THE TURF

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 226, 18 June 1919, Page 3

THE TURF

NOTES AND COMMENTS [By GiiBNOOK.] Owners 6hould not overlook' the closing of entries for the Wellington Racing Club's Winter Meeting. 'J'lieoe are duo with Secretary A. E. Whytei at 9 p.m. on Friday. . • , All lover.} of a (food horse will regret, to hear that Master Strowan met with an accident while schooling .at Foxtail on Monday..The. Wellington Steetilechaso winner was in a bad way yesterday, and unless he makes a good recovery: it is not likely that he will be able to race at Trenthftm. In view of the fact that new racing and trotting clubs arfe being formed in many parts of the Dominion, it will be interesting to note'how the. racing authorities view the requests of the'new clubs for totalisator permits. Will the new clubs be turned down or will nermits that are. already allocated be sriven thom,'or will Parliament bo apnroached and asked to.sanction more race days? When spoken to on the question recently some members-shook their heads as if to indicate that' Parliament as at present constituted cannot be expect;' 3 to do anything, at least not this year. No doubt the presidentoo s the conferenoe will touch on the matter in his address to members at tho annual meeting next month. Many peonle think that a private Bill should be prepared, and the conference should insist on it being debated this coming session, so that a reliable idea could be obtained its to how the legislators view the matter. Jockey L. ' Stowe, who is just back from *tlie fighting zone, was present at Aintree When' the Grand National Stec.'plechase was run, After the field had been paraded a snowstorm fell, and the horses'were recalled to shelter. The exNew. Zealander,' F. 'W. M'Cabe. -had a iri'do' in the. race 1 ;,. bn| his,,mount fell :opposito. the stand. ; The favdurite,' Poethlyn,; ridden .by ' the.,crack , horseman E.' Piggott, won easily.' The winner is. owned by Mrs. Hugh Peel, of Bryn-y-nvs, near Wrexham. Stowe .-says the lynips are very formidable, and the Biccarton course is simple compared to Aintree. A,featuro that amused the Hastings 'horseman /was the way the public crowd ■at the dangerous jumps on the look-out for spills. Beecher's Brook and Valentine's' Brook-two. of the most formidable" jumps, which .consist of high brush fences' and a wafer pool on tho landing /side' are favourite vaiitage points .of this nature, and old-timers will tell'you that they have never been disappointed of a thrill. Thore were the usual incidents in connection with this year's contest. A . rather pathetic feature of'ono'horse's'performance was the fact'that the animal had safely negotiated all the fences, and on landing over the last he rolled over-and died. His jockey expressed the opinion that the animal had injured himself' early in the race, but had gamely .carried on.' There was an unprecedented crowd present, including a big representation of the Army and Navy, and many .complaints were made as to the extortionate methods and profiteering tactics displayed to those-in searcn of accommodation. A caso in point,is a fact that 255. per night was demanded of stable boys. This was na-turally-resented, and the racing authorities came to the rescue and housed the lads in loose-boxes. Sydney writora liave a good word for the Wanganui-brcd Yarraldoon (King Eufus—Eulogy), winner of the Second .Nursery Handicap at the A.J.C. Meeting. Yarraldoon .would seem to have a lot of. pace, and she is likely to develop into a stayer too, for on the concluding day -,of the meeting at Eandwick the two-year-old -race was run over a mile course, so vthat there is every reason to think tho half-sister to Pennon will turn out an Oaks candidate. ■ The wearing of skull cans by ridors in all raccs is now compulsory 011 all courses in New South Wales and wctorin, and the wonder is that the lead is not followed in tho Dominion. It w beyond question that numerous rulers hove to thank the woaring of a skull cap for saving them from serious, if,not fatal, injuries. ' ■ In racing stables in New Zealand the wages of stablemen-have increased considerably of. recent years, but they are riot yet as high as in England. In a controversy 011 the subject one trainer stated in a London' paper that he_ paid his stablemen Ji2 a woek and ,£5 per winner. It should be borne in nund that training fees aro also milch larger in England than is the case in New Zealand. If the.day oyer.comes when stable hands are organised■ sufficiently to demand a'proper working wage, there will ]>e nothing left'but for trainers to pass it 011 to owners. In every w&y,_ racing 'is cheaper in the colonies than in England. Here,the totalisator provides the 'major portion of the stakes, but in England owners race for their own money.