TURF NEWS AND NOTES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 August 1940, Page 3

TURF NEWS AND NOTES

CURRENT TOPICS FROM STABLE AND COURSE Totalisator Investments in Dominion (BY “THE GRAFTER.”) For 11 months of the racing year, which closed yesterday, the sport was conducted under the shadow of war, but the season’s programme was maintained and a number of patriotic meetings held, investments at galloping meetings aggregating £5,944,255, according to figures issued officially. This amount is £141.334 greater than the 1938-39 season total, an addition of barely 21 per cent, compared with an increase of 121 per cent two years ago. The 1937-38 aggregate was £5,289,415, against £4,607,070 for the previous season. Although the investments for the Dominion show only a small increase, those for the principal racing centres, Auckland and Wellington, reveal substantial progress. Over 39 per cent of totalisator business was transacted in the Auckland provincial district and close on 18 per cent in the Wellington area. Thus the other seven racing districts contributed together 43 per cent of the investments.

For the past ten years particularly the line of cleavage between town and country patronage has been widening, but a notable aspect of racing activities in the Auckland Province is the strength of its country clubs, for they contributed £1,012.786, or 43.1 per cent of the investments, compared with £l,317,197, or 561 per cent, placed with the machine on the two courses, Ellerslie and Avondale, in the metropolitan area. This balance is remarkable when the predominance of Trentham in the Wellington provincial district is considered. That district found the sum of £1,063,386 in totalisator turnover, and the Wellington Racing Club accounted for £843,705, or a fraction under four-fifths of the whole. The following table discloses how the Auckland and Wellington clubs, with their large betting figures, have been wholly responsible for the. net increase in the Dominion racing (and excluding .trotting) investments, all the remaining districts showing a decline Details are: — 1938-39 1939-40 Auckland .... £2,094.408 £2,329.983 Wellington .... 962,002 1,063,386 Canterbury 76L881 734,954 Wanganui .... 635,064 587,659 Dunedin .... 354.082 322.247 Hawke’s Bay 311.083 276,758 Southland .... 291.379 278,818 Taranaki .... 289.509 267,187 Greymouth 103.461 83,161 Has Had a Good Season. Lockit is a graduate from hack ranks that has had a good season. In previous year he has been troubled by unsoundness, but he has not had any trouble during the past twelve months and has had seven successes and many minor placings. He is expected to make a good showing in the Winter Cup and should develop good form up to a mile and a half later on. Royal Chief. Royal Chief, the star of F. D. Jones’s team, only won the Canterbury Cup in the Dominion, but he did most of his racing in Australia, his tally for the season just closed being over £3OOO. He is well forward in another preparation and looks remarkably well, some hard campaigns over four seasons not having left any ill-effect. The present season will be his last, while at the stud he should do well as he is the ideal type of horse to carry on the splendid record established by his sire, Chief Ruler. A Good Sprinter. Density reached the forefront among the best class sprinters and finished the season with three successive wins, including the Great Easter at Riccarton. The Pink Coat mare has always been brilliant, but age has also brought an improvement in her stamina. D. Cotton has the four-year-old. Pink Coat mare in light exercise and she should win her share of the feature sprint races in the spring. Good Stake Earner. Wild Talk proved to be a good stake-earner in the Chokebore Lodge team during the past season, winning the Cressy and Sockburn Handicaps at Riccarton and the Timaru Cup. A good staying four-year-old mare by Winning Hit, she is at present on the easy list. All being well, she will again more than pay her way. A Good Class Horse. Haughty Winner was once more the leading member in C. C. McCarthy’s team, winding up the season by; winning the Claremont Handicap at Washdyke, his fourth success for the season. Up to a mile he is a good class horse. Winning! Owners. The Hon. E. R. Davis and Mr O. Nicholson, who race in partnership, head the list of winning owners for the 1939-40 racing season. Queen City, Gamos, Jack Tar, Te Kawiti, and Birthday Boy have all helped to make up the total of £5065, to which can be added £5O received as Breeders of Queen City for winning the Welcome Stakes at Auckland. Mr R. Stewart’s total of £5015 must be credited to Beau Vite, whose classic victories include the Great Northern Derby. Clifford Plate. Taranaki Stakes. N.Z. St. Leger Stakes, North Island Challenge Stakes. Great Northern St. Leger, etc. Mr E. N. Fitzgerald, of Gisborne, is third on the list, and all of his horses had a share in keeping his colours to the fore. Native Chief. Small Boy. Native Song. Kindergarten, and Queen's Dream all winning. Beaulivre' was responsible for Mr E. C. Harnett's position on the list. Mr F. Ormond, of Hastings, has had Kathbella and Yogi as two of his principal winners for Ihe term, and they, together with the rest of his string, should play a prominent part for him in the new season. Mr H. H. Pharazyn’s principal contributor was Old Bill, whose victory in the Wellington Centennial Cup will long be remembered.

Mr A. Rowan, of Te Awamuiu. is next on the list, and he was represented by two good horses in Cheval de Voice and Fils de Vais. Mr J. Jameson (Masterton) won £1415.

Phar Lap and the Bookies. When Phar Lap missed the Melbourne Cup as a three-year-old it cost the punting public quite a heap of money. Phar Lap finished third to Nightmarch and Paquilo. He started the hottest favourite identified with the history of the race, and was at even money at the start. What the ring reaped must have amounted to a rich harvest. A story about the race he won: —In connection with the Bookmakers’ Council some cheques were being signed at a lawyer's office recently, and while the leading bookmaker., Mr Jansen, was signing them the lawyer commented on the unorthodox way he held the pen. "I used to hold a pen the right way,” explained Mr Jansen, “but now I have to hold it this way because I got very bad corns on the usual fingers through signing cheques the year Phar Lap won the Melbourne Cup!” Bookmakers will never forget that disastrous year, and the money they lost over the Amounis-Phar Lap double. In fact, a long time ago Mr Jansen said that he paid out £40,000 in straight-out bets on Phar Lap, and he signed more than 300 cheques after the cash bets had been paid. One wager was £5OOO to £4OOO, and another was £6OOO to £lOOO, taken when the weights were published four months before the race.

A Good Record. The 24 wins secured this season by F. J. Smith as trainer bring his total in New Zealand to 315, and the 22 winning drives raised his tally in the reinsmen’s section to 300. These totals extend over 11 seasons, making his training average 28 A, and his driving average 27. Smith arrived from England at the beginning of the 1929-30 season, his sole charge being Linnet! the Great, who accompanied him. He made his first appearance (says “Abydos,” in the Auckland Herald) at the Waikato spring meeting of 1929, driving Linnet the Great, who was unplaced from 156 yards in the Introductory Handicap. Success came early, as in the succeeding race he drove First Flight to victory in the Frankton Handicap for McKendrick Brothers. That season, with limited opportunities, Smith trained five winners and drove six. The following season his respective figures were 13, and 18. and in the next term they were 16 and 18. By this time Smith had built up a fine team, and in 1932-33 he reached the top of the list with 39 and 37, while the succeeding season he established his record of 51 and 52. In 1935-36 Smith was leading trainer with 40, but J. Bryce, Junr., drove 43 winners, or two more than the Auckland reinsman. Next season he again topped both lists with 38 and 37. For the five seasons, 1932-33 to 1936-37, Smith’s training total was 195, an average of 39. and his driving total 190. an average of 38. Norton’s Record. It has been claimed that Norton was one of the best cross-country horses ever raced in New Zealand. He ran second to a stablemate in Ahua when the latter won the Grand National Steeplechase of 1892. He was saddled up again later in the day and won the Maiden Steeplechase. The following year Norton 12.12 ran seepnd to Waterbury 10.8, and on the second day won the Beaufort Steeples with 12.12. Next year Norton 12.8 won the Grand National Steeplechase, and public opinion was expressed in the fact that he paid a little over even money in a field of seven. By the way, he started at less than 2 to 1 on when he won the Enfield Steeples. Norton 13.0 and Waterbury 11.8 met again in the Curragh Steeples, run at the New Zealand Cup meeting and dead-heated. Norton was meeting Waterbury on 121 b better terms than when they ran in the Grand National Steeplechase. At the autumn meeting Norton 12.7 won the Kildare Steeples. He was unplaced in the Wellington Steeplechase under 13.0 and unplaced in the Hawke’s Bay Steeples under 12.11. He was then sold by Mr D. Rutherford to Mr S. H. Gollan, and with the new owner up carried 13.0 into third place behind Mutiny 11.5 and Roscius but walked past the post in front of Liberator 12.7. Norton 13.0 fell with his owner in the Beaufort Steeples, and did not run again in New Zealand. Norton ran in the English Grand National Steeplechase the following year, but fell after going about half the journey. That was about the end of his racing career. Norton was got by Ascot from Romp, by Ravensworth, and was foaled in 1885. Ascot was bred in New South Wales, and got by Kelpie—The Thorn, by The Barb. Norton was about 12 when be ran at Aintree.

Mr Gollan had better luck with Moifaa. who won at Aintree in 1904. The following year Moifaa, at nine years old. carried the colours of his Majesty King Edward VII and started favourite. Moifaa jumped in faultless style for the first half of the journey but then fell from sheer distress at Becher's Brook for the second lime. Moifaa was “gone in the wind.” The Grand National Steeplechase field that year included Seahorse, then seven years old. He won the New Zealand Cup. New Zealand Derby and Canterbury Cup. Seahorse was taken to the United States and broke his neck when running in a steeplechase.

Should Do Well at Riccarton. Kilrobe had five wins last season and up to a mile she can be depended on to hold her own in good company. St Cloud also made good as an open class sprinter and with this pair of Robespierre mares H. Nurse should continue to win a good share of the stakes offering. They should both do well at the Grand National meeting.

Belated Return to Winning Form. Willie Win, one of the veterans among the open class handicap horses, made a belated return to winning form in the Midsummer Handicap at Riccarton and later on the same course ran away with the Great Autumn Handicap. He is being used by Mrs J. Campbell as a hack and will be prepared later for the principal spring distance races. Should Make Good. Winning Rival proved equal to winning the Dunedin Guineas, but she was never seen at her best in the season just closed and failed in four other starts, including the New Zealand Oaks. Judging by her track form at the present time she will make a good four-year-old.

DEATH OF TRAINER

HAD CHARGE IN DAVID AND SCARLETT. SYDNEY. August 2. The death has occurred of the wellknown horse-trainer. Mr William Booth after a long illness. He was 69 years of age. Mr Booth’s best horse was David, and he also trained the Sydney Cup winner Scarlett.

RACING JFIXTURES

August 13. 15, 17-C.J.C. Grand National. August 24— Pakuranga Hunt. August 29.—Egmont-Wanganui Hunt. August 31.—Taranaki Hunt. August 31.—Otago Hunt. September 5. 7. —Wanganui. September 14. —Ashburton County. September 14, 16. —Avondale. September 19, 21—Geraldine. September 21— Marton. September 28.—Kurow. September 28—Foxton. September 28. 30—Ohinemuri.