RIDING AT HIS BEST

NZ Truth, Issue 1206, 10 January 1929, Page 11

RIDING AT HIS BEST

Goldfinch Makes A Come-back At Ellerslie 1 (From. "N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Since coming back to the game, H. Goldfinch is doing things as a rider, and he was never m better trim than, at the big Cup Carnival at Ellerslie. •

• < 'THERE he steered ,no fewer than 1 seven winners during the four days' racing, besides being second wice and third twice. So far as/ owners were concerned, lis mounts gathered £3810 m stake noney, /while any punter who sorted >ut Goldfinch as the jockey to follow m a gradual scale system would have ome out well on the right side finanially. V '■'•■■■ He was m the dividends each day, and. rode the winner of the final event of the fixture. ■ In this particular i-ace it appeared o "Truth" jthat, had Goldfinch beer Lboard any ;o£ ;,'the .first three 'horses le would have won; ; The surprising part is. the, mediurr joundage at which ? Goldfinch can ; gc o scale. ' "' v: '■■ . " .-• ' „ • " He evidently-, finds-it no trouble these flays to get down tp 7.8 or 7.9, while Dn one occasion during the Ellerslie . ■■■ * ■ ■ ■

carnival— on Lunette m the Glasgow ■ Handicap— he rode at 7.5%. i Goldfinch had 24 rides during the four days, his mounts returning nine , dividends. s , Plis cheque for riding fees and win- [ ning percentages was m excess of - £200, being the largest returned to > any horseman engaged at the fixture. It is some percentage to steer nine dividends out of 24 mounts during a ifour-days' Ellerslie holiday carnival. The amount, however, of riding money received is nowhere- near Hector Gray's best,, some years \ back. . i Sam Henderson's cheque m cons nection with the last winter fixture at Ellerslie still stands as a record for v the Dominion. . > It was something like double the amount earned l^y Goldfinch. j Of cour.se, the fees paid for winning 1 over obstacles is double that paid for 2 flat riding. .