IN A NUTSHELL.

— Canteen leave 3 for Wellington on Thursday. — Telemeter paid £17 11s in a field of five when he won at Timaru. — Nominations for the Ashburton Autumn meeting close on April 28. — The S.C.J.C. paid the dual dividend when cix horses faced the starter. — The Gruard and Gobo are in work again, and being prepared for the winter racing seafcon. — Wakeful co3t her present owner 310gs at the dispersal of the St. Albans stud in. 1900. — Artilleryman, a full brother to Military, •won a couple of races at Charters Towers on Easter Monday. — Red Gauntlet should be hard to beat in cither the Thompeon or Railway Handicaps at the Wellington meeting. — A Sydney cable states that Mr W. Bailey, o£ Ballarnt, h-\s purchased the Haut Brian — Xriste colt for 850 guineas. — Hearts, tho winner of the Hack Race on the first day at Timaru, is by Kulnine from Loo, a Perkin Warbeck II mare. — Nominations for the principal events to be decided at the D.J.C. May meeting close on Friday next, the 18th of April. — A four-year-old named Lord Jam.es, by Trenton out of Princess Tool, beat six others in a Hurdle Race recently in England. — Wakeful's 3min 28sec is the two-mile record for Australia. Some watch-holders made the mare run the distance a shade fasteT. — It is announced that the imported horse Sir Foote has run his last race, and that next season he will be relegated to stud duties. — MensehikofFs record is 19 starts, 15 wins. He cost Mr Stead 210gs rs a yearling, Avon. £6800 in stakes, and was sold for 600gs. — Pekin, the half-brother to the defunct Wellington Park stallion Castor, continues to be supported for the English Derby at 20*8 to 1. — S. Smith, a promising young light-weight, who was formerly attached to the Messrs Ellis Bros.' stable, has left for Wellington to join Shearsby's stable. — Lapidary was knocked down ?t £31 to Mr P. Butler after the Ahua — Trinket gelding won the Selling Race on the second day of the South Canterbury meeting. — Wargravc, by Carbine, out of Warble, won the Metropolitan Maiden Hurdle Race on March 6at Sandown Park (Eng.). He beat four others, and won easily. — Tho Hon. J. D. Ormond ha 3 sold St. Andrew, the full-brother to Chuirauald, and he will btnnd vi the Rangitikei district. Fleka is a splendid ad. for his sire. — The price Wakeful started at for the Sydney Cup is returned by the Australasian at 4 to 1, and Sir Foote's price in the Doncaster Handicap is given at 9's to 1. — A Sydney cable states that Dandy has been purchased for 800g6, and, together with Caledenia and Peppercorn, purchased by Mr Allen, will be sent to South Africa. — Rawmore, the winner of the Dash Handicap at Timaru, can gallop fast for about three furlongs, and he is one of the most plebeianlooking noddies that ever sported silk. — The well-known Irish sportsman, Mr John Gubbins, has recently refused an offer of 20,000gs for his three-year-old Derby colt, Ard Patrick, by St. Floriaa out of MoTganette. — Over £100,000 has been voted by the comoh.ed directorate of the Austrian, and Hungarian jockey clubs as added money for disitiljution among winning owners iv 1902. — Mr J. R. Crossan is desirous of leasing the Occident— Bay Bell filly Western Belle. She tail, easily go under the pony standard, and would be" likely to pay her way amongst the lihputians. — The chestnut mare Twilight, by Gorton from Evening Star, the dp.m of Jupiter, wd3 .-■taited in tho Novel Race at Timaru. Twilight was foaled in IS9I, and Jupiter three years later. —.•Ordnance, the winner of a double at Timaru, is a three-year-old roan filly by Son oi a Gun from Meluaina, the mare by Tasman from Nautilus. Ordnance is a lialf-sister to Mohta. and Falka. — Wairiki, by Soult— Rose and White, who wan the Victoria Handicap at the recent Auckland meeting, is considered one of the finest looking two-year-olds th<»t has been seen out sit Ellerslio for some time. — Air Motor, who beat a large field of good ho ---.'a in a mile welter on the third day of h';-r>.ey Cup meeting, is a half-brother to the Aurldand colt Spalpeen. He was sired by Ayr Laddie, the sire of Avrdale. The very essence of starting-price betting is to find out what h?.s won nnd back it aftcT■wurds. This is a statement made by Lord Newton before the Select Committee of the House of Lords at one of the meetings. — True Blue, the full-brother to Screw Gun »nd Royal Artillery, had a winning rep-.esenta-tive at the Sydney Cup meeting iv Blue Spsc. He beat 12 others in a Maiden Two-year-old llace, and is from Specula, a mare by Splendour. — Prior to winning the Flying Handicap at Timaru Telemeter had been chiefly used as a shepherd's hack. The tendons of his forelegs are badly bowed, and also show that they have received a liberal application from the firing irons. — Fritz Althof, the best among the German trainers, has the most important racing stable nt Hoppegarteu, the German Newmarket. His Btring consists of 56 horses — 26 two-year-olds, 21 three-year-olds, 6 four-year-olds, and 3 five years old and upwards —E. Hankins informs me that he has had an excellent offer to start ? training stable at Timaru. Some Timaru sports have promised him horses, but Hankins is at present undecided, and he intends looking round further north before finally settling down. — The recent heavy rains did considerable damage to the Palmerston racecourse,, and a large portion of the straight was washed away. — Clanburn, who won a race each day at Timaru, is by ClanTanald (rom Lady Sockburn, the luilf-sister to Vogengang and Ben Farley. — Nearly all the American pacing champions r.[ the last decade are aiive and well. Star °ointer, lmin 59tsec ; John R. Gentry, 2min O^sec; and Joe Patcheu, 2mm lisec, are vigor<us and in the stud. Prince Alert, 2min Ciacc ; Little Boy, '2m hi l^sec ; Anaconda, 2min "ijaec; aud Coney. 2mm 2sec, are still racing i.robabilitic3 for this season. — Fuiinen ha 3 been sold to a Temuka buyer ni £150, aud was taken north by E. Hankins on Saturday last. The Castor horse is to be relegated to stud duties, and there is a possibility that he may sport silk again. In tha OTeat Autumn he sprained the ligaments of his near pastern, but otherise he was passed Ijy the vet. r.s being perfectly sound. — When speakms at an anti-gambling meet;"g; "g recently held at Putney, England, Mr John Tfawke, secretary to tho English Anti-gambling "■-pftRU", eaid he had visited races at Newmarket >"!d that he weul at the risk of his hie, for -) stalwart policemen had to protect him. This was received by the audience with L> tighter, uproaT, and cries of dissent. '— Clantanald was the meat successful winjui'.g >-ire ?.t the South Canterbury meeting. Hi.- stock won three races and Ahua's stock ■wan. two. Sen of a. Gun. the half-bTother to Canteen, had two wins to bis credit with Ordnance's, wiu-s. The following sires had each one winning representative- — Light Artillery, Chain Armour, Gorton, Artillery, and Kulnine. — The following arc the drawers of p!.iceit ttvrsse in TaitersaU's No. 1 consultation •n.

the Doncaster Handicap, rnn March 29 : closed with 25,000 subscribers, drawn pro rata: —First, Sir Foote, W. Fortescue, carpenter ana builder, Dalby, Queensland. £1600; second, Purser, J. Webb, Odd street, W . Maitland, N.S.W., £«0 : third, T.M.S., E. Flegg, care G. Thornton, -1J Regent street, Redfern, Sydney, £225. Theso amount? are net. — The folio-wing aic iho drawers of placsJ licrses in Tattersall's cash priss consultation oi the Bp.llar.it Cup, closed with 40,000 subscribers, and drawn pro rata • — First, Annotate, M. Plannery, Rowland, via Mncorna (Victoria), £•2680 ; second, Flagship, M. Scullen, Mount Pleasant road, Gympie, Queensland, £720; third, Cluster, R. S. Foley, secretary Ballarat Turf Club, Ballarat, Victoria, £360. These amounts are net. I — The following weights were posted by Mr Dowse for the S.C.J.C. Handicap, one mile, the princinal event on the second day of the meeting:— Fulmeu 9.0, Terrapin 8.12, Lady Lillian 8.7, Cameo 7.10, Scottish Minstrel 7.9, Bed Gauntlet 7.6, Calibre 7.3, Antigone 7.0, Kotokoto 6.12, Whirlwind 6.10, Valentine 6.7, Owing to his lenient treatment of Red Gauntlet Mr Dowses compilation came in for some very hostile criticism when the handicap first appeared. — A special meeting of the Dunedin Jockey Club Committee, held last week, was attended by the Hon. George M'Lean (in the chair), Messrs Ewing, C?.rr, Vigers, Hazlett, Coughlan, Bullock, and Solomon. Apologies were received from Messrs Myers, Taggart. and Thomson. In connection with the requests of Messrs W. R. Quinn, J. R. Mackenzie, and H. Friedlander for an explanation of the handicapping of their horses at the late Autumn meeting, Mr Dowse, the club's handicapper, forwarded an explanation to the committee, which, after consideration, w»9 accepted. — A well-known Thespian punter was told that a certain mare engaged in a certain race was as dead as Julius Caesar, says "Javelin. He stocd off her accordingly, only, however, to see her make a terrific run through her field in the straight and tear past the post a threelengths' winner. A. friend to whom he had confided his information came up looking awfully blue, and asked, "What do you make of that?" "Well," said the actor, who is a lighthearted, humorous chap, "I'm hanged if I know. It was either a case of The Runaway Girl, or else, unless my informant is a liar, and the truth is not in him, they must have put up The Wrong Mr Wright!" — According to art exchange to hand by the latest mail, a number of forged £5 notes have been put into circulation in England recently. Experts and the police officers who have the matter in hand admit that notfting ever before attempted in the way of forgeries of bank note* can compare with this last imitation. Many of the forgeries have been unhesitatingly accepted when paid in by customers at the banks, and also at some of the large West-End trading associations. The police have information that several of these flash notes were put into circulation among the bookmakers at the Hurst Park R-ace meeting. It is said that something like 300 of the forgeries have got to the Bank of England. — Hart Gibson, jun., is suing Latonia Jockey Club for 12,000d0l damages, alleging the death .of his thoroughbred, Pirete Belle, by Pirate of Penzance — Alma T., was caused by an obstruction in the- track that should nol have been there. It occurred in the fourth race at Latonia on Novembar 19, 1900, a handicap at- r mile aaid an eighth. Pirate Belle, ridden by Michaels, fell and broke her neck. Gibson shortly afterwards- instituted a suit for 12,000d0l against the jeekey club, setting forth in his petition that a plant was protruding from the fence, and that the filly ran against it. Michaels deposed that the filly stumbled, and butted her head into the fence. The first petit;on was dismissed without prejudice, on application of the plaintiff, and a second petition was filed. — The Sporting Times says that when England had po many good jockeys there were not hah the number of horses in training that there now. and thus the competition is all the gTeater. With hoise-racing rutnk to little more thaii fivefurlong scrambles, no wonder that jockeyship was fast becoming a lost art, and in England ws fell an easy prey to the Americans. A boy, unless he had » considerable amount of experience, hp.d no ch?.nce whatever in a fivefurlong race under the flag system, as he was almost certain to be left behind. In a race over a longer distance, losing a length or so at the st?rt was not so vital. The outlook is now better all round, and, thanks to the encouragement of apprentices, and the discouragement of sprint races, we shall in a year or two's time be able to look beyond some half-dozen i ames when we are in search of a- good jockey. A better class of owners then we have now we do not desire to sea. All that we wish is that they owned bettsr horses, and had better jockeys to ride them. — Finance and sport often go hand in glove, us witness the many big financiers who iigure prominently on the English turf. Mr Horatio Bottomley — his name has a familiar jingle with it — started flat-racing, and came off second best. Now, after au interval, he has entered iiito the jumping game, and at present is going strongly. He recently entertained the personnel of his 'training, establishment at dinner, and in responding to the toast of his health said his one ambition in life was t:> be esteemed by those who really ki-ew him as- » Ijolly good fellow ; it was as much as could be got out of life. Sport, he maintained, brought out all thnt was best in a num. In racing the amount of money that changed hands smoothly aud punctually, without a word of obligation other than the spoken one, was marvellous and creditable. Thus it appeared a code of honour was paramount. If he did not win it was not his habit to at once abuse the jockey. All he wanted was a straight, honest, non-mystery stable, and the more winners that came from it the better. - Ail American paper says that a ycung New York plunger made his appearance -«t the San Francisco tracks recently, and for p. time fared well. One day alone he was a winner of 87,000d01, and as the bets in that far Western country are mostly psid off in gold, he Jiad to hire the services of two men to carry his winnings, and Pinkerton detectives to guard them. For a whole week his hick continued in the ascendant. The plunger was unknown to the New York regulars. 'None of them remembered having seen his face on tho New York tracks, and all wondered as to his identity. His finish came in due course. Ho had sfiven out several cheques in ' settlement of obligations, wliich were returned dishonoured. The plunger's face was missing, and the next heard of him was that- he had been arrested ten days later in New Yortc. where he was wanted by the police, on extradition papers, for Baltimore money transactions. He has the bookmakers' money safely hidden away in some place, and his ?rrest is but poo" satisfaction for them', since he refuses to divulge its hiding place. — In England l?.-t year 3967 horses carried siik, being a greater number than in pny »revious year: in fact, little short of double that of 11 years before. At the same time it must be reniembeicd that, though there is a gradual but sure increase in this direction, there are also groat fluctuations, and in 1890 — the year referred to — for instance, the number was about j 400 less than it had been in 1870, 20 years be- \ fore. The figures, however, suggest an in- ' rrc-ased ouiout of blcod stock, and thus it is evident that breeders are not afraid of tbe low nrices forthcoming for second-rate stock, and that when one old breeder retires or dies there arc two nr three now one* to take bis Dlace.

Stud faims in England are certainly on the increase, and nearly nil the modern millionaire owners begin their turf career witn a breeding as well as a racing stud. About half the trainers are also engaged in biocd.ng a's v. ell as in their other business. Some of them have Vr.y lnr 6 e studs, aud there are more of them th?n a quarter cf a centiiT.v ago. Indeed, in spits of the pes&imisi?, and the failure of many — by.l not all — of the high-priced yearlings, there is a greater supply of money invested in breeding stock than has ever been known before.