FIXTURES.

s<itoi«r.Jt; t» li-Aoitraliah J.C.,: ■Ootober », 11—Dtsnwin J.C. •-'—'-"- Wotober; iO,^ll—MuteHonvt'.Q:l' '- i-october. 18, 18—Whangar«i E.C. - •October 17, 18—Oamaru. J.C: '-•-• (•October 18—Carterton B.C. V' {•Ootober 25, »—Wellington R.C. (•Ootober 27—North Canterbury R.C. (•October 27—Walkate Hunt Club. ■ fOctoberr 27—Walpava Oouuty R. 0." \jOctober 87—Waverley R.C. Jubilee. •October 27, i»—Gore B.C.

', '.'So "fair as the racing has progressed it j^rouid seem that thi_ year's thrse-year-*>lds- iwfio'. have -raced in the Dominion Are. below par. Nigger. Minstrel-- and. .KKilljicra-t-hare-' perforce' to'"bV'excluded thjs criticism, as the former has f*howri, by _is__tosehill.Guineas. win-^ fikis.is''being written before 'the A. J.C.' .-uDerby-is_ run—that he ie ft good colt: fpw;ing tp lameness^KiihVCTa has'yet to that-he will reproduce his

'gooid v form;.'. of "last year. Coming to «sfchoSe. who .have ..won the thwer classic fracas in -this, -island, Inferno, Tuahine, »nc£ Mount" Marta, the,.; first-named

iseems immeasurably superior. to the othgv pair. He won the Wanganui Ouijaeafa very easily Jiidecjd, .;,ahd alfr' jthough the opposition might '.'not have strong, it was more; the way' which he*won than the actual wiri-

-;nin£. which impressed. At Avoridale CTuahine, Master Doon, Lady Rewa, and Light fought' but:a stirring and •*inuch. discussed, finish. Lady Rew.a's '-poofc effort at Hastings rather discounts .guanine's effort. Again at Hastings 'ithe: : maiden plater, Mount. Marta, was ■•able.: after a desperate ■ struggle to' defeat = a useful —nothing, more^-filly 'in Lady Joyce. •' Subjection, with, "all ,the Z bad luck that was. going, -..,-wasv.. only, a very short' . distance away third. Subjection's .trainer siolds a high opinion of the .Martian colt/; but even allowing- for .the 'bad lucksat Hastings the, opinion 'had- to, be -accepted with a certain amount of re-, servatibh. •' Subjection' might possibly _> rove the Z. equal of Inferno -over the Derby course, and later; on stay really swell J.'but at present he is just a little 'disappointing. ,Tanadees;.. although': his' ;efforts,tsOvfar ■ .have been Confined'|to hah-' Wicaps', should quite hold his own with ithe..,.thrse;y.ear-olds who have ,so far :lacedin New-' Zealand. Providing Nig;rger' Mipistrel does not take part in nhe Derby ' at' Riccarton, the lat,'lter race will be an interesting event. Of the colts and geldings < the best of the /North are Inferno, Tanadees^ and Sub.jection. .-!'• --.;,. '-. .'■:'('■ .-. '.■ *■ '; •-,-•'..•■■.. . 'Of the'':three : year-old'.fillies,'.-'although JTuahme wOif'at Avon'dale;' and":' Dazzling Light was allegedly unlucky, the one thati appeals most of the northern: jlot ia"'the:':'double",wihnerVat- Otaki, Clar?3nda. and 31ackada. -She-is engaged in both the Derby and.Oaks! at Riccarton-^neist ;:mOnth._ Ilk^, ,althougKaE*7quality; is' •small; while ■ Motley'^may^proye a -fair; ..sprinter, but no *mbre.«- "The'^southern -three-year-olds, colia^lllies^-ahd: "geldirfeg, will receive 'their; first'.rffal test'at" Dunedin next weekvin-^the ;: Guineas, iwhen an unusua-llyV.interesting':- race '■■' is" 'expected. From wh'at.Jdife\.can«uhderr": stand hi this distance'.'-there''are""ho real ■champions in the South, ;TO,.that wheni •the big meeting a£"vßiccartbn'. oomes round, and Nigger Minstrel, .'is','still in: "Australia, although the: Dominion racing will be poorer by irhig-absence, it -should be of greater 'interest.' At the time of writing he appears to be much ■better than the. best left ■■: behind in his pwn country. * The win of; Teresina in the Jockey Club Stakes draws further attention to' the quality .of the"; TraceryT—Blue Tit filly. There is no doubt that she is one of r the best fillies seen out in recent

years. The iact that Papyrus was run-ner-up is. surprising, for after Ascot it 1 Was announced that he would be retired to! the stud. Since winning the Derby he* has had a more or less -chequered ■career, including -his^deplorable visit to America, when tie was purchased by his present owner, ? ,Mr; 3. Hornuhg;' from Mr. B. Irish.. Parth .continues to run' good honest: races, and he must have proved a sound investment for Mr. M. Goculdas. That onertime good sprinter Bisogne is-now standing.-at Palmerston: North. Although he.has been at the-stud only 'five years, and has not received the cream of thoroughbred mares, he has left some very creditable stock. The foiir-yearrold. filly- Ayola.: is",,,above the ordinary "in- handicap class,- while in - Glengariff and Bonogne he has two very useful- three-year-olds. The success of iAutomne at Avondale showed that given the opportunity Colonial-bred sires can. beget good winners, and compared with 'Autumn/ sire^of ;Antbmne,3Bisbgrie:Uis ia proved racehorse. --.■-.On.,;.b'reeding, L.he has much to".recommend him, being by . iSezonian frpmT'St;' Evangellne^fa' mare W ;'the sturdy^ Musket- .family, .f Bisogne " .cose relat'io»-to Valais, the sire of »Heroic, so much"in the public eye at pc, present time. Apart from, the breeding his stock show they can gallop, which is, after all, the only real test.. i 'Predominate, the two-year-old filly by "Nassau from -Matty, haa been sent rby rMr. G. L. Stead to his brother in Sydney to be sold .there. Predominate is a heritable pocket-edition •' of a ' racehorse, ■•and, measure2-by "the eye, appeared to' • betless than '14"hands." There is little ■doubt that the filly will find her way ?.to-the pony courses in the Common- . .'wealth. _.',... •■_ Absurds .first., representative to race an ;New Zealand^ Golden Bubble, is due to -appear under silk again. shortly. Gojden Bubblers'now eight years old. Radiac, who was purchased by Mr. sJohn _ Grigg- the - Grand National Meeting, has been sent to Longbeach for «. spell. Radiac is to be tried over the steeplechase fences when put into work •again....-,-,.......--. . ' ....

Those ::two "good horses, Roseday amd '^nghrea,; are being worked Bteadily in the South.'' Roseday is not being, hurcried, but, according to reports, is'cornting to hand nicely. Loughrea, who is strained privately, has been taken to JWingatui on one or two occasion* retcently, and is stated to be a little on pie big side. Baldowa and Bonnie ■IWinkie are others that are in good ihealth. - . ...

H. Gray will be riding at. the Dunedin Meeting ..next:, week, when .'one of liis mounts will be Arpent in the M'Lean •Stakes. - /The ex-North Jslander. Penury Rose lias done .well;in the South. 'He '.mjiy be given a run m welter races.at somo of the spring fixtures.

Dainty Step, a sterling maTe in her day, has foaled a filly to Arrowsmith. If there is; .^anything in breeding: this youngster 'should hold her own with the best. : .-,,..;.a .'', Mr. Knight explained to an Australian pressman how he came to bestow

the name Ballymena. It was the Prince of rOrange, of the Nassau family, who became King William the Third of EngJand. This Prinoe of Orange fought the

battle of .the Boyne, and a_ Ballymena Castle, County; Antrim,, is a landmark in that part:of Ireland where William carried pn'his' chief'operations, Ballymena was chosen as the nairie of this son of Nassau..:.. ,-'""'''.;•'"„;..'.;.'.■ .-'.'-■.;

Hades, a four-year-old brother to Mr. W. G. Stead's imported sire Leighton. is- one.of the -active brigade at R-and-wick. Like his brother, Hades was a promising early two-year-old, but disappointing afterwards. Hades is a chestnut' in colour and Leighton a bay. The Night Patrol, the English, horse owned by the Earl of. Stradbroke, Governor of Victoria, has evidently plenty bf;speed.;.]Recently at Flemington he was sent to run a mile and a half. Loveliness could not keep with the imported horse, who. disposed of the first five furlongs in lmin-3_sec, and six in lmin 16iseo, which is only isec outside the track: records of Hova' and Bungebah. He ran the seven in,lmin 29£ sec (the best ever done on the track) and the mile iri lmin 43£seci ' equalling the record pf. Newman and Gladsome. After run-ning-nine in' lmin, 57isec, The Night Patrol slowed down, to take 2min 12i sec for .a mile and a quarter, 2rain 27$ sec for eleven furlongs, and 2m'ri 43sec for the full journey. The track record for the full distance is.2min 40Jsec, made by Piastre -at the end of a' mile and three-quarters.gallop, before his win in thevMelbourrie Cup of 1912. Piastre did the/first eleven "furlongs of his gallop iri;2minr,2Bisec, ,and the first mile and a half in aniri^lse'c:.'.He. covered the last eleven furlongs iri 2min 274 sec. The Night Patrol, who has 8.13 in the Caulfield .'Ciip, -is at present ,"a good favourite for' that) race. Although only six years old; ho races as aged in Australia. He is by Stedfast from Dark Plight. An, Australian with ail inquiring turn of niind; had discovered that nearly, all the'prihcipal.races in the' Commonwealth •last., year, were:'won'-by1 :horses whose names contained seven letters. These included Bitalli (Melbourne Cup),' Wynette (Caulfield and. Adelaide Cups), Quintus (Newmarket. Handicap), Accarak (Australian Cup),: Scarlet (Sydney Cup), and Balaton (Brisbane Cup). Indeed, the whole_;list.,.is: quite, a- formidable .one, and includes'- almost every handicap of importance';.::., Superstitious . punters'•■ who may,decide on taking this line for tho New Zealand Cup have to choose from Cupidon,;.Muraahi,, Kilfane, Red Wink, Qandhu, Nukumai, and Eilloch. : ..Barrier was not started at Hastings owing to injury received when racing at Napier Park. Barrier, when making his run round the top turn, got on to the: heels of "one of the leaders, arid he was. decidedly lame, after, the race. The*injured leg waa under treatment in the hope that, it would improve sufficiently;;, for "him-■-to. -start. at;. Hastings, but; he/had^'to^be',.;scratched.