TURF NEWS & NOTES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 December 1938, Page 11

TURF NEWS & NOTES

CURRENT TOPICS FROM STABLE & COURSE Views on Racing Facts and Fancies ARCTIC KING AND AUCKLAND CUP

(By

“The Cynic.”)

The task that Arctic King has to face of winning the Auckland Cup on top of the New Zealand Cup in the same year is not one that is without precedent. No fewer than seven horses have already been successful in capturing this important double. The following are the seven horses who have so succeeded, with the weights they carried in the two races:

Anopheles. L. J. Ellis will have the mount on Anopheles in the Great Northern Foal Stakes. Majority. In view of his form this season it was a surprise tq find Majority missing from the field for the Railway Handicap. He may be seen out at the Taranaki Christmas meeting. Jonathan. It is not often than an old horse who has had to be patched up comes back, but Jonathan is a notable exception, and his stake record now amounts to £5278 10s. His best season was at four years, when his successes included the Easter Handicap, and as a six-year-old he won the Railway Handicap. He is now in his ninth year. Head of the List. The leading horseman to date this season is G. H. Humphries, who, up till and including last Saturday, had won 22 races. B. H. Morris, 18, and W. J. Broughton, 16, are next. Retired. Buzzard King, who gave great promise in his early racing career, is to be retired to the stud at Darling Downs, owned by Mr P. J. O’Shea, chairman of the .Queensland Turf Club, says a Sydney exchange. Buzzard King finished third in the A.J.C. Derby as a three-year-old, but, as a result of an accident, was lightly raced afterwards. Indian Sun. Indian Sun, half brother by Bulandshar to Solarium, continues to please his trainer, J. H. Jefferd. Another promising juvenile from the Ngatarawa stable who has not yet sported silk is Mrs Richmond's colt Regale, by Myosotis from Lucinda. Silver Link. Few horses were ever so persistent after Railway Handicap honours as was Silver Link, the brilliant daughter of Achilles and Secret Link. As a 3-year-old Silver Link ran third in 1918, the following year she was second to Tigritiya, the next year she was again second, this time to Statuette, and at last in her fourth attempt, in 1921, she was the winner from Anomaly and The Hawk. i A Smart Youngster. Being a gelding, and therefore, ineligible for the English classics. Portobello (Portlaw—Zingarella, by Solaria) does not receive undue publicity, but, nevertheless, this speedy youngster has gone through his two-year-old career unbeaten. He has had five races for as many wins, and was retired for the season after his easy success in

the Clearwell Stakes, worth £625 to the winner, at Newmarket last month, Portobello was regarded as such a certainty for that five furlongs race that he started at odds of 5 to 1 on, and he duly won as he liked by three lengths. He has been a splendid bargain a his yearling price of 360 guineas, and, as he has grown and developed: in proportion throughout the season, the critics expect him to be equally as good next year. Hot Box. It is reported that the Great Northern Guineas winner Hot Box is under a cloud, having developed an ailment on the morning of the first day of the Auckland meeting, which subsequently led to his withdrawal from the Alison Cup field. He was a fancied candidate for this event, but his continued absence from activity since last Saturday week points to the fact that his Christmas programme may be affectep. It is to be hoped that he makes 'a speedy recovery, he would lend a lot of interest to the three-year-old classic events to be decided at the Christmas meeting for he had always given Jhe impression that he would develop into a stayer, and one of the most likely northerners to have provided opposition to the crack southerner Defaulter. Wilsons’s Brother. At Mr Ralph Holden’s Mana Stud, near Hastings, is a yearling who looks like being one of the top-priced lots of the National Yearling Sales. This is the Siegfried —Lilock colt, an own brother to Wilson, whose recent success in Melbourne left the impression that he was one of the best two-year-olds in that State. Wilson’s brother is a rich bay, beautifully proportioned and well forward. Like all the Mana Stud stock, this colt possesses a beautiful temperament. Bred on similar lines to the Melbourne Cup winner Wotan, the colt appears likely to go to a higher figure than the 1050 gns paid for his brother last January.

First Appearance. Among the novices seen out at the recent Ellerslie meeting, one that impressed was Hackenschmidt, a three-year-old gelding by The Ace from Precision, by Quin Abbey from Precise. He showed up in the running m the Melrose Maiden on the first day, and was fifth when the post was reached. This was his first race, and he will be improved as the result of that appearance. Hackenschmidt is a stable companion of Shy. To Race in Melbourne. Providing all goes well in the interim, Konneta, for whom 3000gns was refused by her owner, Mr Max Steinberg, a few weeks ago, will be taken to Melbourne for the autumn meeting of the Victoria Racing Club. Her engagements include the Sires’ Produce Stakes of £3500. seven furlongs; the Ascotvale Stakes, of £l5OO, six furlongs; and the E. Manifold Stakes, of £lOOO, one mile. Her stablemate, Wapaugh, by Siegfried from Polonaise, will probably be taken across at the same time.

N.Z. Auckland Cup. Clip. 1935—Cuddle 7.13 9.0 1932 —Fast Passage .... 8.0 8.11 1927—Rapier 7.11 8.10 1922—Scion 7.10 8.2 1914—Warstep 7.11 8.9 1892—St Hippo 7.7 8.9 1882 —Welcome Jack 6.5 7.8