SPOUTING NEWS.

FAR AND NEAR. ' Sir Daniel Cooper, whose retirement from tho turf has been spoken- of, is the second baronet, las father having received the titlein 1863, iv recognition of his services as "Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales. Sir Daniel's father wes also president of the Bank o/ New South W-ales, and, besides being in business with his brother as a general merchant, ho did very well fcir himself, by buying up quanti-. tics of the Sydney loreshore, which tbo Government- afterwards r-edfeemed at an enormously increased figure. Thus the fortune of which the present Sir Daniel inherited the greater part was built up. The young Daniel Cooper was sent home to England in 1861 to be educated at, Wellington College, Oxford, and after a few years of globe-trdtting he settled down m England and began facing in -a small way in 1874. For a time he was a partner in the EaJ ton stud with the late' Lord Ross-lj-n, and when tlie stud was broken up be went to Australia- again, and' raced there for some years. In the eighties he was horns in "England once more, and after his marriage with Miss Grant-Snttie. a granddaughter of the Duke of BoxburgTie, he 'has raced on a more extensive scale, Lady Cooper taking 'a- deep interest ; in the sport. SirDaniei; who is fifty-five, only succeeded to the title last year. Ths. Indian Viceroy's Cup was won by Great Scot, Cretonne . being second, and Hoopiron, third, the three places being thus filled by Australian horses. Great Scot was purchased last auturifn for 2000 guineas/ specially to win the Viceroy's Cup. He 'was a first-c>.iss performer in Australia, and, with Abundance out of the way,be would hove bad a brilliant three-year-old career. When he was trained by T. Payten he was kept well up to the collar, aiid as bis Indian trainer, Watson, gave him a comparatively teasy time, the critics were not enamoured with his chance. The result, however, has proved . ■ that Watson knew his business pretty well. 2s ow that the race is over, it is interesting to. read the remarks made , prior to the race. The Indian " Planters' Gazette," of November 21, after mentioning that in his woi-k Great Scot was moving like a. piece of clockwork, said : (i Yet. in: spite of hia doing all that anyone could possibly wish a ho.rsa to do in a preparation for a big race like this, in spite of his credentials in the past, being of tho highest possible orde£, and _ in spite of bis being jn probably the 'most experienced hands- m India, we never* remember to: \ havk beard such a chorus of misgivings and forebodings as is current about fhim r I? the horse finishes with his ears .back they say he is showing temper; if be leads ■.with the wrong leg as be goes out feeling for his feet,, as horses will when they start, the watchful at once see a favouring of one ! leg; if he goes temperately with "Bennett, thV wiseacres who knew him in the colo - :- --nies say,- ' Ah! he never used to be a boy's horse, and be can't be well, or he'd ba Tunrdnsr away.' If, however, we chronicled all th 0 croakingis about all the horses entered, it would be a regular Chinese puzzle to know where they meant to finu a : winner at all. As, for instance, the observant listener would learn that Great Scot was too big, and not the horss that * he was in the colonies— that Carbine could never be got ready— that. Eriar Tuck was. dead— that Vasto was a. roareT— that/ Cretonne was too soft— that Acetiue was not class enough, and could * not race under anything above 7st— that . the rest" were rubbish. Where, then, are wo to get a field? Yet some .of us were confiding enough to think that we had a higher-class lot. going for.it this ( year than we. have ever had in' the past." " . , ( Tho latest issue of the " Ausitralasian contains a brief reference, to the principal racing ey'ents of the past year.. The write r mentions .that "racing in New Zealand- rein' a flourishing^ condition. -Stakes are 1 «t«adily increasing, and they are producing .rood horses. There has been quite a boom, fn breeding' in New Zealand, and a, numbar of ' importations, have been made. Sylvia Park has, however, been- broken tip, and the retirement of the Messrs' Nathan is a distinct loss to the turf. Mr G. G. Stead is now breeding on a rather large scale, and this may make a difference to breeders with 'yearlings for sale. It must follow that he will not buy as freely as lit did. It was it bad day for Australian breeders whW Mr W- R. Wilson, Mr Jamea White, Mr W. A. Long, and the Messrs Cooper gave up buying yearlings. Further on a hope is expressed that an oppoitunily will bo provided in the autumn of seeing a meeting between; tho best" Australian three-year-olds and Achilles and' Wadriki. They must be good -horses.,, cays the writer, good enough, perhaps, .io hold their own against the three-year-olds, just as Wakeful and I/a. Carabine did. Mr Joe Thompson, the well-known Aus : tralian bookmaker, who has been m Esg-i land foi some years, recently wrote to ler-lin"-a," giving him' some views on the subiect of English racing. Ho says it is no use taking Amtraiian sprinter-s to luagland as they would have no chance, ima view is borne out by the.way the progeny of Eno-lieh sires win all the best Australian short "races. But, continues Mr' Thompson, "bring a first-class /stayer— he must be, a good class horse-and you have -Pto get the pieces." At present we have very few long-distance horses in' England I should think the Frenchmen could beat, us easily. Tins year, at Ascot, for the greatest" long-distance- weight-for-age race we were represented by Elba and Prince Florizel, not even good handicapper? Ihe consequence was the Frenchmen, with on-ly ordinary horses, won easily. This *s eanly accounted for. ; We go in for early twp-veaT-old racing, and they dont. , lou should see tb c poor little- babies shivering in the snow at m March. , It seema cruelty to animals to ask them to carry men. I have only known two that won the Brocklesby and were any good afterwards—The Bard, an* Donovan. It halmost impossible to quote jm instance of an early^two-year-old doing any jood alter his second season's racing. The _Oarbinos, I am sure, want time. Ireland is ibe^place where they are rearing good sound stock just now- They get pk^y « liberty .:-a* young ones. See P're and Pretty Polly are ii/pair of cUnkeis, but Kobm Hood > has told you all about them. Sceptre looks a hundredweight heavier than last year, and runs truer. Zmfandel who was not in the classics, would probably beat Rock" Sand,; and the .French. mare, La Camargo, must be very good. It has been a very bad year for the bookmakers, but that won't trouble you-" ;