SPECTATOR'S NOTE BOOK,

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9278, 2 December 1895, Page 2

SPECTATOR'S NOTE BOOK,

When writing of the North Island two-year-olds in March, 1893, I expressed the opinion that TheShrew would more than hold her own amongst the three-year-olds of the following season, and, though she did not score heavily, she ran some good races last year, being beaten by good ones in the spring. She ran well in the autumn, establishing herself, in my opinion, quite the equal of any of her sex and age in the North Island. Like many of the Nordenfeldts, she has gone on improving with age, and her running during the past few weeks stamps her as one of the most consistent performers we have, so far, seen out. It is now clearly manifested that but for getting frightened at the starting machine on the first day of the Wellington Spring Meeting, she must have won the chief handicap thereat. Her running on the second day would favour the contention, if the effort she put forward to beat The Miser on the first did not lead to that supposition. The Miser was, of course, handicapped by his overweight, and might possibly have taken a lot of beating if he had had his handicap weight up. He was weighted within a stone of the Napier-owned filly, who has done the syndicate to which she belongs real good service. Mention of The Miser's mc that Kingan, who had been engaged to ride him, and whose reason for not doing so was so unsatisfactory to the stewards of the Wellington R.C. as to cause them to order him to stand down for the remainder of the meeting, has had some singular experiences during the month. It has been related that he was engaged to ride Marino in the New Zealand Cup, but, in consequence of not complying with his instructions, when riding the horse in a trial gallop, was deposed in favour of T. Connop. Kingan afterwards obtained the mount on Euroclydon, who won so handsomely. At the Hutt, from all accounts, he appears to have tlirown the owner of The Miser overboard and accepted the mount on another horse in the race, with the result that The Miser, though carrying 131b overweiaht, won. Had Kingan not ridden Euroclydon in the New Zealand Cup, he would only have required to prove his engagement to have been paid for standing on the ground, but a jockey who breaks his engagement with an owner without good and sufficient cause, stands in a different position, and is punished according to the nature of his offence. In The Miser's case a light-weight rider could not be found, and the owner was obliged to put up one who was overweight. The Miser won, but winning with his overweight up would do him no good from a handicapper's point of view, and the owner certainly did right in having Kingan called to account. Those jockeys who think they can do as they like should take warning at the punishment inflicted in this case. Kingan certainly got off with very lenient treatment, possibly because his was one of the first cases of a similar kind dealt with in New Zealand.

I called in at" Coringa " the other day and had a look at Mr G. G. Stead's small but select stud of brood mares and foals. It had been raining freely for several days, and consequently the youngsters were not seen to the best advantage. However, they compare favourably with the best I have seen this season. Mr Stead has eight mares and each had running at her side a pledge of affection to Medallion, whose third season's get do that sire much credit. They take after him in quality, are of good average size, and show the muscular development common to the Musket family. There are three colts and five fillies, and four of the latter are like Medallion, chestnut in colour. Iris, dam of Rainbow, Retina, Reflector and Bloodshot, has a strapping well-boned, dark chestnut daughter, with an intelligent head nicely marked with white. Should this filly not turn out fast, I shall be much mistaken. She looks likely to furnish into a big mare. Corolla, who has not been long enough at the etud to leave any running representatives, has a bay filly which shows much substance, and in conformation follows her dam, who is a thick set, powerful young mare, likely from her breeding to make a fine stud matron. Corolla is by St Albans from Waterlily, by Rapid Bay. Waterlily is the dam of Challenger, who was reckoned the best two-year-old in Australia last season. She also left The Sailor Prince, who wa3 a good colt. Flattery has a chestnut filly showing plenty of quality and much length, altogether taking after her full sister Decoration. Ich Dien's daughter, also a chestnut, is of fair size for a first foal, and should make a quality-like mare, and Marion's daughter looks likely to be a speedy one. Auray's colt is a lengthy bay, with a star and one heel white, and he promises to show more quality than Mauser, his three parts brother. Enid's colt will, I think, be a dark brown when he carries his proper coat. He bids fair to be an improvement on Geraint in the matter of size and all round excellence, and he will not be so plain as BeUicent, his three parts sister; indeed he isashapelyandtakingcolt. ThesonofSiesta, dam of Dreamland and Day Dream, is a bay with some white on his forehead, and he, too, promises welL It is, of course, hard to judge how foals will turn out, but I should think that, with ordinary luck, Mr Stead will have Derby and Oaks representatives of more than average calibre, and something good to carry the "yellow jacket, black cap" into prominence in some of the juvenile races two years hence. Running in the paddock with Mr Stead's lot was Myrtle, the dam of Loveshot, who had a rather nice brown filly foal at foot by Artillery. This mare, like Mr Stead's lot, has visited Medallion, who stints his mares well. This is Medallion's fourth season at the stud. He has had four starters so far, and two of them, Bijou and Dalliance, have shown winning form. Before the season runs out I fancy there will < be more winners. Altogether the young ■ Medallions, foals, yearlings and two-year-olds, will bear inspection, and the son of Nordenfeldt and Locket, though not extensively used, should have some capital ' advertisements in the near future. It is not a fact, as stated by a North ( IsUnd eot\frtrs th*t M*oalich«x wm kiok«d

by another- horse a fortnight before the Canterbury Jockey (Hub's Metropolitan Meeting. While doing a gallop shortly before meeting it is supposed that he strained a muscle at the stifle, which was very much swollen when he ran. Maxim, his sire, was, I believe, similarly troubled at one stage of his career. It is not- always those who speak out straight on matters which appear to them " crooked" who do justice to the racing cause or to themselves. On the other hana the reverse is too often the case. It certainly is not safe for anyone to condemn without seeking information to convince them whether their conclusions are justified. Sometimes things happen which look decidedly bad for riders and owners, but as anyone who has had experience in racing horsea for any length of time must know, unexplainable things are continually occurring, and will s<l occur to the end of the chapter. The running of certain, horses at the f.'.J.C .Meeting has been strongly commented on by a visiting pressman, who, to <io him justice, lias the courage of his opinions, but Mho, nevertheless, might not haw been so outSpoken had he taken the trouble to seek an explanation. At least in one oaae 1 happen to know that the owner, who himself stat-es that he had no money on his horse in either race lie ran in—neither v.hfcn he lost, or when he won—laid his rider £50 to nothing and, though he could not, as a looker on, understand what had caused his horse to lose a good position lie held early in the first race, he was aware of the reason, after he had conversed with his jockey, why he had failed. His first impression was that the rider had purposely "thrown him overboard" or ridden a bad race. His final conclusion was undoubtedly the right one—that neither the rider nor the horse was to blame. An unavoidable occurrence in the race had prevented the rider from doing full justice to his mount, who, after all, had, under the circumstances, ran a slashing race, and came very nearly scoring as it was. Races are not purposely lost in this way, and a moment's reflection should convince anyone of this.

While our special reporter at the Wellington meeting states that Mr Pringle made a successful debut with the starter's flag, visitors to the gathering I have conversed with say the starting was not bo satisfactory as could have been wished. Two starting machines were • worked, Gray's and Murtagh's, and the club have now tried no less than three. Crawford's machine was used part of last season. Altogether there are a number of patent starting machines in the market that do their work well when properly fitted up, but a good deal depends upon the way they are geared, and then, they should be manipulated by competent men. Some of the horses at the Wellington meeting appear to have taken fright at the machines, and some of those that misbehaved themselves have been started frequently from the barriers, while others have not. It i 3 a well-known fact that certain olubs will not have the starting machines at all, while others would not use them were it not that they have been unfortunate in their choice of flag wielclers. It will be a long time, perhaps, before there is anything like one uniform system of starting horses. While there are good men to be found to do the work reasonably, country clubs, to which the cost is a big consideration, will not go in for the starting barriers. It would be advisable for owners who have large strings of horses and private gallops to get starting machines of their own, and I certainly think that those clubs that can conveniently do so, and on whose grounds horses are i*egularly trained, should in the interests of owners, trainers, the public and themselves, afford every facility for educating horses to the barrier system. Some of the leading clubs have set an example which owners generally can appreciate. The Wellington Park studmaster, Mr Thomas Morrin, advertises his annual draft of thoroughbred yearlings to be sold on Friday, January 3rd, and intending purchasers have not only a large, but, as usual, a choice lot to select irom. Sapphire, dam of Ballater, Blue Fire, Mannlicher and Bijou, is represented by a colt by St. Leger, and the Musket mares Bangle, (dam of Casket) and Orion's Belt, and Balista (sister to Artillery and Hilda) each have colts. Valentia, by Leolinus from Lyre, and her full sister, Lyrelinus, also have colts by the son of Doncaster. The Nordenfeldt mare Hazel has also a colt to represent her by the same horse. Puwerewere, own sister to Crackshot, Aicia, dam of Impulse, Yattaghan, by Nordenfeldt—Yattacy, and Lady Evelyn each have fillies by the horse who topped the list of successful sires last season. Taking the order of the sale list, Castor is represented by colts out of the Musket mares Hilda, Necklace, Lady Walmeley (Carbine's sister), Lady Wellington, and the Apremont mare Antelope (full sister to Prime Warden), while the son of Zealot has fillies from the Musket mare Welcome Katie, and Pungawerewere, Lioness and Victoria. Hotchkiss will be represented by colts from Formo, Weazel, Queen Cole and Yattacy, and a filly from Bridal Rose. Cuirassier's sons are from such mares as Katipo, dam of Dead Shot, Tasmania, half-sister to Tasman, Maid of Athol, dam of Scots Grey and other good winners, and Lilac, by Leolinus, dam Leila, (imp). The fillies by Trenton's own brother are from Ouida, the dam of Artillery, Hilda, Balista and Strathmore; Albatross, the dam of Merganser; Bianca, the dam of The Shrew, Radiant (sister to Quadrant and dam of Lustre): Gannet, half sister to Merganser and dam of Brigand. Brigadier and The Jilt have a filly in the list, a full sister to Eve. Folly, a recent winner, is from this marc. Altogether Mr Morrin has a finely bred and highly connected lot of youngsters to submit, and intending purchasers of highclass stock cannot go far wrong. The advertisement, goes very fully into particulars as to the relationship of the youngsters to winners and winner producers, and it will bear perusal. The handicaps for some of the events of the Reefton Jockey Club's Summer Meeting have not given satisfaction to Canterbury horse owners, who have entered largely for West Coast meetings, and I must say that whoever is responsible for their production has made some grave mistakes indeed. Artilleur has been very badly treated in both the Inangahua Cup and President's Handicap events. On public form he has no right to be conceding weight to Silver Spec and Marino, nor should he be asked to give so much to Goodwood, and other horses engaged, while Geraint and Banner have only to be seen at their best to beat such horses as the top weight when so liberally treated. At the time of writing I should say that it is very doubtful what horses will be sent from Christchurch for the flat events, but the best of them will, lam told, have to be pretty well to beat the Northern hack Tutanekai, should he be sent to the meeting. It is only a few weeks since Silver Spec gave Artilleur lllbs and a beating at Plumpton over a mile. Artilleur's running at the recent C.J. C. Meeting has, no doubt, more favourably impressed the handicapper or, handicappers on the Coast than that of Silver Spec. It will be time enough to try and indicate winners when it is determined what horses may make the journey. In the hurdle race I should prefer War Dance to anything else if he were sound, but he is at present put of training. Couranto will require to be at bis best to win with his weight, but on recent form he must possess a fair chance of scoring if he can be kept sound.