SPORTING ITEMS.

"' Arquebus, by Martini Henry, Is'to be' sent to South Africa. Trenton's Sou, Sprig o' Myrtle, baa been shipped for India. _ ' ■ ■ ■ • „ — Tbe Kentucky Futurity Stakes oMB9B attracted no fewer than 1846 nominations. Lord, Wolseley says that the bare*backed riding of the Australians over f'eiices is the finest he ever saw. > Reductions arc to be made all round iv tbe salaries of the officials of the V.R.C. Accordion: to the Sydney Telegraph Mr Hungerford'a team of horses, which left this colony a short time ago, will be trained atWollongong. . ..I » Mr E. S. Chapman, father of "Adj-fur," died a few days ago at Hobart, aged seventy-eight. A two-year-old colt U being exhibited in Adelaide that has two cannon bones and three hoofs on the off fore-leg and two eats oh the near side of the head. Nea, the dam of Cremorae, was sold some months back with a foal at foot for figs, aud ban been stinted to the American trotting stallion Honesty. The French Qaks, run for on May 21st, was won by Praline in a field of twentyone. The winner started at 40 to I against. Value of the stakes, £271 L . - - ,', The Australian stallion The Hook, by Fisherman, has died in America from lockjaw. A Sir Modred colt, full brother td Trade- Dollar, a good performer, has also been laid under the turl. "Bob Scvior, otherwise Sutton~-Austra-lia.ii bookmaker—has.produced a play in London entitled '*• The Younger Sou.' : The Times spea-s. favourably of it. The Außtralian-brcd librae Martmdale, now in England, ran third in the Trial Handicap at the Manchester Whitsuntide meeting on May 2oth. ' - *• Martludale" in tho Sydney *?vp* say* i-r The many friends of the famous family of Messrs Phin, Joe, Jack, Barney, and Harry Thompson will be sorry to hear of the death oi their respected mother. Mrs S. Thompson, which took place yesterday morning, at her residence, Dowling-street, , Moore Park. ! The Dowager Countess of Stamford and Warrington i, s0 disheartened by the death Of Barcaldiue that she has determined to dispose of all her brood mares I and tbeir produce at the P»rk Paddocks. Newmarket. Tho sale will include Gebeironiss, .. _ ', Joe Thompson, the Australian bookmaker (says an EnglUh exchange), has beon a-heavy loser owing to Hie recent bank failure*. When inteUinence arrived that the big bank bad M stopped," be threw up both hands aghast aud exclaimed, "There has been no such atop alnce the sun stopped at the command of Joshua. The following clippiug from Lloyd. & Evening Post, dated January 29th ln3»; *t>out the famous £olip«e, who** fame is historical and also proverbial, will be found interesting: "The owner of the famous ruuuing horse Eclipse having a few nights since had a proposal made to hina for purchasing it, mentioned the following as the • erme: £20,000 down, an annuity of ifiSOO, well secured during his life, and three brood waxes."

Referring to the death of Devotion, dam f ThfW'* *"?«* special >mmSssioner of the London Sportsman ■riteV:—Devotion was dae of the very >w mares that have ever attained stud icces3 by being constantly mated with ie same horse, and even her case proves ie unwisdom of any such system ofl&tiag, for the best came first and the scond best second, and then after Clairaux decadence set in- Beyond question i niy humble opinion the late Lard fiallouth's principle of never sending mares •peatedly to the same horse is one that 11 prudent stud masters should observe. Thus & London correspondent:—ln the rindow of their establishment In Regent treet the Stereoscopic Company exhibit larpe photograph of a group cqsnpo«ed [ the pugilist* Hall, Mitchell, and Mcittliffe, and poor Mr Baird. The latter is iDghiDK, hi* hair is dishevelled, aad iitnd his neck is Hall's left arm. Upon the lartrin of the picture the "celebrities a-nes are given, Mr Baird beieg called Squire Abiagton.* , Is there not lefc omeone with sufficient respect lor the lemory of the poor young gentleman to uy up these pictures of Che Stereoscopic eople, and then bura them!" Iα his "Racine Notes" in London Jteieh Captain Coe writes:—"UaUke lanr of oar light-weight jockeys, little tradferd has nod been spoiled by success, nd, unless I am much mistaken, this lad !U9 a bright future before him, a* he ha-s a trongner7e, a good eye, atid i* a capital udge of pace. Bradford's father has been n the service of Mr Jennings, jun., fer orae years, and to thie circumstance is !ue the fact that the boy has risen so high a his profession, tie Mr Jeiininga left no tone unturned iv his early trainiug that rouid help to his future success. Olteu <ras the boy allowed to have a mount und ose to Rive* him confidence, when perhaps n older jockey might have got the horse list past the post. Mr Jennings has 'eatured the remark that a Rood ockey is better than a good race lorse ; and no wonder, seeing that he has eceived and sometimes £500 as i retainer for the boy. I aaa glad to learn hat 3radford will receive a good round urn as a present from his master when Li* time is up, and no doubt, he will then :et olenty of offers from leading owners. le "is a good-tempered lad, and fond of >ractical joking but his heart Is always m iU work, aad he is as straight as a gun>arrel. . ■ ■ Deadlock, the dam of Isinglass, has a ilstory. Being at Crichel some years ago, Japaia Machell, after looking over the >rood mares, was assured by Lord AUng,on that one of the worst was Deadlock, md that anybody might take her for £20, Che captain paid the money on the spot, md Lord Alington gave him a golden lovereign back for lack. The mare was Hissed oa with four others by the captain ;6 hie brother-in-law in Lincolnshire, and lome time afterwards, finding her in bad sonditlon, the owner of Bedford Lodge ;ook her home again and sent her to iaonomy. He soldlxer when In foal to Mr H'Calmont for £500—no extravagant price :on«lderinß the fee of £200—and her jffaprlnpc was eventually Islington, whiea more than pjtfd his way. In 1»8 he mare went to Graf ton and bore a Jlly—Craftiness. In XBB9 she visited [sonomy, and had the following year Csfnglasa. In 1890 she went to Satiety and iad a chestnut filly—Strike—now two Fears old. Deadlock herself died thie spring, and Islington is one of the rankest roarers of modern days—as bad a horse possibly as his brother is a good one, . . The Dowager Duchess of Montroae has lately lost the mo.cc famous mare in her sfcud, as Devotion, the dam of Thebaic, St. Marguerite, ClairvauX, and ofcher good tioraes, died in the middle of May after foaling. .Devotion, who was by Stockwell— Alceatia by Touchstone—Sacrifice by Voltaire, was bred at the Acton. Btiud in 1869, and she co»t tho late M* Stirling Crawford no more than 75gs. Not of much value as b. racehorse, she has, on the contrary, been of great service at the stud, for not only has she had a foal every year since 1870, with four exceptions, but she has, as mentioned above, bred Thebaic, St. Marguerite, and Clairvaux, who would of themselves suffice to confer celebrity upon any mare. These three were all by Hermit, with whom Devotion unquestionably nicked best, Sfc. Honorafc, who was sold for 4000ge as a two-year-old, and three or four other winners being also by Mr Chaplin's famous sire. Her four-year-old daughter Adoration is-still in training, while she leaves behind her a, two-year-old filly by St. Simon that has nob yeb run, and a colt foal by ghoen, in giving birth to which ehe dii'd, and which, it is hoped, may be brought up by hand. "" ''Aemodeus*' in the Liadsr writes " Were any special evidence required ia support of an opinion 1 have on more than one occasion exyreseed Iα these columns teUflve to Renetal •meijtocjif.y of fltis season's three year olds as well as the comparative inferiority of our leading weight - for - age horses, the principal handicaps of the season afford overwhelming testimday on this point, prominent weight for ace exponents such as Camoula* The Admiral and Buogebah being conspicuous by their failures in handicap company. By winning the Epsom Handicap Daredevil struck the firat decisive blow Of the season, but like Althotaa, who captured the Metropolitaa, he failed to repeat) the same form at any subsequent stage of the campaign. This remark is similarly applicable to the winners of the Caulfleld and Melbourne Cups; Paris and Gleiilotb, neither of which succeeded in distinguishing themeelves after their spring contests. Both victories were achieved at the of incongruous form, priorly aad posteriorly. Piioc Boy, winner of the (Harrington Stakes, and Little Bernie, who won the Summer Cup, were likewise only capable of one really good effort.; yet neither of their triumphs approached in point of sensationalism the victory a? the Erratic Chatham in TattersaU'a Cup, ITar ancl away the moat consistent; performer of the season is the Tantnanian galloway, Hopetoun, whose uniform running ttecured him a couple of rich prizes in the Hotham and Bagot Handicaps, iv addition to minor victories on suburban courses. Toe two big

autumn handicaps at Flemington saw a pair of capable performers assert themselves In Fortunatus and Portseo, whilst the subsequent doings ar Rand wick were potable for the remarkable development of form on the part of Realm and-Ore: morne, the last named having, since testified to the authenticity of his Doncaster Handicap victory In a mGst coa* vincing manner.

Regarding the owner of the Derby winner, Isinglass, the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News says :—" Mr M'Calmorif, it must be remarked, is emphatically a sportsman. The -word is very often aadlv. misused. A man cannot properly be regarded as entitled to this term—one held In high honour in England—merely because he nas the luck to own an oddsron Derbr favourite, oven though his turf policy is sportsmanlike; but Mr M'Calmont hm other claims to the distinction. When at Eton he distinguished himself so much ou the river that for a year he rowed stroke, of the Eton eight, and as ahoaw man.he kept; up his form later in life. One piece of silver which adorns his diuner-table, for instance, is a silver claret jug, the prize of victory in a four-oared race in which he rowed stroke. The other members of the crew were Mr :W. Lawson, Mr Russell Ward, brother of the famous caricaturist, and Mr R. C. Lehraann. the well-known Cambridge oar; and that the test vr&s not a light one may be judged" from the fact that their opponents included Mr D. H. Mac Lean, : president of the Oxford University Boat Club, Mr F. E. Churchill, president of the Cambridge. University Bo;it Club, and Mr Close, who had a great reputation on the river at that period. A treasured tropby over the study door in Mr M'Calmont's bou&e in Grosvenor-place is the oar with which he stroked Eton to victory. He was. moreover, an excellent . football player, and did capital service for bis school during the two years he was included iv the. eleven. Many readers are aware that the liafat blue aud scarlet, his racing colours,-are the old football colours of Eton, and their adoption shows that his love of tlie game did not end when he ceased to play it. Another proof of this indeed ia furnished by the fact that Mr M'Calmont, soon after he joined the service, devoted much time and trouble to the task of founding the Army Football Association, a good work in whicb he was greatiy aided by a friend, Mr F. E. Lawrence, known subsequently as a steeplechase rider, and for a time as the owner of Frigate. The circumstance of his being a heavy-weight may possibly explain why Mr M'Calmont nerer imitated his friend's example, and sought fame between tbe flags. His present pastimes besides racing are yachtiug and shooting, aad as regards the latter there is not in England a better estate, nor one where everything ia managed in more perfect style."