SPORT AND PASIIME.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 142, 16 June 1906, Page 14

SPORT AND PASIIME.

i The Turf. ' I * V • [By Lochiel.] RACING FIXTURES. '^TTinD*2o' and 21— Hawkes Bay Winter Ofeeting. •June 27 and 28— Napier Park Winter &see'£ing. "'July 5 and 6 — Gisborce Steeplechase Meeting: ■ "July 11 and 14— .Wellington Steeplechase Meeting. •August 14- -16, and 18— C.J.C. Grand National Meeting. and from a quality point I o"f view-tha entries for the Wellington Steeplechase are satisfactory. They nUmber twenty-seven;- as- agninst twenty--one last year, and twenty-four the preceding year, and when it is mentioned that the list includes such psrformers. aa Sol (the. winner of .the Gr^at Northern' Steeplechase), Haydn, Nutiodor, Phae-.. tontis, Comfort, Kiatere, Pipi, and Moc-., casin, it must-be admitted, assuming that - only, a reasonable prcportion accept, that't£e .JUQ6, contest. . will ho well., worth' ■witqes9ing._ v .Of thejsev».n_con:p£t v rtors in last year's race only three are included in^he present lisfc— 'Viz-^Phaeicntis (who ran third! to 'Kaat-cre" and.Wrat- rerc). t<cp£oa and Kiatere {tho last-mentioned hay- ; iEgjwon Wellington Steeplechase honours j tiw-o 'jeatß In succession).- 'lhe other 3yentj£.focthfi, meeting 'have also been wll T»atr©DiEed. ■ Mr. - Pollock's weights are due on i Saturday, 50th Jnne. *T!Se"^sSle:""of, Convoy to Messrs. J. Lroffghnn;and -R. Solomon has lapsed, as Mr. J. Buckley intimated th-..t he could riot fulfil. the" condition of sale which s,t;jralated that the horse should be d-elireiv J sound after the A.R.C. meeting. Convoy . "Sentinel" understands, has since be« ' sold to a northern buyer at something j'» the neighbourhood of a century. -*A subscription in aid of the widow and orphans of the late S. Fergus, who was killed at the recent .Auckland metting, has been started in Wellington and Auckland. The Hon.. J. D. Ormond has six representatives in the New- Zealand Cvp — the largest entry of individual owners represented m this year's contest. Mr. Stead and Sir George Clifford are not represented. It is- pointed out by a Southern writer that in the. contests that have eventutaed for the Great Northern Hurdle Rrce, ran at Ellerslie in the winter during the past fifteen years, a different sire has each yea: 1 claimed the winner. The list of winners with their sires to date, is as follows : — Belmont {by King Quail), Mutiny (by Mute), Mebnits (by I\ ordenfelt), Liberator (by Betrayer), Hopgarden (by Daniel O'Rourke), St. Simon (by St. Legcr). Opae (by Somnus), Shylock (by Wapiti),. Cavuliero (by Cuirassier). Coeur do Lion' (by Dreadnought), Royal Conqueror (by Flintlock), Battleaxe -(by Hotchkiss), Aka Aka (by Regel), Irish (by Eton) and Exmoor (by Grjfton). HThe toialisator investments at the late Auckland, winter meeting show an increasp of £15,412 over the corresponding ! meeting last year. For the season just I concluding the northern club handled through the totalisators £193,864 — ai* in- ! creaae- of on last year. The ! figures form! a striking commentary on the club's recent action in refusing to license ! bookmakers'! Achilles figures among the entries for the Metropolitan Handicap to be run at Bandwick. • Up to the present, Boomerang is theshortestfprioed candidate for the New Zealand Cup, 12 to 1 being quoted against . tha Merriwee colt. 'Mahutonga, Solution, Paritutu. and 'Martello figure j$ 16 to 1. - Reports- • from Riccarton state that ChryseisandT -Stronghold are, on the active listen view._ofjthe Wellington meeting. The Wellington Racing Club has tabled the following motions for consideration at the -Ne>» Zealand Racing Conference: — "Part VI. Rule 3.— That, the rule "be struck out and the following rule be substituted therefor :— «' No club shall give a~ less sum in stakes than thd net amount, derived riy such.. club from the use of -the totalisator during 'the previous yearlCA "That under present Rule* 3} Part VI. * the leave of "the conference be granted to "the Wellington ■Racing' Club to apply tho increased receipts received 'by it from the use of thetotalisator,at its summer meeting, 1906, in the-increase* of stakes at meetings in 1906-7 other than the corresponding meetinjpjfTiext. year." " Part XXI. Rule 2. — That the- following -words be added to tHe'rule? 1 Provided 'that .in the case of an .employee of a' registered trainer taking - i; chargei on behalf of such trainer of any^forse trained by such trainer for the purposes- of any meeting or meelings at winch -such trainer -cannot be personally present such horse shall be deemed to be trained by such trainer and such employed shall not require a license." With the victory of Sol in the Great •Northern? Steeplechase some interesting facts como to tight with regard to his various* ownership, writes " Phaetop " in the New. Zealand Herald. The son of Soult was first owned conjointly by a Waikato trainer and a local hotelkeepcr, and after lm unattractive display at two years old he was sent to the auctioneers, and though he was put in at a reserve of £20, no one could see that value in him. Sol was subsequently bought by Mr. W. C. Morgan, and the latter passed him on to Mr. S. Wells, of Cambridge, who was under contract to buy bim at £40, but- only if he proved a suitable hunter. ' Sol Sled the bill all "right, and, after he won the Maiden Steeplechase at Cambridge and the Hunt Clnb Hurdle Race at Ellerslie, Mr. Wells informed 3dr. .Morgan that he had received several offers to buy Sol- but that he would prefer to sell to Mr. Morgan if he felt inclined to take the Soult gelding at £50. 'Mr. Morgan was not slow to avail himself of- the opportunity to repurchase Sol, and a deal was quickly made. Arrangements were made for Sol to go back to Mr. R. Hannon's establishment, Mr. Morgan giving the Waikato trainer a half-interest for certain terms conceded for training the horse. Sol remained jointly owned by Messrs. Morgan and Hannon until a' few weeks back, when the former bought out Mr. Hannon for a consideration of £150, and at the breakUp of the partnership Sol went into Denms Morraghan'6 stable. Spearmint, by capturinj? tne Grand Prix de Paris after his Derby win, has added to Carbine's fame When Carbine ■was purchased by the Duko of Portland in 1895 for 13,000 guineas, it was not thought, with the opportunities at his disposal, that it would be ten years before he sired the winner of a classic race. The recent successes, however, have -been eminently pleasing lo New Zealanders, particularly in face of some of the adverse criticism in England of the popular thoroughbred. Some critics declared that Carbine's progeny had been a sadly disappointing return foi the money paid for bim, and it will be interesting to learn how Spearmint's triumphs are now viewed. It is, of course, an indisputable fact that a number of the great horse's stock were not first, class. Apropos of this, a writer in the Sydney Mail remark*:— "Mr Dan O'Brien gave a long price for a colt that was Carbine over again — though in looks only — for he •was not epeedy enough to win a bridle. Then there were others, such as Sensation and Prince Carbine, who were very like the old champion, but wero not really good lacenonses., Carttaels best

hits in, Australia, were Wallace,' Amberite, La Carabine, Fucile, and Charge. The first-named is a typical Stockwell or Birdcatcher. There is nothing of the Musket or Carbine about him. except that he was a corking Rood racehorse, who could get three miles. Amberito favours neither Stoekwoll nor Musket, nor does Charge or Fucile ; and La Carabine was the antithesis of her siTe in every way and everything — except stamina. When Carbine went into tho best stud in England, Wclbeck. and was allotted a number of the bluestblooded daughters of St. Simon and mares of Galopin descent that money could buy, a. great future was predicted for tho Australian champion ; but, strangely, he was a comparative failure among those equine gems. He got his share of midcfie-class winners, however, but none of h\s stock up till last season could with any degree of accuracy be described as first-class, ' until Wajgrave is reached. Wargrave won the Cesarewitch two years ago, .and ran third for it last year. .He was v certainly the best Carbine" sired till Spearmint came. Wargrave is a near relation to the l>erby winner, inasmuch as he is out of Warble the pranddam of ' Spearmint. The interposition of Minting appears to have improved the Maid of the Mint line from upper middb claes to the very top class, and the who'.e is the strongest argument 1a lavour of inbreeding to a couple of pood families, as is shown in the table higher up, the figures, of course, repregood families.