SPORTING NOTES.

(By Flaneur.) The handicap for the Auckland Cup does not reflect much credit on ita maker, Mr Bvett, and has already caused the pen to be put through several horses names. Trenton is not too highly gauged at 9st 101 bin such company, if all the others were as consistently treated, but they are not. Tasmau, 9st 61b, is not the Tasman he was, and might have been let in a little lighter. Turquoise, Bat lllb, failed to get a place in the New Zealand Cup with 9st 31b ; nor did Black Rose with 2lb less. Why Mr Evett on that running should make a difference of 6lb between them in the Auckland Cup I don't un.de stand. Administrator, Bst 31b, who carried Bat lib into second place in the New Zealand Cup, is very leniently treated, and if in the humour can just about do the trick ; but he i 3 in a stable where it is always the unexpected which comes to pass ! Lochiel, Sst, was not badly treated, but his owner thought otherwise and put the pen through his name. Sou-wester, 7at 131 b, reads well enough until we come to the next animal, Stonyhurst, 7st lllb, and here is the biggest blot in the whole handicap. Stoneyhurst, with 7st 61b, won the Canterbury Cup, 2£ miles last month, beating Tasman and Hermitage in the fast time of 4min HJseca. On this running he must hold all the others safe. Pearl, 7st 91b, has done nothing to entitle her to only get 2lb from such a clinker as Stoneyhurst. Why Master Agnes, 7st 9lbs, has been put so high up the list I know not, aB he has not won anything of consequence on the flat, though a fair performer over the little sticks. Necklace and Nelson, at 7st 81b, read well enough, but the Stoneyhurst mistake quite puts them out of it, even with that moderate impost ; the same may be said of Fusilade, 7st 81b, who has been scratched, Radames, 7st 71b, is badly treated, as is Leon, 7st 61b. Why Woodnymph, who has only won one unimportaut race, should meet Speculation at equal weights, 7st 51b, passes my comprehension. Bayard, too, gets the worst of it with the black mare, who has beaten him twice in two stifly contested races when receiving more from the mare — facts Mr Evett has evidently forgotten. Of thosebelow ßayard, l tike Foul Shot 7st. Waipiti 6stl3lb, Alpine Rose 6st 101 b. Soudan 6st 101 b, and Victory sst 101 b beat. But if Stonyhurst goes to the post fit and well, it is his race, bar accident,on past running. Tho best half dozen in it are undoubtedly Stonyhurat, Administrator, Speculation, Foulshofc, Soudan, and Victory, the latter a smart gelding by Fere — Clipper, who won a lot of races last season. His owner has a mare named Victoria by Feye — Memento also running up north, and the public are apt to conf U3e the two? The Wellington folks had a surfeit of racing last week, and hardly any one turned out to go to the Hutt meetings, only 400 putting in an appearance on the first day. At Island Bay the attendance was better, as Monday was a holiday, and the public more at liberty to attend. Administrator fulfilled my prediction by getting home first in the Te Aro Handicap. Capsize, I am glad to see also upheld my good opinion of him by winning the Flying and Grand Stand Handicaps, Capsize is a 4-year-old son of Leolinus, and L'Orient bred by H. Redwood, Esq. At the C. J.C. meeting the treasurer, Mr Stead, stated that the receipts amounted to £5785 9s 3d for the past six months, and £8819 16a had been paid away. The result of the Metropolitan meeting showed a profit of £1440, as against £890 last year. The incoming subscriptions set off against out* standing liabilities should leave a credit balance of £350. It was decided to have the, conrse railed round. We (Bell's Life) express great regret at having to state that JEtossiter, the jockey who rode Robert the Devil in Bend Or'a Derby, and, at one time, was in the first rank of jockeys, was found early this morning (October 2) in the round coppice on the Western-Hill Newmarket, with his throat badly cut. Rosaifcer has been in a low, desponding condition for some time through domestic and other troubles. Recently he procured a divorce from his wife, and has never been right since. He now lies in the Newmarket Cottage Hospital, and is expected to recover from his self-inflicted injury ; but his mental condition is, it is feared, hopeless. Rossiter, those interested in English sport will remember, had always been connected with Blanton's stable. Though he was much blamed for the manner in which he allowed Archer on Bend Or to win the Derby from Robert the Devil, in justice to a rider who is now suffering from injuries and a disordered brain, it is only fair to state that the evil bre^th of scandal never imputed dishonesty to Rossiter, and to Archer's credit be it mentioned candidly, after the Derby that he won for the Duke of Westminster, he openly stated in the weighing-room that no one could have dome more for Robert the Devil than his rider ; in fact, so satisfied were Mr Charles Brewer and Mr Charles Blanton with their lid, that they entrusted Rossiter again with Robert the Devil for the Grand Prix of Paris, and had the satisfaction of seeing him win easily on the son of Bertram and 1 Cast Off. A Sydney writer has the following : — " Very often we have been told when a horse arrives from New Zealand that he is a 71b better horse than Sir Modred ; but, with the exception of Trenton, I do not think we have ever yet seen them. Many good judges think that Trenton wa<? short of a gallop, and I agree with them. Had he had one good two miles towards the latter end of the week before Derby Day, that, together with his race in the Melbourne Stakes, would have just about made him cherry ripe, and he would have landed the rich stake for his owner." " Augur " says that on Cup day the Hon. W. Robinson's New Zealand pair were above themselves, Winchester in particular, and when the son of St, George appears in his true form it is quite within the bounds of probability that we shall see the best colt of the season. In the Newmarket First October week, the prospect of a match between Melton and St. Gatien caused a momentary commotion. Lord Hastings sent a challenge to Mr Hammond to run across the flat in the Csoaarewitch week, at a difference of 91b, weight-for-age, for £1000 a side. After carefully weighing the matter up, and taking into consideration the money the Saint had been backed for in the Cambridgeshire, his owner could not see his way to accede. Every unprejudiced judge will agree with the decision arrived at, but, says a correspondent, \vere the proposal again made during the Hough ton meeting there is no saying what might happen. Bad as the handicap for the Auckland Cup is, Mr Evett has made a worse one for the Wellington Cup, ac will be seen by a glance at tho weights, which appear elsewhere Just fancy Armourer having to give weight to Fusilade and Speculation. Such handi« capping is a burlesque, and would lead one to the belief that either the framer of it was suffering from softening of the brain, or was trying how far he could strain the patience of owners. Bayard, a cripple who has been beaten by Speculation in the last Wanganui Cup, in which she gave the brown horse Gibs, and in the Stakes Hnndioip last month in which she conceded him lllbs, has now to give her 31bs 1 What sort of handicapping is this ? There is an apparently tender vein running through all Mr Evett'a handicaps for the horses of a well-known confederacy, and the public are beginning to say nasty things about the coincidence, for of course it can be nothing else. Still, it is doing the clubs handicapped for, no good, and it would be

well if Mr Evett would put a little better work into his future handicaps, and not make suoh absurd blunders as those I have alluded to. Anyone not knowing the facts would imagine Armourer and Bayard had been " running stiff" every time they met Speculation, and were beaten by her when in receipt of weight, if they went by Mr JSvett's Wellington Cup estimate of them. Mine host, Chevaane, of the Victoria Hotel, has brought down from Auokland four splendid photographs, which he has had enclosed in a handsome frame by Mr Moult. The first plate is a fine picture of the defunct Musket, who stands out a moat powerfully-built horse, indeed, his proportions are of the grandest and betoken enormous strength. His death waa indeed a loss to the turf. A picture of Nordenfeldt aa a yearling, shows an ugly, unevenly built animal, of whom no one would prophecy great things ; but the " ugly duck " has turned out to be a beautiful swan, so to speak, and borne out Mrs Poyser's proverb as to " han'some is as han'some does 1" Juliet's beautiful daughter. Sylvia, now full of years and honours, is the subject of another plate. The grand old mare ia shown at the feeding trough in the paddock, with a fine-looking foal at her side. This foal is no other than the great Martini-Henry; The last plate is a portrait of the handsome Thunderbolt, who is the beau ideal of a thoroughbred. He has turned rogue, I hear, and " cuts it " when pinched. He does not inherit that failing from Musket, at all events. As a 2 year-old in the land of his birth, he was invincible, winning each of the five events he ntarted for. In Australia, as a 3-year-old, he took the public eye as one of the handsomest colts on the course, but he failed to run up to his previous form, to the chagrin and loss of the stable and their friends. I have to thank the courteous secretary of the Taranaki Jockey Club for a card of their Anniversary Meeting, March 3 1st and April Ist, 1886. The stakes for the two days total £840, and should attract numerious entries and nominations. The Taranaki Jockey Club Handicap £250, and the Autumn Handicap £150, are the big events. Nominations for these close at 9 a.m. on the 4th January next.