SPORTING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3123, 25 February 1909, Page 6

SPORTING.

RACING. DEATH OF NOCTUIFORM. Noctuiform is dead. He broke a fetlock during the race for the Ashton Maiden Hurdle at Haydock Park and was destroyed, so ending a "strange, eventful history." He will be long i-emembered as one of the impnsters of his day. Out in New Zealand, where he was raised, Noctuiform cleared the board in extraordinary fashion, and he also once competed successfully against the better form which is to be met with in Australia. Eventually Mr J. Buchanan imported him at great cost into this country. The exact price that was paid for" him did not

transpire, but £5,000 has repeatedly been mentioned as the sum. Mr Buchanan sold him in disgust for £SOO the day after the last Cesarewitch, the purchaser being Captain C. H. Fenwick, and the costly failure was entrusted to Mr Whitaker for the purpose of being jumped. He was making his debut over hurdles in the race which terminated his career. Mr Buchanan, it was said, had a considerable amount on him for the Cesarewitch of 1906, and a regular furore prevailed for him—s to 1 being taken—before he went to Windsor to run a public trial. This proved so unsatisfactory in comparison with his New Zealand exploits that it was thought he could not yet have become properly acclimatised, and he was knocked out to 33 to 1 on the Cesarewitch day without being found capable of resenting this insult to his "down under" reputation. Other disappointments were in store for his owner, the keenest of them perhaps being his failure in the Newbury Summer Cup. Maher was engaged to ride, Mr Buchanan, who is financially interested in Newbury, took down a large party of friends, and the public, forgiving Noctuiform all his sins of omission, assisted to make him favourite. He however,finished nearer last than first; ana, as a matter of fact,the only race ever credited to him in this country was a trumpery £IOO plate at Leicester last year. There can be no doubt that he lost his action over here, and subsequently his courage.— London "Daily Mail."