NOTES AND COMMENTS

A meeting of the Committee of the Canterbury Jockey Club was held on Tuesday. The Programme Committee submitted a report, which was adopted. It recommended that the conditions of the New Zealand Cup should be adopted. With regard to the Grand National programme, it recommended that the following increases should be made to the stakes :— -Trial Hurdle Handicap £50, Enfield Steeplechase £120, August Handicap £100, Beaufort Steeplechase £150, He'athcote Handicap £100, Sydenham Hurdle Handicap £150, Lincoln Steeplechase £250, United Hunt Steeplechase £30, and Hunters' Plate £30. The pro* posed increases amount to £980, making a grand total for .the meeting of £7790. The committee further recommended that the penalties in the Grand National Steeplechaise should be as follow !— * "The winner of any steeplechase of the value of 60 soys after the declaration of weights to carry 61b, of 100 boys Blb, of any race or races of the collective value of 200 boys 121b, of 300 soy* 14lb extra, provided that any horse handicapped at 11.0 or over shall only carry one-half of such extra weights." The same conditions to be attached to the Grand National Hurdle ftace and the Winter Cup, but the decreased penalty to apply to noises carrying 10.7 and over, the minimum weight being 71b less in the last two races than in the Steeplechase. The appeal of J. Brankin against the disqualification of himself and the mare Lylena for alleged inconsistent running at the South Canterbury Jockey Club's Meeting was heard at a meeting of the New Zealand Trotting Association held on Wednesday last. Mr. P. Selig, the president, said he always held that the stewards were the best judges of the incidents of a. race. At the same time, the association had to take the surrounding circumstances into consideration. The stewards of the South Canterbury Jockey Club, in coming to a decision, said that, in view of the totalisator figures and the ease with which Lylena won on the second day, Brankin and the mare were disqualified for twelve months. In view of the corrected figures, the stewards had evidently come to a decision on wrong evidence. He considered it a very eerious matter to disqualify » man for inconsistent running, and only to be undertaken on sufficient evidence being forthcoming. Personally, he did not see much in the evidence in this case, out' side the time, to support the decision of the club. Brankin admitted that he finished a long way behind on the first day, but he added that he never suspected there would be trouble if he won on the second day. It did not follow that there Would be trouble, and there would be a big crop of disqualifications if it were to follow every variation in times. Out side the time, he considered the South ' Canterbury Jockey Club's case on the present occasion waa very weak. If the members of the association were disposed to reverse the decision, and were mflu* enced by the new evidence given by Mr. Rogers, which was certainly valuable testimony in Brankin's favour, he thought the new evidence should first be referred back to the club. A motion that the appeal be upheld was carried unanimously. The New Zealand horses Sir Lethe, Seatondale, and Merrie Lad have arrived at Caulfield from Sydney in charge of J. M. Cameron, and are located at J. Bellamy's. The death occurred recently at the Napagedl Stud (Hungary) of the stallion Gouvernant. By Flying Fox out of Gouvernante, he was bred in 1901 by M. E. Blanc, and was one of the first of the get of his famous sire. He won the French Two Thousand Guineas and other good races, but was unplaced* in St. Amant's memorable thunderstorm Derby, He was sold to go to Austria in the autumn of 1905, and sired a number of good winners. To the end of last year his stock won 107 races, worth over 28,000 sove. Although Carbine has been an Australasian idol and his name a household word, still he has not bequeathed his powers to anything likely to perpetuate his name that has been born under the , Southern Cross except Wallace. In later years an English-bred son in Pistol has been doing well in South Australia, and it is rather interesting to - note that Campfire, another born on English soil, had a winner at the Manawatu meeting. Despite the fact that Campfire is a son of the great Carbine that has been brought from England to New Zealand, the New Zealand Stud Books which .should in such a case give ample information, merely convey the baldest information. One could be pardoned for expecting more; but it is not there, and in many respects the Stud Books published prior to the advent of those issued under the authority of the racing conference lack the information identified with earlier volumes of the book. Mr. E. E. D. Clarke was one of the lucky buyers at the dispersal sale of the JSllerslie stud, in New. Zealand, early last year. He bought the Wallace mare j Demeter, m foal to Charlemagne 11., for 300 guineas, and Armigera, in foal to i Downshire, for 350 guineas, and Artnigera's colt foal by Charlemagne 11. for 170 guineas. The colt came up for sate with Mr. Clarke's yearlings last March, and went to Mr. S. P. Mackay for 725 guineas Armigeiv has a foal at foot by Downshire, and since arriving at Melton Demeter has bred a colt by Charlemagne 11. The Demeter colt is a full brother to Rinaldo, the best two-year-old in New Zealand this season, judging by his recent form. At the recent Manawaiu meeting Rinaldo, who is owned by his breeder, Mr. J .B, Reid, won the Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes, and he followed up that success by accounting for the Hawkes Bay Stakes. Hft won both races in fine style, so his relative should prove one of the picks of thp Melton yearlings next March. , Rinaldo is another instance of the value of Wallace mares as brood mares, as Demeter is by Wallace from Eleusis, by Barcaldine from Mystery, by Trumpeter (son of Orlando) from Charade, by Stockwell from Jeti d'Esprit (ancestress of Flying Fox), by Flatcatcher. There was a very long delay in announcing the death of Sainfoin, which occurred in Ireland some months ago. Several months elapsed before it became generally known that another Derby i winner, Common, had died. Sainfoin 1 ivas bred at Hampton Court by, Queen

Victoria, and realised only 550 guineas an a yearling. He was sent out in the same .year as Bightaway and Surefoot, and Was trained at Kingsclere with Rightaway by John Porter. Rightaway was always regarded as his superior, and had all been well with Eightaway Sainfoin would not have achieved classic honours. However, when Eightaway went amiss Sainfoin became the Kingsclere Derby candidate. He had previously been purchased by Sir John Miller for 7500 guinea*, with half the Derby stake thrown in should he succeed in winning the Derby. Surefoot, who had won the Two Thousand Guineas, was a hot favourite, although ii was known that Sainfoin had been very highly tried at Kingsclere, and Sainfoin won easily. At the ptud he was not a great success, the only horse of note sired by him being Eock Sand, who won the Two Thousand Guineas, Derby, and St. Leger, but he was a good deal inferior to Ard Patrick and Sceptre, who were out the previous year. Sainfoin was by Springfield (son of St. Albans) from Sanda, by Wenlock from Sandal, by Stockwell from Lady Evelyn, by Don John (son of Tramp) from Industry, by Priam. A striking example of the manner in which prices for blood stock have increased in England of late years is afforded by the reported sale of The White Knight last week for 40,000 guineas. Up to that time the record price paid for a thoroughbred horse was the 37,500 guineas M. Edmond Blanc gave for Flying FoX at the saleof the Duke of Westminster's horses in 1900. The sale created a great sensation at the time, but had several owners been desirous of parting with their horses the amount would have been eclipsed several times during the last few years. For instance, Mr A. W. Ifairie refused 50,000 guineas for Bayardo, and an even larger offer was declined last year for Prince Palatine. King Edward refused an offer of over 60,000 guineas for Persimmon, but he parted with his other Derby winner, Diamond Jubilee, for 30,000 guineas. He did not own Minoru, who was held on lease from Colonel Hall Walker. Cyllene was sold twice for big sums, the first timo to Sir William Bass for 30,000 guineas, and three years later to an Argentine buyer for £25,000. When the Duke of Westminster parted with Ormonde he did so for £12,000, and three years later he changed hands again for £31,250. Jardy brought £30,000 and Val dOr £2000 less, and Sceptre was secured by Sir William' Bass for £25,000, and as a yearling she cost Robert Sievier 10,000 guineas. Rock Sand was bought by Mr. August Belmont for £25,000, and the Duke of Westminster, a son of Orme, realised £22,050 as a two-year-old, and proved costly. The brothers Galtee More and Ard Patrick were secured by Continental buyers for 20,000 guineas a-piece, and St. Blaise went to America for £20,000, and Gouvernant, who died in Hungary a few weeks ago, was sold by M. E. Blanc for a similar sum. Kendal ■was sold twice for £18,000 and £10,500, and Bona Vista went to the Continent for £10,458. St. Gatien and Doncaster were sold for £14,000 a-piece, and they were Derby winners. It will be seen that since their day the value of a really high-class horse has trebled. The celebrated stallion Wolf's Crag died in England recently. Foaled in 1890, by Barcaldine— Lady Ashton, by Lammermoor— Alsatia, by Oresfc—Germania, by Wild Dayrell, Wolf's Crag, he proved very successful as a sire of high' class racehorses, and his progeny won two hundred and seventy races, valued at £80,000. A London cable message to the Sydney papers says that the report that the stallion The White Knight, Ly Desmond — Pella, had been sold to the Russian Government for £40,000, is contradicted. It is understood, however, that he is under offer at the sum quoted. '