TURF GOSSIP

ffiY WHALEBONE.)

In England there, is a strong prevailingidea that the practice of doping Is not by any means dead in that country, and a leading London sporting paper says the stewards might be well advised if they called renewed attention to the rule bearing ou the matter. In England the fee to a jockey who wins a steeplechase or hurdle race of the advertised value of lOOsovs or upwards is 30 guineas, and to a losing jockey sgs. Under Jockey Club Rules, a w ; innin» jockey's fee is 5 guineas, and a losing jockey's fee three guineas, whatever the value of the race may be.

Will England feel downhearted? Mr Sol Joel has a number of horses in training in France, and it is rumoured that Mr ... B. Joel also contemplates turning hts attention to the French Turf. As horses to be qualified for many of the rich prizes must be bred in Prance, it is quite possible that the brothers Joel will follow the example of Mr Belmont, and start a stud farm on the other eide of the Channel.

W. Bullock was looking very ill when he got up to ride Signorinetta in the English St. Leger. The Ally was beaten on her merits, but Bullock was taking a big risk in riding when so unwell. Ills case is an extraordinary one. as the doctors at the Rouse Memorial Hospital wanted to operate for appendicitis. Dr. McCabe, the Queensberry Lodge trainer, would not give his consent, however, and as the symptoms gave way to treatment, Bullock was able to leave the isntitution after a couple of days. ■'

Kendal, a famous stallion, who was 23 years old, died at Ojo de Aqua Stud in the Argentine, early last month. At the time of his death he was head of the winning sires of South America, with the winners of 41 races, value over £16,700. His stock have always been well appreciated, and m-any of them have been publicly sold for large sums. While in England Kendal sired, amongst other good horses. Galtee More, the triple crown hero of 1897, who was sold to the Russian Government for £21,000, and having sired the best of the year in Russia three seasons in succession, was bought by Count Lehndorff for £12,000 on behalf of the German Government. The development of the telephone in England In its relation to race meetings has occasioned an increase of cases of fraud upon bookmakers which borders upon the sensational. An extraordinary number of instances of the back coding of betting messages upon receipt of telephoned results of races are coming to light, and many wellknown London and Continental and Midland commission agents have been victimised to large amounts. The Post Office officials are at present prosecuting no fewer than five cases of alleged conspiracy and forgery arising out of these matters, and the facts in connection with several others are under investigation by the department. In one instance a startling sequel is not unlikely to occur.

Says the "Sporting Times." in commenting on the decline of betting in England: "Some time ago in speaking to a large bookmaker concerning the short odds that were on offer in connection with a big handicap, and contrasting them with the 'twenty monkeys' that we have before now heard offered against a prominent candidate that had four sound legs, his reply was that things are very different to what they used to be. Formerly each stable had its own candidate, and backed it. but now three or four stables galloped their horses together, and one carries the money. The bookmakers, therefore, have nothing on their books to bet with. That this statement of the case is an exaggerated one is probable, but at the same time there is a certain amount of truth in it.*'

Personally (says a writer in the English paper, "The Country Gentleman"), if I were given my choice of two stallions, one who had distinguished himself over long distances, and had the reputation of being a stayer, rather than a speedy sort, and another who had shown equally smart form over a mile. I think I should prefer the latter. Onr experience of modern thoroughbred stallions tells us that it is not the plodders who make the best stud horses, but rather the quick ones, who seem to have a greater spark of vital energy or nerv»ns force—call it what you will—which enables them to get more racing-like stock than the slower horses.

Although New Zealanders seldom hear much about racing in Canada, the sport is in a flourishing condition in' the Eastern Provinces, and no efforts are being spared in those parts to increase the stakes, and thus induce good class owners to take up the sport. Recently, at Woodbine Park, near Toronto, a meeting of representatives of the principal jockey clubs throughout Ontario and Quebec was held with the object of forming a Board of Control for the supervision of all turf affairs in Canada. As a result of the meeting it is probable that na new body, called the Canadian Racing Association, will assume control of the turf in the Dominion on and after January 1, 1909.

Touching ou the working of the antibetting law in Now York, a writer in that city states that during the closing days of the Graveseud meeting, the police authorities became active again, and a number of leading bookmakers were arrested. There were, however, none of the scenes which characterised the Sheepshcad Bay gathering—the arrests were made quietly, the prisoners promptly gave bail, and resumed business, making oral wagers on the credit system. Some of the ablest lawyers iv Brooklyn have been engaged for the defence, and they have had no hesitation in publicly denouncing the police officials, and claiming that convictions will be absolutely impossible. On the recent meeting Mr Philip J. Dwyer. owner of the Gravesend track, will come out about even.

In view of the statement that iv England some jockeys and trainers make as much as they can in the way of charging owners with "expenses," the following from "The Winning Post" js rather good: - "Ah!'' soloqnjsed the joekej. "I am going to Manchester, and I do not think I shall ride a winner, but I get exes, and £3 for every losing mount, so 1 can put up at the Midland Hotel, and have a good time." ••Ah!" soliloquised the jockey. "I am taking several horse* to Manchester, which my joekev says might win. and which the trainer says will win if the jockey can ride them. I have had a bad time, and hope to get mv losings back this week. I have wired for a bedroom at a boardinghouse. '

| A representative of the "Sporting Times I has on several occasions attended the ' committee meetings of the Turf Guardian I Sc-eietv, when the settlements of disputes 1 between backers and layers have taken : place, am. we can testify to the careful, business-like, and impartial manner in j which these inquiries are held. It is nowproposed to open a Backers' Section in con- ■ ncetio-i with this Society, and backers can I.avail tncms.lvcs of its advantages by paying an -annual subscription of one guinea. ; If'" the Turf Guardian Society succeeds in I stamping out mushroom bookmakers, and !in exposing fraudulent and defaulting I backers, it wtt- oe of great service to the '■ straightforward and honourable sporting ! fraternity. It has already done much good work in'this direction.

Thirty thoroughbreds, the property of Messrs Harry Payne Whitney, August Belmont, Herman Duryea. and John Madden, were shipped ou the Minnehaha for Londou from New York recently. It is the largest consignment of horses in training which has left America to race abroad in the last fifteen years. Two colts, owned hy Mr Madden. Sir Martin aud Fayette, are engaged in the Derby, the Thousand I Guineas, the St. Leger. and the Grand Prix of Paris. It is the consensus of opinion ■ among experts that no finer lot of raeej horses was ever shipped to England. The Derby candidates are insured for £10.000 each. This American invasion of England docs not mean that racing in the State of. New York is killed beyond the chance of resurrection. Governor Hushes' anti-bet-ting bill certainly demon: !:s-V turf enterprise, but the Jockey Club i.c.-c claims that j it is unconstitutional.

i,., A 5-' ontlnent al writer says that R. Day has done remarkably well since he went lo Oraditz. Out of a lot of five-and-forty th s6l -., 0 ..- 34 who have touched down' tho r~ ,;, ' . ' st anding to the credit of the Graditz stud will permit of somethin" ovlr'T-' aUd f13 ' 000 being hamted anSn- n™ Lmon . cl "'> for redistribution among owners, winners of the Graditder v. Pr . , ZES ' : ! S , *. c races are called wWcS ~., . *?!_ ad,led m <>»ey from thc funds the net receipts from the money earned by the hscal stable when proving the valne of L t„'. l , bre l i ! t G J aditz M °™ ending them to the stud. Every penny piece is .^ 0n ? d _ UP ' and m ° as sent of the >_ini_* obtained Ag f r o r CUUtU ', c and PiQan « has to be .hi i,i. ■ for each sum disbursed -while £ a S th a e n r.n e r Uragement t0

An amusing instance of a weH-lairt scheme which went "agle"' fi Teportei from a certain Lancashire town whe?c the police are very energetic in t h£_ endeavour! was SU sT^ 5 .«5 ■ A certaiQ traded "* b t! t peoted °. r . bein S also a bookmaker, and the authorities plotted to trap hi___ Sd t _?' heard a noise but apparently nobody was there How.mn_ , .T 0 . W<?re UDnsual nioVemenls ™ ae m } He. straw, and he soon uncovered ••?n m _? YD-V D -- thc , sarb of navvies, with ™ d other impedimenta of the trade The "vjctim" accordingly called to his wife to send for the police as there were two trumps in the stable ' But the •navvies" suddenly remembered that they had a pressing engagement elsewhere and without waiting to offer a long explanation; they silently stole away back to the police station. But they had been recognised, and there were great rejoicings In the camp ot the enemy at the foiling of the plotters

Mr August Belmont arrived by the Lusitania in New York from London recently, and announced his intention of sending practically all his yearlings to ana withdrawing from competitions with smaller breeders and horseowners in the American market for racehorses. "I shall " he said, "continue to breed my thoroughbreds at my stud farm in Kentucky as I can send the yearlings bred there to England when I wish, since all races in England are open for foreign thoroughbreds. Ia order to be able to race in France, however, I must breed horses there, so I am negotiating for a small farm near Dieppe, where I shall send fifteen or twenty mares with a stallion or two, probably Octagon and iLthelbert. Mr Whitney expects to send half a dozen mares to mc if I carry out this plan. Sir John Watson will continue to train my horses in England." Mr Duryea has rented the stud farm of Le Gazon, and another American sportsman will also race in France next year. But there is no truth in the rumour that Mr Ham- Rosenfeld will import a string of racers from Chicaso.

At a meeting of the English Jockey Club held at Newmarket recently, some very Important alterations in the rules were agreed to. Rule 137 now reads as follows:— "No horse shall go back except in the case of an accident or under the provisions of Rule 36 (ii.). to which is now incorporated Rule 37. with the addition of • But in the event of any horse .running the conrse from a false start or from a void start, the owner may. with the consent of the stewards, withdraw his horse from the race. The horse shall, nevertheless, be considered as having started.' " Rule 37 will now read:— "The starter has power to Inflict a fine not exceeding lOsovs on any jockey who misconducts himself at the post, and should a jockey be so fined the starter shall report tbe fact at once to the stewards. He shall also report to the stewards any jockey who refuses to obey his commands in any respect whatever." To Rule 38 was added — "The starter shall report to the stewards the time at which each race was started, and by whom or by what canse any delay was occasioned. He shall also report to the stewards for transmission to the registry offlce all cases in which tbe starting gate is dispensed with, and the reasou thereof." Thus the well-known American writer "Exile" on racing in that country: —The I one feature of the racing of 19oa has been the terrible rough riding of the jockays, aud the way in which it has been tacitly endorsed, aud encouraged, by tbe various I acting stewards, who have utterly declined to notice it. In almost every race horses I were taken right across competitors,, causing the horse crossed to throw up his head, and fall back to last or thereabouts, this being done along the backstretch, on the turn, or even right under the stewards' very noses. As I predicted, a smash-up occurred. Dugan. riding for H. P. Whitney, went right across in a most flagrant manner, several went down, and one boy is expected to die. After being permitted — and therefore encouraged—to rough all the season, it was rather hard on Dugan to find himself set down for the rest of the racing year. It should have been done last May. As Gilbert and Shilling did exactly the same thing under the stewards' very noses, the former killing off a Whitney horse, and the latter a Belmont horse, both losing their race, without the jockeys being evea "whispered to," both crossings being done since the Dugan race, it is not a wonder that we are gasping slightly, and wondering "who-e are we at?" We are accustomed to tjjat in American racing, however, bo it Opes not come too hard.

Telling the tale, "How I 'Won the St. I.eger," Walter Griggs, the rider of Your Majesty, in tne great English classic race, says:—"When I was suspended," he said. "1 made up my mind to go home and rida Your Majesty in his work. 1 was always thinking about the St. Leger. He is a nice horse to ride. He is not excitable at home, but he is on a racecourse like most of the sons of Persimmon. I knew he was a stronger horse than when he won the Eclipse Stakes, and I felt sure he would win. I went out on the course on the morning of the race to ride him a eantcr, but being so excitable it was decided not to take him near the racecourse. A jockey is bound to be more or less excited when he is riding a favourite for a big race. The horse was saddled outside the paddock, but |he came in about ten minutes before it ! was time to get up. In the meantime I | was talking to the owner aud trainer. Ilia trainer told mc to lie within striking dis- | Tance of the leaders and two furlongs from ■ home to send him along. We left the pad- ! dock and paraded. Nothing happened then. ;He was excitable at the post, and broke ■ out in a lather over his neck, but there was uo idea of temper about it. It was only excitement. There is no vice about this fellow. It was a good start- I let him go for the gate, and never rode him into hi- stride, but let him do it for himself. I lay about : sixth till coming into the straight, when I went ui> into fourth place. The four horses in front of mc were l'om, I'rimer. Bembo, ar i Ebor. When I was lying there 1 looke i for an opening, and I thought to myself, 'I am. not going to risk getting shut in,' so in time I gradually pulled round. I was then left with l'om. Pom died away. I niggled my horse along, aud thought 1 was going to will easily till White Eagle came on the scene. That made mc pick up my whip, and I hit my horse twice, ne is a game horse. I knew as soon as I picked up my whip he would answer to it. This is what he did do. He is the gamest horse I ever rode. He came back as fresh as paint. As I was passing the post my thought was, 'I have got my wish.' " Walter Griggs was born August 7, ISSB. and is one of the youngest jockeys who have ever won tha St. Leger.

Judge at Bow County Court (looking through some invoices): "What are threepenny cows?" Witness: "They axe I tins of condensed milk." j Probably the first member of the" ! famous international banking dynasty of j Rothschild ever sent to prison has just j been sentenced to eight years in the penitentiary at Geissen, South Germany. He is Court Councillor Rothschild of ; Budingen, who was convicted of emj bezzlemcnts and frauds aggregating £7500. One of his managers was sentenced to eighteen months for complicity lin the banker's sptKuUtioxi-W