NOTES AND COMMENTS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 84, 3 January 1919, Page 7

NOTES AND COMMENTS

'• [By Gmsncoe.]

The Greyiuouth and Southland Clubs • will continue their Meetings to-day. On Saturday . the Auckland Club will hold a one-day meeting:, the events to bo decided 1 being the card for the first day of its postponed Spring Meeting. , The . quality-!of the horses engaged is not .'as ■good us it. was for 'the club's .'Summer. Meeting, which ended''on New' Year's Day. ■ ' There' was -spine doubt in local sporting oirclea yesterday as . to the "correctness of the bracketing of Gloaming arid Kauo in the Great Northern Derby. . The reason' for'the bracketing is.tliat the Demosthenes' filly was bought, by • Mr,. Green-, wood prion to' the race in question. "Jlorses "fo.r, courses." 'The . foregoing applies particularly to King Lupin, winne.r.of the Newmarket Handicap at 3DI- ■ lefslio on Wednesday. In 1916, carrying Sst. 31b., ithe chestnut, won (he race ■ in' question," and tlie. following year, with Gib more-in the 6addle,' again carried off the event. Last year Mr. Hannon's lioree was unplaced, and, on Wednesday, with Ost. 31b. aboard,, he again scored. \ Tho .locally-owned Treiitham Ifose is doing well, in sprint' events down, the coast, her record up to tho present being .four.starts for.two wins and two thirds.. . Sundance, winner-of the-Midsummer Handicap at. Ellerslie on Wednesday, is by Sunny Lake (Sundridgc—Pearl ot tho Loch), . (ram ■ Showana (St.--Ambrose— Savannah), and is therefore a' half-sister to ICilbrogan and Sedd-el-Bahr. Sunny. Lake, was one of the fastest • horses in England, winning, among <ther events, the • Grantham Stakes and Wood Ditton Stakes, both run at Newmarket, and the Triennial Stakes at Aioot. In the lastnamed race Sunny Lake defeated Poly- . crates, who was subsequently ' imported to Australia and won tho. Newmarket Handicap. Siindridge, sire of Runny Lake, is at present in France, and has proved n. big stud success. Sunny Lake is to be sold at tho Elderslie 6ale next month. I From Auckland it is reported that Mr. W. If. Kcmball has purchased' the Royal Stakes winner Crenides. • - Loyal' Arch was a cheap maro for Mr., H. W. Brown, for in her first thvoo starts in his colours she has won 510 sovs. •in stakes—inoro than the price given for her a week ago. Astorinn; winner of the two-year-old event at Hastings oil. Wednesday, is a half-sister to Asterinl and Astrophel, and , is the' first of the imported Merry Momont's stock to win. Tho Australian-bred golding Rude, who , finished second to jMI Over in tho Marlon -| Cup, occupied a like position last year , when Jiulticipal scored. ' Palm Oil, who won two races at Hastings vesterday, won a double at tho same meeting last year. She is l>y Maniapoto from Largesse (Seaton Dclaval —Keepsake). Perfidy, who dropped dead at Hastings '• on Wednesday, won two races last season and 570 sovb. in stako money. Wedding Day improved on her running in tho Villiora Stakes when slio won tho Tattersall's Cup. Bee scorns to bo returning to form, ■ for in her Inst two races—A..T.C. Stmimor and Tattersall's J Cups—she has filled a place. i Tho Bagot. Handicap at I'lcmington ' wont to Star Comedian, who is by tho t Melbourne- Cup winner Comedy King i from Lucky Star (JFortunio—Darkie). 1 Last year Star Comedian occupied third t position in the event. First Trim, who i was in second place on Wednesday, also n acted as runner-up last year. 'J MiCrsa, winner of the Southland Cup, is a sister to the Railway Handicap win- 1 ner Nauha, both mares being by Mar- 5 tinn from Nantes (Stepniak—Huguenot). !) Cynic, who finished second in tho A.K.C. Handicap on Wednesday, occupied 1 the same position in that event last year, 1 when ho was beaten by Multiply. I TCilfoyle, who was purchased by H.n.. I the Rajah of Pudukota in tho 'spring of J 1917 from Mr. J. B. Reid, and ran second 8 in tho A.J.C. Gimorack Stakes in tho b

former's colours,, broke her maiden status at Aspendale, Victoria, last mouth. Kilfoylo is by ICilbroney from Rosytli (Charlemagne ll—Ailsa, t.ho last-named being a sister to Happy Valley, dam of Crowluirst and Bindla). Wilfoyle was Bosytil's first foal Her second foal—a colt in Kilroy—is owned by Mr. J. Wren, of Melbourne. Rosyth is amongst tho mares to be offered at tho Elderalio salo next month. A winner at the Canterbury Pnrlt meeting recently was the New Zealandbred Briseie (Aohiiles—Celoano). Tlio mare took lmin. 15sec., with lOst. Gil), in the saddle, to cover the six furlongs. Headwind, who in tho sprint ovont at Flemington on New Year's Day, t is by Malstor (Bill of Portland— Barloy) ~ from'Fairwind, a maio by Carbine from , L'andwind. A to Headwind in ;. Tressady llaid was successful last month ; at Canterbury Park. ; ' A Press Association message from Sydney stales that at a sale of racehorses 5 the ex-New Zealand horse Football !• fetched 105 guineas. s : ! THE SCRATCHING OF BIPLANE AN ENGLISH OPINION. (Extract from "Tho Bloodstock Breeders' Iteviow," July, 1918, 26 Charing Cross Road, .London.) ■ Desert Gold'B return to New Zealand was expedited bceause sho was entered tor the Awapuni Gold' Cup at the Manawatu Meeting in mid-April. Biplane .was also engaged in that event, and tho prospect of seeing those two high-class animals at last opposing ono another aroused tho greatest interest. The evening of the day before tho race, Biplano was, however, scratched. Tho reason given for his withdrawal -was that his ownor (Air. Greenwood) and trainer (Mason) were not satisfied with the way i in wiiich ho had been working on the I training ground. Desert Gold easily won • tho Cup (valuo .£575), run over ten fur- ■ longs. ' Menelaus and Impediment were Beoond and third, and Bisogne and Koesian unplaced. ■ ■ ■ . At the time of writing, we have not received a. New Zealand paper giving au ' account of theso happenings. The only tidings to hand are contained in a brief ' message that was telegraphed to a Mel- . bourne journal.. It roads: — 1 At the -conclusion of tho race, Desert ■ Gold had a groat, ovation,' and Sir. Lowry i was carriod shoulder high after tho pre: ' Bentatiou of tho Cup. Tlip crowd booted Biplane, also his owner and trainer, s for 6ome-time before tho race. ' Tho stewards .dealt with the , matter, and reeolved that the explanation offered by Mr. Greenwood and the tralnor respecting the scratching, of Biplane was entirely unsatisfactory. - They -considered that while-the lottor .of the law was not infringed, tho true ethics of racing liad been grossly violated, and they regretted that the rules did not authorise them to disqualify' Biplane, for life. They recommended the club oonimittee to decline all future nominations from Mr. Greeu--1 wood of any of hi 9 horses, or of any 1 horses trained by Mason. .. Tho stewards » also cancelled ail bets on the Gold Cup . reoorded prior..to Biplane's scratching. • The incident 6poilt whatwould otherwise - have been a record meeting. i In the absence of fuller details it may i be unwise to olfer comment on the affair. - We take it, however, that tho outline of > the case is correctly stated, and thero are • one or two points that can be discussed. - ' It will bo noticed that tho stewards, of J tho' meeting admitted that Jlr. Green- , wood did not infringe "the letter of the law." In other, words, no Rule of Rac- ' ing was broken. We havo always u»- . derstood that- the duty of the stewards > of a meeting begins and ends with the the-administration of the rules. The . Manawatu stewards appear to talro_ a ; much-wider view of their responsibilities. t They regard- themselves as • competent . judges-of the "ethics of racing," mid it .' would seem, according to tlioir ruling, ; that it is.not permissible for an owner . and trainer to decide whether or not . one of their liorses is fit. to run.,. This is a strange doctrine. Supposing there 1 had been no .Biplane concerned in the business, and that Mr. Greenwood's,representative in tho race had been a horse of little account. If- tliis nonentity had beon scratched the night before the race, would the owner and trainer have been condemned in the scathing terms employed' in' tiifi stewards' pronouncement? Nothing, of course, would- havo been heard of the matter. . Surely, however, the "ethics of racing" applicable to the one case apply . also to the other. . The. Rules of Racing,' whether written or unwritten, govern bad horses ns well as good ones—in theory at any rate. Whethor the: stewards were justified in asserting that the explanation offered respecting the scratching of Biplane was ''entirely' unsatisfactory" we cannot say. We do not know what basis there was for - the explanation that tho colt had not been doing his' training work satisfactorily.,' If it had any basis- at all, the excuse -was-sufficient.' Surely to goodness an owner and -trainer are entitled > bo exorcise 60ine discretion in a matter of this sort: The principle the Mnnat watu Stewards sought to establish is, to i our thinking, a pernicious one. -If al-. ■ lowed to go unchallenged it means that i an owner must virtually surreiidor his I control ovor a horse engaged in a race • in which the public happen to be greatly \ interested. A proposition of tliflt • sort .would not be tolerated for an instant in ■ England. This'is not to say that followers of racing in the Old Country liavo , not from timo to. time resented the . eleventli-hour 'scratching' of *-a popular horse. On tliesO occasions they , have generally expressed their dislike in the manner - beloved of Britons; but nobody would havo been more astonished than they if a "group of stewards had resorted, to the drastic and unprecedented action adopted by tho Manawatu gentlemen. Tho most recent English parallel to the Biplano incident was: furnished when Pommern shirked an -encounter with Clarissimus, Silver Tag, and 1 olta m the Champion Stakes at Newmarket two years ago'. We had all looked forward to seeing Pommern. subjectwl to a test more searching, probably, Van any ho had yet undergone.. Ho was actually in the paddock ready to bo -saddled, but. at the last moment it' was-decided that lie should noncompete, and hn was walking back to his stable tho while Clarissimus was winning tho race. The owner of Pommern was at the timo on his way to South Africa, and so tho responsibility of declining tho contest .devolved npon tile trainer. Many sarcastic remarks reached tho oars of Sain Loates that day, but the records will be searched m vain for anv intimation from tho stewards of the 'Jockey Club that they would receive no more entries of horses trained affair merely raised afresli tlie old-standing controversy between owner* find tho public. The Intter hfIVG Ion" claimed rights they do not possess. Apparently, however, the Manawatu stewards allowed their judgment to be SWJivcd bv popular clamour. There is one portion of the Jlanawatn stewards' edict which we confess wo are nuite unable to understand. uis Hie refer"i''e to the einwMation of bets on tlie'Gold Cun,mad" prior to ing of Biplane. We are i-wler <l,n impression that Mtimt »" <>Tcept through the totnlisator. is Tho totalizator does not co-no into until the dn" of Wh"t bu«ine.ps hod the tWnrds to with illegal Iwts? Their action all the pi"ce wtm'd p»on>o -a-e b"e" hastily and ill-considered.—(Publish-ed bv arrangement.)