SPORTING NOTES.

Two Bill of Portland two-year-olds won in Entrland at the end of May. .'. The ridmg of F. D. Jones was beings favourably commented on -when the iast mail left England. . _ LoTd Jinn's' Daughter is nominal favourite for -the Melbourne Cup, and Little Toy for the Caulfield Cup. The Victoria. Racing Club recently ?emsacl the entry of a horse which is noted for its fractiousness at the post. * J Stewart broke a collarbone -when Blow Tom came to grief in the Wel.ing.onSteeplechase last Wednesday. • '„,,, Savoury, ridden by G-. Pnce, finished last in the Warwick Handicap on June 30. He ■was not mentioned in the betting. -. 'Dora Grey, the full-sister to Achilles, ran a dead heat with Kazoo in the Trial Handicap ait Moonee Valley on Juno 30. •The latest about Lally, who started favourite for the English Derby and finished nowhere, is that ho is touched in the wind. Oiliver, the Porirua light-weight, rode Windy when she won the Dingley Handicap at the Melbourne Hunt Club's meeting this month. A report comes from Auckland to the effect that a strong syndicate will probably be, formed to hold unregistered meetings in tha north next season. It -is understood, that M-ahutonga'_ owner has decided on a trip to Australia, and the Quilt gelding will probably be shipped to Sydney at an early date. , • x _ Noctuiform. was coming down m the weights in England at latest advices, so that) by the time he strikes form he should bis , very favourably handicapped. In the Hurdle Handicap at Warwick Farm, Sydney, on June 30, Kuroki was favour.te at 7 "to 4 on. Turning for home he appeared to have the race in hand, but Qliver caught him in the straight and beat him rather easily. A young man named M'Lecd, who was laying odds on the flat at Fiemington on Saturday, is alleged to have tried to get away without paying up on the Steeplechase. ■A maddened crowd chased him and kicked him to death. D. Maher's Derby victory en Spearmint mairked his third success in this race, the other two being gained on Rock Sand and Cicero. Other jockeys who have won the Derby more than twice are F. Archer (five), J. Watts (four) and C. Wood (three).. The Blackstone— Red Ridinghood colt owned by Mx J. M'Kewen. of Dunedin, fell and broke both his front legs at Forbury last week, with the result ihat he had to be de- ; stroyed. The colt was ft particularly pfomis- j ing one, so that the accident was very un- j fortunate for Mr M'Kewen. ' . I According to an Australian exchange, li. H. Hewitt had a mount on Passion ;in the •Shorts Handicap at the recent Newcastle racea, and had a particularly rough passage. The horses had not gone a furlong- before Passion was seen to be in trouble, and when they caxe in it was seen that the girth had slipped. Under the circumstances Hewitt did well A© finish third. . Information has been received in Melbourne from England that some of the horses in J. E. Brewer's stable suffered from fever this season, and on recovery became " roarers." . Brewer intends to return" to Australia f ex good in another year. Another Australian trainer, A. Ferguson, has had bad luck, six of the horses in his charge having become touched in the wind', foilowing on influenza. In America recently an unusual case came, before the law courts, the Housesniiths and Iroii-worker3' Union suing the Westchester Racing Association to recover £300, alleged to have been lost in betting at the race 3by a defaulting treasurer of the Union. Almost needless to say, the case was dismissed, and it would certainly be. rough ,on race clubs if ' they were made responsible for the defalcations of all individuals who liked to say they lost their money at the races. The- Victoria Racing' Club's stipendiary stewards have lately been measuring the steeplechase jump 3 on the various registered courses round Melbourne The committee of the club, it i« said, recommends a new rule fixing a minimum height for all steeplechase fences. The stipendiary stewards have found some of the suburban fences ridiculously low. Spearmint was pleasing the touts _greatly before he registered hi* win in the English. Derby, and, writing of one of hi* fina. gallops, an English writer stated that *' Sp_a*minfa gallop at Newmarkef was on© of tho best ever seen, and even Pretty Polly wa« on the stretch to l.ye with him. This, surely, makes the race as good as over, though it is trying- a three-year-old terribly hard to gallon h.m again and again with such tackle as Hammerkop and Pretty Polly. One of our more dedicate breeds would never stand it, but Spearmint has the courage and constitution of Carbine, and not a drop of Galopin or Hermit blood in his veins. Therefore he will stand the screwing-up process without doubt, and. bar accident*, credit the -•ledtoere stud with Ja-avi-g bred another Derby winner." The scarcity of good riders in England ia a topic much discussed in Home sportingcircles, and an exchange recently said that Argentine sportsmen have but a poor opinion of the English jockeys, who, in their opinion, move about far too much on their horses while race-riding, instead of sitting still as Sloan use-to-do, and as some of our best still do; .burt, then, the Argentine jockey hap [

only about courses on which he rides races, and, of course, he gets to know everything possible about them. Different tracks, every week would rather surprise him, and he, like others, would make plenty of mistakes. It seems strange to us that races can be ridden with -single rein on a. long-cheeked curb bit, but that is the universal practice out there, and we have seen. Gomez and others do it in , England. Gomez, despite his feats on Epsom Lad, is not accounted near the first class in the Argentine; and it would really be interesting to see some of their best jockeys riding here. A great deal was .learned from Sloan and other North Americans, Why should, we not learn something ftlso from South America ? Thai there.. 13.. much need for improvement among us still is evidenced by the fact that there ia such, difficulty in getting jockeys for some of the Derby horses. Aylin has to be sent for from .the Continent to ride Malua, and' Stern and Ransch are to come over from France.