ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 132, 5 June 1901, Page 3

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Victorian, Auckland.—Probably the horse may have been named Tarragon, after the sire and racehorse who years ago was a prominent figure in Australia. jI.K., El! erslie.—We can find no record of (he performance.

jjeturneu New Zealander, Auckland. — (1) Haydn won two races last season; (2) Hiiiau Is the same horse that was sent to Australia. He has been racing a long timo, but only started in sew Zealand three times last season.

The Derby is run for to-day

Derringcote was lame after his gallop on Tuesday.

Mr. G. Currie, owner of Hinau, arrived from Wanganui on Tuesday.

Mr. P. Neagle, the Hawke-'s Bay amateur, arrived on Sunday, and has been riding work since at Ellerslie.

A large number of visitors from Wanganui and Taranaki districts may he expected in Auckland this week.

Sundial's name was omitted from the acceptances for the First Welter Handicap at the A.R.C.'s coming meeting.

The Auckland Racing Club have for some time past been contemplating purchasing a property in the city on which to build offices.

Eegalia 11., while schooling this morning, fell. Cavaliero did the same thing on the eve of the Grand National Meeting last year, when he won.

The Takapuna Jockey Club have secured new offices in Durham-street, right over the offices of the Wellington Park Stud Master (Mr T. Morrin).

The nominations .for the New Zealand Cup are disappointing in the extreme. Seahorse, Shellback, Formula and Nonette are the only Aucklanders entered.

Last week I informed my readers that Mr. L. Marshall had lost his (Joldsbrough mare Storm, purchased at the Tocal stud a few months ago. Her colt foal by Splendour arrived during the week from Sydney.

A good many officials of racing clubs throughout the colony have intimated their intention of availing themselves of the invitations sent out by the Auckland Racing Club's secretary, to be present at the North New Zealand Grand National Meeting.

Volcano, who was specially selected by Mr J. B. Williamson for racing over the Randwiek course, and who was sold because he was thought to be overrated by weight-adjusters in Auckland, Avon a £150 steeplechase at Randwick recently. Verdi won his first stake the other day at Ellerslie. He was going out to do a gallop with Fairyhouse over six furlongs, when another trainer wagered half a soy. with Verdi's owner that Verdi would be beaten. Verdi can beat a lot, of the Fairyhoiige sort. The Opunake Racing Club are about to go in for extensive improvements on their course. A picket fence, totalisator house, with stands for two machines, ten horse stalls, and a jockey's room are amongst the conveniences being arranged for. G. Laing, who met with ah. accident when riding Roer at Egmont, is nearly all right again. He will hardly be fit to ride this month, however. A broken collarbone at a busy season means a Jot to a. cross-country horseman. Lieutenant was scratched for his engagements on the first day of the A.R.C. meeting after his owner had seen the weights in the Maiden Hurdle Race. Fancy Lieutenant being set to give two stone away to the West Coast hack Hinau. On Tuesday morning The Needle, while schooling with The Swimmer, struck one of his legs so hard that he carried it for a few seconds, and some people imagined that he had broken it. The son of Cuirassier was, however, apparently none the worse after the lapse of a few minutes.

Sylvanus having won over £50 at the Takapuna meeting, when he got home in the Maiden Steeplechase there, was ineligible to compete' in the Maiden Steeplechase at the A.R.C. meeting. Belfast, who won the Maiden Plate'at Takapuna, was thus rendered ineligible for the Maiden Welter at the A.R.C. meeting, in which Mr Evett treated him very kindly indeed by comparison with a big proportion of the others engaged.

Takapuna is a fine colt; and should be a good stock getter. A pity it is that the big son of St. Hippo is not thoroughly sound. He met with an accident at Paeroa from which he has not recovered, as he has been kept going ever since. It is more than likely he will be used for stud pur-

poses by his owners, who have had several applications for Cuirassier's services, and they may elect to lease that fine horse.

"When handicaps are advertised to appear on a stated date it is important that faith should be kept with owners and that the dates should be adhered to. The custom with the Auckland Racing Club is to advertise that weights are to appear on a certain day, and they may duly make their appearance on that day, but not in the newspapers of that particular day, and consequently only those who are about town and can look in at the secretary's office can get a glimpse of them. I think it is only fair to ask why this system is not altered. The handicaps should go straight from the weight adjuster to the secretary, who should at once furnish them to the press for publication.

A horse owner the other day accosted me with the. remark that I need not have made reference to the fact that his horse had been rather top leniently treated in a certain race. It did not occur to the gentleman at the moment that I was writing in the interests of the readers of ti.-e "Star" when I committed myself to that opinion, and in the interests of a large number of owners whose horses bys comparison were, badly used. Should occasion present itself the gentleman will find that at any time I consider his horses badly used I shall not hesitate to state so. It .is a rare thing to meet an owner now-a-days who will admit that his horses have been favourably treated when such is apparent. For every one who does so you will find a score complaining. The man who will complain of a reference being made to the fact that his horse has got in too light will be the first to come along and ask a sporting writer to note any unfairness the other way.

Once upon a time, says "Javelin," there was a trainer living near Melbourne—never mind how near — who had rather a good voice, and his favourite song was the "Arab's Farewell to His Steed." At a suburban meeting he did a most glaring "shunt," and went out for three months. The following Monday morning's post brought him a letter, enclosing a clever caricature of himself gazing sadly at his horse and these lines: —

My beautiful, my beautiful, that standest meekly by, I'm in the soup, and ail because we didn't • have a try; Fret not to go the course again with all thy winged speed, I may not enter there again: we're both rubbed out, my steed. They tempted me, my beautiful, for rhino's power is strong, And you were in the bag although you tried to stride along. When at the turn the punters thought you sure to do the trick, They didn't know that I had got. the fifty in my kick; But clever aa I thought myself, I made one big mistake, That steward who dropped thirty should have been let in the fake. There's nothing left for me—because I didn't tell the wretch— But punting at the ponies, till we've done our three months' stretch.

An impression prevails in certain quarters that the Auckland Racing Club have violated the rules of racingl in making1 special conditions for the Ladies' Bracelet, to be run for at the approaching meeting". 1 don't understand why people should entertain such a notion. Any club may make special conditions by which they desire (other than hack) races to be governed, and so long as they advertise those special conditions they are well within their rights. The Auckland Racing Club's Programme committee, when drawing up the conditions for the Ladies' Bracelet, conceived the idea that if they made the race open to any horse that had not won more than lOOsovs. in one stake, they would receive, if not a larger nomination, an entry of at least a better class of horses. Rule 42a provides that in all races by the conditions of which horses which have won open races are barred from entry, no horse shall be eligible to start which has won a race of the value of 80sovs., or races of the collective value of ISOsovs., at the time of nomination. This rule, it will be remembered, was introduced to try and provide a definition for the hack and socalled hack racers in different parts of New Zealand. Call him what you may, any horse is eligible for the race in question provided it has not won in any one stake a race of the value of lOOsovs., even though it may have won several races of nearly that value, and consequently of a much greater aggregate than 150sovs. As a matter of fact, some of the horses nominated for the race in question have won more than 150sovs. in stakes, but such horses and horses that have gone out of the hack class and horses that still retain their hack status, if their owners consider them good enough, can here meet on a higher plain, ■while winners of more valuable stakes are shut out. In the absence of rules to the contrary, itis competent for any club to make special conditions for open races provided such conditions are duly advertised.

During1 the past racing- season in New Zealand some astonishing things have been done in the way of time making in races. In some Instances there may be room for doubt as to whether these fast times correctly represent what races have actually been run in, that is to say, what the exact distances have been run in. Time keepers on the whole inav be fairly reliable, but sometimes there is good reason to know when they are at fault. The watch holder who makes face after race faster than other people, it may be safely concirided, assuming his watch to be a reliable one, either sets the timer in motion too late or stops it too soon, or both. When watches are started after the horses have moved off, as is too often the case, it necessarily follows tfcat faster times are

recorded against the performers than they have actually made. In these days when starting' from the barrier is the vogue, time takers are less liable to err than formerly, and the practice is to strike the time from the moment the barrier moves up. Some horses are supposed to "beat the barrier," as it is termed, but this cannot be. They may beat the starter, but they can only get away when the barrier has moved sufficiently high to permit of them going under. So smart have many horses become that they dart off at the moment the starter presses the machinery that releases the tape, with the result that tflieir jockeys have to duck their heads and assume the crouching position to escape having their necks caught. Starting from the tape has an educational effect upon horses, and riders would exercise greater patience if they had thorough confidence in the starters, who are sometimes what is called "tricky." It is this want of confidence in the starters more than anything else that brings about demoralisation at the post. A starter must be firm, but he should not in one breath say "Now, I'm not going to start you," and next moment set the barrier in motion. The great thing is to get the horses nicely settled and in line, and not all too crowded together, as one frequently notices they are, in. which position they hamper each other. The more starting there is under the barrier system the'more perfect starting should become, but it depends as much or more upon the class of men who are entrusted with the work of despatching the fields than upon the jockeys themselves. Starters in whom the horsemen as a body have confidence are the ones that are achieving the best results.