SPORTING ITEMS.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9300, 30 December 1895, Page 2

SPORTING ITEMS.

" Weekly Press and Referee."

TUFTS OF TURF. By the Editorial Scissors. The news that Wallace had won the Victorian Derby (says '' Vigilant" in London Sportsman) must have been very gratifying to the Duke of Portland, for, as is pretty generally known among sportsmen in this country, Wallace is a son of Carbine, and his success in the greatest Australasian three-year-old event of the season is of the happiest augury for the future stud career of liis famous sire, now at Welbeck. It should be remembered that only three mares were mated with Carbine in his first stud season, and as Wallace is the produce of one of them it cannot be said that " old Jack," as Carbine is familiarly called, has neglected his opportunities. . . It will be very interesting to watch the career of Carbine in this country, for there are not wanting sceptics who maintain that no foreign or colonial bred horse ever has done well at the stud in this country or ever will. Especially is it maintained that the " Waler," even though bred as in the case of Carbine from imported parents, develops into a type which is altogether deficient in the sharpness and well-balanced activity of English and Irish horses. There may be something in this view, but we have certainly seen one or two " Walers" over here that do not by any means confirm it—Mons Meg, for instance, a really beautiful mare, and able to stay or go fast with our best, when she was well, That she was superior to her stable companion Mimi is, I believe, a fact, and she strung out Nunthorpe by twenty lengths at Ascot. Day Dream 11. is an Australian bred one, and very sharp over five furlongs. It must be remembered, moreover, that a voyage from the Antipodee seriously handicaps a horse, and the process of getting acclimatised here is no simple matter, so that we may perhaps never be able to really gauge the relative merits of English and Australian form. English horses that have gone out to Australia have not done very well racing there. As to using an Australasian bred stalUon like Carbine there need surely be no fear. It is all very well to point to such cases as Gladiateur, Foxhall, &c., and to argue that none but native born horses are any use. We should remember that the number of foreign bred sires that we have given any chance to in this country is very small, and that even among our own horses the proportion of failures is very great as compared with successes. Instances readily occur to the mind of great racehorses utterly unable to reproduce their own merits ; nor is it strictly true that foreign bred ones have utterly failed. American blood holds a strong position in Suspender's pedigree, and Rob Roy was out of Columba by Charlton. Anyhow, Carbine, but for the accident of his birth in New Zealand, is all English, and there is no valid reason to fear that he will do well, especially now that his son, Wallace, has shown him as accomplishing a best possible at the first time of asking. Says an exchange:—At the Palmer River racee, North Queensland, held on Novembor 13th, an item in the programme was a Chows' race, once round, £3, catch weights, which resulted as follows : Ah Long's Nigger (Ah Long), 1; Ah Sam's Pussy (Ah Sam), 2 ; Ah Sack's Paddy (Ah G.) 3. It will be seen that the celestial gentleman who owned and rode the winner Doasts a good Australian racing name, while the second's family cognomen is the " front" name of one of the most popular owners on the Victorian turf. One can sympathise with the rider of the third horse, and imagine him vainly repeating his own name in appealing to his mount for an effort. Possibly the fact of the third horse being the only one of the three not ridden by its owner may suggest to the suspicious mind that Ah Sack was " in the the bag !" c • • • The English Jockey Club has lately taken steps to correct abuses in connection with handicapping. In New Zealand in the past we know the work of certain adjusters has met with strong disapproval from a number of owners, who before now have protested in a body. We often hear complaints about such and such a handicapper having a leaning towards certain owners, and again on the other hand, some who, it is considered handicap owners and not horses. Referring to the action of the English J.C., a London paper says:—ln times gone by, the whole system of handicapping more especially at small meetings, was corrupt, and for obvious reasons the straightforward owner was never given a chance. He would have wanted the stakes in the event of winning. There was generally an arrangement between owners and the Clerk of the Course that, provided the horses were well handicapped, the stakes should not be asked for should they win. Over one very important handicap all that the owner received was a cuckoo clock. Strange to say, these handicappers never died worth much money. There was one handicapper in particular who was a perfect master in the art of humbugging owners. A well-known member of the fourth estate, who for a period was very successful, had a smart little mare that could go very fast, and she had won several races. He entered her at a meeting at which the gentleman in question was handicapper, and presuming on his friendship, he asked him to let her in as light as he could. The handicapper was all complaisance, and said that he would, adding " Would you consider 7st too much for her to carry ? " The owner was delighted, as he anticipated getting nearer Bst, and he already began to count his gains. The handicapper kept perfect faith with him. even to putting the mare in at a pound or two less. "But what chance had I ? " that owner afterwards plaintively asked; "didn't he put one of Lord Westmoreland's that could give mine 101b in at 6st 81b?" It was quite true, and Lord Westmoreland's horse won. One of the worst pieces of luck we ever heard of over a handicap took place at Nottingham. A handicap was made for a certain animal, and so as to make asurance doubly sure, all the rest were got out of the way. It was in the old days of the lists, when horses could be backed "right out" in London, Manchester, and other places to win some thousands of pounds. Whenever there was a list the animal in question was backed regardlese of price. A walk over would have rendered the race void, two

runners being stipulated for, or the money would not be given. A worthless horse, belonging to the late Mr Barber, was secured to make up the field, and the two started with, of course, very long odds betted on the .favourite. The last turn on the old course at Nottingham was very sharp, and the favourite, running wide, had to jump the rails in order to avoid falling over them. It was a sight for gods and men, to those "in the know," to sec Mr Barber's horse come in by himself. Mr Tom Pickcrnell, the well-known gentleman rider, and who has immortalised himself by riding the winner of the Grand National on three occasions, under the norn de course of " Mr Thomas," is "down on his luck," in consequence of having invested a considerable sum of money in a t.-ompauy recently wound up, writes a London correspondent. A subscription has I icon opened for his benefit, and those who desire to help thi.s plucky, daring rider, and best of good fellows, should weifih in with a donation to be .sent to the "Piekerncll Testimonial Fund." Metropolitan and South Wales Bank, Limited, Birmingham, or to the Editor of the Sportsman, London. That Tom Piekernall is made of the stuff of which only true plucked ? uns arc made, may be gleaned from the following summary of his "little mishaps" as a rider, which he has recently related to the Birmingham Gazette :—At the age of fifteen he broke his right thigh while riding, with the result that ever since the injured leg has been two and a half inches shorter than the other. At various times afterwards he broke both his wrists, his collar bone, and his elbow, dislocated his shoulder, severely sprained his ankle, injured his back, aud was rendered unconscious ten or twelve times. These were accidents that didn't worry him much, but he thought it about time to give the game up after what happened to him at Sandown in 1877. On that occasion he had his jaw broken in three places, lost the sight of one eye, injured that of the other, and lay unconscious for five days ! At the present time Mr Pickernell is in ill health, and is under the care of Dr. Billy Benison, the well-known bull-dog breeder and exhibitor, and who also owns Caustic and other " leppers."