NOTES FROM OUR TRAVELLING CORRESPONDENT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 225, 20 September 1905, Page 6

NOTES FROM OUR TRAVELLING CORRESPONDENT.

Though Xrw Zealand owners won such a. largo share of the prize money at Kandwick. the presence of their horsis in a seLse made the meeting. Judging from the form of the New Zealand horses. I think it would have been possible to have sent a similar number belonging to other owners in the colony that could tare won each of the races that were carried off by the representatives thHt have done us so much credit, on their two-year-old form some other of New Zealand tlirc" year-olds that ran prominently in different parts of the colony would surely have been able to hoid their "own with such opposition as was pitted against Noetuiform. Sungod. and IsoU. for it is only reasonable to assume that we have others of the same age that would improve as they have done since the autumn. Maniaporo it is more than likely we aid not see the best of in New Zealand, but be this as it mcy, he suffered two defeats out of tnrei: attempts iv the races in which ht ran nt Randwk-K, and there is reason to dunbt whether he is quitt as good as he has been assunud to bi, or to juestiou his solidity. Racing at itaudwU-k may improve his prospects for the engagements he has in Yu-tniia. Machine Gun has been asktd to carry much heavier weights than he had iv New" Zealand, and it is lively that a cleai atmnsphi suits him. and that he may be better than in New Zealand. Cp-io-Date is another that the climate may have bettrred. but it is hard to believe that aged hirsts like Dingo. Haydn, and Sultana w< re better or even so good as we have seen them iv this colony. It is no part of a pressman's doty to overrate or underrate racing stock, though it is not au uncommon thing to make mistakes both ways in forming" our estimates. As the seas-in advances we shall ipani more about the horses we have had representing us. and it is quite within the range of probabilities that we may have at home some ''lai will be capable of putting them on their mettle, and asking- more of them than did th" horses at the big spring meeting at Eandwick. A few of the New Zealandrrs at present iti Australia have evidently beeu having a good time at the expense of our neighbours, judging from cables received in different parts nf the colony: but only a few of the New Zealand punters who supported Maniapot o strongly for the Epsom Handicap, in which he went down, got their money back on the other New Zealanders. Mr Stead has promised a hundred-guinea cup to the Australian Jockey Club to be added to the prize for the Craven Plato at the uext spring meeting of that club. The Cantrrbury sportsman has given more such trophies than any other owner in the coloi vies. having given no less than five of that valne the winners being Welcome Jack in i 1883 Tirant dEan in ISftS, Bluejacket in ISnri. and Achilles in IOtC the respective races they won being the C.J.C. Handicap. Now Zealand Cup, Auckland Cup and C.J.C. Jubilee Cup. The performances of the Yaldhurst horses at Randwick h;'.ve been the cause of quite a lull ia the betting over the New Zealand Cup. and as backers don't know which of ! Mr Stead's trio to put their money on. and don't want anything else, the pencillrrs are ! not doing much business. The backing of I Nnctniforni before that colt ran In Ausi tralia was suggestive that someone- had ] good information as to his merits: but Mr Stead. In-fore leaving, expressed surprise to kU informant, and. knowing how fond that owner is of winning classic races, and of not asking severe questions of his throe-year-olds. there are some who hold t<> the ' opinion that Noetuiforin may not be a i starter. A bet of £."iO was recently made lin Chrlstehurch that ho would not compete, i The Ashbunon Spring Meetiug was a very successful one from a racing point of view. Some of the racing was a bit contradictory, particularly that of Calibre.who. however," on the second day had no Ruluwvii to beat, and his condition was more suitabir to the shorter distance, fer, though on the big side and looking brighter of coat than he "was this time last year, he was prohably not rea.'ly so ready tr> run out a distance. Buluwayo. on tiie other hand, was much more forward than h< , looked. t*iid more forward really than his owners thought, and though they have supported j tht=ii- pony for the New Zealand Cup they I did not back him for bis Ash bun on engagement, in which he outstayed the opposition and beat them easily. Golden Knight looks a New Zealand Cup I horse, and he and Buluwayo should brat all I the others that figured at the Ashburton year, has lo>t all form, and is to bo retired. iif not pernio nentl? f<T a long sn.-il. I Narcissus is an improved gelding, and is in his right, place as a jurcper. and was much the best of those engaged: while inglcnouk. by Benzoiu. has com* , on x f.ist of !ate. anil in conformation and style of galloping takes greatly after Baliirat. She :is a g""d beginner. The form at Ashbnrton i taken altogether was not good. and. as ! elsewhere, there were lots of horses racing iof a very ordinary class. ■ Of the many visits New Zealand owners 1 have made to Australia wifii racehorses ''.iirinc si period extending hack into the forties, and a large proportion of which , proved successful (the lato Mr George j L>uppa having won something like haif the Ii wt nty odd laces his horses competed in). '; none iuive been of anything like so sweep- ; iug, a character as the invasion at the rej cent Australian Jockey Club's spring meeti ing. iv which Mr Stead's horses played ! such a pronounced part. To win nine times I out of ten with his select little team was a great achievement, and remembering the victories of the other New Zesilauri-owneil and New Zealand-bred horses at the meeting, which was concluded on Saturday, it is safe to say Maoriland. with all its great representatives in New South Wales from time to,* time in the past. I ha*; never received such an ad- ' veitiseiuenf. There is reason to believe. I too, ihiit the <-!;is* of horses we had rej presenting us has srliloi" been surpassej. ' j thoueh it is coriain thtit the representatives lof the chief States of the Island Continent ' ! presented a less formidable front than usual ito the invading forces. That the Australand three-year-olds that competed were a weak lot (Cliarlcs Stuart not bong capable of reproducing his two year-old-form), admits of no doubt, aud they probably met quite the best. New Zealand could send. ■ and though the keenest judges could not regard Noetuiform .md Sungod last sea-son as cuatnpioup. at two years old they were both in the first class. Amongst the older of the weight-for-age division, there were very few good ou»s. The unreliable Emir, when seen quite at his best, has demonstrated that he is a racehorse; and Gladsome, as is well known, is a good mare, but Wakeful and Cruciform wen- better than cither Gladsome or Nightfall. Machine ' Gnn over short distances w"as quite the j champion of the meeting. New Zealand I steeplechasers stood out by themselves, i and though we have had a good many bet|:c r. the best of them represented about 'he most up-to-date form. People are apt In ho carried away by the time performances of the New Zr-alan,i horses, but they should rcDicmbcr that the races were run in a warmer, clearer atmosphere, and under meteorological conditions which are not always met with on >Tew Zealand racecourses when our best horses meet, and the records go further to establish the contention that the Randwick racecourse, upon which nearly all past records have been put up. is the fastest in the colonies, and that during the past fe-w seasons a scxid many horsrs have put np electrical dashes on it. To judge our horses by the time they have put up might be unsafe Some re.ord achievements have been put np at Randwick, as on our own courses, by admittedly second class performers at various times. Randwick is a right handed course, ibe same as that at Auckland. Tboi'Eh the mile and a half record of previous year.-? wen 1 lowered by Nocttti- . I f"vm, Maniapoto. and another, and the I I nil? and three fnrlonns by Iscvlt for the Uandwi"k course. th« best pievious re- ] i ' v or.ls for other distances stand. No threeI year-old bas registered such a perform- , i ance as did Mppaphone in thp same month. ( : when, carrying 9.10, or 141b over Derby . ' weight, he beat a field of twenry-thiee", ! j and rr.n a mi"c and a quarter ia 2.10. lv- . i "l«-ed. his performance at the same meet- : ; !ie wero indicative of exceptional merit, . ' aud nre worth recalling to mind when re--1 viewing ro"f-nt achievements. If only New > j Zealand liad b.-»eu repiesented also by • I Achillas and Mauntonga, aDd a few of her ; I test hurrtle horses, the Australians wonld i I have had further cause to remember the : meeting, which, however, will be heret after known as a. benefit one for New Zeai landers.