BEST ALL-ROUNDER

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 94, 15 January 1935, Page 13

BEST ALL-ROUNDER

Career of Liberator SENSATIONAL INCIDENTS If tlie value of a horse is to be measured by his ability in one particular branch of sport, there is any number who would be rated champions against old Liberator; but taking a line through performances on the flat, over hurdles, and steeplechase country, it is doubtful whether any horse bred in New Zealand can measure up to this son of Betrayer and Diana. From three years old until he was retired at the age of 10 he was not spared in his work, and he was raced over sprint and long distance flat races, and in hurdle and steeplechase events with weights that are now regarded as prohibitive. Liberator was not one of the “blue bloods” among the thoroughbreds, for while he was by Berayer, a brother to Sir Modred (winner Canterbury Cup and New Zealand Derby) and Cheviot (New Zealand Derby), the breeding of his dam Diana could not be traced, and he had no brothers or sisters who achieved any notable successes on the turf. Betrayer won a good number of races, including the Wanganui Cup. Liberator was a great horse over any distance of ground, and when he had finished his racing he spent the rest of his days in idleness on Mr. Walter Parkinson's farm in the Kaituna district, a reward well earned. Early Racing. In 1890 Liberator began his racing career, and in his first seven starts he won one race,, was second once, and third twice. His first win was scored at the South Canterbury Jockey Club’s meeting, when he won the Consolation Handicap of one mile. He then raced in the nomination of Mr. T. Daly, and was ridden by I. Price. After a couple of minor placings he won the Fairlie Creek Cup, of £3O, two miles, and he carried 8.10 to bent Lady Zetland, 7.2, who later won the New Zealand Cup and the Great Easter and Great Autumn Handicaps for Messrs. Murray and Campbell Hobbs. Later in the season Liberator won the Consolation Handicap at South Canterbury, the Ashburton Handicap, of a mile and a half, and the Autumn Handicap of one mile at Geraldine. In the last race he was ridden for the first time by F. Holmes, who later on was connected with the gelding in some notable victories. In his first eight starts as a five-year-old, Liberator was runner-up six times before he won the Consolation Handicap at the North Otago meeting, and this he followed up by winning the St. Patrick’s Handicap at. Waimate. He next won the Plumpton Park Handicap at Sockburn, the Autumn Handicap, of a mile and a half, and Jockey Club Handicap at South Canterbury, and in the latter race again defeated Lady Zetland, to whom he was conceding 21b. In two seasons he had started 38 times, for 10 wins, 11 seconds, and six thirds ; but as the stake money was small he did not amass a fortune. Betting, however, in those days, was a very material consideration, and the connections of Liberator, it is said, were not afraid to wager on the totalisator or with bookmakers. At the age of six years Liberator was not spared, for he was produced 23 times, winning the South Canterbury Jockey Club Handicap, the Ashburton Cup, the Palmerston Cup at Manawatu, the Autumn Handicap, and Miner’s Plate at Reefton, while he was also first past the post in the Midland Railway Stakes at Greymouth, but was subsequently disqualified for inconsistent running and the race was awarded to Harkaway. Debut Over Hurdles. After a fairly successful period as a flat racer, Liberator made his appearance as a lepper in the Maiden Hurdle Race at the Canterbury Jockey Club’s Grand National meeting in 1893. He was now in the nomination of Mr. M. Walker, and was ridden by P. Powell. He carried 10.11, and won by a neck. In (he Timaru Cup the gelding carried R. Derrett, 8.2. to win nicely from Lady Zetland and Clanranald, and in his next start he was third in the New Zealand Cup to Rosefeldt and Ich Dien, and second to Au Revoir in the Metropolitan .Stakes Handicap. Under 8.7 he ran third to Prime Warden and Skirmisher in the Otago Cup, and second to Bay Bell in the Consolation Handicap at Dunedin. Liberator was now racing in the colours of that well-known Irishman “Patsy” Butler, one of the pluckiest bettors and best losers ever associated with the New Zealand turf. Ridden by C. Stratford, Liberator carried 8.3 to victory in the Dunedin Cup over two miles and a distance, was beaten a neck by Hippomencs in the Dunedin Jockey Club Handicap, when conceding that horse s!b. At that period the Wanganui Cup, of £5OO, was one of the most valuable races in the country and was run over a mile and three-quar-ters. ‘With 8.9, including 71b. penalty, Liberator, ridden by C. Stratford, won very decisively by two lengths from a field that included such good performers as Au Revoir and Rosefeldt, and he finished the season by winning the Handicap Hurdle Race with 12.8 at the Auckland Racing Club’s ' winter meeting. The Greatest Hurdler. In his first race in the IS9-1-95 season Liberator, with Free Holmes in the saddle, carried 12.6 to score a very easy win in the Grand National Hurdles, after which race the well-known sporting writer "Spectator” had the following: “Entertaining as I do great respect for the young horse Barnado, it only enhances Liberator’s performance in giving him 291 b. and a beating. I.ast year he opened his account by winning the Maiden and Grand National Hurdle Races, and he finished up the season with a record of wins which placed him third on the winning list. He has made a capital start thus early, hie last win making his fourth out of five starts over hurdles, and to my mind he is the best horse by some pounds ever seen over hurdles in this colony, for I reckon the next best to him was Kulnine, who has perhaps seen his beet day.” This was high praise from one who was regarded as a very good judge of racehorses, especially jumpers. At the Canterbury Jockey Club’s autumn meeting Liberator. 12.12, was second to Kulnine, 12.9, but at the Dunedin May meeting he carried 12.13 and won the Handicap Hurdle Race on the first day. and he followed this up by carrying 12.9 to victory in the Great Northern Hurdles, of two miles, and on the second day of the meeting he had 11.12 on his back when he easily won the Great Northern Steeplechase of three miles.' During the season Liberator won £1529 10/-, a small sum for a winner of the Grand National Hurdles and Great Northern Hurdles and Steeplechase, compared with the present-day value of stakes in New Zealand. Big Weights. Weighted with 12.7 In the Grand National Steeples, and 12.12 in the Hurdles, Liberator failed to get a place in the 1895 races, but at the Wellington summer meeting he won the Second Hurdles under 12.2. and at the Dunedin autumn meeting he won the First Hurdles under 13 stone and the Third Hurdles under 13.5. Liberator was now in the habit of carrying big weights and finished second to Hopeful in the Handicap Hurdles Jit Hawke’s Bay under 12.12, while at Napier Park he was third under 12.12 and second under 12.9 in the two hurdle races. At the Dunedin meeting in May Liberator won the First Hurdles under 12.12. but he failed iu the Great Northern Hurdles with 12.10, and with 12.9 on his back he was beaten a nose by Levanter, 10 stone, in the Great Northern Steeplechase. Apparently Broken Down. In the 1806-97 season Liberator started only three times. He failed to gain a place iu the Grand National Steeplechase

under 12.9, but he was third to Dummy and Docility in the Grand National Hurdles, and was unplaced in the Spring Hurdle Handicap at Riccarton. After this race Liberator was regarded as broken down beyond repair; but in the 1898-99 season he was started 17 times. As the result of a long absence from the race track he came down in the handicaps, and now in the nomination of Mr. J. Parkinson he was second in the Final Hurdles at the Riccarton spring meeting, while during the season he won tlie Spring Hurdles at Oamaru under 11.12, the Spring Hurdles at Riccarton under 10.5, two hurdle races at Wellington under 11.0 and 11.13 respectively; and his last two wins were secured at the Westport meeting, when ridden by 11, Donovan he won the Denniston Handicap under 10.10 and the Buller Handicap under 10.12.

Under 11.12 Liberator attempted to win the First Hurdle Handicap at Wellington, but in the details of the race published in the New Zealand Turf Register is the explanatory note, “Liberator broke down.” This ended the racing career of perhaps the most remarkable racehorse New Zealand has known. There may have been faster sprinters and better stavers on the flat, but it is doubtful whether there has ever been a better hurdler or steeplechaser, and certainly there was never a better all-round performer.

Supreme Court Case.

Whjle Liberator won many of the best class races in New Zealand in the manner of a champion it is doubtful whether he ever caused such a stir in racing circles as he did when he finished first in the Midland Stakes Handicap at Greymouth with Harkaway second. The owner of Harkaway immediately protested against Liberator for inconsistent running, as compared with his first day’s form, and the stewards awarded the race to Harkaway. The public did not consider the decision a correct one, and said so in no uncertain terms. The following account of the proceedings appeared in the New Zealand “Referee” of March 30, 1893:—“The Greymouth Jockey Club’s autumn meeting has left anything but pleasant recollections behind it and the metropolitan club of the coast has dropped in the estimation of the sporting public. The fact of two or three stewards owning Harkaway has not tended to smooth matters, and the latest action of the stewards in connection with the running of Liberator has caused anything but a favourable impression, the general opinion being that the owner of the ex-Canterbury gelding has been badly treated.”

It appears that on the first day of the meeting Liberator, ridden by a strange jockey (Pilbrow), failed to win the St. Patrick's Handicap, and he pulled up very lame after putting up a good race.

The race was run in the dark, and no time was taken because “no one could see a watch.” Liberator was not dis-' qualified, and it seems that the stewards had no legal right to refuse to pay the owner the stake. “It looked at one time as if there would be serious trouble,” continued the writer. “There was a regular howl. Stones were thrown and the machine suffered. The totalisator proprietor, Mr. C. James, had his forehead cut open with a piece of metal. However, the stone was not thrown at him, but at the machine.” There is poor consolation in the last remark. More than £5O was subscribed on the course and given to the owner of Liberator, who at once instructed his solicitoi's to institute proceedings against the club for the recovery of the stake money.

A touch of humour fwas added to the case, for according to a writer at that time: “One night last week some excitement was caused in front of the Albion Hotel when one of the bunds assembled there and played the Dead March. The stewards of the Greymouth Jockey Club were holding a meeting at the hotel at the time. Cheering and groaning went on for some time. I do not know in what way the people will next show their disapprobation of the Liberator proceedings.” The Liberator case was finally disposed of in the Supreme Court at Grcyanouth. when Timothy Daly claimed £2OO from the Greymouth Jockey Club, being the value of the stakes withheld from plaintiff, whose horse had won the Midland 'Staikes at the club’s meeting. The hearing lasted from April 24 to May 2, when judgment wag given for tlie defendants. THE GIMCRACK SPEECH Views of Aga Khan A PLEA FOR BREEDERS The Aga Klian was, for the second time, the honoured guest at the Gimcrack Club dinner last year, for his colt Bahram won the Gimcraek Stakes. The event has been held annually since 1767. Captain R. C. Lyle paid a graceful compliment to the chief guest in a toast on “Horse Racing.” lie asked what horse racing really was that we should follow it, from the highest in the land to the lowest. It was not a matter of turf politics. It was some elusive quality that none of them had ever discovered. He ventured to say that nobody had ever got near the bottom of it. The older we got the less we understood it. But the goddess of it must be, in his opinion, a very good goddess, because the people who came into racing purely with the idea of social advancement or political advancement or to make something from it seldom succeeded. Upon people who came into it with the right spirit, like the Aga Khan, that goddess smiled. The Aga Khan said it was a matter of sincere congratulation that under the Betting. Act the authorities of the totrlisator would be able to tap the vast “off-the-course” betting resources of the country. But for any permanent improvement of the conditions of racing and breeding it was not sufficient that the Betting Control Board should give a few thousand pounds here and there. A definite and far-sighted policy that would strengthen the foundations of the bloodstock industry was needed. An excellent method, he considered, would be that all the money for seconds and thirds should come from the totalisator. This would give 10 per cent, of stake value to seconds and 5 per cent, to thirds right, through the racing season from £2OO plates upward, and weight-for-age races might have a small sum as well for fourths. If they took the total value of stake money as between £700.000 and £BOO,OOO. there was no reason why they should not soon have 5 per cent, of it from the totalisator-. especially if its resources were carefully conserved. In a few years' time it might easily reach 10 per cent, or 20 per cent. The Aga Khan said that there was a strong tendency in some executives to reduce the value of stake money for stakes for which engagements were made far ahead, and for breeders’ races, in order to strengthen the hond'iean branch. “Is

♦ it realised,” he asked “that if the ownerbreeder or the bis breeder for sale, on classic lines is squeezed out of racing, while the handicap and nursery crowd is always encouraged, it will be impossible to breed or produce the best type of horses?” , The gradual shrivelling-up of that kind of race would affect every owner-breeder he knew —with the possible, exception of one or two, who -were so rich that they could run their vast establishments without looking to the prospects of an income. People, like himself, who had succeeded, in spite of limited means for that kind of thing in life, in establishing large breeding and racing establishments, would be compelled gradually to go out of racing. If horses by the best and most expen- \ sive stallions from the best mares had not the possibility of recovering at least part of their cost to the buyer by occasionally picking up a nice stake, then, indeed, the gamble of buying expensive yearlings became still more desperate. For these reasons he hoped that those who were finally responsible for the welfare of the turf would use their influence to maintain and strengthen such races as . came naturally to the best horses in the country. Referring to the scarcity of good young jockeys, the Aga Khan said he could see no period during which there were so few young men of real promise to take the place of their seniors. There was great need for organised encouragement of first class jockeys. Were he a dictator he would appoint a committee, including trainers, jockeys, owners, a member of one of the executive and of the Jockey Club to fully investigate this problem. Stating that there was now general prosperity in this country, and that the turf reflected the economic conditions of the nation perhaps better than any other of the great national sports, the Aga Khan warned his hearers that it would be inadmissible to jump to the facile conclusion that all was well and that executives, administrators, and breeders need not stir themselves. With the present conditions of the world, our export trade for high-class horses had diminished almost to vanishing point. India, South Africa, and other Dominions were excellent markets still for moderatelypriced geldings and second class racehorses, but to hope and expect that any of these Dominions could absorb highclass stallions as the whole world did in the early years of this century, was an idle dream. It was a most unsatisfactory state of affairs, but to remedy it was the business of the League of Nations rather than of jockey and turf clubs. Melbourne reports state that the Synagogue deal was clinched by radiophone. The same authority also states that or. his arrival at Melbourne, Synagogue will be sent to Sol Green’s property, Underbank. at Bacchus Marsh, and will definitely not race during the autumn campaign.