OLD-TIME 'CHASER

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 187, 25 August 1937, Page 15

OLD-TIME 'CHASER

Scallywag's Performances When in attendance at the present Hawke's Bav point-totpoint feteeplqcliase meeting at Tikokino "The Barb" waa apked to have placed on Tecord ip the Eerald-Tribuiio the performances of Scaliywag (Turquoise — Stella), a that niet with succcss ciose on 40 yegrq ago. This gelding ijrst competqd at nop-tGtalisator meetings in Hawke's §47, hf wh}?h therq is np Tecord in thp New Zealahd Turf RegisEer, sq that uo authentie acpqqqfe of his figrly pareer epn be given. On f aifiy good aqthQrityi I "Have, howevor, learnt tljat jn one week he raced six timeg tq scqrq a dqubla at Tikokino and again at Takapau, while at Kopua a first' and sccond came his way. His first win re&orded in the Itegister was in 1899-1900 season, when, as a seven-yeqr^old, he wgs taken to the Wairoa two-day meeting, was saddled up in three of tlie four hurdle racea and accounted for both hack hurdles and also for an open hurdle.s, but there is no noto as tq who Tode him there. Tben, at the Napier Park autumn meeting, lie won fho second hack hurdles, nu(] at tjifi WaipuHuniu Kaster meetiiig 1|P wqs gu.ccejssfiij in Ihe Hhl'fHps rieu, Oe'r.g ridden ot) each ' occasion by Hau m ILanuqn, At the .winter fixture of the

•Wanganui J.C. he won the Wanganui ! and Einal ' Steeplechasas and the Ro> gistfcx shows " his Tider- • as D, ' ' Hands, ' though doubtless D. ,"Han« noa ' t was meant. . . In the season of 1900-19Q1 he again set ofE by winning a treble, but thisf "tiiue at the Poverty Bay spring meeting, wkere he was succehsful 'in'the First and Second Hurdles and in the First Welter Handicap.' At the spring meeting of the -H.B.J.C.- he accounted for the Second- Hurdles. In this quar« tette of wins, he was ridden by the they. well-known amateur Tider Mr, R. E. Harley; who,' until a few y'ea'rs'ago, was startgr for the Ws.ipuknran Jockey Club. It was after this "that the mount on the Turquoise geld-ing was given to Charlie M.itcliell, wHo . piloted hipi fjrst past the post nq less than a dozeu tiiues, Mitphell's :first sqccepp was in thq Final Stepplochase at the H.Bwintor meeting, followed by further succe&ses ou the Napier Park Stqeplechaso and the hurdlo race at Gisborne. In the spring of the following season Scaliywag won a hurdle race at Hastings and anotlier at Napier Bark. Then. at Gisborne he won both days, carrying 12,0 and 13,5 respectively. TJp to this point lie Had rgced in tho ownership of Mr. II, • D.f" Morrison, of 'L'ikokino, but was then boughf by Mr. G. Pilclier, also of Tikokino. For tho ialter sportsxuan he scored his first success in the Second Hurdles at Hastings in the autumn,, then going on to Wanganui to account for both thp Graudstand and Final Steepiechases. The Napier Steeplechase again saw him a winner. In the 1902rl903 season he" startcd . five tiines; but" his only win in the Grandstand Steeplechase at Wanganui. The following /seascm he was started „ oniy a few timesj aud without success, Minor pJacings are not given in the above record, pqt, including nqn-tq|;ali-sator events, it is saf^ to say that this old-timer ' ' must have won at least thirty races, ' Mitchell, who Tode Scaliywag in so many of his yictories, is still a resident of Hastings, Though, as a rider of note, weli knqwn throughout tho North Island by that name, his correct surname is Mitchen. It appears that .in making out the rider 's first liccnce, Mr. F. H. Luckie, then secrctary of the H.B.J.C., misspelt the name as Mitchell, and by that name was he l>nown throughout his career as a jochey. Mr. If. D, Morrison, Scallywag's sccond owner, is still resideiit at Tikokino, and it was he who, prompted by my esteemed colleague ' 'Hermit ' interesting articles in old-time performers, -asked. me to hunt up and publish his o\yn pld f ayoiii'ite 's record.