A DEVONPORT TRAINING ESTABLISHMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 56, 8 March 1899, Page 3

A DEVONPORT TRAINING ESTABLISHMENT.

I dropped in at Messrs R. and R. Duder's stable, at " Devonport, the other day, and in the absence of the popular brothers, was shown round by Jas. Pine, who SOW has charge of the team. Miss Anna looked well to the eye, and she was carrying a bit more flesh than usual. This daughter of St. Hippo and Anna, I am afraid, is a bit unreliable, for she never runs two races alike. She is a mare that it is hard to Iceep condition on. Drum Major, the big soil of Cuirassier and Hune, also bore a well-trained appearance. He is being jumped now and again, but so far he has not shown any great aptitude for the game. A two-year-old named Waterloo also occupies a box. He, too, is a great big colt and a full brother to Drum Major. At the present time, he stands close on 16 hands, and he is built on mammoth lines. His owners fully recognise that he will be served by time, so he is only being treated to walking.exercise. Halbadier was enjoying himself in a paddock. He has grown up and furnished a bit since the Takapuna Summer- Meeting. Another of the equines I saw being indulged in the paddock was Anita. This mare is a fussy customer at all times at the starting post, and she will not submit to being cooped up in a stable. She thrives best on paddock training and walking exercise. At any time she is a light-framed mare, but she never looked better than at present. Queen Ann, a lovely - looking two-year-old filly by St. Leger—Anna, by MusketFlorin, was on the retired list. Some few days before the T.J.C. Summer Meeting she got a terrible kick on the hock from Anita, with the result that she has been in hospital ever since. The member shows a severe blistering. At the time of my visit the mare could scarcely put her injured leg to the ground, and, of course, it has caused her to fall away in condition. The unfortunate accident to this fine filly means that she will require to forfeit all her two-year-old engagements. Cuirasette, who won the Railway Handicap at the A.R.C. Summer Meeting, and paid a dividend of £60 12/, was in box. She is in great trim, and I see a decided improvement in her all Tound. It is a pity that this daughter of Cuirassier and Dolosa is such a nervous mare and bad starter in a race. She appears to have quite a horror of the starting barrier and in all her races she gets badly away. It is to be hoped time will cure her nervousness and timidity. No fault could be found with the condition of Doctor, another of the Cuirassier—Hune tribe. He looks ready to race at any time. In a paddock I looked over Takapuna, a yearling colt by St. Hippo from Anna. He is one of the best grown juveniles about Auckland this season, and he looks full of promise. A glance over the stallion Cuirassier brought an enjoyable visit to a close. The son of Musket is as handsome as ever in appearance, and his stock are running BO well this season that he promises to occupy a good place in the list of winning stallions. I gleaned during .my visit that the successful brood mare Anna is this season in foal to the St. Simon horse Soult.