IN A NUTSHELL.

— Epaulet is to go to the stud. — Tiger' Lily is being pushed along at Wingatui.

— Explosion is genuinely backed for the N.Z. Cup — St. Hiko and Red Banner are doing well at the Taieri. — Hendricks is sending Proposal along on the sandy beach. The disqualified Parthenopseus has returned to Australia from Singapore. y Honour Bright, who won at Rosehill recently, was foaled as far back as 1888. The North Otago Jockey Club has fixed the 13th and 14th September for its spring meeting. — The " black and red " pair, Blazer and Banquo, are to be trained by Jackson at the Taieri.

Vain Duchess, by Isinglass, was the best two-year-old in England up to the time the last mail left

— A wager of £2000 to £60 has been accepted in Sydney about Fleet Admiral for the Melbourne Cup.

— Stimulant, looking very well, is galloping on the beach when Bishop considers the going good enough.

— A two-year-old colt by British Lion from •Rosette has been taken in hand by J. Dobson at Randwick. ■

— Gaulus 9.2 has the same weight in the Melbourne Cup as his brother, The Grafter, won under last year.

— The Melbourne greyhound Aquafortis was sold to Mf A. E. Pearson for 160gs prior to winning the Waterloo Cup.

— Floater, the Victorian 'chaser, won at Caulfield on the 26th ult. with-'13.4 in the saddle, Ditto 12.5 being second. — A bill to legalise the totalisator in New South Wales will shortly bfe placed before the Parliament of that colony. — Mr John Harvey, the oldest racing man in South Australia, died last month. He won the Adelaide St. Leger in 1855 with Beda. — They say that Sir Lancelot is going well at Napier. This is the horse that made his debut with Multiform, the pair dead-heating.

— Flying Fox is apparently invincible. On the 14th inst. at Sandown Park he pulled off the Eclipse Stakes, beating Frontier and Nilus.

— News comes from England that Georgic has been so pulled down by an attack of Newmarket fever that she is not likely to race again.

— A Melbourne cable states that at the Waterloo Coursing meeting Aquafortis won the Australian Waterloo Cup, with Ready Money as runner-iip.

— Gitanella is working on the Ocean Beach,

— Arline will be galloping again before long. She would have been up weeks ago if the Forhad been open.

— Irarnoo started in the Hurdle Race at Williamstown (Vie.) on the Ist, and cut up badly, finishing last, and he was afterwards lame. A great horse^gone wrong, it is feared. — Musa, who won the Oaks by a short head, started at 20 to 1, whilst odds of 7 to 4 were laid on Sibola; Corposant was a length and a"half off third, and Princess Mary fourth. — Word has reached Sydney from Englaiul stating that the Australian horse, His Grace, is to be put to steeplechasing, with the view tc engaging in the next Liverpool National.

— An American plunger won £14,000 on the two-year-old filly Vain Duches3 in the Breeders' Plate, the second race at Newmarket on May 11, and finished up the afternoon about £12,000 to the bad.

_ — Flint, who won the Point Cook Handicap of a mile at Williamstown with 6.8, is engaged in the Caulfieid Cup with C.7. He was bred at Morphettville, being by Gang Forward from Miss Mostyn.

— Mysore, winner of the V.R.C. Grand National on Saturday last, led for a mile in the Williamstown Steeplechase on the Ist and then fell. No wonder backers' would not have him for the big race. — In the course of a recent chat with an Australian sportsman, Mrs Langtry said that she did not despair of seeing Aurum in silk. So far the son of Trenton had only temporarily retired from the turf.

— The pitiable case of poor " Jimmy " Kean was before the Auckland Club's Committee at their recent meeting, and a proposal to vote Mrs Kean £15 from, the Distressed Trainers' »nd Jockeys' Fund was carried.

— Artillery decisively proved at Morphettville that he is the best of the South Austialian two-year-olds by several pounds at five furlongs. He carried 9.5 in the Victorian Handicap, and easily beat Gungadin and Belexnnite.

— A horse called Connoisseur, by Haut Brion, won a selling race at Doncaster, England, valued at £187,. just prior to the .mail leaving. His owner afterwards refused 740gs foi him. Haut Brion is now in Mr S. Hordern's stud at N.S.W.

— One of Patrol's progeny in Miss Bretherlon made a good bid for the Park Stakes at the Hawke=bury meeting, but met something a bit too good in the country marc Mary Teck. Miss Bretherton's dam is Conchology, daughter of Trenton and The Shell.

— The Australian-bred racing mare, Acmena, by Martini-Henry — Acme, aged, has been bought for 900gs by Mr Henry Leonard Brassey, nephew of the Governor of Victoria, and a member of the Jockey Club. She is to be used for stud purposes.

— Eland, who won the Two-year-old Handicap at Caulfield on the 24th ult., is a son of the Melbourne Cup winner Malvolio, from Adelaide, by Nordenfeldt from Victoria, by Feve, and was bred by the late Mr Morris Jacobs, and sold as a yearling for 45gs to Mr S. Miller. — The late " Roddy " M'lvor was, according to the Melbourne Sportsman, a native of Caithness, Scotland, and was -18 years of age. It appears from the obituary notice appearing in the Sportsman that "Roddy" was once attached to their staff in the capacity of head tout at FJemingtoni

— Carberra, winner oi the Hawkesbury Autumn Handicap — rather late for autumn, the Ist .Tilly — is by Carbine out of Sierra. A good New Zealand pedigree, this, though, the mating was done in Australia. Carberra's victory was in a, great measure due to Mat Harris's horsemanship ; sc the reporters say.

— From a spectator's point of view, writes "Terlinga," on the 24th ult., the Steeplechase was one of the finest cross-country events ever seen at Caulfield. Five horses were almost abreast at the last fence, and although old Floater won easily enough, there were ten horses very cio3e together when the winnigpost was passed.

— Murella, the property of the Hon. H. Mossman, trained at Dunedin for the last Cup meeting by Ted Hawkins, won her first race at Brisbane on the Ist inst., this being the Trial Handicap, but they say she had some luck •to get home in front of Czar, and the performance does not "stamp hei the good two-year-old which was expected.

— Dunlop, of whom a good deal was thought at one time, and who finished third for the English Derby last year, was one of the runners for the Consolation Scramble at York recently. Rearing up at the post, he fell over, and though this, of course, did him no good, he showed how much he has gone to the bad by being last from start to finish. — Bob Ray, who in '95 won the A.J.C. Der>.y, carried off the wind-up handicap at the Clermont (Q.) races, but luck appears to have farouicd him. Old Newman, who ,iad pre-

viously. finished third in the big race, was winning easily 50yds from home, but his rider allowed him to slow down, and Bob Raj', catching him napping, won cleveuy.

— The joining of a portion of the sire's and the dam's name together is a hybrid sort of nomenclature that, as a rule, makes a bad jumble, but Kissmary for a filly by Hotchkiss from St. Mary must be voted a really nice blending of names,fcid I congratulate the owner, Mr S. C. Caultoljon such a happy coinage of a name for hisMmingster. So writes "Phaeton." — TJHfciverton Racing Club has decided to make^Eensive improvements to « its course. A tracWtfa's been surveyed which will meet all requirlftients, and make Riverton a still more popular racing centre. The club lately inviMl competitive designs for a grand stand, anW have accepted that of Mr W. Sharp, architect. The building will be a substantial one to seat 300 persons.

— What killed the Duke of Beaufort, says Dublin Sport, was a hurried visit to town, a hard day's work, and a return home without having tasted anything from the time he left Badminton in the morning until he got home in the evening. Apart from the railway journey, there was a drive of 24 miles. He was only in fairly good health at the time, and the fatigue of a long day beat him.

— Lord William Beresford's colours were borne to victory in two successive races on the opening day of the Gatwick Spring meeting — in the Alexander Handicap by the Americanbred horse, Berzak, by Sensation, and the Worth Stakes by Blacksmith, a son of Wolf's Crag. Sloan had both mounts, which placed him at the head of the winning jockeys for the season, with 32 win out of 72 mounts.

— The Special Commissioner of the Sportsman says: — "The Grafter looks more like a barren bropd # niare than a racehorse, and his head is a terror, worse than that which Leech depicted on Artaxerxes in ' Handley Cross.' Nevertheless, the old gelding has rare bone and power, and we know that when really up to the mark he is a great horse, for did he not win the Melbourne Cup with 9.2 in the saddle last November? "

— " Javelin's " little joke. — " I wonder how Soulfc got his name?" said a visitor to Caulfield after the Hurdle Race. " Oh," replied his friend, "it's most appropriate; he's by Wellington ; don't you see the military • connection — one a French marshal and the other commander in chief of the British army?" " Well," said the first speaker, '" where does the horsey significance come in, though? Why not have called him Ney?"

— The hard-and-fast regulation laid down by i the A.J.C. Committee that bookmakers "licensed j to bet at Randwick shall not keep shops in j the city has upset those interested considerably, j Several shops have, accordingly, been sold out, j kept by bookmakers who bet either in the pad- i dock at Randwick or in the Leger Reserve, but in the cases of one or two prominent men j the shops will be kept .and licenses to bet at i Randwick will be applied for. '

— A late Sydney paper reports that business over the two Victorian Cups has not indicated , a run on any particular horses, and even the j double betting takes a very wide range. At ' Tattersall's Club Mr Oxenham was offering 10,000 to 10 the double for the two Cups, and . wroto a few combinations to win between £5000 and £10,000, Fleet Admiral, The Chief, War God, and Dirk Hammerhand being horses taken, among others, for the Melbourne Cup. — Mr Mayo has been very successful in connection with the big handicaps run under the auspices of -the Hawkesbury Race Club, having won the Grand Handicap in 1877 with Janitor, that of 1885 with Prince Imperial, three years' later with The Queen, in 189 i with Emm Pasha and with in 1895, while the Autumn Handicap, 1887, fell to Stanley, and the Winter Handicap, 1899 won by Carberra, makes the seventh secured by the Newcastle sportsman.

— The Brisbane Jockey Club held a meeting on the Ist July, the principal attraction being a Winter Handicap, of 58sovs, a mile and aquarter. There were 13 runners. Little Tartar stayed it out the best, and squeezed home by a neck from Tim Whiffier, while Newman was a length away third. The performance of the old Newminster gelding was the best of the lot, as he was lying last until the last half mile, and then threaded his way through the field in great style.

— The Spirit of the Times states that the Pacific Coast Jockey Club (San Francisco) won its suit against Chief Lees and the Police department, as Police Judge Murasky decided that the police exceeded their authority in breaking into Ingleside Park, arresting bookmakers, and confiscating property without due process of law. The judge isEued an injunction restraining the police from entering the Ingleside track without the club's consent, except in a legal manner.

— At Adelaide on the 26th ult., the actual time occupied in starting the half dozen events wag only three and. a-half niinutes. In one of the races the four riders were two minutes late in reaching the post, and they were fined a, guinea each. Although there were 15 two-year-olds in the Victoria Handicap, they were sent away on wonderfully even terms on their journey within a minute of being taken in hand, and the Royal Handicap was started dead on the advertised time.

— Chatting about the best way to suppress the tough element that put in an appearance at some of the English race meetings, a London writer remarks that perhaps the most effective move ever made against the scum of the turf was the plan adopted at Lingfield last year. In addition to the regular force of detectives, police, and gatekeepers, the manager engaged a body of army reserve men, supplied them with useful cudgels, and gave instructions that they were not to be chary in u&irg them.

— Dirk Hammerhand won both the open fiat races at the South Australian Jockey Club's races on the 26th June. This three-year-old Carlyon colt won the Accession Handicap, as was generally anticipated, and, carrying* 9.13, came out later in the afternoon and appropriated the Royal Handicap, of six furlongs. Dirk Hammerhand has incurred a 3lb penalty for the Caulfield Cup, in which he will have to carry 8.1, while in the Melbourne Cup he will have to put up slb extra, bringing his weight ud to 7.12.

*— Three Carbine two-year-olds belonging to the Duke of Portland, which were being trained at Kingsclere, have been returned to Welbeck. — Dum Dum, by Carbine from Charm, ran third in the Whitsuntide Plate at the Manchester meeting, and might have been nearer the winner had Ambrizette not swerved badly, S. Loates with difficulty keeping her from going over the rails. The detour she made upset the field, the Carbine filly suffering thereby. She secured the Acorn Stakes, however, at the Epsom Summer meeting in the following week. • •

— Bay Middleton* was generally regaided as one of the most perfectly-proportioned animals ever foaled. Critics- of the old school swore by him, moreover, owing in a great measure to the old adage that the length of a horse's ■head, multiplied by three, should give his entire length, which saying, by the way, caused the owner of Bay Middleton to sharply answer a critic who spoke unfavourably of his favourite's head, alleging that it was too long. " Sir," rejoined the somewhat annoyed nobleman, " please recollect if there wns not bo much head there would not be so much horse."

— Hayseed was well looked over on behaif of both backers and layers before starting in the "Williamstown Steeplechase on the Ist Jiily. The general verdict was in his favour, and he started a red-hot iavourite. Before the atari

the stable took £1000 to £250 p'bout him for the V.R.C. Grand National. Hayseed ran well, out was just beaten for second place, Vigil winning rather comfortably from Troy, who was kept a long way out of his ground until the last half mile. " Ajax " writes : Ide not think backers need be discouraged by Hayseed's failure. He carried a big weight in the heavy going, and lost ground by jumping too high. — Captain Dennis O'Kelly, but for owning the famous Eclipse, would in all probability have been long since forgotten. This was not the only bit of luck the captain had during his turf career. Another stoiy is told about the luck he had with an olci mare called the Tartpr mare, darn of Mercury, Jupiter, Volunteer, and Queen Mab. This mare was foaled about the year 1751, and when 20 years old the Duke of Bolton sold her as useless for one guinea. The purchaser lesold her for sgs, and the fiveguinea man re-sold her to the O'Kelly for lOOgs, and thought he had macie a wonderful deal ; but O'Kelly made £30,000 . out of the stock the old mare threw after she had turned her 20th year.

— The famous old brood mare, Lily Agnes, dam of such good horses as Ormonde, Ossory, and Arklow, having recently become infirm, was destroyed at the Eaton stud last month. Lily Agnes, who was bred by Mr Snarry in 1871, was a good i)erforrner on the turf prior to her retirement to the stud, having gone through her two-year-old campaign unbeaten, and the following season won seven out of the ten events in wliich she started, among them being the Northumberland Plate and Doncaster Cup. During her four-yeai-old career she won eight races, including the Great Ebor Handicap, her complete record being 21 wins out of 32 starts. Lily Agnes was by Macaroni from Polly Agnes, by The Cure from Miss Agnes, by Birdcatcher.

„" — The way in which some horses stand training year after year is little short of wonderful. Mr Stanford's Monops was an instance, this old slave figxiring so frequently at the Southdown -Hunt meeting that on one occasion Mr Verrall asked the owner what age his horse really was. Though aware that Monops had been running a long time, the clerk of the course was surprised at the answer he received. Mr Stanford asserted that his animal was then in his 2Sth season, and in due course this interesting fact was recorded on the card. After the aged one had won the event in question, the owner of the second horse objected to Monops on the ground of wrong age, but when asked for proof, he promptly withdrew his objection, probably thinking the task would be anything but an enviable one.

— Captain W. Scott's New ' Zealand-bred steeplechaser Levanter, with 10.12 up, and piloted by the Sydney jockey P. Ryan, took part in the Metiopohtan Plate Handicap (steeplechase), three miles, at the Metropolitan Summer meeting, held at Baldoyle on May 22. Levanter was not mentioned in the betting, and did not get a place, the winner turning up in Mr Sadlier Jackson's b in- Cruiskeen 11, by Bacchus from Sap, 10,12, who started at 6 to 1. On the next day the Carbine mare Raven's Plume, 7.10, and ridd»n by T. Maguire, ran in the Stewards' Plate, a high-weight handicap, one mile and a-quarter, but was not successful. She was not quoted in the betting. There were 20 starters, and Lady Flush, by Enthusiast from Flush, 7.5, secured the prize. — Sir Edgar Vincent has nominated the New Zealand horse Multiform, by Hotchkiss from Formo, for the valuable Prix dv Conseil Municipal, 1900.

—At si race meeting held recently at Worcester (Eng.) quite a fiasco occurred in connection with the Kempsey Selling Steeplechase. The race resolved itself into a match, after going six furlongs, between Merry Chanter and Ambrose, with Madeline (who had run out) in the rear. Merry Chanter in the end easily beat Ambrose, but it appeared that the starter stood at the final fence and waved his flag for the riders of the two last-mentioned to miss it, which they did. Directly after Merry Chanter had passed the post in front of Ambrose the jockeys were told of the mistake they had made, and at once returned to jump the fence which had been missed. In the meantime Madeline passed the post third, and the judge Jwijjg left the box the numbers after oeing a'tpjed to Madeline first were rearranged to Merry Chanter first, Ambrose second, and Madeline third. An. objection followed to Merry Chanter and Ambrose, and the stewards, after going into the matter, awarded the race to Madeline, and reprimanded the starter for interfering with the competitors.