RACING NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 20049, 14 December 1928, Page 16

RACING NOTES

PACING FIXTURES. December 15.—Oauumi J.C. December 15.—VVaipa K.C, December 26.—Waipukurau J.C, December 26, 27.—Dunedin J.C. December 26, 27. —Westland K.C. December 26, 27.—Taranaki J.C. December 26, 27, 29.—Manawalu K.C. , December 26, 28, January 1, 2.—Auckland K.C. December 29, Jamiarv 1, 2.—Grevmoulh J.C. January I.—WaikouaiLi K.C. January I.—Wyiidham K.C. January 1, 2.—Wairarapa K.C. January 1,2. —Hawke’s Bay J.C. January 1, 2.—Stratford K.C. January 1, 2.— Marten J.C. January 2, 3.—Southland K.C. January 5, 7.—Vincent J.C. January 7, B.—Recftou J.C. January 12.—Wairio J.C. January 12, 14. —Thames J.C. January 16.—Opotiki J.C. January 16, 17.—Foxlon K.C. January 19.—Bay of Islands K.C. January 22. —Ashhurst-Pohangina K.C. January 22, 24.—Wairoa K.C. January 22, 24, 26.--Wellington K.C. January 26, 29.—Takapuna J.C. January 29, 30.—Kahiatua K.C. January 31, February 2.—Egraont K.C.

THE CROMWELL MEETING It was very early in tlio ’sixties when the Jirsfc rave meeting was bold in Cromwell, and previous lo that successful meetings had been held in Naseby; but it was about 1865 before the club which now controls tlio annual races at Cromwell was formed, and since then meetings have been held annually. At the timo when gold was being found in great quantities throughout the district of which Cromwell was the business centre, up to three meetings each season were bold, and the stakes and betting conditions (chiefly Calcutta sweeps) were such that the best horses in the South Island were attracted to- the fixtures. Race meetings at Black’s (now bolter known as Ophir), Drybrcad, Naseby, Nevis, and Frankton each followed the other in a convenient circuit, and horses travelled byroad from as far as Oamaru, the Canterbury horses generally travelling as far as Oamaru by sea. Not only has the Cromwell course seen tho best horses of thoso days, but the best horsemen in tho South Island also attended these meetings. But now gold mining lias given way to fruit farming and agricultural and pastoral pursuits, and, though the district js one of the most solid in tho big province of Otago, there is not the money, norths ready spenders about that existed in the gold mining days. Owners complain of tho difficulty and expense attached to sending their horses to this meeting, though tho railway service runs right 'to Cromwell, and tho same sporting spirit and enthusiasm does not now exist as in tho good old days. Still, the Cromwell Jockey Club, and its neighbouring club at Omakau, have missions to fulfil, for they cater to the residents of a very wido area that do not see any other meetings, and credit is duo tho executive of these clubs in keeping these meetings alive. This year’s mooting at Cromwell proved that December is not a good time to raco. The district is dependent upon its ivool, grain, and fruit exports, and, as tho proceeds of these products to arrive in tho district aro not yet to hand, there is a lack of money available for speculation, and the executive will have to again consider a more suitable date. Thero were about tho same number of horses as usual, and tho racing was good and clean, though tho starting, particularly on the opening day, was far from satisfactory. After go much windy weather, the course was very hard on the first day, but a heavy shower on Friday night made it much better on Saturday, and did away with the dust nuisance, which was very bad on Friday. Tho meeting was excellently managed by Mr D. A. Cahill, tho club’s very competent secretary, and tho president, Mr E, Jolly, and bis follow-committeemen looked after the visitors in the usual manner that has made the district noted for its hospitality. It is unfortunate that tho club will have to face a loss on tho fixture. TflE REASON WHY The announcement that the Dunedin Jockey Club will in tho future make a charge for admission to ladies attending their meetings has caused a good deal of comment, both amongst the ladies themselves and quite a number of the sterner sex, who have been in the habit of entertaining their lady friends to a remarkably cheap afternoon’s sport, at the expense of tho club. If I may be pardoned for saying so, this announcement that a charge of 2s Cd was to bo made in future would have been < much bettor received had tho explanation been made by the club why it was necessary to dp so, and it is still quite possible that my congratulations to the committee upon making tfiis charge will not bo unanimously endorsed by all my readers. Bub when tho Canterbury Jockey Club charges ss, tho Wanganui Jockey Club ss, tho Auckland Racing Club 7s 6d, the Hawke’s Bay Jockey Club 5s 6d, the Wellington Racing Cub 4s, tho Taranaki Jockey Club 4s, the Grcyniouth Jockey Club 3s 6d, and tho Southland Racing Club 3s, surely tho Dunedin Jockey Club is letting their lady patrons off very easily by fixing tho charge at half a crown. Tho rej venue derived from tho sales of ladies tickets at Riccartou amounts up to £2SI per day, at Wanganui to £B2, at Invercargill to £lO3, at Greymouth to £3O, at Ellerslie to £375, at Hastings to £35, at Trentham to £2OO, and at New Plymouth to £7l. Tho committee of the local club has not acted hastily in this matter, nor without making inquiries as to what is being done in other centres, and its present financial position has made it necessary for it to look to all avenues of revenue. Other clubs did this long ago, and the annual revenue received by the Auckland Racing Club from the sales of ladies’ tickets exceeds £3.000 a year, by the Wellington Racing Club £1,500. and tho Canterbury Jockey Club about the same. I think it is generally known that to build the stands, etc., at Wingatui the local club borrowed some £IB,OOO at 7 per cent, on debentures, and at tho present time has an overdraft of round about £3,000 guaranteed by the members of the committee. These gentlemen, who control tho affairs of tho club, have nothing to gain if the club is a money-making concern—they are really only trustees of the public’s money to provide the public with sport—but they are personally responsible when there is a deficit to face; and when these circumstances are fully explained none will begrudge paying half-a-crown for a full afternoon’s sport under the pleasant conditions now available at Wingatui. They are not admitted free to any other entertainment, and for a theatre or opera will pay three or four times this amount for two or three hours in, sometimes, a very bad atmosphere. Tho' present interest bill of the Dunedin Jockey Club is round about £1,400 per year, and if the ladies attend in anything like tho numbers they have been doing during the past two or three years the revenue they will provide by paying for admission will easily cover these interest charges, and each lady will have the satisfaction of contributing to the maintenance of a sport which mea euda, lino healthy enjoyment.

[By St. Clair,]

TROTTING FIXTURES. December 15. 17.—New Brighton T.C. December 26.—G0r0 T.C. December 26.—Ashburton T.C. December 26, 27.—South Wairarapa T.C. December 26, 27.—Westport T.C!. December 27, 29, 31.—Auckland T.C. December 29.—Winton T.C. December 31.—Inangahua T.C. January I, 2.—Canterbury Bark T.C. January 3.—Westland 'T.C. January 4, s.—Greymouth T.C, January 12.—Timaru T.C. January 19.—Wellington T.C. January 24, 26.—Forbury Park T.C, February 1, 2.—Nelson T.C. February 9.—N.55. Metropolitan T.C, February 16.—Wellington T.C. February 23.—Kaikoura T.C. February 23, 27.—Otahuliu T.C. February 27, 28.—Invercargill T.C, March I. Marlborough T.C. March 2.—Waikato T.C. March 9.—Timaru T.C. March 33.—'Wyndhain T.C. March 13.—Manawatu T.C. March 16.—New Brighton T.C. March 23.—Thames T.C. March 25.—Cheviot T.C. March 30.—Takaka T.C. March 50, April I.—Jiancra T.C.

TAXATION ON RAGING Tiio November Obstruct of supplies details of tno totalisator investments and the Government taxation lor the racing year ended July 31, 1923. They are as follow : No. of racing days 319 No. of races 2,523 £ Amount of stakes 591,780 Totalisator investments ... 7,634,077 Amount paid in dividends ... G,459,047 GOVERNMENT TAXES. On totalisator investments 190,833 On dividends 343,391 On stakes 29,589 Toisil 561,033 7 } per cent, totalisator in T vestment retained by clubs 572,556 Unpaid fractions retained bv clubs 38,031 The lion res show that the .sporting public paid £1,145,030 lor the privilege of betting, and of this amount the Government exacted in taxation £534,443 (nearly half), or approximately 7 per cent, of the total investments. In other words, out of every £L the betting man speculates the State lakes Is scl. Tiio moderate speculator who invested £1 on each of the sixteen races held in the Forbnry Park Trotting Club can console himself with the reflection that ho contributed in the two days £1 2s Sd towards the cost of running tho country. JOTTINGS Gothic is to ho retired lo the find after tho Easter racing in Sydney, and his fee will bo 200 gs. The Oamaru Meeting will ho roii; eluded to-morrow, and then there will be a spell until Boxing Day. Handicaps for tho first day of the Dunedin Jockey Club’s Summer Meeting will bo declared next Monday. The Gore and AVinton Trotting Meetings, to be held during tho holidays, have been well supported by owners, and each club is assured of a good meeting. The programme of tho AVairio Jockey Club, giving £I,OOO in cash and a £6O gold enp on January 12 next, has been issued. Nominations close on the 28th inst.

It is reported that Rin-Tin-Tin has been leased for five years by Mr A, 0. Mills, of Otautau. The nominations received for tho Waikonaiti Meeting on New Year’s Day is another example of big stakes drawing good class and big fields. The New Year’s Day fixture should bo a most enjoyable and successful meeting.

Tho New Zealand Racing Calendar, published on December 1, only contains tho first day’s racing in its report of the Winton Meeting, held on November 16 and 17, This is hardly sufficiently up to date for the official calendar of racing. It is extremely had luck for Mr J. B. Reid that Iris brilliant colt, Black Watch, will not stand up to another preparation. Ho strained a tendon, and is to be retired to the stud at a fee of 198 gs. Mr W. T. Hazlctt, the well-known owner, acted as judge of the thoroughbred section at the Invercargill Show this week. The two imported stallions Panmure and Woodend were entered in the aged stallion class, but neither appeared in the ring. The reappointment of Mr T. Fogg as handicapper to the Summer Meeting of the Forbury Park Trotting Club has been received with a very mixed reception. lb should bo remembered that all have to learn, and Mr Fogg will no doubt do much better work after the experience gained at the recent meeting. Tho pocket edition of (he ‘Now Zealand Turf Register,’ containing all reports of racing and trotting meetings from August 1 to December 1, has been issued very promptly by tho Christchurch ‘Press’ Company. With statistics of winning owners, horses, and sires up to December 1, jockeys’ directory, and other useful information, it is a complete record that .sportsmen cannot afford to bo without. To have won the Melrose Trot Handicap at Ashburton last Saturday, tho three-year-old Wracklcr would need to have done the mile and a-lialf in better than 3.17, which is getting very close to Great Bingen’s record of 3.16. It was a well-nigh impossible task to ask of a three-year-old. Quito recently there passed away in Victoria the one-time champion pony Wallace. He had reached the great age of thirty-six years. During his racing career he won 165 races, his first succe.se having been recorded with J. Holt in tho saddle, who at tho present time is the leading trainer in Victoria. Rotorex got a very bad passage in his race on the first day at Cromwell, and was really pinched out of second place. Next day .he won very attractively over a mile and a-quarter, and ho may now go on winning when well placed: Martis was one of the fittest horses produced at the Cromwell Meeting, and won each of his races very easily. He was in a class by himself in the races for horses that have not won a race exceeding £250 to the winner. 'The hard track at Cromwell was responsible for several horses not racing up to their best form. King Sol was one of these, and after, his poor showing on tho first day was not produced on the second day. At the end of November the local owner, Mr J, M. Samson, was' second on the list of winning owners for the present season. Kiilorna lost one race at Cromwell through'had biding, and was nob any better ridden when - she won in tho second start tho same day. On the second day she was better handled, and won very easily. This (illy improved with every gallop, and looks like developing into a useful performer. At the conclusion of the Cromwell Meeting the president of the club (Mr E. Jolly) handed over to E. Rosowarno a silver-mounted whip which bad been donated by a well-wisher of the club lot the most successful horseman at the meeting. in doing so, he congratuScsawamc on bis success, wiru

niiif' lour races, and hoped lie would return again next .rear and oren do better. Mr Jolly added that he had been promised another silver-mounted whip for next year’s meeting, and votes of thanks wore carried by acclamation to the donors of these ti opines. Mr George Reed, now of Upper Riccarton, but one time well known in Otago as a trainer of trotters, has been appointed starter for the Westland Racing Club, and will officiate at their meeting on December 26 and 27. Mr Reed holds the advantage of having had a lifelong experience amongst horses, and has held a trainer's license for both gallopers and trotters. The knowledge he has thus gained should tend towards his success at the barrier. Since being acquired by his present owner, Mr It. Gardiner, Beau Gesto has captured Jive races and carried place money once, his winnings amounting to £635. Beau Geste w'as described in the official books at Ashburton as a iivo-year-old, but ho is a year older. _Ho commanded a big price when submitted at the yearling sales in Christchurch in November, 1923, Mr M. Hobbs having to go to 750 gs to secure _ him. [A local owner has been inquiring about this Boniform gelding, but apparently ha is not for sale.] An unfortunate accident of a peculiar nature befel a truck of horses being returned to Mr James Stevenson at Willowbank, Riversdale, after being successfully exhibited at the Gore Show (says the Gore ‘Ensign’). The animals were trucked at Gore and forwarded by rail. As the train was approaching Pyramid a passing motorist noticed that the truck was on fire, and he attracted the attention of the engine driver, who stopped. No_ water was available, however, to extinguish ’the blaze, and the truck was rushed to Riversdale. Three or four of the horses were very badly burned, these being a yearling, a two-yoar-nld, and a three-year-old out of Win Soon—a New Zealand Cup winner. The yearling, a very fine animal, was so injured that it is doubtful if it will live, while the others, even if they live, will lie practically useless, Mr Stevenson’s loss will be very heavy, as no monetary value can be placed on the horses. The truck contained seven horses, Mr Stevenson alleges that tho truck was not properly cleaned out. Ho had a heavy coating of green grass on the bottom of the truck when he brought the horses down, but straw must have' been put into tho truck at Gore, and it is surmised that a spark from the engine must have ignited this. Usually tho four trotting events at the Cromwell Jockey Club's annual race meeting attract the best fields on tho card, but for some reason lastweek’s meeting failed to draw tho usual good fields. The nominations to start with were lighter than usual, and the lenient handicapping of Erin’s Chance, who won a double very easily, and Lou Thorpe, did not help when acceptances were called for. The track (one mile grass circuit) was fast but hard and dusty on the first day. Each of the four races was won easily, and the racing was not nearly so interesting as is generally found at this centre. The American sportsman, Mr Howard Bruce, is intent on furnishing the winner of the Liverpool Grand National Steeplechase with his gelding Billy Barton, who filled second place to Tipperary Tim in the decision of the big cross-country event at A intree in March last. Billy Barton shjiped up at the last fence, but for which -happening ho would, it is said have reversed places with . Tipperary Tim. Billy Barton was retransported from America to England in September, so that ho may become thoroughly acclimatised. Quite a number of stories could bo wiilten about Somnolent, winner of the High-weight Handicap ~fc Randwick recently (says fhe Sydney ‘Mail’). In tho first place, it is remarkable that, he lived to see a racecourse, for he was in W. Booth’s stables on the occasion of a fire, and was with extreme difficulty rescued. He still carries the marks of burns. He was once in a sale ring, but offers did not reach the reserve, and afterwards, when an adequate sum was mentioned, his owner (Mr George Marlow) decided to keep him, Mr Marlow entertains some feeling for the Cooltrim gelding, for, although lie 1m disappointed on a number of occasions, he has been tho means of ending two remarkable periods of had luck. Until Somnolent won a Maiden Handicap Mr Marlow had not won a race for nine years, and until Somnolent won at Randwiek tho owner had not been represented by a winner at headquarters for lan sba**.