view raw text
l : England. Royal Meeting at Ascot Scene Of One Sensation After Another : : By CLTVE GRAHAM- I London Correspondent. Daily Racing Form LONDON, England! One sensation followed another at Ascot last week. A disputed photofinish for the Royal Hunt Cup, a stewards objection against Sir Gordon Richards, the defeat of Never Say Die, and the subsequent suspension of Lester Piggott, and finally a tremendous race between the Queens Aureole and Marcel Boussacs Janitor for the Hardwicke Stakes, resulting in victory for Aureole by a nostril. The meeting opened on an unusual note with the Queen Anne Stakes won by the Irish outsider Upadee. This filly had been unplaced in her two previous starts in Ireland, and the steward called for owner, Tommy McCairns and the filly s veteran jockey, sixty-year-ol Tommy Burns. The stewards told them that the discrepancy in form was "open to grave suspicion." McCairns, a Dublin garage proprietor, protested emphatically, and the stewards agreed to withdraw this allegation. "Things are coming to such a pass that we will not be able to run horses in England in the future," was the theme of an Irish group who gathered to discuss the affair. Trie Prendergast ruling still rankles. At the opening of the meeting on Tuesday the ground- was heavy after the weekend thunderburst. Noble Chieftain, by Nearco, struggled gallantly through the mud to win the two-year-old Coventry Stakes in a moderate 1:07. Later ki the afternoon, Darius, who had obviously lost weight from his Derby effort, had to be hard ridden to get a photo-finish verdict over Umberto in the St. James Palace Stakes. Darius goes next for the Eclipse Stakes, and will be shipped to California in September to train for the Santa Anita Maturity next February. ! The Royal Hunt Cup developed into a whip-cracking finish between the top-I weight, King of Tudors 131 pounds and " ; the five-year-old Chivalry by Prince Chevalier with 14 pounds less. During the pause while the photograph was being developed and the judge was examining the print through a magnifying glass, bookies offered 6-to-l against Chivalry being named the winner. When the result was announced, there was a feeling of amazement among the supporters of the loser, followed by one of loudly expressed disgust when they scrutinized the photograph. In the primary image, Chivalrys lead was not more than a; millimeter ; in the mirrored image, not even the tip of his nose could be seen. A charming Big Game filly, Bride Elect, beat a big field of two-year-olds for the Queen Mary Stakes, by five lengths from the unbeaten triple -winner,. Aberlady. In the writers opinion, Big Game fillies and mares are a "must" for breeders everywhere. The One Thousand Guineas winner, Festoon by Fair Trial came back to her right distance to win the Coronation Stakes, run over the turning old mile, with ease, from Sybils Niece. Another Big Game filly, the three -year-old Key, was Thursdays first winner in the Cork and Orrery Stakes. Tamerlane by Persian Gulf took the new stakes by a diminishing three parts of a length from the Petition colt, Le DieuDOr. . The two and one-half miles Gold Cup which followed, resulted in a desperate struggle between the two French stayers Elpenor, in Marcel Boussacs second colors and Silex n. Elpenor, by Owen Tudor from a Bahram mare, got the verdict by a short head. Blarney Stone was third in front of the other Boussac entrant, Talma II. Premonition ran his race in snatches, and faded out entirely at the end of two miles. The effort of the French Grand Prix winner, Northern Light n., was also spent at the turn into the five -sixteenths finishing i stretch. Never Say Dies defeat in the King Edward VII Stakes was but one incident in the most sensational raceof the season. He was giving from eight to 12 pounds to rivals, which included Arabian Night, the runner-up at Epsom: Walter M. Jeffords Blue Prince II, Tulyars brother Tarjoman and their Precipitation colt, Rashleigh. One could have been forgiven .for thinking that Stew Inglehart, Tommy Hitchcock and Pete Bostwick were in action on some crazy polo field when the horses rounded the final turn. The stewards later decided that Lester Piggott caused the melee by pushing Never Say Die through an opening which existed chiefly in that daring young riders imagination. While this barging match was proceeding, Arabian Night stole into the lead. With the race seemingly won, he swerved violently, hit the rail and rebounded into the center of the track. Gordon, on Rashleigh, cut sharply across him and Tarjoman corkscrewed his way through to get second place. The race was run in poor light. The stewards, realizing that Rashleigh had crossed over from the outside, objected to Sir Gordon. At the inquiry, the jockeys rounded on Piggott, the objection was withdrawn, Piggott suspended and reported to The Jockey Club, who have withdrawn his riding license for the remainder of the season. The whole incident underlines what a boon is conferred on American tracks by use of the film patrol. On with the racing. Phil Bulls big colt, Eubulides by My Babu, beat Our Babu by the same sire and Royal Palm brother to Royal Serenade decisively for the Chesham Stakes. As lately as last winter, Eubulides was valued at only 50 for insuring purposes, owing to the unusual straightness of his foreleg formation. The hard ground will probably find him out, but right now he must be nearly the "best two-year-old colt in England. The victories for Queen Elizabeths Landau and Aureole provided a highly popular wind-up on Friday. Landau, running fpr the Rous Memorial Stakes, over the old mile, showed no signs of quitting, and won easily by four lengths. Aureoles courageous effort after being headed by Janitor receiving seven pounds in the Hardwicke Stakes, stamped him as the best middle distance colt in Europe. A hundred yards from the finish, Janitor came past him, but the Hyperion colt refused to be beaten and stuck out his nose just where it mattered most.
