IN A NUTSHELL.

— Whimbrel doing well in India. — .Splendid nominatiocsforthe Gore meeting. — Smuggler may have a show in the Waikouaiti — Lorraine beat Don Pedro at the Invercargill show — The steeplechaser Auckland has broken down. . — Tupara, the jumper, has gone across to Sydney. — Johnny Faa scratched for the Hornby — South Canterbury races fixed for the sth and 6th April. — Sid Bishop is now able to get about again after his touch of influenza. — Carnage's lameness is said to be caused by rheumatism in the shoulder. — The veteran New Zealander Hollowback has been sold in Victoria at 60gs — Comments on the Christmastide race meetiDgs are necessarily held over. — Jeweller has gone back to his old quarters at Jimmy Monaghan's, Randwick. — Trimolite was awarded first prize as thoroughbred entire at the Clutha show.

— The English handicap horse Insurance was bought as a foal, with his dam, for £30. — There is again some talk of the formation of a stud company in the Manawatu district. — Mr George Smith writes me from Christchurch that it is Mr Cutts who ia training Johnny Faa. — Westmere having again shown signs of lameness, will be kept off the tracks for a month or ■•■•wo.

— Mersey, who has proved barrentwo successive seasons to Trenton, has been mated with Strathniore.

— i"rom Sydney comes word that Jlrs James White has transferred her racing colours to Mrll. M'K«-llar.

— One of Darebin's yearling fillies has shown such speed in America as to attract a buyer at 15,000d01. — The English sire Petrarch, now 21 years of age, was recently purchased by Mr Forrest Tod for 5000gs. — Kobson's application to the Hawke's Bay Club for a license had been very properly referred to the V.R.C.

— Splendide and Meniah ran a dead heat in the Anniversary Plate, weight for age, at the Queensland meeting. — At Hay (N.S.W.) a man has been fined 10s for cruelty in that he, weighing 10.2, rode a pony standing llhds lip. — Clanranald is well handicapped in the Midsummer Handicap, though if Ich Dien comes right she should win in one.

— The estate of the famous English trainer of racehorses Harry Jennings, who died recently, has been proved at £85,000. — Prospects of a small field for the Rangitikei Cup, and Musket may win, though Rangipuhi is dangerous, even at top weight, if well. — Derby for the Plate, Ulva for the Flying, and Stockfish for the President's seem a fair lot of selections for the Maori Kaik meeting.

— Waikouaiti-bred Vortex won another galloway race in New South Wales (at "Warwick Fdrm) in December. Four furlongs in 51} sec. — Yarran, by Epigram from Nellie, and Arquebus, by Martini-Henry from Acme, are now located in South Africa, where both are to be raced.

— Outpost has been blistered and turned out. He may possibly race in May, but the chances are in favour of his being kept in lavender till next season.

— In America, on November 2, Pascal broke the world's record, 27min 23 ' f sec, for 10 miles trotting, made by Comptroller in. 187S, Pascal's time being 2b'min 15sec.

— Paper horse-shces can now be obtained of a German firm at a cost of two marks per eet, including a device for attaching the shoe to the hoof without nails.

— A numbsr of English bookmakers are visitißg India to bet at the Calcutta meeting, at which the Australian ring men, S Allen and S. Green, will also be operating. — When the last mail left England Tom Loates, the champion jockey of the year, had ridden 203 ■winners during the season, M. Cannon coming next on the list with 157 wins.

— Sydney Referee has heard a good deal of talk again in sporting circles, about the appointment of another handicapper in order to remove tome cf the work from Mr Scarr's shoulders.

— Mr Burdott Coutts has purchased Mr Houldsvrorth's well-known Orvieto. The price paid for the son of Bend Or and Napoli was £5000. Orvieto will stand next season at Newmarket.

— Ravensbury, unlucky though he be, could not find anything to oppose him in the Amphion Plate of lOOOsovs, a mile race at weight-for-age run at Sandown Park in October, and he walked over.

— In the Oaniaru handicaps the c was the singular fact tbat the horse at top weight in the leading event is only fourth in the shorter race. Owners there say very plainly that they prefer the sprint courses.

— One of the curiosities of racing clubs is obtained from the books of the Pah'ufcua Jockey (Jlub, upon whose list of debentuiv-holders appsars the namea of two Johnnies (not mashers, but Chinamen)

— It is now the law in England that in runniDg off a dead heat other jockeys may be put up if owners so desire. This is to save an owner from being forced to employ for the run-off a rider who is over-weight.

— A thiee-cornered match at a mile and a-half, mn in October between the American flyers Clifford, Go Tambien, and Lamplighter, ended in the order named, the winner getting home easily in 2min 9 {see

— Mr \V. Bladder, the South Australian studmaster, is laid up from tho effects of a very painful accident. He was covering a hayrick with timber, when he lost his balance, falling 14ft and fracturing his hip.

— A Wellington telegram states that at the Masterton-Opaki races Sea Serpent won the Waipipi Handicap, paung £•] 12s ; Kent the Opaki Stake?, piying £3 19s ; and Kent the Telegraph Stakes, paying £1 15s.

— A London writer states that there is bo much " paper " knocking about that bookmakers in the old country are doing none too well ; in fact, many whose books show winning balances are actually considerably out of pocket.

— Sunnylocks fell heavily in the Epsom (Vie.) Huidle Race and appealed to have been killed. He was dragged off the track, but it afterwards transpired that he had only been, stunned, and sustained no serious injuiy.

— The greatest trotting performance of the year, all things considered, says an American writer, was the race record of 2min S]sec made at Nashville on October 17 by Mr C. J. Hamlin'B thrcc-year-olil filly Fantasy.

— After the Dewhurst Plate Matchbox was hacked at 5 to 1 for the Derby, which caused 5 to 2 to be obtainable aliout Ladas. Sou o' Mine figured at 8 to J, and liullingdon at 10 to 1, and 1000 to GO v/as offerer! bar four.

— Mr P. Campbell informs "Castor" that as Magazine never appeared able to throw oft the effuctb of the jar he mstained while niLiiiugin the Epsom lJandio.ii>, ho has t'ecided to give him a re.st for a lnonl h or I,\\ o.

— The Auotrahau-bred Martindale, by MarliniHenry— La Princes-e, 9.1, finibhed a dead heat with Rosellan 8.9 iv the Catesby Selling Plate of 100-.OVB, one mile, run at Northampton on November 3. Martindale was fold for 130gs,

— The Great Tom Stakes, the chief handicap at the Lincoln Autumn meeting, about a mile, was won by the three-year-old Best Man, carrying 7 12. HestaitedatTtol. Mrsßuttenyiekß.6, the Oaks winner, started favourite and finished fifth.

— " Robin Hood" reports that Captain Machell, the well-known racing man, was unhinged in his mind during the Liverpool races. It is said that he had been suffering from an attack of suppressed gout, and this appears to have affected his brain.

— After a lengthy spell from the racecourse, except that he had freouentlv conveyed his owner thereto in a buggy, Ellerslie, the National Hurdle Race winner of ISBO, made his reappearance in the Hurdle Eace at Mentone and finished last.

— The English Jockey Club has amended its rules so as to provide that a horse cannot be entered under a name until that name has been registered. This should deal effectively with the nomenclature nuisance. The fee for registration is half a crown.

— It turns out, as I purmieed, that the reference in the Melbourne telegram of a fortnight ago to the V.R.C. having annexed racing privileges should have read "owners' payments." These were refunded from 1888 till 1893, and joined to the added money.

— For the Standiah Handicap, six furlongs, at the V.R.C. meeting on January 1, Titan was given 10.4, Sternchaser 9 5, and The Possible 8.3. In the Bagot Handicap, a mile and five furlongs, Tarcoola 9.9 heads the list, Sternchaser has 9.4, and The Possible 7.7.

— The first man brought up before a Sydney magistrate after the controversy in theN.S.W. House of Parliament about the totalisator was fined > £20 and costs. The magistrates state that the fines will increase in severity until the totalisator shops are stamped out.

— It is now well known, says the Man of the World, that Isinglass was beaten in the Lancashire Plate through being over-trained, and there is no truth in the report that he was found to be coughing. Over-training is answerable for as many defeats as jockeys' whips. — Ibis said that the committea of the Queensland Turf plub declined to listen to a complaint of foul riding lodged against the jockey Blacklock because it was not made within 15 minutes of the race in question being run. If this be true, the committee were guilty of a very serious blunder. — It is a sad reflection on our stayers generally, remarks London Sportsman, that the best handicap of the season should be jointly carried off by two mares, one of whom is an ex-hurdle racer, whilst the other was so little thought of that her owner's commission stopped at the modest sum of £30.

— The English-bred colt Foam, by Ocean Wave, out of Zoonomy, by Sterling, which was ruled off at Saratoga, has Heen reinstated by the American authorities. Mr Joseph Duggan, who now owns the colt entirely, i.s said to have been the victim of a dishonest paitner whom he has now cut loose from.

— Anna of Bohemia, wife of an English king, invented the side saddle, not from any delicate repulsion to the mode in vogue, but becaube f-he was afflicted with some deformity which made it impossible for her jto rule upon the saddles in common use, and riding for women \\ us imperative in those days.

— In Paris a match has iust been concluded between Mr Cody and M. Meyer, the former on horseback and the latter on a safety bicycle, resulting in a victory for Mr Cody, who covered 319 kilometres 825 metres (217 miles 658 yards) in 12 hours, against 332 kilometres 500 metres (206 miles 1062 yds) by his antagonitt.

— Large offers have been made from America for the crack two-year-old Ladas, but Lord Rosebery declines to part with his colt at any price. Offers to buy the stud horse Royal Hampton have been received by Sir J. B. Maple, also from the States, but they have been met with a decided negative.

— Sailor Prince 0.0 started an even money favourite for the Mordialloc Handicap at the Epsom races, but Mr Redfearn's Marco 8.7 came with a great run at the distance, and won a most exciting race by a neck from Yarmon 7.12, who also challenged the favourite just when the latter looked all over a winner. The time for the mile was Imin44]sec.

— The Queensland Cup, now a handicap of 300sovs, two miles, was run on December 11, and won by the four-year-old Avenue 7.4, by a head from the five-year-old First Demon 7.11. Both were outsiders. The time was 3min 35sec. Avenue is by First Lord (not our son of Fallacy) from Miss Bean, by Clarion. First Demon is by Comet, a brother of Commotion.

— Writing to " Terlinga " of betting in Adeliade a friend says : "The books, as you know, have been 'silenced' and that is about all. The betting goes on just the same, and from what I have seen so far it will be an improvement for backers, as a commissioner will be able to : do his work quietly, and get what he wants about a horse at a fairer price than under the old system." — 'jfamecock, the veteran Engli.-h 'chaser, who continues to carry his years in the lightest fashion, gave one of his characteristic displays in the Stewards' Steeplechase at Hurst Park in October. At one stage defeat appeared far more likely than victory, but he stuck to his work in the gamest manner, and won by a length and a-half, to the accompaniment of hearty cheering. — Only one or two of the proprietary clubs are making the game pay, says the Australasian. They have reduced stakes, and cut down expenses to the narrowest limit, but without the pabronage of the public they cannot live, and the public in its present state does not want so much week-day racing. The goneral public have fallen out of the ranks, and left the game to the battlers.

— The Journal of Agriculture of 1847 had the following statement : The Marquis of Ramcroix has just lost an Arab mare by death which was 63 years old, but of course had long been useless. Mr Jesse Hill, of Cheddar, the steward of the Marquis of Bath, has a mare he is ready to prove to be in her 50th year. She is daily used in harness, tbe chief food being bran, potato rinds, and grass.

—Mr Charles Ohavannes, of Wanganui, has requested " Spectator "to make known the factthnt he will be pleased to start for any of the North I&land racing clubs by whom the late Mr Sam Powell was employed, on the same conditions as he has undertaken to do the work for the Wanganui Jockey Club— viz., salary to the end of ths racing teason to go to the widow and family of the late starter.

— At a meeting of the committee of the Tuapeka Jockey Club, held recently, a sub-committee was appointed to get plans and specifications for the erection of a permanent Dooth, stewards' and jockey rooms, and to call for tenders with power to accept. It was also decided to further improve the course. Messrs Mason and Roberts's offer to work the totalisator at tho forthcoming meetiDg was accepted.

— Longfellow, the great American racehorse and sire, died on November 5, of colic and old age, at the mature age of 2t> years. He was a brown horse, and stond quite 17hds high, bred by John Harper, near Midway, Kv., and was, by imported Leamington out of Nantura, by Brawner's Eclipse, son of American Eclipse ; granddam Quiz, by Bertraud, she out of Lady Fortune by Brimmer or Blue Beard, by the latter.

— The apprentice riders' allowance in selling races has been renewed in England under a somewhat new form. Under the old rule after an apprentice had won three r.vces he lost his 51b allowance. He is now entitled to retain it for a year, the only exception being that in no case is the weight carried to be below 6.0. The object is to encourage the bringing forwaid of piomising recruits to the ranks of jockeys.

— Last year Baron Hirsch gave 20()0gs for an own brother to I'ai adox, and it has- iust been weeded out of his .stud for 30ks. Theie has says London Truth, been a brother or a sister to Paradox roming up for .sale nearly every season since IJNS, beginning with the worthless Loyalist, for which the Prince of Wales was rushed into giving 3lOogs, and they have always realised e>tr;i vacant prices, but 1 cannot remember a siugle winner among the lot.

— Says "terlmga" : The V.1t.0. committee are hanging to the £UI,00(J Cup as long as possible, but it must go, and when the reduction is decided upon [ shall not bo surprised if, instead of taking <>(! X'sooo, the committee £o fmther and i educe the prue to a .sweepstake-, of about 2()sovo with L'liUOO added. It will be a big (hop. Why should the rest of the programme lie continually trenched upon for the sake of keeping this one stake up to its boom-day level' ■- There has been a split nmoug tho oony

clubs iv Sydney. The newly-formed Kensington Club thinks it ran trust to its own rebourcfs, and has withdrawn from the association. The leading spirits of this enterprising club bay they will race eveiy week, aud have ponies properly measured, which, they intimate, will mean a raising of ponies about half a hand all round. To insure themselves against loss of entries they will raise the galloway standard to 15hd3.

— A story is told of the late George Fordham, showing what very little difference in judgment; of finishing theie was between him and his friend Tom Cannon. He was looking on at a race in which Cannon and Archer were riding an exciting finish. Archer had already got his whip out, but Cannon was sitting still. Fordham watched them closely, muttering audibly : " Good boy, Tom ! Keep still, Tom ! " All at once he said out loud, "Now, Tom!" At the same moment Cannon gave the mount one or two sharp cuts and landed a winner by a short head.

— A Sydney paper states :— imong the entries made for the Moorfield pony races are two Now Zealanders— First Love and Jennie — which appear to have been landed from the Talune.and were said, by a person supposed to be connected with them, to be yearlings. Both are, however, three years old, and First Love is belie\ ed to be identical with the filly of that name by Nordcnfeldt fiom Fish Girl. First Love has a 14hds lin certificate, and Jennie is eligible for 14hde> class, and they aie owned by Mr J. C. Booth, who brought Tit from New Zealand a few months ago.

I've listened to the harmonies of niass'd orchestral bands And been charm'd by operatic stars of this and other lands, But as for me, all other sounds the subtle essence lack Of the grand crescendo music that comes rolliDg down the track, When, nerves a-strain and flanks a-drip and nostrils breathing fire, A well- bunched field of thoroughbreds comes thundering to the wire. Tommy Dold, in Horseman.