TURF GOSSIP.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 148, 25 June 1887, Page 6

TURF GOSSIP.

[By Hippona.] The weights for the Melbourne Cup are due on Monday next, and in the ordinary course of events will appear in the Star of the following day. Mr Barnard will probably choose between those great per■formers Trenton, Nelson, and Trident for a lorse to start the handicap' with. Which :of the celebrated trio will be selected is a matter upon which opinions differ a good deal. Trenton carried 9st 51b into second place last year, beating Trident with 7sb 71b, but since then Tridenfc has won the Australian Cup under Bst 71b, and many think 9st would not have stopped him in 'the Sydney Cup if Mr White had chosen to run him. Nelson ran a great horse in the Australian Cup, and despite his defeats in Sydney, he is sure to be where Trenton and Trident are in the handicap. The Napier Park Steeplechase Meeting comes off on Tuesday next. My idea la .that Mangaohane and Orient will fight out •the finish in the big event. Flintlock, the colt by Musket—Agate, purchased at the N.Z. Stud Company s sale in 1886, has passed into the hands ot Mr D. McKinnon. Although broken in, he has not yet appeared in public. In Melbourne Abercorn is a strong favourite for the V.X.C. Derby, with Niagara next in demand. For the Oup, those two colts and Matador, Trenton, Trident, and Silverton have been backed. Too Soon and Queenie are to be shipped to Sydney on Wednesday. It is on the cards that Victory may also be taken over. Many nominations in connection with the V.R.C. races, which closed on the Ist June, arrived late, and among the owners who suffer in this respect are Messrs Andrew Town and T. Reiby and the Auckland Stud Company. Writes "Mazeppa" :—Mr Jas. Cotton has purchased the bay gelding Snapshot by Musket—Venture, 150 guineas being paid for him. When he won the Maiden at our lar,e Birthday meeting he was owned by the late Mr A. Snider, and the very easy manner in which he annexed that event impressed many judges 'that he was a good one This horse was considered unmanageable up North, and the probabilities are, had it not been for this fault he would not have found his way to Dunedin. Mr H. Goodman has disposed of Puck to Mr P. Russell, of Waikouaiti. This son of Leolinus from the imported Titania has been a very bad spec for his late owner, who gave £250 for him about six months ago, since which he has cost a pot of money for entries and expenses without ever earning Goodman a shilling. His new ownerintends putting him to the stud. Referring to the non-entry of Maxim for the Melbourne Cup. a Sydney scribe writes : —It hasn't often happened for those who speculate on races before entries are made to receive such a facer as they did by the absence of Maxim's name from the Melbourne Cup list, the recognised champion two-year-old of Maoriland having been coupled for good round sums with everything that is considered to have a chance of winning the Derby. Professional as well as ordinary backers have "tumbled in " alike. ... ....^ .....„.;.(>.:.. When the French authorities abolished cash betting there was a reaction in favour ' of the pari-mutuel system, which is something similar to the totalisator., The following, from an English paper, is a model of the.instrument:— . . , . Unite Pouled'Essaides tyTeo;u de2ofr. Poulains. JNO. I. Le Sancy^_|_l, 2,3,4,7,8)17,58,80 I SOjouis MonWe- I 3,7,9.2-1 I 2* » &rio ~ ■■ I 1,2,7,18,21,61; : I 61 ~ Consolide.. I 6,12,18 ■ I' 18 „ Frapotel .. I 1,2,3,22, 53,67,96,1251 125,, Arlay.. - I 5,6,8,13,16 I 16 „ Total.. .. 32410uis Less 6 per cent, for expenses, Sec. 19 „ To divide .. 3051ouis Each investment of a lonis on Brio would, bring a return of five louis; or the odds of 4 to 1. It will be seen that the addition is made as the amounts are invested, but the instrument does not seem to me to be nearly so simple as the totalisator. ■It is intimated in the Australian papers that the entries of Vinaigrette, Spade Guinea, Pasha, and Teddy Yuille, for the Hawkesbury County Purse, were received too late to be accepted. ■ The members of the Victorian Club, Melbourne, celebrated the opening of their new premises by a dinner on a very grand Bcale, and about 130 sat down. Mr C. D. Halloran, chairman of the committee, presided, supported right and left by Captain Traill Sir W. J. Clarke, Messrs R. Power, A.r Anderson, Herbert Power,.E. Fanning, T Haydon (secretary), J. Whittingham, L. k Smith, M.P., T. Bent M.P., T. Fitzgerald, S. Gillott, M. LoughJm, P.P. iabertouche, B. Byron Moore, H. Smith, Dr. Wilmott, &c. After dinner the chair- " man proposed in succession, the loyal toasts/followed by that of "His Excellency the Governor," and the "Parliament of Victoria," the latter being responded to by Messrs Bent and L. L. Smith. Mr S. Gillott next proposed "Prosperity to the Victorian Club,'s which was acknowledged by the chairman. Dr. Wilmott gave " Success to the Victorian Racing Club," to which Mr John Whittingham replied. The Dther toasts were — "The House Com- ' jnittee," "Our Secretary," " The Press," ftnd "The Chairman." Between the toasts several songs were contributed by Messrs Armes Beaumont. H. Byron Moore, E.g. Chapman, Frank Clark, Jos. ThompBon, J. I. Saqui, J. Lindsay, T. Gttpip, Pr. Williams and others. The furniture and appointments of the Club have: been specially made of polished American walnut, at'the cost .(&. somewhere about L3,Q00, and it is said that altogether the premises present an,aspect that excels- any kindred institution in London, Edinburgh, Dublin/ Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, or Birmingham', ;for luxuriant elaboration. Two misadventures that are incidentalrfco horseflesh have, recently occurred at Sir Thomas Elder's stud farm at Morphettville, resulting in. the , death of two valuable mares. BayV'Wife, by Scottish Chief, died through foaling twins prematurely,' and Etta-j the dam of "Dunldp (in foal to Neckersgat), died of an injury, accidentally sustained. The former was a comparatively young mare, haying been sent home a year or two ago to bejtrainedlfot. the English Derby, •but "for -which event she never started. Etta, on the. pther hand, was 23 years old,' and both ;were mares of high lineage, Etta 'being iby Parmesan—Queen Ijlly; and Roys-Wife the only Scottish Chief mare in the colonies, x •The Hon.; W. A.' Long's mare Dame Agnes, previous to being-shipped for Australia, visited thecelebratedhorseßarcaldine, and afoalby him should ptoye an , acqu i s i, tion to Australia. Dame Agnes, as a two-year-old, won severaj^oo«taceß for Mr

Previous to the Napier Steeplechase Meeting on Monday the bookmaker? had an interview with the secretary in relation to the committee's decision not to allow betting in the paddock. After discussing matters the restription was withdrawn on the understanding that the books did not bet totalisator odds. It was stated that the Club had no' desire to prohibit betting altogether. The New Zealand Cup weights are due next Eriday. The Melbourne Cup is now the most valuable handicap in the world. It is the richest, because not a sovereign is extracted from the pockets of owners to make up the 2,500 sovereigns; all of which is given by the olub. . The Eclipse Stakes in England, and the Futurity Stakes in America, both are much more valuable to the winner, but all the money is extracted from owners, and neither has handicap conditions. The Hon. J. White's colt Hexham, by Goldsborough from Goldfinch, has been purchased by Mr George Donnelly, of Randwick, at a satisfactory figure. There are various methods whereby the horse-nobbier gets a favourite out oi the way, but shooting is seldom attempted, Some miscreant in Western Australia seeptf to have adopted the shooting game, but happily Jie did not succeed in his. dastardly attempt.' AMr Woolhouse owned a hor§e named Baron, who wag a favourite for the principal events at Roeburne, and one morning just before daylight, while riding him to the racecourse to nave a gallop, he was fived at by somebody hidden in a thicket. , The bullet whizzed past Mr Woolhouse,who, on returning to town, gave information to the police, but no trace of the perpetrator of the act could be. discovered. Such a fellow ought to be lynched. The Middle Park Co.'s best brood mare Idalia has slipped twins to St George. The mare was in a critical state ftt last accounts. The New York " Sportsman " refers at considerable length to the shipment of Australian-bred racing stock which Mr J. K. Newton imported' to California by the s.s. Alameda in February last. The Golds, brough—Sylvia colt has been named Goldsbrough, Jun. It is stated that the colts will probably be used as sires, although they may be given a flyer or two at the fall blood-horse meeting. As an instance of how secretaries garry out things in Australia, I notice that notwithstanding the large number received at the A.J.C. office on the Ist pf June, the whole of the nominations were despatched to the secretaries of the different clubs interested at ten minutes after the time of closing. Argyle, the son of Moorthorpe and The Giggler, which cost Mr I). Cooper, the Sydney sportsman, 310 euineas as a year-, ling, has changed hands, Mr T. Steward being his new owner. Mr George Hope, who lately returned to Tasmania from England, has a great opinion of the Australian racehorse. While he was in England he attended most of the important race meetings, and saw Archer ride some of his,,most celebrated finishes, and justly pays a tribute of praise to one of the greatest horsemen the world has ever seen. He thinks, however, that our horses are superior in appearance to ths English racehorse, and he says that animals of the stamp of .Stockwell, Malua, Blink Bonny, Sheet Anchor, and The Assyrian, are not seen on English racecourses, though Ormonde and Bendigo are exceptions, and are very fine horses. He found the coursings at .Quamby, and at the Oval, Sunbury, more enjoyable than at Altcar, where the English Waterloo Cup meeting takes place. At the present time there appears to be a hard fight going on in America .as to. whether betting shall .be allowed on the racecourses. If the partyfavourable to legal.ising betting wins, then, it is said, the American turf will take a big stride forward, and new faces will soon be seen on the quarter stretch. If betting is legalised, many rich men will step into the breach made by the retirement of Pierre Lorillard. Mr J. I. Saqui, the Victorian bookmaker, ; was recently the victim of an assault. It appears that on returning to his home in Carlton during the small hours, of morning, and'whenabout to unlatch the front door,he was knocked down by someone who had been lying in wait. The would-be robber had stuffed. the keyhole so as to ; render it a difficult matter to insert the latchkey, but the cries of his intended victim attracted two persons who were close at hand, and he made off, but not without treating the bookmaker to a very rough handling, The Prince of Wales's horse Hohen* linden, .which won the Grand Military Hunt. Cup, was objected to on the ground of wrong description, having been entered as a six-year-old instead of aged. The objection has been upheld, and. the horse disqualified. Hard luck for H.R.H., who has to pay back a nice sum which he won in bets. ....... . ■.' Blitz, a grey Arab pony, IS, hands and high, carrying Bst 111b', recently won the Civil Service, Cup at =Luqknow for the second time. He beat,an English pony, Little Nell, a winner, .alao an Australian pony. The race (f mile) was run in lmin 22seCi At the.Muswellbrook (New South Wales)show some feats of horsemanship were shown by Mr B. A. Hill, of Kavensworth. After going over the hurdles several times on Acrobat, he mounted Mr A. N. Wilson's horse Satan, and rode him over the hurdles without either saddle or bridle. When the English jockey F.: Archer com-' mitted suicide all England went into mourning, and endless proposals were made as to what form a memorial should take which would for ever preserve the memory of the. great jockey. So great was the sorrow expressed at the time that it was considered that no difficulty would be met with in raising any sum, no matter how large, towards the worthy object. Not so, however, as the scheme so-loudly advocated has lapsed for want of funds. The grief cost nothing, but the memorial would have, necessitated the opening of purse strings, hence the result ; of what promised to be a grand affair.