"HIPPONA'S" NOTE-BOOK.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 65, 17 March 1900, Page 3

"HIPPONA'S" NOTE-BOOK.

The programme of the Auckland Trotting Club meeting, to be held on Saturday and Wednesday, April the trotters and lilliputians are well It is framed on attractive lines. Both the trotters and lilliputioans are well cared for in the matter of stakes, so there will no doubt be a long entry list, Nominations for all events fall due on Friday, March 30. Handicaps lor the first "day appear on April 2.

It is needless to say the disposal of "the horse of the clay" in Flying Pox for the mammoth sum of 37,500 guineas has been a great topic of conversation. Never previously has such an amount been given for a piece of horseflesh, the best previous price being that of Ormonde, who bought 30,000 guineas,. It will be remembered that after Flying- Fox won the Two Thousand Guineas last year Sir John Blundel Maple offered 30,000 <mineas for the colt, but the late Duke of Westminster declined to sell. There Is no hiding the fact that in England and on the Continent prices of highclass stallions and blood stock are going up rapidly. A colt like Flying Fox must earn a great amount at the stud, and at a fee of say 200 guineas he should fill well in a racing- place like France. It is worthy of mention that the great stake earner Isinglass started stud life in England at 300 o-uineas, and it is on record that so greatly was he fancied that 500 guineas could have been commanded for his services. As a, two-year-old Flymg Fox won three races out of five starts, his stake earnings amounting to £2,631. At three years he won the six races he started for, winning in stakes £37,415, making a grand total of £40,096 in two seasons only. On 'the other hand. Isinglass, who holds the record, ran in four seasons for Ins total of £57,454. M. E. Blanc, the new owner of Flying Fox, is one of the most prominent sportsmen: in France. Discussing the sale of Flying Fox previous to the sale, the "Special Commissioner" of the London "Sportsman" wrote: —"The son o£ Orme is worth every penny of 30,000 guineas as an Investment' merely. "Bred as he is," Mr Allison, adds, "it is impossible to doubt his stud success more especially if outbred mares by Musket sires are mated with him."

Weights for the Doncaster Handicap and Sydney Cup, to be decided at Raadwick at the Easter period next month, were cabled this week. In the mile race The Watch Dog (8.7) and Bob (7.11) each have handy weights, while Armourette (8.2) reads with ffbod prospects. So do Carberra (8.0.) and Caledonia (8.11). With 8.12 Parthian is-not crushed in the Sydney Cup, and dressed in his best he should run well. Vocalist (8.5) is a candiate well worth keeping in mind. La Cai-abine (8.2) proved herself a staj'er in the Australian Cup, and the autumn .-being a good time for her sex her prospects cannot be overlooked.

The Australian Jockey Club's March Meeting revealed a rare galloper m a four-year-old colt | named Bob. He first, came out in the Trial Handicap with 8.5, and ran tlie seven furlongs in 1.27J, which is half a second outside the Australian record. An hour and a quarter later Bob put up 8.6 and 71b penalty in the Welter Handicap, and annexed the event in a most comfortable fashion, in a much better

field than that which he had previously silenced. Mr G. Ecir is the owner of Bob, whose breeding1 shows he is by Bowmont (St. Albans—Pardon) from Swift by Grand Flaneur—Banksia (imp.) by Wild Oats. A good future is predicted for unattractively named Bob.

Speaking of Cranberry, Australian Star, Spark, and others which went

to England a few months ago, a London paper says:—"There is also a curiosity in perhaps the biggest thoroughbred for his age ever seen. This is a colt of 18 months, who already stands isomiething- like ITi hands. It is a fact that before landing him part of the top of the box had tc be removed, so that he could put his head through. Imagine this Urob-

dignagian beast lurching round the Alexandra Park turns with the midget Reili astride him!"