WORT AND PASTIME,

The XurtFIXTURES. November 5 and B— Auckland R.C. Spring. {November 8, 10, 12, and 15— C.J.C. Metropolitan. > {November 19 and 20— Marlborough R.C. Spring. _ | i^jfoveniber 29 and December I—Feilding1 — Feilding 1 /J.C. Spring. ] ((December 10 and 11— Woodville District * J.C. Summer. '-^December 26 and 29 and January 1 and 2—2 — Auckland R.C. Summer. NOTES AND COMMENTS (By " Sir Bevidere.") During the V.R.C. Spring Meeting, {which commences to-day, the sum of £32,000 will be distributed in prize money — an Australasian record. Rinaldo is reported to be making a quick recovery from his attack of .strangles. It is doubtful, however, '.whether he will be fit enough to carry ,out his midsnnunev engagements at SEllerslie. , Those who have seen Midnight Sun leince his arrival from Melbourne state (that he is looking in the best of con»dition. No horse has yet succeeded in [ginning the New Zealand Cup twice. JiWhen the race was known as the CanIterbury Jockey Club Handicap^ (1865(1882), however, Kinottingly won it twice lin the same year, viz., in January and tin December, 1870. The Tetrarch ' is claimed to be the two-year-old seen in England since | the days of Ormonde and St. Simon. ['"Lucky is the man," says the "Special FCommissioner" of the Sportsman, "who *can find a colt to live with The Tetrarch [for a single furlong tte) year or next. tHe beats his opponents just as Hanlan jsat his best used to beat the best of our i| sculling champions-"-that is to say, the cheating is done right off, and then the f race is a mere procession. ' No man nor fborse, demoralised in this way in the jjfirst half or quarter of a race, ever seems Ito be able to get, going again until the . race is over, and the winner can lob f home at his ease, "without any need for ja display of stamina." Erry Roe, dam of Merrie Roe and ECastalia, has produced a filly foal to J'Elysian at the Ascot Stud, Mangere. Although the Te Aroha Jockey Club has a totalisator permit some of its actions suggest apparently that it is out to hinder rather than to encourage sport locally. According to a resident there ithe course is closed throughout the year excepting during race week, the result Tjeing that horses cannot be trained for there is no ploughed track 'available, nor any ' other convenience iwhatsoeve'r. It is said that there are a,t least ten horses ready to go into trainling in the district, but that their owners fynll hffcve to send them to be prepared I elsewhere. , Mewy Roe has now contested four}teen events and has never been unjplaeed. This season she has run three „ .firsts and two seconds, and she must be [classed as one of the most- consistent \iillies in training. . i It seems almost futile, whilst this iwretched strike continues, to write about the New Zealand, Cup and Handicap, for nq one yet Jknows whether many of the horses engaged — the majority in fact which are still held up in the North Island — will .to able to see the post. In the mean- - |riime La Reina, who became favourite tot the conclusion of the Wellington Spring Meeting, seems to have all the {"best of it, for she is already on the spot. Quarantine has been gaining friends daily, i and by all accounts he promises to strip )fhV and well. As against this, however, yie has not had a race for a lengthy j period and will therefore be at a disadvantage. Prominent Stewards' Handier candidates in Bandiera., Merry Roe, 1 <.g, Mowbray, Salzburg, and Winning 'Way are safely on the scene of action, fbut other well .fancied ones in Crown (Pearl, Potoii, -Bliss, Tatterley, Ermeni,garde, l^aniki, Beldame, and' Bon Rain V have yet to' get away from Wellington, /and in the event of their absence the i race "will be largely spoilt. The same thing applies to the Welcome Stakes, in wmch this island would, all /being well, be represented by I-Reputation, Downham, Football, Pan*foim, Brocade, Hymettius, and Hyettus. •'The Derby will probably be won by a f'South Island-owned three-year-old in , any case, but some of the best of the 'Oaks candidates, namely, Bonny Helen, Princess Mou'toa, Sunbird, French, Rose. it-Simmer, The Hague, and Bon Rain, 'have yet to reach Riccarton. After declaration of first forfeits no i less than sixty horses remained in the ' Feilding Stakes. The best known of these are Bon Reve, Bandiera, ■ Gipsy [Belle, Gladiole, Bonny Helen, Expect, 'Postillion, Brocade, Ermengarde, ,Parirform, Charmilla, Cortes, and Culprit. '.Quite a number of the two-year-olds f engaged have yet to carry silk. The following interesting account of j'the fate of Derby winners is from the ((■pen of "Vigilant," of the Sportsman: — ■ >'" The very first Derby winner of them frail, Diomed, who, as everyone knowß, ) carried off the Blue Riband of 1780, \vas (.'in his old age imported to the United ) States of America, where he lived foi a | number of years, dying in 1808. His £,blood Hows in many of the best Amefrican racehorses of the present day. t Let me here say that of the 135 winners of the 134 Derbies which have been run — St. Gatien and Harvester ran a deadi^heat and divided the stakes, thus ac- j i counting for the seeming discrepancy — ■ (exactly forty-two, as far as I can discover, were afterwards sooner or later [shipped abroad. Our best customer, numerically, has been the United States, haying imported no fewer than fourteen winners of the Derby. As mentioned, Diomed (winner in 1780) was the first. Then came Saltram (by Eclipse), the hero of the race in 1783, who. like ! Diomed, was in the sere and yellow, I for he was not exported to Virginia until ,he was tv/enty years old. Following him came the 1795 winner, Spread Eagle, who died in Kentucky^ at the age of „thirteen, according to Vol. I. of the j American Stud Book. The others included Lapdog (winner of the Derby in 1826) and Priam, who carried it off in ' 1830. Priam was exported in 1836, and dt was not until forty-four years after- ' wards that Blue Gown (the winner in v.868) was purchased by Mr. J. R. Keene for about 30,000 dollars. He had previously been for some years at the ! stud" iin Germany. On the voyage to America very bad weather was encountered, and Blue Gown died on board, and was .buried at sea. A similar fate befell Kingcraft (winner in 1870), who, after standing in Ireland for' a', couple* of seasons, subsequent to his sale at Lord 'Falmouth's dispersal sale in 1884, was shipped to the States, only to die on. the way. As a Derby winner Jroquois, "victor "in 1881, is included in the list,, but> Wing^bred and foaled in

America, his return to the land of his birth was only natural. The other winners of the Derby sent to the States include St. Blaise, who was bought for 6000 sovß two years after his victory, and later was sold at auction out there for 20,000 soys ; Ormonde, who, after a sojourn of several years in South America, was sold to the Californian millionaire, Mr. J. 0. B. Macdonough, for 31,250 soys. Then St. Gatien (deadheater with Harvester in 1884) was sent to the States in his later days, after his return from Germany to England. Two more old-time Derby winners t that wera despatched across the ' herring pond ' were, I find from the American Stud Book, John. Bull (1792 Derby) and Sir Harry, who secured the race in 1798, and was some six years later imported into Virginia. This leaves only Rock Sand to be mentioned) for whom Mr. Belmont paid 25,000 soys in 1906. That son of Sainfoin's is now in France. " France has extended her hospitality to eight of our Derby winners, among them such mighty ones as The Flying Dutchman (winner in 1849) and "West Australian (1853). Tho first one imported was Cadland (1828). Pyrrhusu the First and The Cossack both went to' France some ten years afterwards, and Silvio (1877) was allowed by Lord Falmouth to take his Blair Athol blood there less than three years after his Epsom victory. ; A later and greater Derby winner acquired for France was Flying Fox J1899), for whom M. ; E. Blanc gave the record price ever paid At public, auctioa for a thoroughbred— i.e., 39,375 soys. Prince Palatine recently' changed hands for tnoro money, but his sale was by private i treaty. Flying Fox did big thrngs , ai j the stud, and so doubtless also will Rock Sand, for the latter begot Tracery in the States, and is also already the'smi of other notable 'winners, such as Qu'elle est, Belle, Rock Flint, etc. " Germany has helped herself liberally to our Derby winners, Blue Gown (1868) s ! St. Gatien (1884), who was bought by th^ i Gradftz Stud in 1887 for £14,000 : Galtee i More (1897), acquired from the Russians for £14,000; and Ard Patrick, bought for £21,000, being the more recent ones, while in the old days Phantom (1811) was in his old age sent to Mecklenburg, and Gustayus (1821) went to Prussia in : 1826, as did Mundig (1835), some eight years after his big success. Germany also acquired practically a Derby winner in The Colonel tbeaten in the decider in 1828 by Cadland) for service in Bruliswick, but the horse came back here in 1843. (Russia, like Germany, has m all imported seven Derby winners in Middleton (1825), Coronation (1841), Andover (1854), Caractacus (1862), Galtee /More (1897), Minoru (1909), and Aboyeur (1913). Austria-Hungary, inclusive of her native bred Kisber (1876), has had half a dozen, Blue Riband heroes' at the stud. The others were. Teddington (185.1),, Daniel O'Rourke (1852), and Doncaster (1873), all at the Kisber Stud, also Kettledrum (1861) and Harvester (1884). Dbncaster was not acquired until after the season of 1884, when he was already fourteen years .old, and he had long previously given us such worthy successors as Bend Or, Mttncaster, etc. As to other countries that have become possessed of Derby winners, the Argentine had Ormonde (1886), bought for 12,000 eova, and now has Diamond Jubilee (31,500 sovs>, the winner of 1900, and also Craganour, the disqualified winner of this year's race. Italy found a gold mine in Melton (1885), for whom the Italian Government gave 10,500 soys in 1890, Mr. Musker . bringing him back after half a dozen most successful stud seasons. Canada is the only colony that I secured a Derby winner, in George Frederick (1874), but he wes already twenty-two when imported, and died some three seasons later, in 1896. This j concludes the list of exported Derby winners." i You will want a pair of field glasses coming round the bend. We have them from 40s to £15 15s. O'Connor and Tydeman, the Jewellers, -Pahnerston North.— Advt.