IN A NUTSHELL.

— Quiver goes to India after all. — very fair entries for South Canjfceibury, — Armilla is not expected at Christchurcll this Eastfcr. — Recent gruellings, it is said, hava " cooked " Anraria. — Mr Dowses handicaps for Riverton appear in this issue. — The Carbine colt Glencoe is to be trained by J. Monaghan. — Quiver will not be a starter at the A.J.C. autumn meeting. — Railway arrangements bad at Hawke's Bay. Trains overcrowded. > — Referee says that Dante was offered when a three-year-old for £25. — Jack Taggart trains Disraeli, winner of the Hack Race at Wanganni. — They say that 1200gs was the price at which Quiver was secured for India. — For Idolater the highest offer at a tecent sale was 360gs. The reserve was 560ga. — Lord Rosslyn has been sent to Warrington to have a spell for a couple of months. — Another attempt to train Royal Rose is being made by W: Muggridge, of Sydney. — It is understood that Mr Stead proposes to Shortly offer all his ho «~es at auction. — A lady owns Waterford, one of the* public's great f*ncie3 for the Liverpool National. — The South Canterbury Club has decided to exclude bookmakers from its ratfe meetings. — Splendid nominations have been received for the Duaedin May meeting. Gip»y Grand is not in the list. — Wallace has so far recovered from his severe lacihK at the V.R.O. meeting that he is likely to visit. Sydney. ~ (vlencoe, the higbly-esteemed two-year-old son < f Carbine and Taihoa, has been sold to Mr M'lvi.ratSlOga. — Llahboob, an eight-year-old Arab stallioD, xecei'tly sold in Melbourne for 75gs, is said to bave cost £900 in Arabia. — A sensational wager of 2000 to 1000 was accepted about Quicklight'a chance for the V.R.C. Steeplechase the night before the race. — Bot fly is said to have been- the trouble with Fe&,s ie»>, the Hon. J. D. Ormond's two-year-old, who diet! recently. So says the Referee. — : sin informed that St. Cloud, the young son of Si Leger and Puwerewere, has paFsed into the cat« cl J. Loughlin on a two years' lease. — Mr John Crbzier bred Idolater at St. Albans, tut before the colt was sold as a yearling the estate bad passed into the hands of Mr Wilson. - — Bob Haetie has both Lady Somnus and Happy Dream now in work, and I hope he will Boon have a turn of luck with one of the sisters. — Merry Maid, one of th« winners at South Auckland, is by Hotchkiss, a sire that will have to waken up if he is to fulfil hia owner's expectations. , ~ The owner tells me that Belle Clair is to .go ' fer has goneltraieht ftom Hawke's Bay to Cniist(nnrch, and will elan tfuro till ftftflj tbe Easter

—Mr G Hunter's cheque over Hawke'.s Bay was for £546 sa. Mr Staad took £411 7s as the value of Bloodahot's win in the Hawke's Bay Stakes. — Very Bhort prices 8f em to be quoted about tha Two Thousand Guineas— viz., 5 to 2 taken St. Frusquin, the same price on offer Persimmon, and 4to 1 Regret. - — Lerderberg, the Carbine— Novelette colt, at present in England, is reported to be growing into a fine horse, and will probably appear in public about April next year. — " Hanger," of Sydney, says that Wild Peer's dam, Wildfire, has turned out a splendid specimen of the thoroughbred to Rusaley. Last season Scots Grey was her love. — Oxford (Canterbury) races on St. Patrick's Day were restricted to district horses. The Cup, of ssovs, a mile and a-quarter, went to Zola, who also pulled off the Ladies' Purse. — Wolf, who ran in the-Australian Cup, is the son of Commotion and Quality that was once in Dunedin. It appears that he has not changed his name. Mr L, Abrahams is his owner. — Bob Ellis is breaking in the yearling colt Hipponous, by St. Clair— Hippona, and therefore half brother to Rothains>tead. The colt is to all appearances one of the best of the St. Clairs. — " Malua " of the Taiori reports that Bay Bell [ will not race again, that Mr G. Ruthven is breakI ing in a three-year-old by St. Clair from Gold i Dust, and that Mr J. O'Donnell is working Ulva. — A writer in the World Bays : Lord Lurgan is to have charge of Baron Hirsch's horses. That is a surprise to eveiyone, even, I oliould think, to himself. It means " a very gopd thing," of couret. - 1 - Barley, dam of the Truntou colt O'TrJgger, was chosen in England by Mr Matthew Dawson for Mr M. O'Shanassy. She is by Barcaldine from Lonely, by Hermit from Anonyma, by Stockwell. — The Enfilade— Hinnomungie colt, on whom a reserve of 50Pgs was placed at the yearling sale at Melbourne, has been sold privately to Mr A. Turnbull, of West Australia, who will race him in Victoria. — Ssya " Freelance " in the Melbourne Sportsman : Michael O'Brien, one of the' moat Aruherlike jockeys Australia has ever seen, was originally destined to-be a shoemaker. Sanders served a little time as a compositor." — Mr Heath, the V.R.O. timekeeper, says the first mile and a-half in the Champion Stakes was rnn in 2inin 45Jsec, and the last in 2rain 37Jaec ; the last mile in lmin 43fsec, six furlongs in lmin 17$ sec, and the last half mile in 52isec. — M'Ginne3B was at Warrington one day last week, leading Lord Rosslyn into a paddock, when the colt shied and trod heavily on M'Ginness's left foot, bruising the instep and damaging a couple of toes, as a result of which the popular trainer is now limping about with a stick. — Vancleve, the sire of Fritz, was got by Harold, and was imported from Ameiica when a youngster. He eventually became the property of Mr BiK'kland, and the Bire at Wonbobbie, where his owner has driven him a mile in 2min 16sec. Fr*ulein, dam of Fritz, is by Berlin. — A great tiotting horse in England was Marshland Shales. It is on record that ho did his 20 miles within the hour. He was born in 2802, and was acknowledged to have been the speediest and. stoutest trotter in England at the time when a fast trotting hone was looked upon as a phenomenon. — Paiis 111 has accepted for all the English Spring handicaps in which he was entered, excepting the City and Suburban. He may be expected to run in the Northamptonshire Stakes on the 2ad of next month. For this he is weighted at 8.3, Sir Excess being top weight with 9.0. The distance is one and a-half miles and 200 yds. — Sandon races on the 17th were held without the totalisator, and it reads like ancient history that Mystical, winner of the Sandon Handicap, Btarted at 3to 1, and Rossall at even money for the Hur.iles. The longest price quoted against a winner was 10 to 1 cukli Girl fur the Tramway Handicap. Who fixed the oddß is not stated. — Col. W. P. Thompson, a famous American sportsman, one of the stewards of tbe New York Jockey Club, and the owner of the Brookdale Stud, has ju?t died in his own country. It was he who made an offer of 20,000gs for Or me, and a similar offer for Ladas, both of which were refused. It had been his intention to send some of his horses to race in England. — "Te Whiti" says that several local layers of the odds in a small way were very energetic in getting against Gipsy Grand the morning of his breakdown at Hasting* before the news had become public property. They suddenly opened double books, Cup and Flying, Cup and Stakes, and Stakes and Flying, and it is needless to state that several unwary punters "fell in." — In England the odd yards sometimes tacked on to certain distances -to wit, the St. Leger, of one mile and three-quarters and 132 yds — are rendered necessary in consequence of the peculiar formation of some courses. No timilar difficulty presents ifcelf at Flemiogton, bo that the distance in the St. Leger is merely an adoption of the English precedent. Next year's race will be minus I the 132 yds. — For the English Derby the quotations at the beginning of last month were : 3 to 1 St. Frusquin, 5 to 1 Regret and Persimmon, 100 to 8 Knight of the Thistle, 100 to 7 Teuftl and Galeazzo, 100 to 5 Roquebmne. The latest introductions into the market at 50 to 1 were Earwig and Ortolo. The former, the property of Mr H. E. Beddington, is trained by Wadlow, and Ortolo, brother to Orvieto, is trained by J. Ryan. j # — Melbourne Sportsman says that Fritz's owner I is a thorough sportsman— breeds, breaks, shoes, trainer, and drives hie own horses on hi» station, i Wonbobbie, N.S. W., where he has a six-furlong track, and has always six or seven horses in training, all to harness, commencing on them at two years old. It is a common thing for him .to have them doinc 3min and even 2min 50sec, and fit to win a handicap' st three years old. — Southland Times reports that in consequence of Mr A. Cowie, of Winton. not having complied with the request of the Lumsden Hack Racing Club to sweav an affidavit that the horse entered as Fashion at Lumsden in May last was not identical with Redleap, the stakes have been paid to Mr M'Lauchlin, of Otam», owner of Scvatcher, the second horje, and a request has been sent to the metropolitan club asking that body to endorse the club's action in disqualifying Mr Cowie" f or two years from date, and also the horae entered as Fashion. — Form up to date directly points to Newhaven as the most likely of the now leading two-year-olds to earn Blue Riband distinction. True it is that the champion youngster's elder brother, Froude, was never better than a brilliant sprinter, but it is hardly reasonable to take exception to Newhaven on these grounds alone. The family theory is, of course, often a good one to be guided by, hut in the case of Mr Wilson's colt it does not seem to quite fit, for Newhaven wins all his races at the right end, and finishes like a genuine stayer.—" Reginald."