TROTTING.

Otago Witness, Issue 4031, 16 June 1931, Page 54

TROTTING.

FIXTURES. June 20. —South Canterbury (two events). June 20. 22.—Auckland. July 4. —Oamaru (two events). TRACK TALK. By Anowis THE AUCKLAND MEETING, x The fact that a big contingent of South Island horses will be engaged at the Auckland Club’s winter meeting, which will be opened on Saturday, gives added interest to the fixture so far as southern enthusiasts are concerned, and a big share of the stake money should be brought back across Cook Strait. In the big race, the Mark Handicap, seven of the thirteen acceptors are from the south, and in all probability W. J. Tomkinson will provide the favourite in the bracket of The Abbey and Erin’s Fortune. The latter is particularly well at present. Another solid bracket will be provided by O. E. Hooper in Satin King and Milo Minto, and it may be next in the order of favouritism. In the Winter Handicap King’s Guard should go a good race from the limit, and he may fight out the finish with Carl Mack and Blue and Gold. Carr.ui has improved since going into F. J. Smith’s stable, and will be supported in the Mangere Handicap, in which June Nordica and Sunchild appear to be the best of the others. Nothing on the card looks better placed than White Satin in the Stewards’ Handicap, and she should have a good call over Jock Bingen and Kolmar in the betting. One of - the best fields of the day is engaged in the Cornwall Handicap, and several horses will be supported. Tenedos showed speed for over a mile in his race at Ashburton, and will appreciate the distance here. Other South Island horses who appeal are Happy Land and Cyone. Ngingongingo has not a particularly good lot opposed to him in the Hobson Handicap, and he may find most trouble coming from Auto Machine and Golden Pedro. In the Marconi Handicap there will be solid backing for Pavlova, but many -will be prepared to support Netta Oro and Denver City to beat her. SUNCHILD AT AUCKLAND. Included in the team that W. J. Tomkinson is taking to Auckland is the Dun-edin-owned gelding Sunchild, which was purchased by Mr G. J. Barton during the course of the Forbury Park Club’s winter meeting and carried his colours into second place there. The Sungod gelding made his next appearance at the Oamaru meeting in the President’s Handicap, but after showing speed in the early stages he drifted from the lead and finished well

| back. He has, however, never been regarded as a particularly good two-miler, and his best performances have been registered over less ground. At Auckland on Saturday he has two engagements—in the Mangere Handicap, of a mile and ahalf, and in the Marconi Handicap, of a mile and a-quarter—and in either of them the others will probably find him a very hard horse to beat.

EQUINE COLOURATION. "V arious theories have been advanced to account for equine colouration (says an American writer). One is that all horses were at one time —prehistoric—spotted or dappled, the spot, dapples, or stripes, however, then being light and the body colour dark; that in time this has been reversed and the body colour became white and the markings dark. White and grey are common co ours of the Oriental horse, though all colours abound among them. But in the high-caste, purebred Arab grotesque colour combinations are never found.

M hen all is said and done, however, it may be remarked that nothing is so productive of *• freaks ” or “ sports,” in breeding of all kinds, as the coupling of animals of radically different types. Spotted horses can be produced by careful breeding for them, in quantities if desired, but must be bred for coat colour on.y, and then the products of the breeder are extremely variable. Strength of ancestry involves something dominant and fixed in colour, _ as in other things. It is only when nothing of that sort is present, but the combination of blood is in effect nondescript, that the freaks result. In the early days of harness racing, when trotters and pacers were hammered out of nondescript materials, spotted horses were frequently encountered. Flora Temple 2.191 the first 2.20 trotter (1859), yas out of Madam Temple, whose sire was a so-called “ Spotted Arabian ’ that had belonged to a circus troupe. One of the most famous of all spotted harness performers, if not the most famous of all, was the in-her-day-ce.ebrated mare Leopard Rose 2.15 J, a Grand Circuit star 40 years ago. She was a roan with a spotted coat, however, not a white mare with dark spots. Her sire, the pacer Kilbuck Tom 2.26, was a chestnut, but got horses of all kinds of colours and markings. His sire. White Cloud, yas white —the breeding of the tribe being obscure.

In latter days the most notable spotted horse has been Baron Worthy 2.1 pacing. 2.5 i trotting. The It; ear Book describes h* nl as a roan. He was originally a dark bay, later on his coat turned to a red roan, and still later it assumed a decidedly spotted appearance. We have not seen him for several seasons past, but when we last did the spots in his coat were conspicuous. Baron Worthy’s coat colour is derived from his dam. Baroness Sybil 2.25 L by Baron Wilkes 2.18. Baroness Sybil, though herself a bay, was out of the roan mare Warwick Girl 2.31 J, by Warwick Boy; grandam by a spotted liorse of unknown breeding, believed to have been Wallace’s Phenomenon, also called a “circus horse." Warwick Girl herself produced spotted foals, and Baroness Sybil, besides producing the spotted roan Baron Worthy 2.1 to the cove of Worthy M'Kinnev 2.30, a bay. produced to the cover of Peter Volo 2.2, a black, the spotted roan pacer Volo Baron 2.8 a winner during the past season. BALANCING OF PACERS. In the eighties hobbled horses were unknown, and while few horsemen of today are aware of it, “ the straps ” (indented, for turf purposes, by John Browning, of Indiana) were originally used on trotters only, in the endeavour to straighten out mixed-gaited horses without using so much weight as to break them down (says the Horse Review). It was found, however, that hobbled trotters could not compete successfully against free-legged competitors of equal speed, for the hobbles tired them so that they could not fight out the long races obligatory at that date. ih en >t was that the bright idea of rigging them laterally, for pacers, was evolved. Most pacers, up to that time, were given to making standstill breaks and their uncertainty ’ was one of the stock topics °£.. k , race ‘ track wits, real and alleged. With the regulators” it was found that these steeds could be made reliable—the industrious jehu could “ go down their backs and t-h.ey would stay pacing instead of flying into a thousand pieces and littering the landscape, leaving the money to burn up in the process. The balancing of pacers had never presented the same problems as that of trotters, but at the san } e time there had been plenty, of which most hinged upon one or the other, or both, of turn habits —knee-banging and cross-firing, which played havoc with the steeds afflicted. The use of the hobbles did not, of course, eliminate these faults or it would, in a pacing sense, have brought in the millennium. But it enabled the trainer to overcome them far more easily. than was possible by shoein" and weighting alone, or the use of freak bits and appliances. The sequel being known of all men. The breeder has as yet been unable to produce a race of pacers foaled with hobbles on their legs—but many owners and trainers live in hopes that he may. The advantages would be manifest to everybody except the manufacturer of turf goods, who would, in that event, be in hard luck. But thus far he has not had to lose sleep because of ?nAA a^reh^ s , ions - As late as the > ear 1900 lhe Abbot trotted to the world’s record—2.3}—wearing a different kind of shoe on each of his four feet. There were variations—slight, but nevertheless there —between the weight and pattern of his two front shoes, and of his two hind ones. No more beautifully gaited trotter ever marked a track, either—but from beginning to end of his career he was more or less erratic and caused the red banner to fall m the face of Mr Geers more than once, including the historic match with Cresceus at Brighton Beach in 1901. The Abbot could trot a quarter in 29 seconds, and did so, publicly. He was also game’. But he was not reliable—very possibly for the same reason that made it impossible to balance him in a normal way, and not because he was “ rattle headed ” as his critics used to asssert. The truth probably is that only a minor percentage of the “ rattle-headed ” trotters and pacers famous in former times would have been so under different circumstances. They had speed in advance of what their breeding or their anatomy equalised, and their

facilities could not be co-ordinated for that reason. Modern training knowledge and methods would, we imagine, have straightened out ” a host of them and converted them into far more reliable racing machines.

IN SADDLt AND SULKY. ~? av^®va reported to be in fine condition for her engagements at the Auckland meeting. There will be no fewer than 52 days ot harness racing during the present season in Rome. Netta Oro has been pacing very consistently in her races, and if she is taken to Auckland, she should pay expenses. The world’s pacing record is held by Dan Patch. It was made at Lexington, Kentucky, on October 7, 1905. Nominations for the two trotting events at the Ashburton Racing Club’s winter meeting are due to-day. Totalisators are being installed on al) trotting courses in Great Britain. This is imperative under the new betting laws. The barrier system of starting is coming more into favour in America, and it will be in operation on several courses during the coming season. Tat Wrack has the breeding to win good races, being by Wrack from Tatsy Dillon, but the form she has shown a® tar has not been impressive. Kewpie’s Guy is expected to add to her winning record on Saturday. She won very easily at the Waikato autumn meeting. That good horse Jewel Pointer is engaged at Auckland, but as he has not been ,n . ,} v< ? rk very long it is unlikely that he will be ready to show his best. Sodium is not the best gaited of pacers, and he is not reliable at the barrier, but he ■can pull out a fine clip. He finished on veil to win at Ashburton on Saturday. John Noble appears ot have lost all his form, and it might be a wise move to put the South Canterbury pacer aside until next season.

South Island stables are well represented at the Auckland meeting, which will be opened on Saturday, and they look like getting a big share of the stakes. Denver City has been accepted for in no fewer than three races at the Auckland meeting on Saturday. If he wins one of them it is not likely to be his two-mile engagement as he does not stay well. Nominations for the New Zealand Futurity Stakes, the Greymouth Club’s venture, are due to-day. The race is for foals of the 193(X-31 season to pace or trot in harness at three years old. At Ashburton on Saturday, Mountain Mist gave further proof of the fact that he is a very much improved trotter. The Guy Parrish gelding should be a good proposition next season. The Invercargill Club has decided to try the experiment of racing on two Saturdays, and has applied for October 17 and March 5 as its dates for next season. King’s Guard, who is on the front of the Winter Handicap at Auckland on Saturday, is a particularly promising three-year-old trotter. He has hung up three wins in four starts. The world’s record for a trotter with a running mate is 1.544, which was made by Uhlan in 1913. This is the fastest mile ever made in harness by a horse of either gait. A five-shilling totalisator will be in operation at the Auckland Club’s meeting, and the charge for admission to the course for outside patrons has been reduced t<« one shilling. Ngingongingo is likely to be backed down to a short price in his next engagement. In one of his races at Addington he showed a tremendous burst of speed after being slow to move away. Reremai goes well in the mud, and so is likely to be suited by the going at the Auckland meeting. She is, however, now on a mark from which she will find it is very hard to win. Although Cyone has won over two miles, she is more at home in races over less ground. J. Holmes has her in fine condition for her engagements at the Auckland meeting. Sandown has been coming back to form since he went into C. S. Donald’s stable, and the Belfast trainer looks like getting a win or two out of the Logan Pointer gelding. If Lord Antrim is reserved for the Beaconsfield Handicap at Timaru on Saturday he will probably be one of the favourites. He is improving steadily, and should come up a good horse next season. Erin’s Fortune has bright prospects of winning one of the big winter handicaps. The Southland-bred mare was never better than she is at present, and it is in her favour that she is at home in any kind of going. Although Tenedos was beaten at Ashburton on Saturday he is very close to the top of his form, and may race more prominently at Auckland. On Saturday he is on the front of a mile race and the distance will suit him. Impromptu shows his best form on a dry track, and the heavy going at the recent Waikato meeting pulled him up badly in the last half furlong. The son of Pedro Pronto is a very useful sort, who should be worth following. A. Julian will have Gold Treasure and Etta Cole racing for him at the Auckland meeting. The latter has been something of a disappointment, and in the Stewards’ Handicap on Saturday White Satin should hold her safe from the same mark. Satin King stepped against the clock to such purpose at Ashburton on Saturday that he placed himself among the New Zealand Cup eligibles if the conditions are. not altered. That the public have realised how good he is was proved by the “ Gloaming ” price he paid. At the recent meeting at Addington White Satin looked as though she needed a race or two to bring her to her best,

.S' and so may show improvement at Auckland. _ In the weak field in the Stewards’ Handicap she looks nicely placed on the limit.

King Oscar trotted a fine race in the Stewards’ Handicap at Ashburton on Saturday, and was one of the leaders ail the way. If he was kept to the trotting gait, and not tried as a pacer occasionally, there is little doubt that he would win more money than he does. Lily Harold’s recent form had not been impressive, and it was not surprising to learn that she paid a very long price to win at Ashburton on Saturday. In hanging up the fine time of 3.1 t) 4-5, the former Central Otago mare gave definite proof that her loss of- form was only temporary. The Nelson Bingen gelding Ballade is in good form at present, and at the recent Oamaru meeting he paced a very solid race to finish second to that good horse Harold Denver. In the Beaconsfield Handicap at Timaru next Saturday he is on a two seconds’ tighter mark and he should race prominently. A three-year-old with particularly bright prospects of winning races at the smaller meetings is Lord Antrim, who was unlucky at Oamaru. The South Canterbury pacer is engaged on his home track on Saturday, and if he is reserved for the Beaconsiield Handicap he will only need to make a good beginning to be handy at the finish.

The Real Guy gelding Some Guy followed Willie Derby home at the Oamaru winter meeting, and at Ashburton on Saturday he went one better by winning the Farewell Handicap, in which he beat some very promising pacers. Built on somewhat stocky lines, Some Guy is a genuine pacer, and it will not be surprising if he wins in much better company.

Trotting is very popular in Japan, and photographs of a recent meeting in Yokohama show that there was a huge attendance. The horses are handicapped by distance, and are raced right-handed, the events varying in length from one and a-half to three miles. The champion trotter is a big mare named Takamidori, who, according to a photograph, is built ®n very solid lines, with legs that might do credit to a half-draught. In handicapping Auto Machine on 4.34 in the Hobson Handicap at Auckland Mr Paul has placed the Australian-bred pacer ©n a nice mark to give him a chance of lifting the Adams Memorial Cup on the second day. The race is a 4.36 class, which means that he will be 24 yards. Auto Machine is a real good horse, and one who can both go fast and stay. Four years ago he was racing in New Zealand, and at an Auckland meeting went a shade better than 4.30.