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Eventful Program Marks Close Of Racing Season in Australia Champion Filly, Courtship, * Bows in First Defeat to Magnificent; Katanga Wins By Special Correspondent SYDNEY. New South Wales.— Autumn racing ended at Sydney on April 7 when the A. J. C. staged the final day of its three-day carnival at Royal Randwick Rain marred the sport on Doncaster day and a cool breeze swept the course. Highlights were the first defeat of the champion filly Courtship and the brilliant vie- j tory of the veteran Katanga over the crack mare Flight in the Autumn Stak I Sydney is becoming notorious for form upsets among the star thoroughbreds. Magnificent checked Courtships win- j ning run in the Sires Produce Stakes of | seven furlongs. Courtship had won her first five races straight and was hailed as an up and coming champion. Magnificent. I a handsome son of that wonder horse . A.iax. lived up to his looks and breeding | and finished with a grand run to win from the Midstream Blandford* filly. Lucky Stream, who nosed Courtship out of second on the post. The New Zealand colt Balmore showed a bold front to the home bend and weakened. F. W. Hughes, one of j Sydneys most enterprising owners, paid . ,760 for Balmore as a yearling in New-Zealand and the Coronach colt has won three races for him. Magnificent was bred by A. W. Thompson, and cost his owner. A. Todd. ,970 as a yearling. His dam. Complete, is by the Tracery horse. Bonnement. from We Two. by Saltash. a son of Sunstar. from Trois. j by The Welkin Flying Fox . Magnifi-cents sire, Ajax. still holds the time record for the Sires Produce Stakes. The son of Heroic ran the seven furlongs in 1:232. Magnificent took 1:2834 on a slow track. His four starts have yielded three wins and a third. Abbeville Wins Doncaster Handicap Abbeville, raced by Sydney bookmaker. W. A. McDonald, a part owner of the great sprinter Winooka. a Doncaster winner, won the Doncaster Handicap, one of Australias richest mile races. Queensland -bred Abbeville scored in a runaway from the rank outsider. Enthuse, and the Newcastle-owned and trained Barnsley. Taking charge at the top of the stretch Abbeville won by three lengths in the slow time of 1:40. Abbevilles time was the slowest since Chatham won the 1934 Doncaster in 1:40*4- Chatham carried the steadier of 144 pounds while Abbeville shouldered only 117 pounds. Abbevilles breeder. J. H. Collins, lives in Queensland. He leased the gelding for his racing career to W. A. McDonald, who gave him to the Victorian-born Tom McGrath to train. Mrs. C. H. Hicks hardy eight-year-old weight-for-age champion Katanga outstayed Flight and the dual Sydney Cup winner, Veiled Threat, in the Autumn Stakes of one and a half miles. Darby Munro and Katanga soon got to the front and stayed there. Katangas time, 2:4434. was fifteen and three-quarters seconds outside the Randwick record. The totalisator turnover was 40,585 as against 22,236 last year. Sydney Cup day usually attracts visitors from all parts of Australia and New Zealand, but travel re- | strictions again kept thousands of turf fans at home. Route Test Easy for Craigie This year the rich Randwick two-miler proved to be a very ordinary event with Craigie, a consistent son of the mighty Chatham, winning splendidly from Russia and Flight. It was only in the last 50 yards that CraifHe got to the front, and his rider, J. Duncan, had to use all his strength to hold off the fast-closing Russia. Veiled Threat, one of Australias hardiest horses, gave no trouble. The son of Veilmond had already won two Sydney Cups, the first in 1942 with 113 pounds and last year with 125 pounds. Veiled Threat has started in five Sydney Cups and established a record which has not been equalled in the last forty years. Sporting the colors of the late H. Little. Craigie carried 116 pounds and ran the distance in 3:2512. G. Douch, who trains Craigie, won many races with that good sprinter Winnipeg. This was J. Duncans second Sydney Cup win as he rode Mes-toravon in 1937. Bred on non-staying lines. Craigie, a four-year-old son of the Windbag horse Chatham 14 , from Grosvenor Maid, has struck form late in life. Grosvenor Maid is by Grosvenor. by Cicero, and Craigie inherits his stamina from his dams side. His grandpa, Ursaline, traces to the Imported mare Steppe, dam of such noted gallopers as Stepniak and Russley. Sons of Chatham have won many rich races and they include High Rank. Evergreen and Chata-san. W. H. Schlink of South Australia bought Chatham after he had served sev- j eral years at the stud in New South Wales. Seven Chatham yearlings were sold in Adelaide, South Australia, In April this year for ,418. Magnificent clinched his claim to juve- j nile supremacy when he outclassed Court- j ship and Moongalba in the Champagne | Stakes run over six furlongs. Jamelie threw her rider at the start. Revelling in the mud, Magnificent made light of his 132 pounds and covered the distance in 1:16 2. The son of Ajax followed in the footsteps of his sire in winning the Sires Produce Stakes and Champagne double. Accession failed to make the grade among Sydneys three-year-olds last Spring but Mrs. A. Fraunfelders stylish colt made hacks of his five rivals in the A. J. C. St. Leger. With W. Cook sitting against him. Accession ran past Eau Monde at the distance and defeated the Queensland-bred Spearfelt colt Ceylon and Beau Monda. The only other starters were Milanion and Prince Verity. Accession was bred by Captain Fraunfelder and is by Coronation Dav l Coronach from the champion New Zealand mare Silver Scorn, by Silverado 3 . son of Polymelus. F. T. Cash, who paid a high price for Silver Scorn, trains Accession, who ran the mile and three quarters in 2: 38 4. Prize money at the A. J. C. Autumn meeting was distributed among the owners of forty-five horses. Craigies three wins grossed the Executors of H. Little 0,620. The Sydney Cup had a net value of £4.386. Sydney statistics show horsemen divided 2,953. A. Mulley. one of Sydneys best apprentice jockeys, took riding honors with five wins. Total attendance for the three days of the A. J. C. Easter meeting was 131.500. compared with 162-000 in 1944. Totalisator investments dropped from ,421,726 to ,249,313. Sydneys annual yearling sales held at Randwick lured buyers from every stable in the Commonwealth and the spirited demand which marked the yearling sale* in Melbourne. Victoria, was equalled, if in-dpori pt pxc°edpd. wben the chir-er lots entered the ring. No less than fifty-four yearlings reached the ,240 mark or higher, while such priced sires at Manitoba. Golden Sovereign. The Buzzaro and Felcrag quite held their own. the demand for the progeny of the young sire Ajax was remarkable. To Ajax. who is of the Valais line through that horses well-perform- st n Heroic, belongs the distinction of being the sire of the highest-price yearlin" of the sale, a chestnut colt from Privet by imported Gay Lothario Gay Crusader. At 7,850 this colt was knocked down to Sydney owner H. McEvoy. who gave 5.-300 for the Golden Sovereign — Fpminist filly now racing as Anne-Tien-Et last year. I. H. Andrews will train the Ajax colt at Warwick Farm. Melbourne trainer R. Shaw bought a beautiful filly bv the Bosworth horse. Agincourt, sire of Courtship, for ,240. Manitoba Colt Brings 3,600 Top price on the second day was 3,600 for the Manitoba — Dark Elegance colt offered by W. H. Mackay. Of the seventy lots sold on the third day. eight brought ,240 or more. A sum of 81,921 was paid for 360 yearlings which were sold en the three days. This made a new aggregate record, the previous best being last year when 71,999 was paid for 327 yearlings. The average price of ,884 for this years sale was a record also, the previous best average being ,748 last year. Sires represented for the first time were High Ca*te and Beau Vite, two of the best horses ever to grace the Australian and New Zealand turf. High Caste, a great race horse over distances from five furlongs to one and three-quarter miles and winner of 14,817 in stakes, is expected to make his mark at the stud. J. Mitchell paid ,080 for a handsome filly by High Caste from Tarrilli, and H. A. Taylor eave ,740 for the Beau Vite colt out of Gneiss, a sister to the Victoria Derby winner. Feldspar, whose sire. Tracian, was fully related to Heroic. Aussie jockey Edgar Britt. who won races in the United States on Winooka many years ago. will be A. D. C. to the Gaekwar of Baroda when he goes to England to ride Gaek wars Pride in the English Derby. In keeping with his official position with the Maharajah. Britt has been given the rank of honorary captain attached to the British Army. Otherwise he would not have secured priority to leave India. Britt will wear the uniform of a British officer. He refused a rank in the Maharajahs private army several years ago. All jockeys in India have undergone extensive training for the Home Guard, and also have attended a yearly military camp. Early in the war. an attempt was made to attach the jockeys to the Indian Army, but they objected and ultimately their request to be associated with the British Army was granted. Jockeys were exempted from conscription into the regular army if they contributed twentv-five per cent of their winnings to war funds. No Australian jockey has won the English Derby. Frank Bullock, now training in India: Frank Wootton, "Brownie Carls-lake and W. R. Johnstone have all ridden favorites. Tranquil Star, number one lady of the Australian turf, had her last start for the 1944-45 season in the Glanara Handicap at Moonee Valley. Victoria, on April 6 and was unluckily defeated by the Hellespont horse Propontis with Lilette third. The chestnut daughter of Gay Lothario increased her stake winnings to 1,929.
