"SPECTATOR'S" NOTE BOOK.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9163, 22 July 1895, Page 2

"SPECTATOR'S" NOTE BOOK.

The New Zealand Grand National Steeplechase has only once been won by an amateur rider, and that was when Mr Martelli got home in the inaugural event in 1876 on Royalty. Mr S. H. Gollan, the second amateur rider to score in the Hawke's B.y J.C. Steeplechase, is expected to ride Norton in the coming event. There have not been many instances of amateur riders winning important jumping races in New Zealand when contesting against professional.. Tbe late Mr J. Higgle, who rode King Don to victory in the Auckland Summer Steeplechase of 1832, Mr J. J. Russell, who rode Silvio in the Great Northern Steeplechase of 1887, and Mr E. Gilpin, who Won the Hawke's Bay md Napier Park Steeplechases, 1892, on Whalebone, ,__with Me.srs Gollan and Martelli, are notable exceptions. Mr Gilpinhas been riding as a professional of late, and Mr Russell has been training horses. Oue reason .why so few of our amateur riders are seen to tha fore is that they seldom get opportunities ot having a decent mount. Mo-it owners have an idea thab the man in regular practice, and who gets his living at the game, is the most likely to succeed, and rarely are the really first class mounts entrusted to gentlemen jockeys. Often when the riding of the amateur is severelycriticisedheis mounted on some badly mannered second rater, that a professional would not succeed in doing any better with. This makes the third season I have compiled a list of the successful horsemen of New Zealand, and as will be seen from the table which appears elsewhere, I have, as last year, worked out the number of times each one has been placod first, sec-indor third during the season. I must explain,that in a few instances tbe names of riders at minor meeting* have not been taken into account, the reason for this being that they could not be obtained. It is possible that some of the horsemen whose names appear in the list may have ridden at such meetings, and that their totals would have been improved if tbe data had been supplied. It is also likely that several other horsemen would have . been included in ths list, but for the same reason. I have only taken the names of those who have had five wins and over. Though the returns for these miuor meetings were not supplied by the secretaries of clubs I am sure that my tables will bs found more complete than they have been hitherto. It must be taken into account that sickness, accident, absence from the colonies, increase in weight, and suspensions for misconduct have something to do with determining the totals of several of the horsemen whose names appear in the statement. It will be seen that Derrett, one of the oldest hands at his calling, and who is claimed as a Canterbury representative though his business takes him all over the colony, is at the head of the list in actual winning mounts. This position he has not reached for some years, though he has long been styled the "premier horseman " of the colony, and has for over twenty years been more or less prominent amongst the successful horsemen. In the season of 1893-9- he had only thirteen wins, fourteen seconds and thirteen thirds, a total of forty-nine placed, as against thirtysix wins, seventeen seconds and eleven thirds, or sixty-four times placed, and many of his victories were in the classic events. The promising Wanganui lightweight, C. Jenkins, has Improved hih position from eighteen wins, seven seconds and ten thirds, a total of thirty-fire times placed, to twenty-eight wins, eighteen seconds and nineteen thirds, or a total of sixty-five. W. Whittaker, whose.' headquarters are at Hawke's Bay, has no previous season's record of note to refer to, but he has come to the front in remarkabli. style duriog the season under notice, and: has there-pc-table total of twenty-four wins, fifteen seconds and sixteen thirds, or fifty-five times placed, and ia third on the list. W. Pine, of Otago, who has done all his riding in the South Island, was well up the list in 1893-4 with eighteen wins, nineteen seconds and twenty-one thirds, but in the past season he improved bis position to twenty-two wins, with the same number of seconds as last year, and nineteen thirds, his total of times placed being sixty. The fifth horseman on the list is T. Connop, whose head-quarters are at Hastings, Hawke's Bay. It will be remembered tbat he in 1893-4 headed the list of successful jockeys, his total wins being thirty-one, with twenty seconds and thirty-one thirds, or eighty-two times placed during the year. Now he has nineteen wins to his credit, sixteen seconds and twenty-eight thirds, the latter being a record score for the too often barren honour, while bis grand total of times placed, viz., sixty-three, is within two ot Jenkins* total, which is a record for the season. Adding Connop'a scores of the two past seasons he has won more often and been placed second and third more frequently than any other horseman in the colony, his combined placing! reading fifty wins, thirty-six seconds, .flfty-alne thirds, or a total of 145. F. Cochrane, of Ashburton, Canterbury, has improved his winning account, though last year placed nearly as many times. J. Ayers, of Wellington, has come well into the front rank this year, taking a creditable place, though, like Jenkins, most of his rides were in minor events. Though F. Kiagan has not had so many rides this season as last, and his total of placings is eight less, he has won the same number of races-as in 1893-4, and comes eighth on the list. Though it takes both his winning records to equal that of 1892-3, when he was second to T. Buddicombe, like the latter, who now follows him on the list, he has a good total for the season. Buddicombe's eighty-nine wins in three seasons stands out prominently. J. M'Comb, of Otago, has never been so high np the list before, and though W. Clarke of Canterbury well maintains his place, he is not so well np aa In 1892-3. E. Moran, of the West Coast (5.1.), appears well up for the first time. MTaggart has increased his winning record by thirteen, and his total of placings by sixteen, and Douglas Watt, of Hawke's Bay, has all round better results to show, and so have J. Hall, of Wanganui, G. Smith, of Canterbury, and a anmber of other riders further down, while J. Delaney, of Hawke's Bay, for the first time shows prominently. As showing the positions held by some of the leading horsemen for the past three years I have compiled the following table of winning amounts, which will, I think, interest a large section of my readers :—

D. M'Keagae, who has only won two races this season. Free Holmes, J. R*ed. Walter Buddicombe, A. M'Ssnuie, F, Cochrane, G. Robertson, and a number of others are well up in the aggregate for the same periods. As previously stated theso figures arc not guaranteed to be absolute : y correct, but they ar_ as complete as can be obtained from official and non-official returns. The records show a remarkably long list of dead hea's for the season, and the names of Whittakor and Birkett stand out prominently, each having scored a double. For future reference I append the names of twenty-six horsemen who have been so placed during the season :— Whittaker (2) W. Clark Birkett (2) K. Moran W. Pine W. Higcins F. Cochrane J. Gallagher J. Ayers T. T«iylor J. M'Comb G. Road Ja*. Toung W. Bedina Creamer O- Cox J. James E. Duggan W. Campball J. Armstrong Rilay A. Raynor A. Woodfleld T. Hodson H. Reed R. Hall S. Lindsay T. Burns There were several riders of dead heats for second place. The names of a number of horsemen who have been successful in important ract-s during the season do not appear in the table, notably, that of Mr S. H. Gollan, who rode bis own horse, Norten, in the Hawke's Bay Steeplechase. Then there was the win of A. Wilson on Mannlicher in the C.J.C. Challenge Stakes, and that of C. Boyle, who was on North Atlantic in the Great Autumn Handicap. G. Mathews, D. M'J-Zeague, A. M'Cormick, S. Lindsay, J. Loughlin, P. White, G. Johnstone, R. Johnstone, P. M'Grath, T. Hudson, C. Stratford, B. Collins, and Myers are some of those who have dropped a long way behind their previous records. Stf.pensiou. for foul or suspicious riding, &c, were .-not numerous, and in that respect the records of the colony contrast favourably with those of any other part of the world. A few horsemen, however, owe their positions in the list to being ordered to stand down for mors or less lengthy periods. We were advised last week that Te Whiti and Rewi had been backed to win the Melbourne Cup and Caulfield Cup double for some £15,000. A fancy combination I should say, as at present the horses bearing the names of the great chieftains are libtle known to fame. Tho death is announced of a once prominent figure in the sporting world of Australia. I allude to Mr Harris Smith, who during a number of years was brought into contact with the sporting public in various capacities. As a stipendiary steward, he rendered much service to the clubs for which he acted, and his services were called into request as a handicapper, but he was longer known as secretary to the Victoria 'Amateur' Turf Club, which office he filled with credit to himself, and his club. The deceased gentleman had been in declining health for come months past. Mr Peters, at the Hutt, is said to have in hand a very handsome two-year-old colt, bred in Sydney, but whose pedigree, so far to those immediately connected with his education, is ab present a myth. I don't know whether the sale of Carbine, the death of Nordenfeldt, and the departure for America ot Foul Shot has had a great influence upon the market for blood stock with a drop of the Musket blood, but I do know that certain stud masters who have been asked to put a price on their hor.*o» have no such modest idea of their value as they hold a couple of seasons back. It seems all the. more strange, too, when the selling prices of pedigree stock is taken into account. There Was a good deal of talk up Wellington way about the weight put on X hurangi for the Open Hurdle Rac9 at the United Hunt Club's Meeting, aud I myself certainly thought that at the scale of weights he had received quite his full share. But Mr Henry had previously handicapped him as high as 12st 51b, a weight he won under, and his hurdle performances since January Ist read thus :—'."'" January 1, won Ringltikel Haok Hurdles, 9stlo.b. ' January 2, won Rangitlkei Hack ___.r_les, it.-t.101b... . January 28, won Foxtou Hack Hurdles, 115t.4.b. January 29,. waa Turakina Hack Hurdles, 12st. Mtir-h 1, won Manawatu Hack Hurdles, 123t51b. Then under Mr Danvers* handicapping at Napier Park be won the Open Hurdle R .cc carrying 9st. It was stated in our last issue thab the D_ke of Portland had named his Carbine —Novelette colt L-derderg, after the stud farm at which he was raised. It is to be hoped that the youngster will prove worthy of the title. O'ice mors Ist mc advise the many race clubs who have such races on their programmes to come to some understanding re ths defiuitiou of a hack. During the season which closes with the present month, thirteen clubs had different condi» io'ts for their hack events. Some of tbe definitions are only slightly different from others, but still sufficient to prevent an owner nominating the same horse at. all meetings. Why nob adopt the £40 stake limit and debar winuers of sums exceeding that amount from competing, provided that no winners of larger sums outside those given for hack races shall be allowed to run. This would be carrying protection quite far enough.

T*___DRB_T. Baddicombe _*. Kingan .. ICDerretc .. T. Onnop .. H-MHroy .. W. Qtwrk .. J. G\Ha*h8r.. T. -_tod%on- .. H. Reed W. Piae J. Loaghlis .. A. Kins _. •a2-*9S_ 93-'9_. -.i-'9_. Total - 47 25 17 89 -.38 18 IS 72 . 21 13 38 TO _. 14 31 19 64 .. 2* 24 9 57 .. 24 15 19 53 .. 15 27 12 6. ..23 12 S 41 .. 23 12 5 40 .. — 13 22 40 .. 17 18 5 It) -.19 U U 33