"SPECTATOR'S " NOTE BOOK.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9521, 14 September 1896, Page 2

"SPECTATOR'S " NOTE BOOK.

A full Hst of the horses sold by Mr F. R. Jackson, at Wanganui, on account ef the Deputy Official Assignee, in the estate of Mr S. M. Baker, has reached mc from the office of the auctioneer. The prices realised were in no case high. Somnus, by Traducer from Hammock, who in addition to being a very stylish thoroughbred, a good show horse in fact, and a proved success as a sire, was sold to Mr T. Messeter, ef Wanganui, dirt cheap at £150. The next highest price realised was for one of his sons, a three-year-old full brother to The* Artist, who fell to Mr Jas. McKelvie's bid at £91, while another Rangitikeite, Mr D. Scott, who bred Lady Artist and Ahua, and knows the value of The Painter—Policy blood, secured a full sister. The Artist was not offered presumably on account of the claim of Mrs Crammond not being settled. Lochnagar was bought by Mr P. O'Neill for £23. Nina, a daughter of Feve, and the Day Dawn mare, Sunbeam, in foal to Somnus, fell to the bid of Mr J. T. DaU-ymple at £38 10s, who also secured the Anteros mare, Fugitive, al3o in foal to Somnus, for £21. Fugitive's son, Rangitira, went for the same price to Mr T. A. Duncan. The Painter mare, Wairuareka, half-sister to Rangipuhi, Murewai and Tuhiwai and dam of Wairua, Rangiatea and Tiritea, in foal to Somnus, was purchased by Robinson Crusoe's owner Mr G. E. G. Richardson, for £33 10s. A three-year-old daughter of this mare Mr Scaily got at £22. and Mr J. W. Jackson, who bred Wairuareka and was part owner in her sire, bought her filly foal. Mabel, by The Painter from Stella, was bought by Mr Pryce Jones, while Painter, a half-sister to Tongariro was secured by Mr J. W. Jackson. Other lots brought very small prices, amongst them being a very old mare, Brown Bess, daughter of Pacific, who stood in the Wauganui district twentyseven years ago.

Though racing affairs were last year ia a much better condition ia the Marlborough district than for some years previously, and though the Metropolitan Club succeeded in making a good profit over their Mister Meeting, which was mora largely patronised by horse owners than usual, owing to the friction between the Government and the, Wellington R.C. resulting in the stopping of some meetings for a time in the Wellington : provincial district, yet there was plenty of i room for improvement. There is still a good deal wanting before a thoroughly satisfactory condition in turf matters is arrived at. A good deal of soreness exists between , the Rerlwick people and the Metropolitan Club over what to outsiders may seem very small matters indeed, but what are evidently, to the contending parties at least, affairs of great magnitude. Let mc illustrate. The Metropolitan Club about ten years ago purchased their present course for some £5000, that amount being guaranteed by twelve gentlemen, who were compelled to pay €2000 of it, leaving a mortgage of £1000, which, owing to depreciation, &.., is reckoned now as quite if not rather more than the full value of the property. Ihis I gather from a good source. Owing to failures, _c, only seven guarantors are left to bear the burden, including the estates of four who have died. Being without funds to carry on, the Metropolitan Club made a proposal to the Renwick Club, who had £70 in hand, to amalgamate and obtain a course near Renwick, a more central part of the district, the condition being that the Renwickites were to be free members of the Metropolitan Club for two years. The Metropolitan Club now say that they cannot obtain asuitable course near Renwick, though they have tried. The Renwick people are indignant and disappointed, and though they have value for their £70 in their membership rights, this is not exactly what they had in view in acceding to the amalgamation proposal. But for the assistance of the Renwick Club Lhe Metropolitan Club conldhardlyhave carried on, and Renwick would still hare managed very nicely, as they had always done, holding meetings in paddocks obtained from settlers ; bub now they have lost their right to a totalisator permit. They are certainly to be sympathised with. In the first place it seems to mc that it was a cpiestionable move on the part of the Metropolitan Club thinking of deserting the guarantors' course, though .unity, we arc told, is strength, and with the co-operation of the Renwick people a strong club could have been formed. The w.ant of a suitable course prevented this being done. As racing has been curtailed in different parts of the colony, the prospects of meetings at Blenheim being more-largely patronised and supported are good, so that there may be yet a chance of the Metropolitan Club purchasing the course from the guarantors, who are entitled to all the consideration the club can give them, and they should when possible do something further to obtain for themselves the good graces of the Renwick people. How this is to bs done must be left to the Metropolitan Club to decide It is to be hoped that in the interest of sport little differences receutly existing in this and other matters will be righted. It is not calculated to raise the status of a Metropolitan Club to see members thereof squabbling over a paltry £10 bonus to their Secretary, simply because about one half thought he should have it and the other half of those present were not ia favour of the increase. Mr H. Redwood ia, I learn, still living near his old Nelson home and keeping very well in health. He has a racehorse to amuse himself with in Duco, by King Cole from Amy, a granddaughter of old Waimea. His many friends would like to see him with one good enough to pull off a big ehake, and nothing would please " the father ur uu. xTv. „ ■**».«■_._,tttri ™-_«.<-t--.. _ ■_.•>..- iure than to have a good one descended from hi 3 old favourite, Waimea.

That Donald McKinnon has not created a favourable impression in Australia may be inferred from the cablegram announcing that he had turned a complete somersault while being schooled at Randwick. It is to be hoped that the son of The Dauphin was not badly hurt, as he would be sure to give a good account of himself on the. other side when well. Donald has of late been rather a sensational horse. How he stopped at the water jump at Ellerslie in the Great Northern Steeplechase, which was voted a real good thing for him, many backers know to their cost. How he won the Tally-ho Handicap an hour and a half later on the same day, traversing the same country and jumping the water without mistake, is also remembered. At his next essay he won over country. This was at Napier Park, but at the New Zealand Grand National Meeting, in the big race over a stiffer country than he had been raced over previously, he fell. Four wins over fences out of six starts is a fair record. It is a good horse that jumps often and never knows a fall. Donald has evidently lost confidence in himself or has gone dea I out of form, and is not well enough for the tasks that have been set him. At all events he has made a very bad start on the Island Continent, and I am inclined to think that most of his infatuated punter followers in New Zealand will be weaned off; It will be hard luck indeed should the sheet anchor of Mr Douglas's invading team not be well enough to contest in Spring events, which he waa specially sent over to New South Wales to capture. It is to be hoped that the climate will do Tiritea good, and that he and Chris may carry the " all black" of the Hawke's Bay sportsman to the front. Tiritea, however, travelled very short when he was at Riccarton, and left the impression that he would be all the better for a lengthened spell, and Chris's doings suggested that he could do with a lot more schooling than he appeared to have had. He was very green at the jumping game.

From Blonheim side I have received an interesting letter containing many items of news in a condensed form. My correspondent, referring to "Mr G. Blenheims unlucky 'chaser Tippler, says that it was only when that gentleman was assurad that there was a hepe of the gelding being bn-mght round without long suffering that he consented to allow an attempt to be made to pull him through. Tippler, he adds, " wa3 one of the finest jumpers over big fences and hurdles that conid be found until he got a straw in one of his eyes, and an opaque spot formed over the pupil, after which it was found in starting him in a small hurdle race he would not jump. He has, in fact, been rather uncertain in his jumping ever since, and this may have been the probable cause of his accident." To this I may add that Tippler's accident was thought to have been caused by another horse in the race.

" Mr Blenheim," continues my correspondent, " has Silver Spec, who ran very badly at Renwick on May 24th, still in commission, but she is not doing well. King's Own had to be spelled after the Nelson meeting, but may be put into strong work again shortly. Foreroyal, a five-year-old daughter of King Cole from Spritsail's daughter Figurehead, is another in the same stable, but hitherto she has been troubled greatly with shin soreness. Fergiu? has Seabreeze (how many Seabreezes are there ?), Cheque and a Medallion —Spring Creek three-year-old, halt sister to King Harry, to work here, and he considers Blenheim the best place in New Zealand for wintering horses, not so cold as down South,

and a great deal l*:s3 rain than on the west coast of the North Island. In addition to the horses mentioned there are a number of two and three-year-olds by the Musket— Prunella horse Catesby in hand, and good accounts reach mc about this horse's stock."

The Canterbury Jock.y Club is being approached on the betting question by bookmakers desirous of being permitted to follow their ordinary business of laying straight out odds at future meetings outside the paddock ; and a copy of a memorial letter forwarded to the committee has reached mc from Auckl*nd. It is signed by four members of Auckland Tattersall's. one Taranaki, six Canterbury, and three Wellington -metallicians, who offer to pay ten guineas each to bet on the three days of the New Zealaud Cup Meeting, aud three guineas per day for each of the days of the other meetings of the club, binding themselves down not to lay totalisator odds under any circumstances whatever, and undertaking to combine with the object of obtaining the exclusion of an objectionable class who lay themselves out to fleece the public. It is urged that the club's revenue, by licensing bookmakers to act outside the paddock, will be increased by quite £500 a year from this source, which is reckoned as equivalent to the sum of £8000 passing through the tolalisators. Those who only invested in small sums, and who have to a great extent been the means of creating a class who lay the odds to small amounts, would, ft is urged, be thus catered for, and as the layers of the odds would all be licensed, backers would not be liable to be welshed, as they sometimes are, by irresponsible men. The whole tenor of the memorial is in the direction of obtaining privileges that are granted by the Auckland Racing Club. The betting question is one that will be dealt with at the Racing Conference in November, when the requests and representations of bookmakers generally will, no doubt, be given consideration to by the C.J.C, and the policy to be observed in the future of giving the bookmaker.*; a footing or continuing to exclude them altogether, will be finally determined. My views on the subject have bean frequently given. It would not, I presume, be insisted upon that members of Auckland TatlersalPs Club should require to give any guarantee a_ to their stability; but in order to be sure that all men who paid the licence to bet would be of tii-. solid order, the clubs would no doubt require some guarantee as to their hotia fide*. However this is a matter of detail; the question for consideration is :— Are bookmaker/3 to be allowed a footing on cur racecourses, and if so upon what conditions ? A corresponlent, who lately visited Hawke's Bay and Gisborne, says that Mr Ormond seems likely to have a very strong team this sea sor., that his New Zealand Cup candidate Defiance is doing particularly good work, and being a fine upstanding colt, with any amount of power, will be likely to run well if he continues on as he is doing. Mahaki and Brigand, at Gisborne, are training on all right, but whether either will stand a searching preparation remains to bs seen. While at Hals well the other day to have a look at Chain Armour, whom I had not seen since he was a yearling, I renewed acquaintance with Apropos, his dam, who has been more or less troubled with a nervous affection ever since meeting with an accident when being schooled over a hurdle in Victoria. In the same paddock I saw for the first time the St. George—Apropos filly, Proposal, who at her age (ten months) is a ! .no3C promising young lady. She has a | number of important engagements, and there are more unlikely things than seeing Mr C. Lewis, M.H.R., who is her owner, leading back the winner of the Welcome _.-_",,f...ip<ii- I w;ti>- °-'S «*■ % i««. Proposal indeed looks likely to be a speedy filly.

The publication of the weights for the Otago Cup handicap at such an early date, with so many races to be decided in the interval, mayor may not prove to be a good move on tha part of the Dunedin Jockey Club. One advantage that was thought likely to accrue was to give owners an opportunity of backing their horses before the day, but with tho New Zealand Cup absorbing so much attention and the possibility of so many ot the contestants incurring penalties, the race so far has not offered the attractions that were expected. Indeed, I have not heard of any business so far. The handicap is practically on the lines of the New Zealand Cup, with the exception that Gipsy Grand, of the fifteen horses engaged in both races, has received les3 weight by lib, Cha&s has the same weight in both, and the remainder have from lib to 31b more, Captive and Vandyke, and the three-year-olds Epaulet and Lord Rosslyn, being those, whose weights show the greatest increase. The three-year-olds are, according to weight-for-age scale, allowed to be 31b better over the shorter distance in the month of November, while an allowance of lib is made the other way for five and six-year-olds. Remembering too", that the Dunedin Spring Meeting i 3 a fortnight later, and that the throe-year-old is supposed to be on the improve all the time-—3lb is the assessment for a month at this time of year—the three-year-olds have nothing to complain of at being weighted so much below the weight-for-age scale, while the crack four-year-olds are assessed at 61b each over weight-for-age. To my mind the handicap is a good one, and I consider that all the horses not engaged in the New Zealand Cup have been well placed with the exception, pcx-haps, of St. Clements, who with 7st 121b, fit and well at the post, I should regard as the pick of the handicap. After him I fancy the three-year-old division. It has been remarked as somewhat strange that the name of Gipsy Grand should be absent from the list of horses nominated for the Canterbury Cup, more especially as the total cost to run a horse for that £500 weight-for-age stake is the small sum of osovs, or 1%. The first payment of 2sovs has been made, and the next call upon owners who intend leaving their horses in, is as late as the 16th October. The nominations for the Otago Cup were taken a day later than those for the Canterbury Cup, and many sportsmen were surprised to find the name of Messrs Stephenson and Hazlett's fine horse in the one and not in the other. The explanation, I am told, is that it was considered very doubtful whether the horse could be prepared for spring engagements. Even now, I hear that it is extremely unlikely that the son of Grandmaster and Naomi will be seen to advantage.

The acceptances for the Dunedin Stakes of 200sov8, the chief two-year-old race on that Club's Spring programme, compare favourably with those of previous years in point of number, and in the matter of breeding there are few weak features disclosed. All of the sires represented have produced winners, and nearly all their damhave been successful in this respect. The remarkable feature of the entry is perhaps the preponderance of fillies over colts in the list, there being ten of the former. It would be pure guess work to try at this stage to indicate the winner; more will be known of what the juveniles are likely to do later on. Track work so far has not been sufficiently enlightening as to point to any one in particular that stands out ahead of the rest, that is so far as the Riccarton division is

concerned, and most of thov! for which th<* aecond payment has b.en made are traine'' there.