SPORT AND PASTIME.

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The Turf.

RACING FIXTURES. July 11 and 14 — Wellington Steeple- " chase Meeting. 1 August 14. 16, and 18— C.J.C. Grand •National Meeting. WELLINGTON RACING CLUB STEEPLECHASE MEETING. The Wellington Racing Club's Sleeplei chase Meeting was begun last Wednesday and is to be finished this afternoon. Tho weather on the opening day was "v" v glorious, but the going was heavy and the ground in the-endosurcs too sticky for comfort. Some racing was .witnessed. Only five of "the dozen ao- ' ceptors in the , steeplechase event faced ' the starter.. -These' were Slow Tom ? (11.4), Irish (10.4),- Piayiair (10.3), Mo- - cassin (10.0), and Eongoa (9.7). The . first two named were almost equally j backed on the totalisator, Playfair being i a handy third: Mocassin received fair V support, but Rongoa was almost ncg- [ Iccted. • It was an excellent race, but [ hacUnot Slow Tom and Irish fell in the f\ third round — when apparently still full i of running — there would probably have r been, seen a ding-dong finish between the . fonr that would have been worth one's ' white "to go •miles"to'see.'- The cause of "the falls must have been the slippery T goiifg," for the solid fences had all been \ "reduced "to 3ft 6in since tEey were first ' pu£ up. Slow Tom came down at the I sod bank — probably the easiest jump on the steeplec&ase course. Irish toppled over at the "logs" — a solidly-built but r not otherwise ■ formidable structure. \ Rongoa, who was "placed" from start to finish, eventually ran home a % winner by a length from ' Mocassin, who gamely under the whip and kept the ultimate result in doubt up to the last few strides. Playfair, who jumped faultlessly until nearing the turn for home, ran off >at the last obstacle but one, and so Uost any _ chance he may have possessed. The' slippery going doubtless made hard -obstacles out of actually easy ones, but in effect the ■ race was converted from a steeplechase into a hurdle race— -which is cot as it should be. A steeplechase is supposed to be a test of 'cross-country jumping, not a.. watch-breaking-rush over inclined fences. The opening, A-ace of the .day was the Stewards' Handicap," in which Gawain , and Ailsa went out first and second favourites respectively. Ailsa did not perform we!' m the mud, but Gawain showed- -to great advantage and landed the stake so easily that he is not likely to be stopped by a rise in Weight from repeating the- performance to-day. • Medallist, who ran , into second place, paid the false price of £3 ,11b for second. Jolly l''riar -was third and Tonderghie fourth. Ku IVu repeated his Otaki form and ■nipn the Miramar Hack Race (after a | desperate set-to with! Togos) by a short ' head.., Wailethe was third. Landwern and Pearl Necklet "(two well-backed runners) finished .head to neck in fourth and fifth .places. Fourteen sported silk in the Hack •Hurdles, and every one of them completed the course without mishap. Prospector (9.0), who was making his first essay "over tho sticks-, ran like a good one"; and landed the stake from Black '"-vP.ey-nard (11.0) after a ding-dong finish. Black "Reynard was in the van all the w^y, but Prospector was amongst the ruvTis until the - bend for home was reached. Asteroid was third, several lengths behind, with' lilack Squall iouLlh. Cyrus "Was prominent", for over t?LO3 parts of the journey. Mho punters backed Maui for the Parliamentary Handicap in a way that suggested the thought that the race was "all over." Sir Percivalc, Chryscis, Y\aikato, Rose Madder, and Lyrist were almost equal in ' favour after Maui. Waikato ran into second place from a tad start, but Maui, after being in tho leading division all the way, could not finish closer than third. ISarcotic broke clear of the ruck in the last distance - and ran past the judge's box an easy winner. Bar Hatley, the winner, was the biggest outsider in a field of eleven runners, -and." he returned a dividend of £19 10s. This mile was run in lmin SO 3-ssec— an excellent performance for a muddy course. - Exinoor was first favourite in the Winter Hurdles, but after a rush-and-come-again- race over the whole two miles ho was finally beaten by Shrapnel, who ran a race that makes his defeats in Poverty Bay last "week hard to account'for. There were twelve starters, t but Shrapnel and Exmoor finished the width <of two private streets ahead of all others. " Monarque headed the rearguard. " The winner's time was 4min 0 3-ssec. > The last race of the Jlay — Te Aro Hack Handicap — was won Tiy Pawa, who defeated Aboriginal rather comfortably. " Mataari, who finished faster than anything else, ran into third place., Pytcntey,. who ran first into the straight, fell back to fourth place in the last fifty yards. English" writers seem to differ about the, quality -of the three-year-olds Spearmint beat in the Derby. Several think, with half-a-dozen or. more, all appearing to be about the same form, none of them can be good. The Sporting Life's special held that the lot were moderate, and especially Spearmint.. On the day of the race -he 'wrote 1 that he would be "astounded" if Spearmint won the race. Mr"." 1 Allison, of the Sportsman, on the otEer hand, thinks most of the Derby colts will prove equal to winning good " races/ and as for Spearmint, he formed a high .opinion of him after seeing him a fortnight before the Derby, and made him This selection for the race. It is stajtgd: that in a real trial with Pretty Polly over the distance Spearmint beat the mare at weight for age. Mr. Gifpin put it down that the colt gave Pretty Polly a 71b beating. On this, the sup?orters of the stable backed Spearmint or the Derby. The defeat of Pretty Polly' in the Ascot Cup by Bachelor's Button suggests that the peerless one may not be quite as good as she was, but any way, she won the Coronation Cup, and Spearmint beat the best French form—'in ; tho- Grand Prize of Paris. XaftiraUy" Mr. Allison,' a consistent supporter of Australian horses, was delighted at the victory of Spearmint. On the morning after the race he wrote : "Next to seeing a Trenton win a Derby, I anr best pleased to have seen a Carbine" do tho trick ; and now at last we have reached a point when the long lesson to breeders which I have tried, according to my lights, to teach is touching its fruition. Ceaseless inbreeding' has been destructive to the British thoroughbred for a long time past, and now there comes a fortunate bolt from the blue— in other words, i great Derby winner without a drop of Galopin, Bend Or, or, Hampton blood in his veins." 1 \ THE ENGLISH DERBY. Late files contain full details of the Derby. The weather was fine, and the race for the Blue Ribbon was witnessed by --a. record assemblage, which "ncluded .King Edward JThe field numbered 22, ;or 'three less than- faced the barrier - in 4901, when Volodyovski secured the coveted prize! The. starters were: — Major Eustace Loder's b c Spearmint, by •" Carbine — Maid of the Mint (D.^ MaEerJj Ij, llr. J.. L, Drsdale'e eh c

Picton, by Orvieto — Hecuba (Mr. G. Thursby), 2; Duke of Westminster's be c Troutbeck, by Ladas — Royal Mount (J. H. Martin), 3 ; Radiumj by Bend Or — Taia ; Malva, by Marco — Harem ; Beppo, by Marco — Pitti ; Gorgos, by Ladas — The Gorgon ; His Eminence, by Royal Hampton — Altesse ; Plum Tree, by Persimmon — Cauliflower; Black Arrow, by Count Schomberg — Black Cherry ; Storm, by ErmaK — Stormy Petrel ; Sancy, by Diamond Jubilee — Dame Agneta; Tho, White Knight, by Desmond — Pella; Sarcelle, by Gallinulc—Croceum; Lally, by Amphion — Miss Hoyden ; Buckniinster, by Isinglass — Miyanoshita; Frustrator, by St. Frusquin — Orpah; Dingwall, by Dinna Forget — Gracie ; Nulli Secundus, by St. . Simon — Nunsuch ; Prince William, by Bill of Portland — La, Viuge; Minos, by St. Frusquin — Cretan Belle ; and C, by Teufel — Slipaway. Lally, though he eased in the market as the money came in for Spearmint, held the pride of place in the betting quotations to the close of business, the starting prices being 4 to 1 v. Lally, 6 to 1 v. Spearmint, 8 to 1 each v.'Malua, and Sancy, 10 to 1 v. Gorgos, and the others ranged from 100 to 7 to 100 to 1. Many of the runners were (says the Sportsman), of course, entirely out of place in such company — such, for instance, as Slipawaj- colt, Dingwall, Frustrator, and buckminster, but they were not a bad-looking lot tiking them all round. Lally had run up light, and did not fill the eye as a typical stayer, whereas Spearmint stripped a fine specimen of the weight-carry-ing ■ thoroughbred, and it was nothing against him that he was sweating pretty freely in the paddock, as the heat Mas intense, and many of the competitors were in similar Condition. The lot were weighed out in good time, and the numbars were exhibited by half-past 2 o'clock ; but much delay and inconvenience were caused by the police not allowing the horses to parade until four minutes after the time set for the decision of the race — an altogether vexatious policy. Buckminster, Sancy, GorgoSj Sarcelle, and Spearmint showed the best in the canter, and happily there was little time cut to waste, before Mr. Owen despatched the Jot to a grand start, the only sufferer being Prines William, who was so hopelessly left that ho only cantered a short way and was then pulled up. Lally was the lucky drawer of the inside berth, whicu .at, counted for his resumption of favouritism ; but curiously enough, it was the outside division wide on the top ground who struck off fii3t, Troutbeck showing the way to Spearmint, and the Kingsclere colt figured very prominently from the nagfall to finish. He Mas deprived of the lead at the mile-post by Picton, but resumed it again approaching Tattenham Corner, and led by about a couple of lengths into the straight, M'ith Picton, His Eminence, Spearmint, and Malua his 'nearest attendants. His Emihence was done with a moment later, and the issue was placed beyond ques» tion when Spearmint shot to the iront a quarter of" a mile from home. Picton put-up a strenuous fight of it, but Mr. G. ThursDy has yet to realise his ambition of steering tho winner of the Derby, and had to pu^ up with thesecond position he occupied on John o'Gaunt behind St. Amant- the year before last. Even so, this is a record which has never been eclipsed by an amateur. The race was run in the record time of 2min 36 4-ssec, and^ the value of the stakes to the M-inner was £6450. The Sydney Mail thus, refers to two New Zealand horses now in Australia: — "General Kcroki and Savoury were, oeen under eilk at Warwick Farm on Saturday. General Ivuroki was made an odds-on favourite for the Hui3le Race, but although he seemed to have the .race afe his mercy turning into the ttraight, Oliver easily accounted for him after negotiating the last obstacle. Sav,oury was aSicng— the "Tstarters for the Warwick Handicap, but he dad not figure in the betting. He L. a rich bay in colour, and has a good 6tyle of galloping, but -was last .to pass the post. The visiting pair, however, will be unlucky if they do not pisk up a race or ,tM'o while they are here." The Frenchmen will need to havo something particularly good to retain the valuable stake for tho Prix dv Consiel Municipal to be decided at Longchamps in October next, inasmuch, as a strong British contingent is engaged, including Major Eustace's well-perform-ed pair, Pretty Polly and Hammerkop, Mr. S. Joel's Batchelor'a Button, Mr. W. R. Wyndnham's ' Athi, Mr. Wjlliains Singer's Challacombe, Mr. Newman's Llangihby ((all bred in Ireland) ; Captain J. Orr-Ewing's Song Thrush, and Mr. 0. W. Raynor's Feather Bed (an English bred pair). Mr. J. Buchanan's Noctuiform (New Zealand).