NOTES AND COMMENTS

* (JT "SIR LANCBUJT.")

The Government tax on the Marten Jockey's Club's Spring Meeting amounted to £1080 10s lOd.

The only horses to gallop on the grass at Trentham ■ yesterday morning were Rose Pink and The Golfer. They took lmin 21eec to cover six furlongs.

Nominations for all events (including entrance for Trial Plate) at the Masterton Racing Club's Spring Meeting, .to be held on 11th and 12th October, close tomorrow at 10 p.m. with Mr. A. Hathaway, secretary, Masterton. Elocution, Form Up, Piraeus, Silver Tongue, Demagogue, and Theben will in future race in the joint ownership of Mrs. M. A. Perry and Mr. H. E, Troutbeck.

Of the two-year-olds in training at Riccarton none are showing more promise than the filly Killala, by Kilbroney— Arai-te-uru, full-sister to Kilrea and halfsister to Taringamutu.

Nominations for the New Zealand Cup close to-morrow. It is expected that a few of the Trentham-trained will be included in the entry list.

G. Murray Ainsley is reported to have ,got hold of a. smart galloper in Nanna,by Martian —Nantes, a full sister to Marty re,. Marsa, Spangle, and Matty. The Trentham-trained . horses Rose Pink, Preface, Arihia, and Trentham, Rose are engaged at the Kurow Meeting, to be held at Oamaru on 4th October.

A three-year-old full brother to Square Deal and Postillion in A. Hall's Wanganui stable will race as Jutland.

Some New Zealand Cup candidates will probably be seen out at the Kurow Meeting. John Barleycorn and Eorke's Drift are likely to make their first appearance this season at the meeting named.

Mr. Lance Wood lias named the halfbrother, by Autumnus, to Sasanof. Vasilkov.

While schooling Sir Thomas, a member of T. Pritchard's team, at the Opaki course yesterday, a lad named J. A. Rowland, who holds a jockey's license, had the misfortune to get his leg broken.

Biplane's failure in the Chelmsford Stakes, nine'furlongs, must have come as a surprise to those who had seen the colt- working at Randwick. Concerning the New Zealand colt's Derby prospects the well-known writer "Pilot" has the following :—Of the Derby candidates trained at Bandwjck, Biplane has been responsible for more brjlliant work than any during the past week. Circumstances have caused R. J. Mason to hurry him more in his preparation than he would have preferred, but none th« less the colt is making excellent progress. The trainers of some of the other Derby horses are sufficiently disturbed by Biplane's track form to find it necessary to comfort themselves with the idea that he may not stay. Biplane only carries a very light boy in. bis- work, and, as is customary with horses in his trainer's charge, is far frotn heavily shod, but the .other morning a trainer of another fancied Derby colt, after weighing up these fact#, delivered. himself to the effect that: "If Biplane can run a mile and a half nearly as weir as he can a mile, it's little use looking further for the winner." And, on breeding, there is nothing, against Biplane as a staying possibility. Ho is by Comedy King (a Melbourne Cup winner) from j Air Motor, who, though she never won at a mile and a half, was third in Queen of Sheba's Metropolitan, and also scored up,to a Bsile and a quarter. On breeding, too, Air Motor might reasonably be expected to throw a fair stayer, seeing she is by Air Laddie from the Goldsbrough mare, Windmill. The ■ letter's half-brother Eclipse (by The Drummer) won a Queen's Birthday Cup, 1 mile 3 furlongs, at Bandwick, beating a big field. • Anyhow, after the Chelmsford Stakes w-e shall know a lot more than at present concerning Biplane, and if he does not beat all of his own age figuring in that race, his Derby price is nearly sure to lengthen. This because the succeeding three weeks may scarcely do as much for his condition as for that of some of his probable opponents. Gay Crosader, winner of the Two Thousand Guineas, 5 Derby, and St. Leger, is by Bayardo from Gay Laura, by Beppo from G»leottia, by Galopin from Agave, by Springfield. As a, two-year-old he ran twice, at Newmarket, winning the Criterion Stakes at his second appearance. Mr. "Fame's" colt was not, in the winter, regarded as haying substantial claims to classic honours; but this season, after running second to Cog dOr in the Column Produce Stakes at Newmarket, he captured the Two Thousand Guineas, and eventually became a hot favourite for the Blue Ribbon. Mr. "Fairie" ie the norn de course of Mr. A. W. Cox, an Australian who amassed great wealth out of mining in the West. His colours (white, orange sleeves and cap) were registered by the English Jockey Club as far back as 1887, and in 1888 his winnings on the Turf amounted to £120; but in 1909 he reached the high-water mark of success as an owner by annexing £37,719 in stakes. From Galicia (by Galopin from Isoletta, by -Isonomy), Mr. "Fairie" bred the half-brothers Bayardo (by Bay Ronald) and Lemberg (by Cyllene). Bayardo, the,-sire of Gay Crusader, failed in the Epsom Derby, but captured the 'St. Leger. Lemberg went under 1 by the- shortest of short heads to Neil Gow in the Two Thousand Guineas, but revenged himself in the Derby, ■which Mr; "Fairie" has thjis had the honour of winning s twice. Hector Gray, the well-known horseman, has.been granted a jockey's license by the Taranaki Jockey Club, and will make his reappearance in the saddle, after a lengthy absence, at the Otaki Meeting on Monday next. With Deeley, Emerson, and H. Young in Australia, Gray's services should be in great request with owners.