SPORTING

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 188, 15 January 1912, Page 7

SPORTING

RACING FIXTURES. Jan. 20, 22, 23 —Wellington R.C. Summer. Feb. 1, 2 —Gisborne R.C. Summer. Feb. 1, 3—Canterbury J.C. Summer. i':'b. 7, B—Egmont R.C. Summer, b. 14, lo—Taranaki J.C. Autumn. TURF TOPICS. (By "Moturoa.") Wellington Cup on Saturday next. Bollin is said to be on the up-grade. Electrakoff will in future be trained at Ellerslie.

Taskmaster is to be given another trial chasing the shekels. Golden Loop will have to improve greatly on recent form to keep with the hot-stuff at Trentham. •Shouted a wild Hibernian as a rank outsider led past the stand: "There she goes with nothin' on her!" Probably the most disappointing horse at Ellerslie was Miscount, who failed to run within cooee of his spring form. When' the "dead" horse won't be held back then comes the surprising dividend. Such a thing is alleged to have happened on the second day at Stratford. Mr. "Jervey" George has a genuine grievance against weight-adjusters in general. Bearers of the black and red have always caught it hot, and Crown Pearl's case is most pronounced. In the gelding's last race, the Waitemata Handicap at Ellerslie, he was called up to giva away from 221bs to 481 bs to his seventeen opponents, probably very few of which were supported by their owners. And yet Crown Pearl is assesses a Ost 71bs horse in the best handic ! Yearlings by All Red have been g ; distinctive names. The first batch w'il run as Red Robe, Red Rambler, Red Shield, Red Indian, and All Ready. Lately we have heard nothing but complaints all round about wretched totalisator arrangements, and it is pleasing to see that the Taranaki Jockey Club is making a move to obviate in-' convenience to investors at the autumn meeting. Most horses could be chamipons in their own class, but that division is generally too low to be found. That out-and-out disappointment Tan San won a treble at Murchison on Boxing Day. Murchison is 'way back o' Nelson, and is noted for its race of hairy humans who specialise in infernal machines and suchlike toys. Kohinoor's running at Foxton should be watched, as the bay son of Royal Fusilier will probably be seen under silk at Hawera and New Plymouth next month. In Palmerston nothing is better fancied for the Foxton double than Sir Antrim and Lady Moutoa. On Auckland running Bleriot should just about fly in at Takapuna. > Seaman is jumping well and is due to score at any moment. Big and bright and as playful as a two-year-old, NorthEast looked all the better for his long spell when this scribe saw him this week. Mr. Alex. Hall will put the big fellow into work right away in view of stick events to be decided in the autumn. It is pleasing to note that the Stratford annual meeting resulted in a profit of £IO7O, and that the club is determined to go in for further improvements this year, including an enlarged totalisator house. The improvements will be appreciated by the club's big crowd of patrons. Seventeen horses remain in the Wellington Cup, but the field cannot be said to be a high-class one. The defection of Los Equitas, Miss Mischief, Masterpiece and Counterfeit robbed the event of much interest. The minor handicaps have drawn poor fields, but the classics should be keenly contested races. FRANK WOOTTON'S YEAR. TRIUMPH FOR THE AUSTRALIAN. London, December 1. The flat racing season of 1911, which came to an end at Manchester last Saturday, has been a veritable triumph for the j'oung Australian jockey Frank Wootton. For the third year in succession this wonderful youngster heads the list of winning jockeys with a total of 187 victorious rides out of 747 mounts, which means that he has won one out of every four races in which he has figured in the saddle. In addition he has been on the back of the second horse in 145 races, and on the third in 121, only 294 of his mounts having failed to catch the judge's eye. This is a wonderful record for a jockey still in his teens, and may be he will not in future be able to take such a prominent position among the knights of the pigskin, for Wootton is growing and filling out at al rate that suggests be will soon find him-! self confined to riding horses weighted at well over eight stone.

As a jockey the rise of one so young has never been so rapid. He only* came to us in 1906, and the eminence he has attained in live brief years is really astonishing. In six years he has ridden no less than <573 winners. During the past season Wootton has held the enviable position of first jockey to Lord Derby, and the fact of his lordship owning so many good horses this year gave him additional chances of riding 'winners in races of the first importance. Wootton is identified with the victories of Svvynford, Stedfast, Hair Trigger 11., and many others who have carried the b'aek and white livery to victory durin» the season, and have placed Lord Derby at the head of the winning owners with the splendid total of £42,721. Wootton had no "classic" successes, but he rode the winner in such valuable events as the Molyneux Stakes at Liverpool, the Durdans Plate and Acorn Stakes at Epsom, Manchester Cup, St. James' Palace Stakes, New Stakes, and Hardwiek Stakes, Princess of Wales" Stakes and Fulbourne Stakes at NewmarKet. Eclipse Stakes, St. George' Stakes and Atlantic Stakes at 'Liverpool, Duchess of York Plate at Hurst Park. Sussex Stakes, Levant Stakes, Prince of Wales' Stakes, Molecomb Stakes, and Nassau Stakes at Goodwood, International T.Y.O. Plate at Kempton Park, Lennox- Stakes, Great Yorkshire Stakes and Oimcrack Stakes. Breeders' St. Leger at Derby, Park Hill Stakes, and the Gup at Doncaster, Autumn Breeders' Poal Plate at Manchester, and the Jockey Club Stakes and Great Foal Stakes at Newmarket. Mr. Tt. A\ootton, the trainer-owner, liad also a good year. As a trainer he turned out tliirtv-one successful horses, which between 'tliem won forty-eight races worth over £14,000. whilst his own horses won twenty-two races worth •£"■>-3. Frank's younger brother has not had n «n>nl deal of riding during the season, but out of 101 moujits lie lias succeeded in steering thirteen winners, ten seconds, and a like number of thirds. So altogether the Wootton family have every reason to look back upon the flat-racing season of 11)11 with ninth satisfaclion.