SPORTS AND PASTIMES. UNKNOWN.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXXII, Issue 5770, 25 March 1876, Page 1 (Supplement)

SPORTS AND PASTIMES . UNKNOWN .

Tin: yieit event of the s.m-oii, tin Dunolm Cup, has been lo t and won. I <..i.i^ tii will haui suijui'od ;i few of the know in one, uioio eopivially fuse who hoped t> tike-time by the foi clock by making early hooks. Thoio ha* boon vciy little logifci malo speculation on the Diuicdui tourn.i liH-iit in Auckland, but in spite of the edits piomulgitod by the bo ks, 1 few sweep) lia\ u been successfully pulled oil' on the quiet without any 'inneeeh&ai} notoriety, and ! should riot be but prised to learn that a few or. those who have so vii tuously denounced these little lotteries have not been averse to courting Darne Fortune behind the door, by investing under the rose. Apropos of the Duncdin races, there is one fact which is noteworthy, as showing how the canny Duucdinitcs oulur things. The privileges for the lacL'.ouise reah/od ill,903 ! This included L7bO foi the gates, i,\>G7> for tho stand, L'JU.") for the saddling paddock, and £10.") for cauls. Let the Auckland Jockey Club look at these figures and weep ! I have said that the result of the Cup race will have surprised not a few old birds, and I don't think I am far out. Of Pungawerewere, the winner, a Southern sporting critic wrote a few weeks back: " Pnngawei ewerc 19 a beautiful filly to look at, but -she has undoubtedly a soft spot, aud that will be found out before she getb the Cup distance." In the earliest betting Pungawcrewerc stood at 12 to 1, later at 100 to 8, and on the da> before the raoe &he was laid against at S to 1. Punga is a slashing 3yr.-old hlly, owned by that thoiough-going- turfite, Mr. Delamaiu, aud at tho time of the race she was acknowledged by all competent judged to ba m excellent torin. She had undergone careful preparation for the Cup, aud her long and quick stride, and good foot were excellent qualifications for the Dunedin course, rendered heavy by the rain of the previous day. Pungawcrcwere's performances had not been of sum'cient stamp to engage the affections of tho book-makers. Her latest wins were at JN'apier, where, I believe, she chalked two, out she wa-> beaten hollow by Daniel O'ltorite in the Christchurch Dei by and Cup, and ran last in the Christehuieh Plate, with an advantage of 221b. o\cr Dau. It is understood, however, that the tilly was well backed at Wellington and Chnstchuich, but in other places few of the bookmakers were sweet upon her She won the Cup gamely by a length, but, doubtless, she owes a good deal of her victory to her light weight, Ost. 13Ub. —3Mb. over weight Mr. Cooinbes's Eight Bower, who was a line second tor the Cup, had done some good work lately, but the touters at the Forbury training ground do not appear to have thought much of his pace. I light Bower is a six-year-old, and he was t.i\ ourably weighted with 7st. 31b. In the earlier betting he was laid against at 15 to 1 (tk), next at 100 to 8, but all we know of the Iate3b odds is gathered from a brief Pt ess Agency telegrain, which reports it at 8 to I ag.\uist the bold, bar one. Right Bower appears i rora the telegraphic reports to have put the 'Jnp \v inner on her mettle, landing only a length behind her. Mr. Yeend's King Philip, who ran third, is a four-year-old, and he was weighted at Sst. He won the Maiden Plate at Dunedin last year, and the T11.il Plate at tho Christchurch Autumn meeting; and in more recent performances he behaved well. Before the race he was woiked up into a perfect picture. Mr. Redwood's (jluy Fawkes is also a four-year-old, lu thia race ho cat ned Sst. 111b., and he landed a good 10 11 tli lie was laid against at 10 to 1 at the begiuuiug of the week The licavinesi of tUe ground probably, accounts for the comparatively indifferent time of the Cup race, 4niin. iMsec Ihuo has been some speculation m sporting cucles. as to what mysterious reasons actuated Mr. lied wood in saddling Amohia with l'2Alb. extra weight, but I think this is susceptible of easy explanation. It was stated .it .111 early period in Hying telegrams horn Nelbon that she had gone lame, and those ot the speculative tnbo who backed Amohi.i at short odds deserve to siilur tor taking a ridiculous price about an untiied iill}. A little bir.l has wlnsp.ied to me tuat Amohia has a way ot h> 1 <><\u, .ml I'eii.iiK, btrong luindiiiij Ail ill . i'\n^i nui iiLiaj able to got •; bo,\ wnn oi.inuuii ])uuw to control her vag.uioi, that is by no means nnpioh.ible, and, jn.ili.ipb, ho had to s.icn'ne something 111 \. uyht to tlio exigencies or the occasion. 1 Ihuiiv t'l-j bo'j'c-uukoi-. wi'l h.'ve been (.I'us.ilui.tbly <li ppo.utid >a iiji, though a lumour gou .ibioad homo days Ij^ive t.ic 1 a*.*, L'k.L she wouldn't s>how at the \k> r. it is uiniLces&aiy to notice tho other btiiteis lor the Cup. I notice that Auc'vi md ivate ran secuud amongst the M u'ui-., and th iL Ihc Aucklind cult Ariel u-'h.!Avd well in the Pubheaiis 1 Puue About 300 shiners a:e to be ruu for on KiiUi Mono.iy at ]31]iibl)c. The e\«*nts consist of thoTvi.il Stakrs 30sovs., with a •sweep of 2s<»v» , one unle .ind a quarter ; Ti..ilesni.iu'd Plate Handicap of 40-sovs., one nulo ; Hurdle Race (handicap) of 40sovs. with a swoop of 33OV8. each for acceptors ; d.-.t.ineo two milcj. over S Jlighta of liuulles llvster Handicap, ofdOsovs., witha&weep of 3sov-< each ; and avoiding 1 ace of 30sovs., di .tancc oue mile and a quarter. On the Queen 1 '? Birthday, there are six events, and the nionoy amounts to over £400 During the pist we ok the bucolic districts hive he.?n havim,' quite :>, feast of sport. What with 1.1003 at \V.\u«aiei, Paninurc, llemlor on's Mill, Helensville, and Waikato, thcie has been a merry tune of it. Even Ohinemuu enlivened the festrmius of the banishcr of toads and frogs with five scratch matches, 111 which horses with uuproniiuncablo barbaric names showed up well. At Hamilton a well-known spoi ting knight of tho cleaver succeeded in putting a fiver to his credit in a trotting match, over a bush road, a distance ot 4\ miles. Thequalrupcils were Mr. C. C. Wood's Duncan, and Mow .. .1. audT. Wood's Jack, and they were ougiueoied by their owners. The coiiit.0 was f 10111 tho end of Eweu's> farm, on the Hamilton .md Cambridge Koad, to Burki's Royal H0t.1l, Hamilton Kist. This conr3e doea not even at this season of the year come withiiy the category of "Hat." Thcn> are some, ugly pinciies on the rovl, and .1 few .sharp turns, and 111 descending one of the for.ivr .l.i'-k n;tj)e.us t) have receivi-d an impetus fiom 1) 'hind, w liich sot him off into a canter, giMni; t'lv an advantage which vu iblod him to pull off tlic stakes. Of «1 n-s" croti-nc; matches will now bo the rage at 'linnl'un, and there i» one with buggies ami pans on the (apii. If the same course is chosen a induranco agent might bo able t<> impiove the occasion. T)>cip ftppuar^ to bivo been a good innster at Hendeison's Mill, where all the timeh'liiouie'l accessories of tho turf found a temporary resting pl.uo. Dining tho day there wore otlur contests besides those ot the pig-fckin. A nnmb.jr of bi-ekers alter kauii gum, who had diunk deep of tho liro-water of the Keruigccs, bomg blue inouldv for want of a boating, wont 111 tor an indiscriminate mill, w'.icio e\ei^one «^ot .13 much as he wanted, and h ul to rodt und be thankful, if he d ldii't-;ot m<uv than 'ie liked. Mr. Ellis' Paddy'won tho H.ndle 'Pace, ho-itln'^ Scv,i<b ,ui«l I'ly liy Night; the M.udon Plato was gundy pulled oil by Uobmson (.'rnsoc :i»aii)3t a iLM oi ,pvuii, .md tin 1 same stable won the linHn u> v it!i May Moon, beating D.unU and D1.01 pimn. Thcie was some A\dd luuuing in tins lace, four out ot the sevon compotitois u\ini ing a dislike to stiai^ht liinuiiu;. The various e\entswcic, however, well contested. C01rigan's paddock at P.i'imuro, was the scene of 801110 good sprnt, on St. Patrick's Da}, despite the hbuial favoura of Jupiter Pin-' vius. Mr. Kooujjh'd four year oKl I fit or Miss was to the foro amongst thf miudoiis, and ponies, and (Juiulau'a Polly Plum took charge of the handicap, boating Perfume, who turned nasty and sent her jock to gi.is* I At Wangarei, Biunetto came to etein.'l grief in the Consolation Stakes (which was | otherwise a sure thing for her), by hiouknrj • her neck, and she neatly succeeded 111 doin_c 1 .is much for her jockey. The day was rs. t;oo I > one for sport, and the vai ions event, wtiit 1 oil smoothly with the exception of the imfoitunate air.nr before alluded to. The Wi/iird. Electric, aud Decoivcr were

tV '■ uni|ii! winner- f n..t'<' t'n \V1114.uc1 I s il out to sillier .1 !o- m tli duprutuie of Mr. T Stephens, who has iion much to keep the game .xhvc m that ilisti u t Vmoi! coming events arc tho noniin ilion fur th<' tojtheommg Auckland races, w!nc' close at the end of the present month Amongst Southern racing lixtures arc th< Tokomir no. I.C. meeting on April Uh am 1 oth ; the Ua.igiora (C.inteibury) District meeting, on April 17th ; the Canterbury. I. C Autumn meeting, on Apul 17th and 18th ; the Waimatc (Canteibury) Steeplechase, on May 2nd; and the New Zealand (ii'aud National .Steeplechase, at (Jhristchinch, on May 24th. The (Ircymouthmeetinghao been postponed vni' il'n' " in consequence of tliu inclemency of the weather." In tho cricket field the great event oi the past week has been the match between the knights of the willow of the Empire ciLy and Sleepy Hollow, which resulted in a victory to the Nelsonitcs with four wickets to fall. It was, perhaps, fortunate for the Ancklaudcrs that in their match agains the West Eudera time was called before the match could be played out. Mason and Gleeson *had each run up a good score of double figures, and 1 doubt whether the townsmen would have been able to top their opponent's formidable total of 132. The match played between the Devonporti&ns and the East Enders also ended in a draw, bnt in this case the latter appeared to have a good show of winning. In both matches, a few men, of whom better things might have been expected, gave no trouble to the scorers. The Auckland team who played the late match against Papakura, and of whom it i3 only fair to say they were by no means a representative team, got well drubbed by the lusty leather-whackers of Bombay and Papakura. McLellan, of the latter, made a slashing score of 30 in the lirst iuuuiga and carried his bat out, and Proude, another cricketer of promise, made the top score in the second innings. The only man who made double figures on the Auckland side was Cotton, who totted up 15. On Saturday, our Auckland shootists will have an opportunity of retrieving the blunder made in the Jnterprovincial Pigeon Match fired some time ago, against Dunedin, when, owing to the latter firing at 13 birds against Auckland's 10, tho match was declared a draw by consent. Tho Auckland team in eludes those of the crack gunnists of the Waikato, and some of our best local men, and I think tho Dunedinites will find then work cut out for them. Auckland will be represented by Messrs. J. Russell, E Wjnyard, S. Moirin, A. Aiken, Bishop, I Crwynne, Middleton, McGregor Hay, Kennedy Hill, and R. Laing. The Aucklanders will fire at Ellerslie, and I trust they will not be troubled with water in the right eye. Chess bids fair to receive a stimulus from the new club started in connection with the Mechanics' Institute ; but there is just one little rain-cloud, at present no bigger than a man's hand, which may boil the pot over. I mean the fact that the membership is con fined to those who are subscribers to the Mechanics' Institute. Everybody may not agitu -vi ith this, bnt time will tell. TOUrilSTONF.