SPORTING NOTES.

.(By Sir Single) King George cannot be considered to lack interest in the national sport of iiorse racing. as, when the last mail left England, he had twenty-one horses in -training, utd fifteen yearlings were oji the point of being placed in commission. . The Wanganui Jockey Club will distribute 9425 sovereigns in stakes this season. The Native has been shipped to Sydney with an eyo to jumping events at the spring meeting. On arrival there Ac is to go into F. McGrath's stable at Jver.smgton. From Sydney comes word that the once spepxly New Zealand ir.are Solution {Soult—Problem) has foaled twins to imported Earlston. The steeplechaser "Red McGregor by Xeolantis—Jean, who won the Great JSiorthern Steeplecha.se in 1910, died from an attack of strangles some days ago. "Sentinel," ij the Otago Witness, re•marks "a dark room" for .photographers is included amongst the improvements, bemg carried out at Randwick. In *ew Zealand the "dark ioom" is generally used for. the purpose of holding stewards enquiries. ° T. Pritchard, who was laid aside for over a year through an accident, is again Tiding, work at Trentham, but finds the exercise severe after his long retirement, .lie is; only able to ride a couple of horses •each :morning.. An exchange supposes that- the time is not very far. distant, when it will be -quite the thing to travel horses to meetings in motor horse vans. The fashion has already been set, and is bound to become general. In France motor horse4>oxes are in general use. For three tubed horses to finish first, *econd, and third is most unusual if not unprecedented. Canonite, Battle Axe. and Pharos, which occupied the teadinp pjmtipns at the finish of the lnal Plate\at Newmaraket (England) recently, have all had "their throats cut." The New Zealand-bred pony, Sneedv Mcc, (by St. Paud) well-knmvn to TaS naki racegoers, who won the Fourteenone Handicap at Rosebery Park on the lyth instant, was offered at auction in Sydney last week, but, as only 60gns. was bid for her, she did not change lands. fa Local sportsmen will be pleased to note that Mr R. Hicks has at last had a turn of Fortune's wheel in regard to -btyrax, with whom he has persevered in the face of misfortunes that would have made many owners chuck the chestnut up in disgust. At the Marton races on Wednesday Styrax lost his maiden status by beating a good field comfortably in the Tutaenui Welter. This. Sir Single hopes, may prove to be the first of a ]nne -of successes for the chestnut gelding A Northern writer says: "By a coincidence Bercola, winner of the Grand TSational Steeplechase, is out of Noon while Morning, winner of the Grand National Hurdles; is out of Evening, so that the big Riccarton double was a -sort of "Morning, Noon, and Evening" affair. Had Bercola's breeder been able to forsee results he would probably have called Bercola Afternoon, and then it would have been a "Morning, Afteri.oon, and, Evening" affair. Had some of the superstitious punters drpoped on to the coincidence before the races the double books would probably not have escaped scot free. , The Derby winner Aboyeur, by Desmond—Pawky, is said to be a much finer looking colt than Craganour. An Eng3ish paper states that Aboyeur was saddled up on the far side of the course and did not take his place at the post until 3ust before starting time so that most people missed, seeing him, .otherwise perhaps he might not have started at forlorn hopp price of 100 to 1. The Porirua trainer Mr J. H. Prosser, who has been laid up for the past three or four weeks with a severe attack of has now left the private hospital and is progressing favorably. . A writer in the Australasian makes the following comment on the riding of F W. McCabe, the ex-New Zealander, on Bullawarra in the- Australasian Steeplechase which he won:—"MoCabf? took no chances. He even let Leah Kleshna and Vanguard lead him over the last jump. After that Bullaivarra 3vas let go, and the race was over. Me-

Cabe, who was far more distressed than his horse, rather lost his,head at the finish: He got out the whip, and had his "head twisted round until he must have l>een able to see Bullawarra's tn.il/ It yas rather hard on Bullawarra, butthe^. illustrious Carbine suffered in the same""* way when Tie was winning the Melhri'livie Cun of 18P0, by four. lerigtTiq. Speakings of this finish, Mr Donald Wallace used to say that he saw Carbine lookround and ask his jookev: 'what the—he was spurring him for.'" A London correspondent, writing'~vjider da+« July 23. says: The Ruapeha, vhi^h leases here on July 30. wf'!, tako to New 7ealand several valuable animals purchased in this country I>> the -well-known HaAvke's Bay breeder, Mr •&■ P. Donnelly. The Tnost imoortant cf ■ itl'esß is the thoroughln-p'l fitoTT'oa P°TOosthenes, for whom?Mr Donnelly paid T ■ni-r\\ ]\tqrcu's l' ; Beresford 1200 -guirieW. Demosthehess is hv Desmond, the fire the first two horses in this year's I

Derby, out of Carlin, who herself was a good winner, and is dam of Carrousel, winner of the Goodwood Cup. Car Jin is out of Lamezm, wno is also dam of i,'oris, the dam. of Sunstar, the Deroy winner. On the turf .Demosthenes himself was a hign-class performer and a proved stayer. He won the Doncascer Handicap, the Stewards' Handicap at Epsom, the Old Newton Cup, etc.; jnd he was second in the City aud Suburbai and 'third in the Royal Hunt Cup nt Ascot. During the hearing of the lilje.l case. H. Wootton v. H. S. Sievier, there were several, smart and bitter exchanges between the plaintiff and defendant. Here is one specimen:—Mr Sievier: i)o you know Jack Fielder, the trainer?— Yes. He is ap ordinary chap. Mr Sievier: is he as big a blackguard as I am P—Well, i won't contradict that. (Laughtor). Another excerpt: Mr Sievier: Which is the worst,'foul riding or pulling a horse? Danny Maher: Well, I think one is rr,l> iiery with violence and the other is robbery without,violence. ("Laughter;. The Canterbury sportsman,' Dr. Tliacker, is usually outspoken, and his latest to have a tilt at tht- manage-ment-of the C J.C. He says:—' 'There has always' been passing and general comment on the parsimony of the Caiterbury Jockey Club regarding complimentary tickets. This has now reached , somewhat of a crisis, and those of us who meet our otherwise welcome visitors from north aud south hear Ynost of it.

uur various tiotting clubs have given away more than a fair meed of complimentary tickets to out- visitors, and particularly to those who are in any way connected with visiting horses. Not so wu exclusive Canterbury Jockey Club. \\ hat would happen if the north struck and particularly the Hawke's Bay and wanganui districts? What a fiasco our cup and national meetings would be. and how our.local rings would o-loat and pocket the 'dibbs' won by their 'crocks.' How ore we as visitors treated at meetings in the North Island: nay even, m Scotch Dunedin? 'Just as Are should be- -as sports and guests Everyone cannot pass free, but there are "a certain few who should, and 1 hope in the future will." Dr. Thacker's rpiniois will receive plenty of endorsement it this end. The well-known jockey Rangi Thompson has filed a petition or buma^. ~ £' a p,ersonal statement bankrupt says that three years ago, after winning the I*rand National Steeplechase, he was quite out of debt. He was then single but got married in 1912. Just after vanning the Grand National Steeplechase he broke his collarbone in Wellington and was out of work for " seven weeks. For five or six months he trot hardly any mounts and earned no money. Was later disqualified for three months and fined £10, which he had to ?°u V" He wont to Auckland to ride and had to pay expenses—about £20. Won a race in Auckland and earned about £37 When he was married in Auckland he had about £15. Went to ialmerston, where he left his wife in ]?o a- ,ng and came to Hastings. Earned •£do there, but broke his collarbone, the medical expenses being £3. Did not ride again until August, 1912, nearly nineSir, 1 five ri(ies then and earned >28. Had only had 25 rides since, earning about £gO. ' ' Mummer is being given a month's spell at Hastings, and will not be asked to race again until the flat .season is well advanced. The Gazeley gelding has been a very consistent performer during, the winter. H. Hickey has left for Sydney taking with him Heaton, Whakaweira, and feuDarnel. Hickey has been doaged by misfortune ever "sincehe decideu upon the journey., and on top of the breakdown of Chief Marshall and The Hover comes, the news that Beacon had got cast in his box. He is,'however, n'.r hurt much, and should be quite right again by th time that he has to race. Mr Donald Eraser, the well-unown rtangitikei breeder, has long been recognised as one of the truest sportsmen in the Dominion, and this was further evidence recently. A week or two ago Air W. Ryan, the well-known Auckfonder, shipped Lady B. South on a visit to Mr Fraser's stallion Advance, the maid u.ymg on the boat soon after it arrived at New Plymouth. On hearing or tne loss, Mir Frasor notified Mr Ryan that, as nis mare had died while journeying to his place, if he had another mare he [ would give the services free, and keep I the mare for twelve, months. Mi- .Ryan had no mare, but so taken uas he with Mr Fraser's generosity that while m Uinstchurch recently^, he purchased Orka, a full sister to Orloff, by Stepniak - -Sortie, and it is hoped that her mating with Advance will produce something that will be highly pleasing t,o ijvuti sportsmen. "Word from Marton states that T. Lloyd will leave for Sydney next week j.witn the iumpers Glenmore and Marton, who are to race at the A.J.U. spring meeting. The stallion Malatua, by MaluaFaithful, died in New South Wales iast month. He was purchased as a yearling by Mr P, O'Brien, for whom he showed good form in New Zealand. At the. spring meeting of the Canterbury Jockey Club in 1899, he finished second to Seahorse in the New Zealand Cup, and second to Explosion in the Metropolitan Handicap, finishing up by winning the Jockey Club Handicap.'.Later in the same season he won the Great Easter Handicap carrying 8.13, and Iho following day, under 9.6, he finished second to Dundas in the Great Autumn Handicap. On his retirement to the sty.d he did not leave many winners, though one of his progeny, Maranui, won the Caulfieid Cup for Mr D. O'Brien in 1908. . ( Vice-Admiral went amiss prior to the Grand National meeting and it is now fairly • certain that his turf career has closed. At his best Vice-Admiral was a great horse and his deeds at the 1911 C.J.C. meeting, when he won the New Zealand. Cup, Metropolitan Handicap i-.nd Canterbury Cup, will long be remembered. Racing men (says the Auckland Star) are usually' credited with being fairly • liberal; but this cannot bs said of a southern racing, club, if all owners fa-e treated by'that body in the same manner as an Auckland -owner was recently The owner/ in question won a small

amount, -md duly received his draft, but, his surprise when, in addition to deducting the iisual shilling for exchange, a penny was deducted for the cost of the draft. A cheque would only need a shilliug exchange, and the penny, of course, is neither here nor '.there, -hut it seems rather paltry- Jhat such should be charged, and the owner is now.-wondering^ whether he is not lucky in escaping being debited with the postage.