PONY RACING IN HONC KONG.

; Au article on racing in Hong Kong ' contributed to the "Badminton Maga- ■ zinc," states the ponies which race • in tiie Far Eastern colony may bo divided into three classes: "Old ponies, ponies that have raced before ■ in Hang Kong, Shanghai, Tientsin, ■ Pekin, or one ox the China coast ports 1 "griffins," that is, ponies that have never been raced at all and for which any price may be paid ; and "subscription griffins," ponies that have never been raced, but for which a certain price and .no more is paid or subscribed. The method of obtaining subscription griffins is peculiar. About September, in each year the Clerk of the Course in Hong Kong advertises and canvasses for' names of men who will "take" a subscription griffin; the subscribed guarantees to pay a sum of 250 dollars to 270 dollars, about £25 to £27 10s for a pony, to he drawn out of a batch of griffins which will be obtained from tfao north. Perhaps fifty men hand in their names, and in due course an agreement is come to with the proprietors of the Shanghai Horse Bazaar to obtain fifty griffins and deliver them in Hong Ko::g for, say, 275 dollars apiece. When the ponies arrive in. Hong Kong they are drawn, for, the names of the subscribers being placed in one hat, the numbers borne by the ponies on their .headstalls in another, so that each subscriber gets a pony. The griffins hare to pass a time test in Shanghai " before they are shipped 'to Hong Kong but the test is- of little value. Chinese riders weighing perhaps seven stone aire scait out to test ponios that ma}' subsequently have a race under eleven stone or twelve stone. The "istandard" of one minute forty seconds for six furlongs is not a severe one. ■ Still," with all the disadvantages of the system the subscribers appear to'extract plenty of amusement out of their very -speculative sport., '-■-