SPORTING.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 4859, 8 March 1887, Page 4

SPORTING.

NOTES BY "CALLER OU."

To-morrow the first Napier Cup wiU be run for, and much interest is taken in the result, therefore I may be expected to say Simething as to the ultimate winner. The Cup is of the value of 300 soys, an extraordinary good prize when we bear hi mind that the club only held its first meeting less than six months ago, and another proof of the hold racing has on the members of this • community. The Cup I have little doubt will grow in value as the years reiU on, and in tho near future will be one of the most important races in the colony. Comparisions we are told at times are ocUous, but ' that never deters any one from making them, and therefore it may not be be inappropriate to here point out, that it is only a few years since that .£3OO was the stake added to the Melbourne Cup, and though the stake has now grown in its dimensions, the fields years ago for the Melbourne Cup were quite equal in numbers to what they have been the last two or three years. Returning to our muttons, I have no intention of going through the horses one by one, but will just follow the style which I have adopted on the few occasions when I havo given a tip, and say straight out what I expect to win. Pasha I expect wall be reserved for the Napier Handicap, or otherwise I should have looked no further for the .winner. My tip is that tho Napier Cup wiU be won by Pearl or Rivulet whichever may be selectedby the stable on tho day. People sometimes talk as if success in racing was only clue to good judgment in selecting good cattle to carry your colors, but like everything eJso the element of luck is there, in fact that is one of the joys of witnessing a good race, despite aU we may be told by some sporting writers, the uncertainty of the sport is one of its attractions. Why this morahsing the reader may ask ? Well the presence of Wapiti in our midst is responsible for the view put forth above. Wapiti and Nelson were here on the occasion of the great moral Sou' -Wester walking in for the Napier Handicap, and what has been their career since ? Many at that time preferred Wapiti to the raw, £reen colt, Nelson then was, and it really seemed as if their judgment was correct. Nelson now the idol of the colonial public of more than one colony as" ho deserves to be, was for long under a cloud, then he suddenly dashed to tho front and stayed there in the Auckland Cup before last, and people suddenly found that tho despised outsider was real jam. Had the outsider only exhibited a flash in the pan it would have soon been forgotten but tho big chestnut kept up the game well, and from being the best handicap horse he gradually forged his >n__ way to the front and came (o bo'iis lie now Stf-ibe best woight-for-ago horse wo possess, - w_tts~&t._tlie same"'.'time he is good at all """ ~~~- . . ■. ~

distances, a rare merit in horses of his class. Thus of two colts, of whom excellent judges held different opinions as to their respective merits, one has turned out a regular mine of wealth to hi 3 owner and a profitable investment to the speculative public, whilo tho other ha« failed to pay hi 3 way. Three years ago tho man who had so prophesied would have been laughed, while to-day no ono can say anything too good of one of the pair, while tho other is altogether overlooked. . . AVho would' havo thought, judging Trident by his two-year-old performances, that us a three-year-old he would be invincible, while his performance in a great handicap like tho Australian Cup would surpass every other achieved? And yet that is the record of the winner of the V.R.C. Derby, Australian Cup, Champion Race, and St. Leger. Twenty-four Australian Cups have been run for, and only one horse, Woodman, ever won it twice, winning in 1865 and 1806 ; but the best record belongs to Trident. Here once more hick is seen. Robinson was the gamest of the game, yet he has only sired two really first-class horses, the brothers Navigator and Trident. The Champion \ won by tho latter appears to have boon little more than an exercise gaUop for him. Spade Guinea has incurred a 101b penalty by winning the Dunedin Cup, both in tho Napier Cup and Handicap, but winning the Park Cup would entail no further penalty at Hastings. It seems but yesterday since Foxhall accomplished his unprecedented double event, and short as is the time, bad luck seems to have fallen on everyone connected with tho horse. His owner came to grief in his own country, tho principal winner over Foxhall's double is a heavy defaulter, tho person who worked the commission died in a lunatic asylum, one of his two jockeys broke his neck, and the other committed suicide, and the trainer of the horse never received any substantial benefit. Everyone, it appears, that gained by Foxhall's winning double have " gone to Jericho." Three of Mr James White's marcs, Maud, La Princess, and Moonstone, have dropped colt foals to Chester. The foalings coincide with English time, the object of Mr White being to enter the produce for the Two Thousand Guineas, Derby, and St. Leger. Lochiel, during the training for the Newmarket Handicap, had two spins on his own account, breaking away on two different occasions, and doing four and three rounds respectively.—Samuels and Hutcheus run iTgain in May.—Rose d'Amour, dam of Pasha, has dropped a filly to Lord MnudeviUe.—Mr J. Thompson laid Major George 5000 to 1000 against Nelson for the Australian Cup. —South Australia scored 401 against Ballarat.— Mitrailleuse is credited by Centaur's Index with having been beaten by Yattendon; to have met the latter the marc would bo twenty odd years old.—Renter was silent as to William ToU being a fortnight without a gaUop.—At Canterbury Park races Sundial won the Prince of Wales Stakes, the Canterbury Handicap feU to Ellington. —For N.S.W. against the Englishmen Turner took S wickets for 32 runs.—Surprise, winner of the Oaklcigh Handicap, was sold for 270 guineas.—Sardius once more broke down iv his training. —At the Williainstown races Marron won tho Hurdle Race, Rhetorician the Laverton Stakes, Banker the Steeplechase, Faugh-a-BaUagh the Selling Race, and Devotion the Newport Handicap.—Houston for Players agaiiistM.C.C. made 119 not out.—At the Elslernwick Park races Marron won the Hurdle Race, New Fashion the Plying Handicap, Clianthus the Steeplechase, Sorcerer the Selling Race, while Kohai, who is in tho winning vein, won the Brighton Cup.—Shrewsbury heads the English batting averages with 31, Barnes next with 26, all have double figures except Sherwin. In bowling Flowers is first with 6-73, Briggs next, and Lohmaiin, who has bowled most balls, fifth 956.