NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9792, 16 October 1917, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

(our London racing correspondent "Contauri' writes on August Dtn) to make brief mention of Gay Crusader and ms. easy New Derby victory of 1917. Ail further consideration points to the cpn-< elusion that he is a very worthy winner of a classic race. In the first place ho achieved his triumph in the style of a good horse, and a “good horse in, the sense that it is applied to those animals in the very highest class means very good indeed. The expression, conveys everything and embraces all superlatives. Signorinetta, Jeddah, Tagalip, Durbar 11., and one might also include Cicero, all won Derbys, but they would, not be classed "good” in the sense that, Persimmon, Flying Fox. Sunstar Spearmint, Pommorn, Bock Sand, Ard But--rick, and one or two others that might bo mentioned were regarded in the last ten or twenty years. One may bo corn bain now that Gay Crusader is well above those I have placed in the Taga-i lie categorv. In the first place he* won the IVo thousand Guineas, and m the, interval between that race and e ' Derby—a much longer interval than isusual in peace years—-he made far more, improvement than his rivals. So much.is shown by the greater superiority ha showed at Newmarket last week. OneracaHs that his sire,- the gallant Bayardo, made astonishing improvement midway through his three-year-old career. It is probably a characteristic df the breed, and it is certainly tho case where father and son in this instance are concerned.

It is alleged that Gay Crusader is not a great one because he tff beat nothlug,” as the saying goes. But is not this the customary argument trotted, out in depreciation of a classic hors© that wins easily? It is odd, but true, that a winner is more highly appraised, the slighter the margin by which he beats the second horse. Thus because Neil Gow beat Lemberg by a few inches for the Two Thousand Guineas in 1910 it was said that they must both be great horses. In the same way Pommcm was criticised because he won the Two Thousand Guineas and substitute races for the Derby and St. Lfeger very easily. Ha had "beaten nothing, and, therefore, had no need to be very good himself.

In tho case of Gay Crusader, however, it is quite true that those associated with Dansollon fancied that horse very much to win the New Derby. They know well what is required of a Derby horse, and yet Gay Crusader, who had not previously met him this year, beat him with the greatest ease by four lengths. I feel sure that the third of the New Derby winners is a, really "good” horse, and. that hq will 1 certainly not bo beaten this year. Alec Taylor, who prepared him on his exceptionally fine downs at ilanton. near Marlborough in Wiltshire, is a great trainer—the best, I should say., f course, he has had splendid material to deal with, no doubt, but where he has shown his skill is in the matter of making all or most of his horses natu•ral stayers. Gay Crusader’s stamina has been nursed and developed until now it is beyond all question, and the same applies to Major Aster’s Sunny Jane., whom he prepared to win the New Oaks. That mare undoubtedly owed her victory to the fact that she stays well, and, though Diadem, who. was an infinitely better two-year-old, got to within half a length of her, and, indeed, had beaten her for tho One Thousand Guineas, which is only a mile race, it is quite .probable that she would still have won even had Diadem not run for the New Derby. Of course, she was not any better for. racing only forty-eight hours before,, but any observer could see that her jockey did not press her unduly for the New Derby when bo realised that she had no earthly chance of getting near Gay Crusader or Dansollon and Dark Legend. Sunny Jane has also improved greatly since Diadem beat her for the On© Thousand Guineas, but where she excels is in the important matter of stamina. After all Diadem is not bred to stay. Her sire Orby, though ho won. the Derby, has gained his stud reputation as a sire of sprinters, as, for example, Diadem’s own brother Diadumonds and Plying Orb. Sunny Jane is by Sunstar, the groat* set sire of the day and a certain champion, if not this season, then in the very near future. Air J. B, Joel, the* owner of Sunstar, tells me that he is simply inundated with applications from’ breeders for nominations to his horse. If, therefore, a sirs is given so many and such good mares he simply mush attain to championship honours. So. perforce, it must be with Sunstar. One of the animals that ran behind Sunnyi Jane was Smile. She did not make w prominent show because she was outclassed, but I am sure she will do well! in Lidia, to which country she was* shipped on Saturday last. She is a daughter of the 1904 Derby winner, St. Amant. With reference to other winners ah Newmarket one may mention Lord Londonderry’s Benevente, who won tho New* Coventry Stakes. This charming daughter of Polymelns and Pearmarn (the dam of Coroyra) won in easy style, and* as Somme Hiss was only third the infexence is that the winner is right in the top class of two-year-olds. It is a pity that Pandion and Skyrocket, the" two champions of the previous New-* market meeting, did not run. Had they done so, we should have learned something really worth knowing as to BeneVemte’s true merit. Lord Derby’s "good” colt Hainault—he has only run. ibwioe and won each time—annexed the Bobtisham Plate, of a mile, bub the opposition was poor in the extreme, and wo really know no more than wa did as to his merits. He is, however, a horse of great possibilities, as was* his sire Swynford at precisely the same age. Swynford went on and won The St. Leger, and it is recent history how* he made a splendid four-year-old. Hainault may bo “anything."