SPORTING NOTES.

■ :_ * _ . It is reported that Trumpery may bs given a chance in. hurd-e and steeplechase events in England. ,'.-,.. • , The judge's placing did not give universal satisfaction in all the events at the Waimate meeting last week. Playaway, the winner of the Newmarket Handicap, cost Mr P. Foy 105 guineas as a yearling in England. Gladsome did not begin very smartly in the Newmarket Handicap, but she was going, very iast at the finjsh. ' It is reported that Mr S. Green intended to eend Gladsome to England if Bhe had won the Newmarket Handicap. Some good judges are of opinion that the tv/o-year-olds seen out in Australia this season are only a moderate lot. St Ambrose, by St Simon, has been purchased in Melbourne by Mr J. F. Reid, of New Zealand, fox 550 guineas. Goldspur is being hacked about, and if he shows promise of standing a preparation, he will be put in work again ehortly. Visitors to the Wainia'te races iast week report that the management left a lot to be desired in more than one direction. Billingsgate, the brother to Finland, has an objectionable temper, and he ran, very ungenerously in the Victorian St Leger. The Caulfield Grand National Hurdle winner, Redeemer, won the Military Steeplechase at Newmarket, England, on January 26. According to many good judges, Playaway could have taken the lead in the Newraarkec Handicap at any time after the first two furlongs. Tho first six furlongs of. the Australian Cup cccupied . lmin 20sec,/and the last six lmin lTJsec, so that the pace was solid from the start. Gladsome is top -weight with 9st 12lb m the Doneasier Handicap, and has 9st slb in the Sydney Cup. Scotty ia allotted Bst 2lb in the Cup. The New Zealand-bred two-year-old colt Grenadier, by Soult, realised 290 guineas in Melbourne, and was sold to Mr Pike, of Ne\f South Wales. i ! Scotland, the two-year-old by WallaceKey, was suffering from a cold at the Victoria Racing Club's meeting, so that, under ths circumstances, he ran very well. Demos, who, in the spring, was regarded as a better colt than the dual Derby winner, Sylyanite', ,was , one. of the outsiders of the field for the Victorian St Leger. There was a great run on Canteen shortly before the start of the Australian Cup, and he was backed at 7 to 1. He appeared to have a good chance at the turn, but did not finish well. Lord Ullin's Daughter got a bad passage in the Australian Cup, or her victory would have been gained much more easily. She was galloped on at the home turn, and her legs were cut about a good deal. F. Dunn, who was at one time first jockey for Mr C. L. Macdonald, and who rod* Wakeful in most of her races, was recently fined for unruliness in a railway carriage. In consequence the Victoria Racing Club has suspended his riding license. Blinker, the three-year-old colt that was sold for 1650 guineas a day or two before the opening of the Victoria Racing' Club s meeting, ran pretty well in tho Australian Cup, but from his condition afterwards it is feared that he broke down in the race. The Infanta, winner of the Sire's Produce Stakes at Fleinington, is owned by Mi James Grice, chairman of the Victoria, Amateur Turf Club. . Mr Grice borrowed her dam, The Heroine, from Mr S. G. Cook, and put her to Bobadil. t , Mr J. B. Whitehead, owner of Dividend, has received several communications, ona of them from England, asking him to put a pric9 on the colt. He has refused to enter into negotiations, preferring to race the halfbrother to Lord Cardigan hrmself.. / In America during the past ten years the racing tax turned over to the agricultural societies has amounted to £220,295, and tbjs las been given directly by racing to the enoooregement of State Agriculture, while the I indirect and widely-spread benefits accruing from the breeding, and the increased pricet of horses are much greater, i This is how a Melbourne writer commented on Canteen's display in the Australian Cup: —After looking rather dangerous half a mile from home, Canteen died right out, and was one of the' last to finkh. What a handsome fraud he is! H there are many Castors of "s sort in New Zealand, I do not wonder at the horse being unpopular. . The Randwick trainer, J. Allsop, has had threie races in one day at Rosehill, a JNewmarket Handicap and an Australian Cup. As Allsop always eete a fair share of tha stake when X of MVFoy's horse, win, his position of late has beea an enviable one. A short time before the start of the Viotnrian Racing Club's meefang, the two-year-eTchaVleß Ituart. by Wallace-Sweet Alice, mat away from his attendant, and galloped limseU to a standstill before he could be Sred. The mishap interfered wvth his jSaraiion, and probably accounted lor the fact ; that he was not at his best when the mftetinKj/Commenced. . • . . In fiance recently five condemnation., carrvingLwo fines a»d term* of imprisonment, w^rejstered against a band .of individuals, "well known in turf circles,'; **<>,^after a protracted trial lasting over six montfis *nd preliminary examinations over two) years. £,f^ 'g*m oi ringing-in racers with S papers and wrong ages to make dead certainties of minor even* at jumpa* and feeH»« among owners Js fljat the railway charge* for convenor h«m

and boys to race meetings are too high, and -that thero should also be a reduction m cnarges mado for stabling at meetings. The Jockey Club has been approached on the subject of asking for railway concessions, and it has been suggested by the owners that etabling for horsed and lodgings for boys should be provided free at all meetings. A recent exhibition of poor nding, wnicn resulted in a race being literally thrown away, prompted the following comment from a Sydney writer :— Such, sorry exhibitions of horsemanship are likely to take place every I day unless the Australian Jockey Club soon thinks out a plan of compelling tiainera to teach small boys their business bafore allowing them to ride. There never was a wore© lot of jockeys since racing began in Australia than are now riding. Tho members of the Victorian Owners and TraineTs' Association have expressed the opinion that there is too much proprietary racing round Melbourne, and beleive that racing would be benefited by a reduction in the number of fixtures. There are at least two registered meetings every week, and though they provide extra opportunities of picking ura a rsco, experience has probably shown that owners would be better off with one meeting and increased prize money. The French jockey, George Stern, put up a record in " classic " races last year. A ' few of the big events he won were the Grand Prix and the French Dejby en Ajax, the French Oaks on Profane, the Austrian. Derby and German Derby on Con Amore, the Baden-Baden Prix on Caius, th'ei Grand Prix of Badon on Exema, the big tWo-year-oid race at Deauvillo on Val dOt, Prix dv President de la Eepublique on Gouvernant, the Futurity Stakes at Baden on Champ dOr, and the Middle Park Plate, Newmarket, on A Continental writer remarks that the three-year-olds destined to carry M. Edmond Blanc's colours in the classic events this season were doing well up to the middle of last month. Val dOr, Jardy and Adam are among the best horses Denman has ever had through his hands, and all have done well, although some may have thought that tho massive proportions of Val dOr would have given some uneasiness to his trainer.- Adam is very calm, and it is . difficult to see what the French stables can oppose to him for the French Derby, while the French— and perhaps the English — Oaks are at the mercy of Muskerry. M. Edmond Blanc holds from all accounts even a stronger hand than he did at the commencement of last year, and the many attempts he has made to carry off the BlueKiband of the English Turf may be crowned by Jardy or Val d'Or. Playaway has been scratched for the Doncaster Handicap and Sydney Cup. After her race in the Newmarket Handicap it was reported that the Carbine mare had not been doing too well at the feed-box, and that state of affairs was, no dcubt, responsible- for her baa showing in the Bourke Handicap on the second day. Playaway is a somewhat delicate mare, and is . probably suffering from the effects of her race' in the Newmarket Handicap, but whatever may have been the cause of her withdrawal from the big events of the Australian Jockey Club's Autumn Meeting, the action of Mr Foy in scratching his mare ' before the weights appeared, instead of waiting till they had been issued, has aaved tho public a lot of money, for there-is no doubt she would have been one of the popular fancies for the Doncaster Handicap had her impost been anything within reason.