don’t seem to appreciate the importance of fallowing the land, and we tried to convince some of the studmasters and farm managers that this would have a beneficial effect.” Commenting on the drivers in trotting races in America, Bitten said: “You never see an old man driving a motor-car in the States; but you see plenty of them driving horses in races. The way the races are run* makes it very easy for the drivers. However, a strange driver would not last long if he tried to drive any other way but that which is wanted.” As soon as a horse broke during the running of a race, said Litten, he immediately became disqualified for the event, and his driver was required to pull him out of the contest, with as little ado as possible. Litten supplied the following figures, issued by the United States Trotting Association, which show the grewth of trotting in America:— *

Noted American Studs Of the trotting stud farms which he had visited in America, Hanover Stud, Maryland, had impressed him most, said Mr J. S. Shaw, of Riccarton, in an interview after his return to Christchurch. Another member of the touring party, Mr L. M. Denton, procured the stallion Garrison Hanover from Hanover Stud. “Hanover Stud quarters some of the best-performed sires in America,” said Mr Shaw. “They include the trotters, Hoot Mon (2min), Star’s Pride (Imin 57 l-ssec), Axomite (2min 2 l-ssec), Titan Hanover (2min as a two-year-old, and Imin 58sec as a three-year-old); and Samson Hanover (Imin 56 4-ssec), His Excellency (Imin 59 3-4 sec as a three-year-old, and Imin 59 3-4 sec), Norris Hanover (2min 2 l-ssec), Knight's Dream (2.0 2-ssec as a two-year-old, and Imin 59sec as a three-year-old), Nibble Hanover (Imin 58 3-4 sec), Dean Hanover (Imin 58 Jsec as a three-year-old), Tarheel (Imin 57sec, and 2min on a half-mile track), and Bill Gallon (2min 4sec as a two-year-old, and imin 59sec as a three-year-old). “All of these horses are standing at the Hanover Stud, which has 2200 acres of land,” Mr Shaw said. “There are 475 loose-boxes on the property. It has 52 houses on it, about 30 of them for the employees. It has 65 miles of white rail fencing, and 50 miles of private roads. The value of the stud is about 18,000,000 dollars. It is a community in itself, with its own stores and services.” Castleton Stud Farm Another stud which impressed Mr Shaw, was the Castleton Stud Farm, Lexington, Kentucky! This property, he said, covered an area of 850 acres, and was valued at 1000 dollars an acre. "The stable, where the stalls and offices are, alone cost 250,000 dollars, and that is only a small portion of the buildings on the property. It is one of the most up-to-date stud farms in the world. Two women are employed all the year round for office work alone. “While I was there, I was introduced to a young man whose father owns a thoroughbred stud in England,” Mr Shaw said. "His father had sent him to Castleton to learn the business from the ground up.” Because of a death in the family 1

“All of these horses are standing at the Hanover Stud, which has 2200 acres of land,” Mr Shaw said. “There are 475 loose-boxes on the property. It has 52 houses on it, about 30 of them for the employees. It has 65 miles of white rail fencing, and 50 miles of private roads. The value of the stud is about 18,000,000 dollars. It is a community in itself, with its own stores and services.” Castleton Stud Farm Another stud which impressed Mr Shaw, was the Castleton Stud Farm, Lexinjgton, Kentucky; This property, he said, covered an area of 850 acres, and was valued at 1000 dollars an acre. “The stable, where the stalls and offices are, alone cost 250,000 dollars, and that is only a small portion of the buildings on the property. It is one of the most up-to-date stud farms in the world. Two women are employed all the year round for office work alone.

“While I was there, I was introduced to a young man whose father owns a thoroughbred stud in England,” Mr Shaw said. “His father had sent him to Castleton to learn the business from the ground up.” Because of a death in the family which owned the famous Walnut Hall Stud Farm, the property had been divided, said Mr Shaw. One half was now called Walnut Hall Farm and the other, Walnut Hall Stud. These properties covered an area of 1800 acres.

Mr Shaw saw a monument to a famous performer, Guy Axworthy, at

the Walnut Hall Stud, and also the gravestones /of many notable representatives of the stud. These included Volomite, Cita Frisco (dam of Volomite), and Walnut Hall. Another property visited by Mr Shaw was the Mersey Stud, Kentucky, the birthplace of a world-famous racehorse and sire, Man o’ War.

LIGHTING OF TRACK IN DUNEDIN EXPERIMENT PLANNED FOR NEXT WEEK Lighting experiments will be carried out on a section of the Forbury Park Trotting Club’s course next week. This was stated in Christchurch on Wednesday by the president of the club (Mr A. Ferguson), who attended the annual meeting of the New Zealand Trotting Conference. The Forbury Park Club may be the first club in New Zealand to hold night trotting meetings, and if satisfactory arrangements can be made to light the track, the first meeting may be held early next year. Mr Ferguson said his club was finding no difficulty in obtaining suitable poles and wire to light the track.

NEW BRIGHTON CLUB MANY IMPROVEMENTS PLANNED Many improvements had been made during the last year at the club’s course, and it was intended to make further alterations in the near future, said the president (Mr A. G. Jamieson), at the annual meeting of the New Brighton Trotting Club last evening. Contracts had been let for the installation of a watering system for the track, and for linking up the stewards’ stand with the open concrete stand on the outside enclosure, he said. The latter project would give extra accommodation, but it was really meant as an additional safety measure in the case of fire. A start had been made in laying down the middle of the course in grass, and it .was hoped that this work would soon be completed, said Mr Jamieson. Th® following officers were elected:— president, Mr Jamieson; vice-president, Mr S. J. Moore; treasurer, Mr W. E. Desmond; stewards, Messrs H. E. Cook, jun., J*’ , Dix °n. T. G. Fox, O. Hutchinson, > J E v, Jo T hn . s . to , n ’ A - E - Laing, A. McDonald, B. J. McKenna, W. E. Shaw, E. Os-

w s P ratt > J. E. Prendergast, W. F. Stark, H. J. Thomas, and W. Thomson; committee, Messrs Johnston, McKenna, Thomson, and Stark. Amusement Tax S? ub paid 7d on every 5s admission ticket for amusement tax, said the presiJamieson) at the annual x of New Brighton Trotting ev _? n l n K-P 16 tax on a 2s ticket was 3d, and 3s 8d was paid on every members subscription of £2 2s. During “ason the club had paid a total of £615 in amusement tax, said Mr Jamie-

1939 Total Purses Dollars 1,617,025.95 1940 • ■ - «» a a 1,857,591.65 1941 2,080,238.49 1942 a a a a 1,641,365.93 1943 a a a, a aa 1,313,028.87 1944 a a . a a a 2,634,977.58 1945 3,445,906.13 1946 a a a a 6,290,600.00 1947 1948 •• •• 7,528,870.98 9,805,079.05 1949 . o Si.a 11,362,785.09 1950 • a a a 11,527,711.94 1951 a a a a 13,119,753.57 1952 16,052,773.31 1953 18,832,740.79 Number of Horses Starting 1943 .. 3773 1949 9798 1944 .. 5029 1950 .. 10,281 1945 .. 5679 1951 .. 11,187 1946 ' .. 7757 1952 .. 11,927 1947 .. 8563 1953 .. 13,194 1948 .. 9323 Regtorations of Horses 1946 .. 2418 1950 4386 1947 .. 3247 1951 .. 4879 1948 .. 3460 1952 .. 3871 1949 .. 4140 1953 .. 4500 Licences 1945 .. 6016 1950 .. 8957 1946 .. 6516 1951 .. 9249 1947 .. 7342 1952 .. 10,377 1948 .. 7965 1953 .. 11,172 1949 .. 8414