SPORTS AND PASTIMES. [WRITTEN FOR THE "WEEKLY NEWS" ]

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXXII, Issue 5726, 29 January 1876, Page 1 (Supplement)

SPORTS AND PASTIMES. [WRITTEN FOR THE "WEEKLY NEWS" ]

Ap.w\t out ot m\ lcmaiks List ■week, and, indeed, pi t eedent to them, comes the t|Ues tionof a New /eahnd Wauim Club. Tins is, 1 think, an niexitible toiulusion, wln<h must soonet 01 1 iti i l>e .111 neil.it A- it stands at pn -nil 1 .i'h plan ol am unpoitanei makes its own 1 iw -, and these in.u 1" conti.aiy to all established pieetdmts llioh can make any date that seems suitable the day fiom which .ihoise shall date his bnth, anil so on. 1 think that so many centies of spmt iet|Uiie a "head centre'' Now, a New Zealand Racing Club need not, and should not, h.no a lived place of abode, ft would, hi the hist instance, be composed ot membeis ol all the other clubs — the pimcipal mcnibeis, such as the stew aids, iVt — at au\ late, audit should be to racing m New Zealand what the .loekej Club is to 1,11111^' at home I'lomwhat 1 ha\e he.ud, thin would not bo an indisposition on the pait ot Aucklandcis to take u]> the tjuestioii. and it is one which an Auckland delegate might well binii; bttoic the committees ot the Dunediu and C hiistLhuuh U.King Clubs at the meetings which .11 e to take place shoitb, Tt could not do any h .11111, foi a pi opeily constituted head is what is badlj wanted 111 tins colony It might, peilups, come a little he.i\ lei on the pockets ot the leading supporteis of lacmg, foi J think it would be indispensable that the New ZeaImd Racing ( lub should gnc ceitain pn/cs, not handicaps tohoiun toi To this body should be enti lifted the 1 oiistitution of a geneial code ot ink's, suitable to the tncumstances of the colon j ; and it should also establish .1 public handicapper— a man who shall fiame all our handicaps for the Iaige meetings, excepting, of com so, those countij meetings, with which it would be an nnpiopiiety for any but a local club to deal. J suppose that time would be an unlimited amount of disputation a 1 ; t* where such a national club should give its lust prize to be run toi. That, howe\er, need not trouble Auckland, foi I believe we aic not disinclined to fieely .iceoul to Canterbury the premier position in lacing aftans. At any rate, Canterbury lias the largest breeding studs, and that is the mam point in eventual superionfcj', though it ma\ lie haidly the Newmaiket of New Zealand yet The advantages such an institution would eonfci might be set down as sinnlai to those v. Inch, in law , a Com t of Appeal confeis. It would, besides this, be the legislatuie ; and being composed of men f 10111 all paits ot the colony, would enact smli laws as would meet with genual appio\al, although theie is no doubt, cases woultl be found, as me nstitutional legislation, m whieh the law piesscd haidly one w.i\ or the otln 1 .still, the publ.e binelit is what 11111-t be kept 11. Mew, ami when the New Zcalind liaung Club comes on the scene, as it will do some time or othci, a gun til confidence in l.iung wdl be set up 1'his leads to the ftuther question of biceding With confidence 111 a suie maiket foi Ins stock, the bieedei of to-day will launch out fuither, and others will take up what is 111 most cases a profitable speculation B\ ceding to lace may not always be so, but bleeding to sell invariably is — of eouise. alwa\s supposing the brecdei is a judee of horseflesh, tor it would be a pool game otliciwise \t the piestnt moment, in d, I might almost add New Zealand, we .110 smgulaily deiicient in sues ot any account The " H_\ ci s " of the colon) seem to have been males, and, unfoi innately, two of the best aie now owned on the othci side; but, howevei good or bad the sues of today may be the importation of a little e\tia blood could not hurt. The game, however, is a waiting game, and requires capital — the returns are slow at first, and for a year or two would probably not come up to expectation, but once a sue shall make a name for himself, ne establishes the reputation ot the stud he belongs to, and with the caie ot theowneis the difheulty fiom that time is past. Whether we slnll evei see a mimatuie Middle P.uk sale, at whnh l.umg men from vanous paits ot the island shall assemble, 1 don't know, but I bche\e, that the systematic bleeding ot uice hoisev to sell would be a leally piolitible anni'-enunt, and one ot nnnunsc benefit to the eountiy at lai^c '1 he entnes foi future c\ents which the A. It C h.ue lcciiM'd aie a guat im[)io\i* ment on tho^i ofpist\rai- and would haw been still bettei it the < 'antciliiu \ people li.ul come to the fine a little bittu, and cnteied u]i, as they wcie e\pu ted to do Hetoie linking an} lemaiks on the entiles, 1 may lomincnt on the ( \tia<ndm<u\ aspect tiny assumed on appealing in the A "' Zi'iilmnl III mlil last wick The ainalgun ition ol colts and fillies, sues and d nns was om ot the most w omit 1 hil conti in uk cs that |ouinal cvei put bctore the pubhe. In fact, itstiuck me to ask the seciet.uy ot the A It C. how it came about that «ut h a feaifullj ineoiiect entiy should have been made, and found, to my sui prise, that in its huriy to be tiist in publishing the entries, the lit 1 old insetted them uncoiiccted by the secretary, who had iiquested, and vciy properly so, that a "pi out ' should be forwaided to him to toiieet. Subsequently, Mr. Peieival did coiiect the eriois, and the only correct edition will be found in the (,'koss ot January '27i But, lea\ing their coneetness, or the lCM'i-se, aside, the piospccts of the turf in Auckland, in compaiison with those down South, are very much better in one way than could ha\e been expected Here, it will be found tint we have a number of owneis, each until ing one 01 two horses — in veiy few instances more ; in Canterlmi y the nunibei of nominations is increased by one ownei intenng halt a do/en, and 111 the case of one or two consideiably 11101 e Of conise, it is better to h.ue a numbci of owneis ti hoises than all to belong to one, and we may expect to see 11101 e horses being the property of diflei ent ow nei s come to the post to contest our Dei by and St. Leger or Mares' Pioducc Stakes than proportionately they will 111 Canteibuiy. The Mares' Pi oduce Stakes is one too that w ill lend the greatest possible impetus to .spoit, as it is essentially an encouragement to breed good animals To show that iiioio interest is being taken 111 laung, I w ill mention the numbei of mines imived for future events: Champagne Stakes, 1S7<> (next autumm meeting), 4 entnes : Champagne Stakes, 1S77, 12cntucs; Males' 1'iodnce Stakes, 1870, 10 entms ; Dei by, 1S78, 15 tntnes ; St. Legei. 1S7S. 14 entiles, Maies' Pi oduce Stakes, 18S0, 'l',\ entries — a very genual nnpioveinent on pieet ding jeais Papakuia Itaces on Ammcis.uy Day aie pretty sure to be well attended, and the piogiamme is a long one, the piiuup.il ( \ tuts being .1 haudu ap hmtlle lace the I'apakuia Handicap, and the U.ulway Stakis l'etoie lacing eonnm net s a pigeon match tor 1T>O :i side takes place on the eouise, so that the day's spoit will be a. long one. Foi the huidle l.ice 1 think S.iunteiei ought to put them alltogethei ; butslowasStiangei is, she never niakts a mistake 111 her jumps, and I think thtst two aie the best in it. Foi the Papakuia Il.mdicip J shouldn't be surpi iscd to scewlueht'vci of Mr. vValtus's pan he may send wm, althougli Tui will show the way in all piobability foi a long distance. Still I think it is too far for htr. The Kail way Stakes is dependent on the issue of the above handicap for the weight! For the Ladies' Puise I fancy Peifnme can staggei along undci a welti 1 weight as well as anything. The Regatta entries not being made until after this is in punt, I can say but little about them ; neveithelesstheieisewdenceof a good icg.ittii on Satm day, foi .1 good many ■seem desnous of cntenng and to have a try. At Elleishe theie seems some danger of the spoits failing thiough, as the handicappei was unable to obtain more than seven entiles on S.ituukiv night for the Annivusaiy Cup, and theiifoM' postponed the closing till Thuisd.u. W hcthtr the second tiy will be inoi c successful I don't know, but as "peds" geneially ha\e been on the "spice" since Chnstmas, I doubt it. ToucHsrom.