NEWS AND VIEWS

Evening Star, Issue 24293, 7 September 1942, Page 5

NEWS AND VIEWS

[By St. Clair.]

The Government will collect £3,649 14s 7d in direct taxation from Saturday’s meeting at Wingatui, while the train services have never been so well patronised. Among the big crowd of visitors to Wingatui on Saturday was the lion. P. Jones, Minister of Defence. The Joker won the principal handicap on Saturday well, ns ho covered sonic extra ground in tho running. His owner, Mr J. A. Brown, goes into camp this .week. It is reported that the Minister of Internal Affairs has refused permission to the Vincent Jockey Club to hold its annual race meeting on tho Wingatui course. P. J. Boyle, rider of Gay Boa on Saturday, saved more ground than any other rider in the race, and his mount gave a good exhibition of clean jumping. R. A. Gibson, rider of Susie in the Otago Hunt Cup Steeplechase, was sent to _ tho Dunedin Hospital for observation, as it was thought he had broken a collarbone when his mount fell. , _ , On Saturday’s racing neither Rockery nor Jacksonville can have any chance with Donadea in the„ hurdle race at Ashburton next Saturday, Ss they will meet again on practically the same terms as at Wingatui. There is more lean on the hurdles at Wingatui than at Riccarton, and this no doubt was in Strip’s favour on Saturday. As anticipated, he had too much pace on the flat for the opposition. .... , Gnohill, who returned a dividend of nearly a score when ho won the VauxnaU Handicap, has previously shown. Ins best form in really' heavy going. Ho is likely to be put to hurdling. Ballybrit does not appear to have got I over the bard race be bad in tbc Otago Steeplechase last June. He was last of those to finish in (he Hunt Cup Steeplechase on Saturday, and appeared io be lame on returning to the, enclosure.

j Heidelberg was never travelling like a 1 winner at any stage of the _ Sea View Hurdles. His was a most disappointing performance! Phalanx had every change in tho same race, but retired beaten nearly half a mile from homo after leading up to that stage. Gold Flight went down well in the parade for the Tally Ho Handicap, and was fancied by her connections. She was just commencing a. run when Compeer fell in front of her, and but for this interference would have certainly finished in the money. An inquiry into the cause of Compeer falling showed that when his rider, L. J. Ellis, went for an opening between Steward and Invoice, the former, a beaten horse, rolled in and Compeer got on to his heels and fell. Fortunately, neither Ellis nor Compeer suffered.* any injury. Nightcalm owed his success in tho Hunters’ Flat Handicap to patient handling, hut he was lucky to get the opening next tho rails. Had Overland Red’s rider not let Nightcalm up on the inside of him it is doubtful if the latter could have beaten Overland Red.

Cruden Bay, winner of the President’s Handicap, is a four-year-old daughter of that good imported mare Lochlaggan. She started three times as a two-year-old, hut did not race last season. Cruden Bay, like her dam, is a chesnut, and a very smart beginner. A proposal was before last week’s meeting of the committee of the Dunedin Jockey Club to include the Dunedin Cup race in tho programme to be ran on Boxing Day. Tho suggestion was favourably considered, and will be finally decided at the next meeting of the committee. < Sandstone started five times as a two-year-old for one second, and in a similar number of races last season for a third. His win on Saturday was long overdue, and he showed what a lot of pace he has when he came again after running to the outside of the course about 100yds from the post. Tho management of the Otago Hunt is deeply grateful to the military authorities for extending the time limit of Saturday’s programme. The officer commanding saw that it was impossible to handle all the money offering in 35-minute intervals between the races, and early in the afternoon told Mr Irwin that instead of having to be off the course by 4.30 p.m., the club could have an extra hour and a-half. A fresh time-table was made for the remainder of the afternoon, and this was fairly closely observed. . Stake winners on Saturday were: F. J. Boyle £225, R. B. Berry £IBO, E. N. Didham £l5O, T. S. Harrison £l5O, A. Chisholm £l5O, J. A. Brown £l5O, A. Ferguson £l5O, G. H. Whyte £l5O, J. Mitchell £SO, T. P. Wilson £SO, D. Christie £4O, W. E. Simes £3O, Mrs A. H. Todd £3O, J. Mitchell and J. E. Shaw £3O. A. McLellan £3O Hiss J. Edgar Jones £3O, H. S. Orbell £25, F. Shaw £2O, H. S. Macey £2O, H. A. Anderton £2O, D. J. McDonald £2O. The Commonwealth Government desires to restrict racing to one meeting a fortnight in each capital city, but mechanical hare racing may be allowed on alternate Saturdays, states a message from Canberra. it is hoped that State Governments will take action voluntarily to curtail racing to this extent and thus avoid Federal action under the National Security Regulations. Federal Ministers also favour the limiting of race programmes to six events. The carriage of racehorses by the railways anywhere in Australia is prohibited from next Monday. The transport of horses by motor float is already restricted over a radius of 25 miles from the town where a horse is owned. After Sun Chariot had won the Oaks Stakes for the King it was generally expected that Big Game would win the Derby for His Majesty, and ho started a 6-to-4-on favourite. He was in charge a-quarter of a mile from homo, and his backers were on good terms with themselves, and then lie suddenly collapsed. The ■ crowd was so stunned that tho most dramatic Derby finish of the last quarter of a century was observed with hardly a cheer. When Watling Street won the Derby he brought Lord Derby’s record in classic races to 15 victories—three Derbies, one Oaks Stakes, one Two Thousand Guineas Stakes, five St. Legers, and five One Thousand Guineas Stakes. The 1924 Derby won by Sansavino was worth ' £ll/755 to him, in 1933 Hyperion’s win netted him £9,836, but Watling Street’s win this year was worth only £3,844.' Since 1908, when the present peer succeeded to the title, he has won 954 races and just on £740,000 in stakes.

' The late Mr James J. Hackclt, for many years leader of the Australian betting rings, was a shearer on a station in New South Wales before taking charge of a billiards saloon in a country town, where lie laid his first double, £5 to 2s. That was 56 years ago, and from a small beginning he rose to lie the leviathan bookmaker in the Commonwealth, on one occasion paying out a bet of £20,000 to £IOO when Maple and Statesman won the two cups in 1928, and another £IO,OOO to £7OO straight-out on Statesman, the second leg of the double. The secret of the visit of the King and Queen to Newmarket on Oaks and Derby days was well guarded. On the first day the crowd was surprised when after the second race their- Majesties walked past the public enclosure to the Jockey Club stand. As soon as their presence was realised there was a great burst of cheering. On Derby day the crowd was on the lookout for their arrival, and consequently the cheers started immediately they walked on to the course. It was, the first occasion that the King and Queen bad attended a race meeting since the war commenced. Another departure from precedent appreciated by the public was when they went into the parade ring before the Derby. Reports of the running of the 1942 war Derby now to band show that Big Game’s failure to stay the mile and a-balf was a shock to everyone associated with F. Darling’s stable. But some students of breeding doubted -whether the son of the Hying Myrobella would have the necessary stamina. On his own tracks Big Game had satisfied his trainer that he would see out the distance in a reasonably-run race, but the pace was made very hot over the' first half-mile. Gordon Richards, once more disappointed of his first Derby win, said Big Game “ tore up the ground ” in the early stages of the race. Despite his defeat it is still considered that Big Game is the best three-year-old in England up to a mile and a-quarter. A Press Association cable from Sydney states: A further step in the “austerity” campaign in Australia was taken yesterday, when a Federal order was issued stating that from Monday racehorses would not be carried on the Commonwealth railways. The purpose of this move, it was stated, was to make way for the needs of defence and civilian traffic. . A Canberra correspondent says that the Government holds the view that racing must be further curtailed. It is concerned at the large attendances and high totalisator figures at meetings. In the early days of racing both in Australia and New Zealand, horses were travelled long distances by road to race meetings, and, in tbe opinion of many students of racing, this was the cause of liors£g racing 50 and 60 years ago showing much more stamina than horses of the present day. The distances of races were much longer in those days, and it was quite the usual procedure to start horses twice and very often three times in the one afternoon. More road work and less track work might improve many of Die horses racing nowadays, and the decision of the Commonwealth authorities is not likely to have any harmful effect.