TURF NEWS AND NOTES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 August 1940, Page 3

TURF NEWS AND NOTES

CURRENT TOPICS FROM STABLE AND COURSE

Racing In England

(BY

“THE GRAFTER.”)

There was an item in the cable news the other day which was indicative of either indifference to the possibility of a German ijnvasion • of Britain or a supreme confidence in the ability of the people to resist | it, says an Australian newspaper. In June, after the French collapse and the war had entered a critical stage, the Jockey Club, at the instigation of the Government, suspended all racing for an indefinite period, which was generally accepted as meaning the duration of the war. The cable message stated: “The Jockey Club has asked trainers to join in a census of horses that will be ready to race in September, when it is expdcted that racing will be resumed. The census is intended as a guide to decide where meetings shall be held, in view of the difficulty of horses making long journeys. “It is certain the Jockey Club has not acted without first ascertaining the view of the Government upon the question of resuming racing, and it is equally certain the Government would not have agreed unless it was satisfied that the war situation justifies it,” the article continues. “The news that racing is likely to be resumed in England next month will not make pleasant reading for those who have been clamouring for a wholesale reduction of racing in Australia.”

Riders for Pakuranga Meeting. Riding engagements for the Pakuranga Hunt races at Ellerslie on Saturday include: T. Williams, Mahala, Beverley, The Trimmer; A. Messer.vy, Kara Avis, Llandaff; A. Neil, Big Bill, Tutor; W. Thomson, Sebrof, Acre’s Beauty, Flying Jay, Silver Glow.

Padishah’s Career Ended. Padishah will not see the race track again. He fractured his pelvis when he hit the first of the stand double at the end of a round in the Grand' National Steeplechase, but it is expected that he will be saved and be able to be used for a hack. It will be some time, however, before he can return to Hastings.~~

Horse. Re-Named. Mr 1 Sol. Green the well-known Melbourne sportsman recently claimed the name “Cobber Kain” for a two-year-old colt. The name was passed but afterward Mr Green cancelled it in deference to “Cobber's” father and the colt has been named Reg. A Difference. There is a great difference between the two final hurdles in a race at Wingatui and Riccarton. At the latter place, the penultimate hurdle is about half a mile from home, and the last about a furlong and a-half from the winning post. Wingatui, the second last hurdle is about three furlongs from home, and the last one less than a furlong, and is generally considered too close to the winning post. W. Jenkins’s Record. W. Jenkins, who won the Grand National Hurdles on Limbohm, was originally apprenticed to the late S. G. Ware when the latter trained at Wingatui. Jenkins accompanied Ware’s team to Australia, and rode there with a fair amount of success. Increasing weight, however, has restricted his opportunities on the flat. He won last season’s Winter Cup on Catalogue, and in five rides over jumps has won three times. He won on High Peer at Manawatu and twice on Limbohm at Riccarton. One of his losing mounts was on Tidewaiter at the Wellington winter meeting. Jenkins’s fee for the winning mount on Limbohm was £63, and Mr A. J. Toxward, the owner, increased it to £lOO. Jenkins enlisted some time ago, and is now waiting to be called up. Mr Toxward won the New Zealand Cup with Lady Lucy in 1909, and he bred Star Stranger, one of the best winners of his day.

Nigger Boy Sold. Nigger Boy, a four-year-old brown gelding from Spearmaid, has been sold by Mr H. J. Riddle to Messrs B. and S. .Nausevaum, and will in future be trained by J. J. Waller, of Awapuni. The Nigger Minstrel gelding showed good sprint form last season when trained by R. McNay at Riverton, and was third in the Winter Cup on . the first day of the present carnival.

Much Raced Pacers. During the trotting season recently concluded in Western Australia no fewer than 17 pacers raced on 30 or more occasions. The hardest worked was Pleasant Surprise, who competed on 37 occasions for one win and three seconds. It is rather remarkable thaf, although raced so frequently, only a few of them met with a fair measure of success. Casatar started 35 times and registered four firsts, three seconds and four thirds. Bronette won four races in 34 starts, and Moreica also won four races from 33 attempts. The veteran Sheik pacer Von Sheik appeared in public 36 times during the season for two wins and two seconds. Sir Raymond, who has often registered a sequence of minor places, had a busy time. He started 35 times, but although he raced consistently and recorded 10 minor placings it was not until May 11 that he opened his winning account for the season. Another horse who was very consistent was Pleasant Boy, who ran two firsts, eight seconds and three thirds. Wee Globe was a failure, for in 31 starts he could only manage a second and a third.

Trotting Driver Regraded. An inquiry was held into the starting of Horsepower from the wrong mark in the King’s Handicap on the second day of the N.Z. Metropolitan Club’s meeting, and the Judicial Committee found the driver of Horsepower (J. Fraser Junr.) guilty of the charge and decided to derate him to D grade for three months, this term io be concurrent with the penalty previously imposed on him for interference with Waipahi in the Belgium Handicap on the same day, when he drove Harold Guy. The committee also found that the starter (Mr A. J. Hastings) was in no way to blame for Horsepower starting from the wrong mark. Horsepower began from the limit instead of from l'2yds. behind. The penalty imposed upon Fraser means that ho can train horses, but cannot drive or ride in a race for three months.

A False Alarm.

Recently an English newspaper announced that the Aga Khan had sold Bahram through the British Bloodstock Agency to a New Zealand

breeder for £40,000. The story was promptly denied by the Bloodstock Agency. It is unlikely that any breeder in New Zealand or Australia would pay that price for a stallion, which with exchange would make the purchase price round about £50,000. There would be great difficulty in getting the money out of New Zealand to pay for the horse. A breeder in these parts would have little chance of getting back the money invested in the horse, as stud fees are on a much lower scale here than they are in some other countries, and yearlings are not sold for five-figure sums as they

are in England. The only people likely to pay £40,000 for sires are breeders in the United States and the Argentine, and it. is now stated that Bahram has been sold to the Argentine.

Had Bahram been sold for £40,000 his price would have been much below that at which several horses have been sold in recent years. After the death of Mr Curzon the Derby winner Call Boy was sold to Sir Mallaby Deeley for 63,000 guineas. Mr Martin Benson paid £60,000 for the Grand Prix de Paris winner Nearco. Captain Cuttie was sold to go to Italy for £50,000, and that was the price Mr Benson gave for Windsor Lad. Solario was purchased at auction by a syndicate of English breeders for 47,000 guineas, and Flying Fox cost M. E. Blanc 37,500 guineas when the horses belonging to the Duke of Westminster were sold after his death in 1900.

Bahram, who is by Blandford, won the Two Thousand Guineas. Derby, and St. Leger for the Aga Khan, and went through his racing career undefeated. His first two-year-old raced last season, when he was represented by three winners, one being Turkham, who finished second in the Derby this year. Remission of Taxation. The patriotic funds have been added to by the sum of £lBB9 as a result of taxation remission on the trotting meeting held by the combined clubs at Addington last April. The secretary of the Canterbury Provincial Fund has received a cheque for £l5ll from the Treasury as the Canterbury share of the taxation remission. The remainder of tlie amount remitted has been paid over as the Marlborough Patriotic Fund's share. Apart from the taxation remission, £1319, the total profits from the meeting, has already been paid into the two Patriotic Funds. 20 per cent of the amount going to Marlborough.

RACING FIXTURES

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. IG.—Avondale. September 19, 21.—Geraldine. September 21. —Marton. September 28.—Kurow. September 28.—Foxton. September 28. 30.—Ohinemuri.