IN A NUTSHELL.

— Mr T. Pollard owns Djin Djin. — Fabulist has again gone wrong. — Brisa is not going to Christchurch. — Bobodil has to date won £7754 in stakes. — Fuhnen'a leg has filled c bit. but not fiprictiv, \

— Sant Hario came to Dunedin and did not race once.

— The tanMrack at-Randwick has never been measured.

— Sequin cut herself whilst racing in the Dunedin Cup. —Mr W. R. Wilson won £3702 6a at the V.R.C. meeting. — The Orphan that ran at Akaroa is not Mr Alexander's mare.

— Bookmakers will be licensed for the South Canterbury meeting. — Malatua will win before long. He is well, but rather on the leg. — The Messrs Nathan have lost by death the full sister to Roaella.

— Victim was bought in at .£2O after winning at the Forbury last week. -Maremma still holds the time record for the Publicans'— lmin 28sec.

— Langle'y fetcheds£26 after winning the Disposal Handicap at Wingatui. — Three St. Clairs filled the places in the Domain Handicap last week. — I understand that the D.J.C. meeting last week turns in ft profit of JESOO. — Socinl Pest has had to drop out of the Hurdle Race at Christchurch.

— Far K"icntc's owner had to pay £27 to buy back his horse at "Wingatui on Saturday.

— Rochester made a great run for seven furlongs in tho Dunedin Jockey Club Handicap. — Strongoli, a son of the ex-Australian horse Stromboli, was recently sold in America for .£SOO.

— Cravtvt is looking as well as ever he did, and putting in good half-pace *york at Randwick.

—On Saturday 2ast Bobadil was favourite for the Sydney Cup at the absurdly short price of 2 to 1.

—'* Stage Whisper " is the name bestowed ■upon Ifar G. Hunter's filly by Robinson Crusoe out of "Whisper. — In America last year there were 3000 trotters and pacers with records of 2min 30sec, or better for a mile.

-»- Mr Georgp Vowles has again taken up the duties of handicapper to the Mentone and Epsom (Yi c -) Clubs. Mr W. K. "Wilson will entertain no offers for Bobadil till he has completed ',his* three-year-old engagements. — Forager, winner of the Bgmont Sires' Produce Stakes, has been purchased by Mr Fitzmaurice, the owner of Rubin. — The sum of £2&>H was passed through the totalisatorg on the first day oi the Tahuna Park Trotting Club's meeting. — Shekel, winner of the Flying Handicap at Little River, is by Medallion out of Rebecca, and was bred by Mr F. Busch. — Foremast broke her neck at "Wingatni on "Wednesday morning. Particulars were not procurable at the time of writing. —As v sporting guess I name Dozon as likely to tun well in the Doncaster Handicap, and North British for the Sydney Cup. — There was a scarcity of light weights at Horowhenua, and several owners scratched their horses rather than carry overweight.

—T. Connop and R. Buckeridge were each fined £-2 for riding in wrong colours at the Hawke's Bay Jockey Club's autumn meeting. — ".Rubin may have a chance in the Feuding Cup. I am afraid there will be but a email field for this and othei races at the meeting.

— I hear that somes members of the D.J.C. Cominittev are advocating that the chib should do its own catering, and make- a specialty of it.

— The South Canterbury nominations include Diuidas, Double Event, Sequin, Pitch and Toss, and other, horses of undeniable equality. —On the eve of tho race, H. Oxenham wi-red to a friend that he thought Bobedil could not give Alemene a year and 9lb in the Australian Cup. — "While doing slow work on the tan track at Randwick, on March 11, the steeplechaser Mangcro fell l and gft^e his rider, M'Donald, a nastj' fall. — April Fool .won the Hawkesbury Handicap on Saturday. He started favourite. As a consequence, he was backed for the Doncaster Handicap. — From Launceston is. cabled news of the death of the stallion Meteor, son of St. Alblins, who was fancied for the Melbourne Cup won by Arsenal. ' — A well-known American writer says: I have great faith in getting all yoti can of the best, and the surest way- of getting it is by in-breeding. — St. Ouida, cast-off from M'Girmess's stable, managed to win a couple of races nt Reefton, and old Couranto accounted for both Imrdle races.

— The Champion has been won 24 times by three-year-olds, five by four-year-olds, four by five-year-olds, three by six-year-olds, and six by aged horses. * — I fancy Wairongomai for the Easter Handicap at Auckland ; but backers hrfd better study our correspondent's letter before making iip their minds. — Pique, Beadonwell, Jfaremma, Belle Clair, and Brisa, winne.rs of the Publicaus' Handicap in the past nine years, were all bred by the Hon. G. M'Lean.

—Mr M. Caples, of Bathurst (N.S.W.), has lost through sunstroke his raechorae Tralee, by Kingsborough. Mr Caples recently refused £200 for the horse.

■— It rumoured that -Mr Hugh Craig, late owner of Euroclydon and other good horses, thinks of contesting the Tuapeka soat at the next general election. — The owner of "Nayborn had £11 on his horfio in the Horowhenua Cup, and £3 in the Stewards' when he paid f2O 2s. The protest for inconsistency was dismissed.

— Mr Roje's new contrivance for the starting machine ■worked beautifully throughout the Dunodin Cup meeting, there not being one hitch of any Bort in its working.

— Scorn will be a starter in the A J.C. Chanvoagne Stakes, as he has Tecovered from the cold that troubled him recently and prevented his pppearance at Flemington.

— Vivian is doing really good track work, and is most likely to be the elect of Earnshaw's htable for the Doncastcr Handicap, in which the Abercorn horse is weighted at 9.0.

— Tho Hon. H. Mossman has shipped to Auckland all his thoroughbreds — Murella, Monsoon (sister to Brisa), the yearling by Lebel — Jenny, and the yearling by Nelson — Fiesole. — According to the Ne.w Zealand Mail, Pokomoko, Nipapu. and Bradshaw are to be taken to Australia almost immediately by P. Keith. D. Morrigsin goes across to nde the animals.

— The English flat-racing season opened last week, when the Lincolnshire Handicap wpnt to Captain Berwick's General Peace. Uniform handicapped at 7.8 did not staTt.

— Mr T. Scott possesses a rathpr good sort of a horse in Woolloomooloo, who scored a double at Horowhenua. He is a chestnut five-yeai-old, and is by Ascot out of a Natator mare.

— Cooos is pottering along, and looks big and lusty after his enforced spell. Prom ptcsent general appearances he should about reach foim in time for the Autumn meeting in Sydney.

— Courtier was not able to gallop when first tried at "Wingatui. He was sent out with an old pair of plates that had. worn smooth. Mason had these removed, and then the colt got a proper grin. — Djin Djin was intended anyway to be taken home after Drmedin Cup day. but if he had teen intended to stop and see the meeting out I don't think he could have raced again, for his heel got bruised once more.

— Bauer, who rode Gold Cup in the Autumn Handicap at Hawke'n Bay, charged Duff with foul riding in the straight, but the stewards said that, although there was a cross, they did not believe it was an. intentional one,

— The Takapuna Jockey Club" "has given requisite notice of appeal against the decision of the Auckland Racing Club with reference to the starting trouble in the Hobson" Handicap at the recent Takapuna J.C meeting.

— A high wind, lifting clouds of dust, prevailed in Dunedin on Cup Day, wh«n the weather was beautiful at Wingatui. That is a common experience. It is altogether a different climate the other side of Chain Hills.

—On the second day at Masterton Derringcotte was allotted the big impost of lOst in the Ceunty Handicap, and ran second to Canefc 7.4, but as the fider of the latter was adjudged to have been guilty of crossing Derringcotte got tho stake.

— Douglas is trained by J. Munn. It is 23 years ago, remarks the Mail, since Munn first trained for Mr Donnelly, and his first Jtnounfi was strangely enough, on Blueskin owned by Mr Richardson, the race being run on Wellesley beach, Napier.

— "Ajax" says of Bobadil: He may,not be the gamest horse we have ever seen, but he is certainly the most, brilliant, in any opinion — Carbine and Newhaven not excepted. His pace is marvellous, yet he seems to be going at an easy gait all the time. — Since about 1891, when H. J. Morrison first started his »citreer as a jockey, the nov^ leading horseman of St. Albans has ridden 64 winners, 28 seconds, and 30 thirds out of a total of 299 mounts. The sum won by his mounts totals over £24,000.

— Two sports, Mr S. S. Myers and Mr J. Fleming, were called ,for the special jury at tho Supreme Court on the first .day of the Tahuna meeting. Mr Myers got off on the plea that the defendant was an old friend of hia; but Mr Fleming had to serve. — Should Bobadil win the Sydney Cup, anther record will have been broken, as Carbine's 9.0 is the- heaviest weight yet carried to victory "by a three-year-old. Wallace ~won with 8.12, The Australian Peer with 8.6, Progress with 8.2, Stromboli with 8.0, and Petrea with 7.13. — Patriot, by Autonomy — Bangle, waß recently sold in Melbourne to Mr Shaw for 50gs. —On the last day oi the Melbourne salea 475gs was refused for Cabin Boy, Le "Var was passed in at 250gs, Yale Lock at 120gB, and the reserve of lOOgs was not reached in tho case of Miss Carbine.

— "Milroy" writes: If a few of the names that appear on the Sydney Cup list were rubbed out the balance would read very like the usual welter fields that run at Canterbury Park and Moorefield on a Saturday afternoon, an-1 mnny of them as racehorses are not worth the £5 it cost to enter them.

— The V.A.T.C. has decided to continue the Futurity Stakes, but under more liberal conditions. The final date of closing .will be fixed, but horses entered at earlier dates (which are stipulated) will be allowed to start at a much cheaper rate. The stake will be reduced irom. 2000eov.s to 1500sovs.

— With his perfect, machine-like action and terrific speed, Bobadil cannot .help staying, - says Melbourne Sportsman's special, and had the Australian Cup and Champion Stakes been> run from end to end at a cracking pace, I am \ certain he would have won with greater ease. ; The farther tho distance the more telling that beautiful, tireless stride of his.

— The racing experiences of the four horses . placed in the Newmarket Handicap present rather singular coincidences, writes " Javelin. ' •; Neither the winner, Forest, nor North British, who ran second, ever started as three-year-olds ; the third horse, Carrara, never faced the starter\ till he was five years old; and the fourth horse, i Beachcomber, never raced as a two-year-old. '

— Another useful horse is bound foi India, - Mr J. Gore having purchased Reaper, by Gozo from Dorothy. Reaper made a name for himself by running second to the flying Amiable in the Newmarket Handicap. He was expected to have done just as well in the last Newmarket, but failed. Malto, by Malua from Lady Vengeance, has also been sold to go to India. '— We have news this -week oi the result of the world's greatest steeplechase, the Liverpool Grand National. Levanter was scratched. The vrirmer -was -Manifesto,- who -w<m- in-1€97- with., _ 11.3, andTias now got home with 12.7, a weight which is, as a- rule, reckoned almost a crusher in England. Manifesto was, however, one o£ the favourites this year as soon as the -weights appeared.

— Sir Walter Gilbey maintains that the chi?{ cruse of deterioration m breeding establishments is the over-grazing of the land on which the dams and young stock were pastured, which rencted unfavourably on the horses. Fresh and untainted grazing for the dams and young finin-als is absolutely essential for the development of soxmdness, bone, muscle, and stamina in horses. • i — A complaint was made by Mr C. R. Bidwell, owner of Dorcen, at the Lower Vansy Jockey Club's meeting on Boxing Day, against W. J. Jorgensen, of Wellington, for using abusive and insulting language. The matter was reported to the Wellington Club, who recently referred the matter to the Maryborough stewards to deal with and report the result to ihe metropolitan body. — Says an English tnri writer:— lt is probable that there Iras never been a worse lot of three-year-olds than those of 1898, with the exception of Cyllene, whose supremacy I confidently predicted 12 months ago. If only itr Rose's horse had been engaged in the "classic" stakes, he would without doubt have " swept the board " of them all, and would now be Regarded as a second Ormonde.

— Betting in Dunedin seems steadily declining. In 1891 the si.m of £35,272 was passed thiough the totalis-itors at the Cup meeting. The totals per year in order since then have been £28,540, £24/390, £24,475, £21,038, £23,308, £20,599, £23,996, and £20,006. As an antigoinbler, I do aci altogether regret the diminution so far, bu 1 ; it is not for the good of tho pport that the reductions should gg on further. » — The Tcc'.nt Hirf legislation in respsot fo the restriction of two-year-old running is taid. by an English writer to be the best reform we have had for many years. In 1867 the number of two-year-olds which ran in that year iva<» 752, and in 1897 the number was 1858. The number of five-year-olds and upwards which ran in the former year was 637, and in the latter year they had declined to 595. Comment is needless.

—It is stated that there are in training at Morj?hottviUe (S.A.) $wo colts of » «v« «a<l

-*£ — ...— -« character seldom seen at that training quarter. • They are Lord Trenton and Lord Kitchener. Both have great size and substance, with an evenness of mould which is very pleasing to look on, and indicates, with their high breeding, profitable , -racing careers. Lord Trenton is- by Trenton — Adventuress, and Lord Kitchener by Neckersgat from the imported Paigle. —J. Rae, who used to ride Arlina, and subsequently left Dunedin to seek his fortune in ■ Melbourne, has returned, 'and is looking out for employment, or was in search of it when I

spoke to him at Wingatui last week. He was in Mr O'Brien's stable at Mordialloc for a while? < looking after the jumping horse Irish' Stew. His experiences of " the other side " arewiot

such as to tempt New Zealand lads to make the trip. Preference is, he says, usually given -to the local lads. — "Terlinga" remarks that the V.R.C. Autumn Handicap was noticeable for some wietched riding. Five furlongs from home, when Crimson was lengths in front, a horse which was well backed by its owner was still being pulled and hauled at by its rider, who must, have imagined he had a rope attached to Crimson, and could pull her back at any time he pleased. A gallant colonel remarked afterwards that some of this animal's back teeth must have been pulled out. —It transpires, writes "Phaeton," that the cause of Castashore's withdrawal from all engagements at tlie Wanganui meeting was due to his having, gone slightly amiss. It was at first thought that tlie big son of Castor had been injured across his loins, as that seemed to f be' the seat of the weakness, but the " vet." consulted came to a, different, and it would seem sr correct, conclusion in regard to the case, forithe treatment applied put Castashore ail right again in a short space of time. — Though only five horses started for the War- ' -wick Handicap at Warwick Farm (N.S.W.),

on the 11th inst., it was an interesting race all the way. Fairy Prince 7.5 was slightly a better favourite than Colleen 7.7, while both Sellwood 6.7 and Talavera 8.7 were well backed. Fairy Prince, closely attended by Colleen, made all the running to the distance, where the latter cried enough, and Bellwood, on the rails, challenged the favourite, and Lee Morna 6.12 joining in » great rue home resulted in a neck win for Fairy Prince, with Lee Morna a head behind Bellwood. — The new Governor-General of Canada, the. Earl of Minto, is an ardent admirer of the horse, and is also an accomplished amateur hoist man. In 1874 he- rode Defence, who finished fourth in the Liverpol Grand National Steplechase, and the same year he rode Miss Hungerford to victory in the Grand National Steeplechase, decided at Auteuil, France. He also met with much success in riding in hurdle

races, and at the Lincoln Spring meet in 1875 ha rode five winners. He is well-known as a rider to th 9 Grafton hounds, Lord Yarborough's and 'the Bicestwr. — The auctioneers of Melbourne, it is quite evident, are dead in favour of early two-year-old racing. At the yearling sales Mr A. Yuilieu made. strong remarks upon the matter, and Mr Ewen Campbell, when selling the Newminster Park yearlings, followed suit. Mr- Campbell expressed the opinion that the prohibition of early two-year-old racing was ruining breeders of thoroughbred stock, and was detrimental to

the sport of racing generally. Mr Campbell .wan advised to prepare a- petition to the V.R.C. ■ on the matter, and. he mentioned that he would , be happy to do so. :—: — Mr Allison says that " roaring is not by any means of necessity __ a serious matter at ' al!, whereas in no circumstances is it anything like such a drawback to a horse as stilty 'forelegs, calf knees, spa-vined hocks, had feet, or hereditary tendency to break blood vessels — which is the most hereditary trouble of all. Clovez, the successful French sire, is by the roaring Wellingtonia (son of the roaring Chattanooga) out of Princess Catherine, by the roaring Prince Charlie, and Clover was a sound, gooi racehorse." Resolute is demon *tr,itive proof that a horse may be touched in the wind and still retain his pace.

— Quite a romantic history is attached to the dam of Cavalier, the winner of the Flying Handicap -at the South Auckland meeting, who was bred by Mr W. J. Ralph, and wa? got by the Musket stallion Cuirassier out of Clio, by Deiby. "Hippona" says that Clio's dam was an imported Irish hunting mare, biought to this colony by an officer in the army, who was subsequently shot in the Waikato Maori war. The mare ivas captured by the natives* and taken to thp Kins territory, Te Kuiti. .Captain Beere, of Hamilton, eventually became possessed of her and bred Clio, who died recently on Mr Harris's farm at Huntly at the ripe ago of 30 years. — When the ten numbers were hoisted for the Warwick Farm Hurdle Race on the 11th there was a rush for both old Messenger and Mist, a good sort of prodigal gelding that Kelto picked up cheap last January at a Bale of Tucica Tucka horses. However, writes " Milroy," there was always some demand for a smart active New Zealander named Hinau, who went off at score whon the barrier rose, and before they went a mile he wps a dozen lengths in front of Mist, who was tho only one of the crowd not thoroughly braten. He led Mist to the last jump, going apparently eaav, but his rider took too many liberties with thegarne son of Prodigal, who got up at last nnd made a dead heat of it through sheer pluck. — Wild Daisy, by Recluse — Daisy Clipper, •was sent' down from the Coast to win the Dash Handicap at Masterton, but she only ran third. Earlier in the day she was scratched for the Telegraph Handicap, but on the second day paid expenses by winning the Final Hack. Race urde' 9.1. The stewards asked C. Birkett, the li.&re's trainer, say? the Mnil. how, it was that sho was nominated under the -name of Mrs Paikhurst at Masterton, snd raced 5n the name of Mr S. Parkhurst at Wanganui. Birkett stated that Wild Daisy had been nominated by Mrs Parkhurst at Opunake. and by Birkett himself at^ Wanganui, when a clerical error in the owner's name was made, which was discovered when nominating for Maaterton. This explanation was accepted.