TURF NEWS AND NOTES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 January 1940, Page 9

TURF NEWS AND NOTES

CURRENT TOPICS FROM STABLE AND COURSE Will Ajax Stand a Preparation? TRAINER NOT OVER-CONFIDENT (BY ’•CARBINE.”) Plans are being made for Ajax to win his third Futurity Stakes in succession and thus create a record for the race. At the moment everything depends on Ajax himself—whether,he stands up to a preparation. The chestnut is still very “cramped” in his action. The fact that F. Musgrave, his trainer, has got the horse in work so long before the autumn suggests that he, too, is not over-confident. He is making sure that, if Ajax meets with another setback, the horse will have time to get over it. He is taking no risks with him and has mdde arrangements to use the steeplechase grass on off mornings, so as to have a firm track on which to work him. The artificial tracks —tan and sand —are inclined to shift, and there would be the danger of a slight rick when working on this rinks.

All Ajax is doing at the moment is trotting and cantering. Every time he has worked he has been short in his action. When he warms up he is more free. His trainer shows concern every time the horse works. Before he is taken on the track by H. Badger, Ajax is exercised around a walking ring in the centre of the course under the eye of his trainer, who scrutinises him closely after he has pulled up. Ajax is still brought to the course by v motor float. He has not raced since the Memsie Stakes at Caulfield on September 2, nor has he been given a fast trial. If Ajax does not stand up to his autumn preparation, he probably will not be seen again, because it is odds on his being retired to the stud next season. Last Race. Nervie’s Last, which was booked to leave Auckland yesterday for Perth to contest the inter-Dominion championships, broke a leg when he came to grief in the last race at Epsom and had to be destroyed. He was bred in Australia, and was purchased in 1935 by the Auckland sportsman, Messrs E. G. and F. A. Bridgens. In their colours he won nine races, was seventeen times second and eleven times third. He was a consistent pacer, and at one time he held the record for one mile on a grass track, 2min 4sec. His best times over other distances were 2min 41sec for ten furlongs, 3min 13 4-5 for one mile and a half, and 4min 21sec for two miles. Nervie’s Last did most of racing under F. J. Smith, at Takanini, but for a short period he was in J. Bryce’s stable at Hornby. A Good Stayer. Gladynev is regarded as one of the best stayers in the north. He figures in the list for the Great Northern St Leger, to be run at Ellerslie in March. Gladynev showed promise as a two-year-old but failed to get into the money from five starts. This season, at his first start he won the first division of the Trial Ha'ndicap, at Avondale in September. His next start was at Ellerslie, where he succeeded in the Normanby Handicap, of one mile. Full Hand, his stable mate, beat him at his next appearance, in the Claudelands Handicap, at the Waikato meeting. At Waipa, last month, he won the Te Awamutu Cup, beating a strong field, which included Cheval de Volee, the Auckland Cup winner and a number of other cup candidates. Gladynev did not race on the first day of the cup meeting, but on the second day was third to Fils de Vaals and Beau Repaire in the Summer Cup, which was followed up by his victory in the Nathan’s Memorial Handicap. His record for the season reads, six starts for four wins, one second and one third, with stake earnings amounting to £l5OO.

Death of Ferrans. Ferrans, popular 17-year-old English steeplechaser, who was placed more than a hundred times in his long career, is dead. Two years ago his owner. Mr Archer Smith-Bingham, decided to retire him. Ferrans was so miserable in retirement that he was returned to George Beeby’s stable, where he perked immediately. Little encouragement has been given to selling ’chasers in newly formed N.H. programmes, and rather than turn Ferrans to mope in a paddock his owner and trainer thought it kinder to have the old horse painlessly destroyed. Wellington Racing Club Handicap. The entries are as follow for the Wellington Racing Club Handicap, of £lOOO, one mile and three furlongs: Malagigi, Tidewaiter, Passaform, Gladynev, Dictate, Beau Repaire, The Wrecker, Le Toquet, Baran, Norseman, Laughing Lass, Seigmund, Centrepoise, Thermidor, Galteemore, Mona’s Song, Parquet, Royal Chief, Globe Trotter, Beaupartir, Catalogue, Cheval de Volee, Fils de Vaals, Du Maurier, Queen of Song, Old Bill, Sly Fox, Lady Montana. Doubleack, Willie Win. Telegraph Handicap Nominations. The following are the entries for the Telegraph Handicap, of £lOOO, six furlongs, at the Wellington meeting: Paper Slipper, Counterblast, Arvakur, Sleeveless, Olympus, Sternchase, Endorsement, Footloose, Saxon Tor, Spanish Lad, Nigger Boy, Duncannon, Royal Star 11, Bronwen, Suleiman. Rakahanga, Black Thread, Disdain, Lexden, Alunga, Lord Cavendish, Screen Star, Amigo, Race Call, Night Eruption, Blonde Princess, Brunhild. Centennial Cup. The field for the Centennial Cup totals 39, and includes Malagigi from Sydney, the Auckland Cup winner, Cheval de Volee, the leading three-year-old, Beau Vite, the Metropolitan winner Centrepoise, Royal Chief, Beaupartir, Catalogue, the Manawatu Cup winner, Du Maurier, Old Bill and other leading horses. The nominations are: Malagigi, Tidewaiter, Passaform, Gladynev, Tooley Street, Haughty Winner, Beau Repaire, The Wrecker, Old Bill, Quadroon, Mishna, Baran, Norseman, Windsor Chief, Laughing Lass, The Buzzer, Disdain, Siegmund. Centrepoise, Thermidor, Flammarion, Beau Vite, Mona’s Song, Royal Chief, Moorsotis, Globe Trotter, Raeburn, Beaupartir, Catalogue, Cheval de Volee, Fils de Vaals, Du Maurier, Sly Fox, Blonde Princess, Lady Montana, Queen of Song, Doubleack, Royevrus. Willie Win.