SPORTING ITEMS.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9602, 17 December 1896, Page 6

SPORTING ITEMS.

«'Weekly Press and Referee." ROUND THE WORLD. Mr S. G. Cook refused to part with The Merry Boy at 800gs, which sum was offered by a West Australian sporting man after the V.R.C. Meeting. Most of the stud masters in Australia are going in for castrating their eolte, and half-a-dozen of the Morphetville batch have been operated on this year. It is claimed that the Alameda track in America, since it has been re-built and graded, will be the fastest in the States, and new records are expected lo be put up thereon in the near future. " Ribbleden," of the Australasian, says :— " One of the horses that ran at the Aspendale Meeting on November 19th was supposed to have been ' rung in.' It is said to have run up country in different names. Further inquiries are being made into the matter."

Realm, winner of the Sydney Cup, Dunfish by Dunlop, Finis by Marvellous, Marble by Marvellous, and Baratta by Swiveller, were recently included in a consignment of horses that left Melbourne for India, where they go to the stud. Leonidas and Armenia, two good performers, left in the same steamer. They are intended to be raced. " Ashplant," the Irish contributor to the London Sportsman, says :—Should Galtee More win next year's Derby, the wild magnificence which is so striking a feature of the Galtee range would, I expect, be lit up by bonfires, illuminating the country from Cahir to Charleville, including the ancient townland of Knockany, where the colt was bred, and every woman's son from one end of the Emerald Isle to the other would be mighty proud. At the Wyndham (Vie) races on November 21st there was a palpable swindle enacted in the Selling Race, Perturbation, a half-brother to Commotion, who went out an odds on favourite, being prevented by the strong arms of his jockey from winning. The stewards met immediately and disqualified the horse, jockey, S. Bruce, and owner, J. Williams alias Brundall, for two years. It is expected that all bets on the race will be declared off.

The purchasers of The Skipper from Mr S. Hordern felt very sore with the Sydney sportman for scratching the horse for all engagements at the V.R.C. Meeting after he had run in the Melbourne Cup. Mr Hordern, however, states that he was not at all desirous of selling The Skipper, and it was only after repeated advances had been made that he consented to part with him, but with the express stipulation that he was not to be again run in the colonies. The Sydney correspondent of the Melbourne Sportsman writes :—Mr Dan O'Brien's recent purchase, the giant Grafin, is to be mated with Loyalty. She was purchased for her "numbers" and shape. The former read well with Loyalty's, and her length of body and limb will be corrected by Loyalty's stoutness on a short leg. The foal will have no less than nine strains of Touchstone, and eleven of Touchstone's sire, Camel. The filly has three strains of Melbourne, but Loyalty has none, but he brings two dashes of Pocahontas into the filly's one of that famous mare. The Newmarket Second October Meeting was wound up witli dismal weather accompaniments. Writing about same the "Special Commissioner".. of the- London Sportsman has the following:—A telegraph form was picked up on which a gentleman had prepared a message as follows : " Stone broke and wet to the skin. Please telegraph railway fare at once." But the message had not been despatched, perhaps, for lack of the needful sixpence, and one wonders what has become of that gentleman. Referring to .Velasquez's defeat" Vigilant' in the London Sportsman says:—Every prudent backer should wipe the Middle Park Plate completely off the slate, and, when next Velasquez and Galtee More come together! should make his calculations as to the probable result of the race as though the pair had never met. Of course, this will only apply should the " going " be really sound and good, for last week gave us one valuable piece of information concerning the pair—that Velasquez is totally helpless in mud, whereas the powerful Irish colt goes through it in really wonderful fashion. Mr Chapman, the manager of the Eaton stud, says that the Dnke of Westminster takes a genuine love in the thoroughbred, and-regards him not as a money-making machine. Omladina he took from training because, through illness, she became wind affected, and was no longer reliable. " The -personal question does not concern ' Our Duke' at all," says his stud groom. "He knows the public back horses, and he is sorry when the pnblic lose. No horse is allowed to run unless Porter thinks it has a chance—and a good chance—of winning." Here stands the true type of the aristocratic owner—the kind of owner that America lacks, and whose absence Australia mourns. Some time before Buccaneer won the City and Suburban his' owner, Lord Rosslyn, wrete saying the horse would go to the Continent for some big race, and would not run at Epsom. Something happened to alter this plan, and Buccaneer won the City and Suburban at quite ah outside price. A remarkable instance of an owner sticking to a declaration made to a pressman under these circumstances occurred when the late Mr Abington told a sporting writer (Mr Corlett) that The Pioneer would not run in a certain race. When the announcement appeared in print Mr Abington was waited on by his commissioners and told that he (Mr A.) had £500 on the horse. "I can't help that," was the little millionaire's reply. " I told Corlett he would not run, and he shan't run."

The London Sportsman says:—The eve of the Cambridgeshire just decided was noticeable for the heavy wagering at Newmarket upon the race, one feature being the sensational betting in reference to Imposition, who was backed to win quite £40,000. In addition to this a notable transaction was the acceptance of £20,000 to £2000 about Winkfield's Pride in one hand. When horses come with a rush in the market at the eleventh hour for an important race they are usually dangerous. Winkfield's Pride, the winner of the Cambridgeshire yesterday, is a notable case in point. As late as Friday last 200 to 1 was vainly offered against Mr Sullivan's colt at Sandown Park. It may be recollected that a similar movement occurred in connection with Clorane for the same stable on the morning of the day that the horse won the Lincolnshire Handicap in March last.

It i 3 quite possible (says " Goodwood " in the " Argus ") that the last of Wyndham as a racecourse has been seen. The quality of the sport there has never been high, and it is stated that the Messrs. Chirnside,**who own the property, may.arrange for the liquidation of the club's overdraft, and allow the site of the course to revert wholly to a sheep run. It is only the Saturdaymeetings that as a rule pay their way at Wyndham, and in view of the fact that the fixing of a Saturday to the Wyndham Club allows an unregistered club, as on Saturday last, to come in and bring off a successful meeting in Melbourne, the V.R.C. committee will, it is stated, consider the question whether the Saturdays which hitherto have been allotted to Wyndham should be given in future to the suburban clubs.

At the Thirsk Meeting (says the London Sportsman) fifteen horses went to the post for the Mowbray Handicap, and the jockeys being of opinion that both flag 3 had fallen ran the race through, with the result that Markham won by a head from Lo Ben, with Whittlebury third. On returning to the weighing-room Mr W. I'Anson stated that it was no start, and the race was run over again, but of those who had gone to the post in tbe first* instance Ferriby, Powerscourt, Garton, and Disturbance declined the contest. The issue of the second race was that Norah Sandys won easily from Mareca, with Hovis third. The betting, consequent upon the mistake, underwent a change at the second trial, but backers of Norah Sandys receive 9 to 2, the price laid at the first start, and those who may have supported the four horses that did not run the second time lose their money. There can be no dispute as to the settlement of wagers on the race, as the Rule of Betting No. 15 meets the case. This reads as follows: " 15. In'the event of a race being ordered to be run over again, starting price bets shall be regulated by the price current at the time the'race was first run; Bets in favour of any horse whioh started on the first but did not go to the post on the second occasion are lost."

"Terlinga, M in the Australasian, say**.-— By the last mail I received a letter from Mr W. T. Jones, who was staying at the Rutland Arms, Newmarket, for the Oesarcwitch Meeting, it had been raining for

seven weeks, with the exception of an occasional fine day, and the courses all over England were becoming very heavy and treacherous. Mr Jones had just got the news of Newhaven's defeat by The Officer, and was rather doleful in consequence. He was a little frightened of Resolute in the Guineas, but never dreamt of his colt having to strike his flag to The Officer. However, by this time he knows how thoroughly Newhaven redeemed himself in the Derby and Cup. Some of the English bookmakers bet s.p. on the Guineas, and Mr Jones lost £500. The chances are he got this back with interest on the Derby and Cup. Speaking of Australian horses going home, Mr Jones says :—" I assure you quite an interest is taken here in the doings of Australian horses, and it is only a question of time for a lot ot our horses to be brought to England to race. I was asked the other day by a very rich man to cable out and ask what Cook would take for The Officer, conditionally upon his not running for any more of his spring engagements. The condition made it rather a ticklish business for mc to move in, so I put the man off.'' Mr Jones saw Maluma run, and he says, " Maluma ran in the last race yesterday. She looked as if she had just come out of a paddock, and from what I can hear she had only done a couple of two-furlong gallops before the race. She showed in the race that she had not lost her pace, but of course she finished last." Mr Jones speaks of an extraordinary thing happening at Newmarket. The second race was put off for an hour in order that the Prince of Wales, who was shooting near at hand, might reach the course in time to see it.