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v tfvv Australian Turf Gossip I , By . BOB THOMSON 1 1 - .A The 1937-38 Australian racing season ended August 1. Records have been shattered in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. Totalizator returns for Victorian city clubs exceeded 0,000,000 for the racing year and are easily a record since the introduction of the machine in 1931. The main item of revenue of the Victoria Racing Club is that under the heading of admissions, registrations, catering, racebooks and totalizator commission. For the past season the sum grew from 28,552 to 88,468. Stakes at Flemington, the headquarters of Victorian racing, advanced from 54,320 to 60,440. Owners and trainers in Melbourne are much better off in the provision of stakes than in any other Australian city. If the present flourishing condition of the Victorian turf continues, few, if any, events will be worth less than ,000 at a Melbourne Cup meeting. Flemington has the one-day record for machine wagering in Australia, with 02,870 Wotans Melbourne Cup day. The 51,885 pooled on the Cup set a fresh record for "tote" betting on any- one race in Australia. In New Zealand, where bookmakers are taboo, backers operated so freely that the days total at a meeting in 1920 was 16,756. The totalizator has been the great money maker for the clubs and is largely responsible for the profit of more than 0,000 made by the V. R. C. after effecting many improvements to the famous track. ENJOY GOOD YEAR. As the principal clubs in Victoria, N. S. W., and Queensland had a good year, it would appear there is more money for racing everywhere than for some time past. The Queensland T. C.s improved position is attributed mainly to the strong action against starting price betting in Brisbane. The V. R. C. Melbourne has done particularly well without any assistance in that direction, and in Sydney the "drive" was started too late in the A. J. C.s financial year to help that body. The improved financial position has brought back to racing many people who, in Sydney and Melbourne, dropped out for some time. The Annual report of the South Australian Jockey Club shows a loss of ,848 on the year after allowing ,372 for depreciation. Four meetings during the year showed a profit of ,192. The club received 2,000 from the Government out of the betting tax and also ,672 for hire of the course. Totalizator investments at South Australian metropolitan meeting during the 1937-38 season amounted to 95,348, compared with ,202,-196 in the previous season, when the total was about 56,000 less than in the 1935-36 season. The position in N. S. W. is still far from being satisfactory, as off-the-course betting is playing havoc with race track attendances. The A. J. C. showed a profit of 1,472 over last year. Total revenue amounted to 38,116, and 56,440 was distributed in stakes. RAND WICK "TOTE" TAKINGS. "Tote" takings at Randwick fifteen days and Warwick Farm, which is controlled by the A. J. C. eight days, totaled ,164,116. The turnover on machines during Victorias racing year soared amazingly. The largest increase was for the V. A. T. C. fixtures at Caulf ield, the figure being 37,399 more than for the 1936-37 season. Each course recorded a substantial increase. The grand aggregate was 0,658,366, or 90,225 more than for the previous year. Queensland racing is on the crest of a wave of prosperity. During the season prize money increased enormously and an outstanding feature was the staging at Doom-ben of. the richest sprint race in Australia. Spearfelts phenomenal success as a sire was another salient feature. Stakes distributed during the 1937-38 season totaled 91,120, or 0,248 more than in the previous year. The leaders iri the various spheres of racing for the season were: Jockeys, W. Briscoe, with fifty straight out wins and two dead heats; trainers, W. A. Tucker, with eleven Winners of 7,356; horses, Spear Chief, five wins for 1,520; owners, J. B. Charlton and W. J. Tucker, with 0,840. Spearf elt again covered himself with glory. He was the leading sire last year, and. this year his progeny won ninety-seven races, for a total prize money of 04,944. His son Spear Chief has been the standout performer for the year. He won 1,520 in stakes in the twelve months only 80 less than the seasons record established in the 1927-;28 season by High Syce, which later came to Vic-. toria and won the Caulf ield Cup. I W. ELLIOTT REPEATS. For the second year in succession, W. Elliot, Phar Laps Augua Caliente Handicap pilot, headed the Victorian winning jockeys list. Altogether he had 271 mounts for forty and one-half firsts, including three dead heats. Elliot, who was trying to reach the bench in an electrical engineers workshop thirteen years ago, made a wise move when he turned to race riding as a profession. At the time of his death in Adelaide in May Ray Wilson had an unassailable lead for the premiership. JOCKEYS. Jockey. 1st. 2nd. 3rd. R. Wilson , 41 21 29 W. Elliott 40 34 29 H. Badger 35 44 34 A. Dewhurst 34 23 27 A. Breasley..... 32 32 40 K. Voitre 27 20 23 H. Morris..... 24 26 18 F. W. Hoysted gained the training honors for the 1937-38 season. The Mentone trainer produced the winners of twenty-eight races. Hoysteds horses earned 0,886. S. W. Reid, the Caulf ield trainer, won the most prize money for his patron, E. Eccles, and gained 9,937 for eight races. The former New Zealand trainer, J. Fryer, who-prepped Wotan for his 1936 Melbourne Cup triumph, had a splendid first season. The fight between E. Bartle and E. Mc-Menamin for the jockeys premiership provided one of the most interesting tussles of its kind in the history of Sydney racing. Bartle, winding up with ninety-two wins and three dead heats for first, defeated McMena-min, whose tally was ninety-one. McMenamin would have topped the list without doubt, but for his two months suspension imposed " : O lO. in December. His rise has been remarkable. Two years ago he was a hurdle rider and in his first season of flat race riding he piloted more than seventy winners. W. Cook rode seventy-four winners. Last year Cook headed the list with seveny-nine firsts, inclusive of five dead-heats. For a rider who cannot go to scale under 117 pounds, Darby Munro had a good season, finishing with sixty-one wins. E. McMenamin was again suspended for two months for interference at Rosehill, N. S. V., on August 6. When the licenses of jockeys for the current season were issued the names of W. Cook, J. Duncan and H. Perry were missing. J. KING LEADING TRAINER. J. King topped the list of winning trainers with thirty-three and one-half firsts. He was followed by F. T. Cush with thirty-three. G. Price won the most prize money for his patrons, his total being 9,096. J. King was next, with 3,392. With twenty-two firsts, .thirty seconds and twenty-eight thirds, I. Reid gained the training honors in South, Australia. C. Northway, who won the Birthday Cup with Navarine, Alderman Cup with Grecian Princess and the Port Adelaide Cup with the St. Spasa gelding St. Fix, was second on the list with eighteen wins. R. Medhurst, for the tenth occasion since he began riding in 1921, was tops among the jockeys with thirty-six wins, twenty-four seconds and forty-seven thirds. H. Bastian, who served his apprentice with the former Flemington conditioner, P. T. Heywood, was second with twenty-six wins, fourteen seconds and twelve thirds. Bastian headed the list in the two preceding seasons. Mick Poison, who took Winooka to the United States, says that if Darby Munro should ride on American tracks it will be unnecessary for him to change his style to conform with American ideas. American jockeys ride with a shorter rein than Munro, but he wouldnt have to follow suit, said Poison. The only difference would be that he would have to ride his mount out of the gates and Munro has won many races in Australia by his alertness at the barrier. Munro would be an ideal rider in America. He is strong and uses his head during races. THE TRUMP AUSPICIOUSLY. The Trump, performing under the colors of E. Eccles, returned to the races at Caul-field, Victoria, August 6 after a long rest and downed a select band of speedsters in the Moondah Plate run over six furlongs. Last at the half-mile with six horses leading him into the stretch, his prospects looked anything but bright, but the way he came home, was a revelation. Manfreds brilliant gelded son responding to light pressure, asserted himself over the last bit and drew away in handy fashion to defeat another Manfred gelding in Manrico with the 1936 Caulfield Guineas winner, Beechwood, taking the third money. The Trump carried 132 pounds and ran the distance over a slow track in 1:14. F. Musgrave, one of Australias veteran trainers, is definite in the opinion that Ajax has no peer over sprint distances in the Antipodes. With added age, his staying capacity is certain to increase and if he comes through his near-at-hand engagements with flying colors, his confederacy may focus attention on the two Cups. MusgraVe has the flying son of Heroic looking all the better for his layoff and says the red horse will be a thorn in the side of all embryo champions during the spring season. Ajax won 7,600 in stakes last season. Phar Laps dam, Entreaty, has arrived from New Zealand and the eighteen-year-old Winkie mare will visit one of the many English-bred stallions located at Scone, N. S. W. Entreaty may be described as "just an old, plain black mare," but she did the Antipodean turf incalculable good when she foaled the "red terror." RECORD PRICE FOR FELLY. The Sydney trainer J. T. Jamieson, acting for W. Devon, of New Zealand, paid ,200 for Early Bird, a record price for a filly in training, at A. E. Coopers dispersal sale at Randwick July 29. Bred at Lyndhurst stud, Queensland Early Bird is a product of the Musket-St. Simon cross, being by The Buzzard, sire of the Sydney Cup winner, LAiglon, from Early Girl, by Seremond, from Stable Girl, by the Cyllene horse Syce. Australians have reason to be pleased, with the list of winning sires, as three of the first four are Australian bred. For the sixth successive year Heroic has headed the list and established a record which is not likely to be equaled for generations. Heroic sired fifty-six winners of 141 races worth 12,852. Since the first of the progeny of Heroic appeared on the race track during the 1930-31 season his progeny have won 717 1-2 races, of a total value of 79,260, which is an amazing record when it is remembered that stakes were much reduced during the depression years. Spearfelt, leading Queensland sire, was second on the list with sixty-two winners of 135 races of a total value of 16,288. Like Heroic, he is Australian bred and is a great grandson of Carbine, he Buzzard sire of the Sydney Cup winner LAiglon was next. His progeny have won thirty-six races and 14,-692 in stakes. The Trump.s sire, Manfred, the fourth sire in the list, produced fifty winners of eighty-nine races worth 7,420. Cerne Abbas, the last New Zealand Cup winner, has reached Sydney in charge of the leading Dominion developer, F. D. Jones.
