SPORT AND PASTIME.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 148, 23 June 1906, Page 14

SPORT AND PASTIME.

The Turf. . 4 [By Lochml.] RACING FIXTURES. June 27 and 28— Napier Park Winter Meeting. July 5 and 6 — Gisborno Steeplechase Meeting. July 11 and 14— Wellington Steeplechase Meeting. August 14. 16, and 18— C.J.C. Grand / National Meeting. After payment of first forfeits, fiftyfour horses remain in the We^lesley Stakes, to be run at the Wellington spring meeting. Mr. Stead is represented by Lamsdorff and Count Witte,* while the Hon. J. D. Ormond has four.repreeentatives—viz., Ideala, Bebington, Eoana, and Woodside. Sir Geo. Clifford has twe candidates — Goldbeater and Ckridwife, and among the other owners represented are Messrs. A. and J. Buckley, Donnelly, W. W. Johnston, Lawry, Campbell, Watt, Weal, Holmes, Dwan, and Duncan. Among the notices of motion tabled for consideration at~ the Racing Conference, ■which meets in Wellington on 12th Jury, is the following from the Auckland Club : —Page 23, Part VI., Rule 7.— To add after the words "connected with the Hunt" in the eighteenth line, the following .words: "The Metropolitan Committee shall have the power to refuse to approve of the programme of a meeting of any totalisator club which permits any bookmaker to bet on its course." —Weights for the first day of the Wellington "winter meeting will be declared ifext Saturday. ■[• J. Prosser's latest addition to bis stringis, a filly by Soult — Merry Maid, a full sister to sferry ■ Soult. - ;J. M'Gbombewill rids for the Yaldhuret stable at the termination of Hewitt's engagement early next year. - The new steeplechase course at Trentham includes twenty-one obstacles. The distance is three miles and a quarter, two furlongs further than the old track. With the close of the racing season in Auckland in the winter of 1906 the racing career of the veteran Haydn may have ended. Mr- Walter Davis, one of his owners, does - not (says an Auckland - writer) favour his being further raced. It is the intention of his owner to treat Tartan to>a very lengthy spell, hoping by that means to, effect a complete recovery in the' champion" winner. The New • -Zealand horses Melodeon, Starshoot, Chivalry, and Savoury have commenced" training 'operations at Randwick: . Delaware has reached Canlfield safely. 7-' The new owner of Grand Rapids, who has been a. comparative failure for a season or two, though be includes the New Zealand' Cup in his earlier list of victories, is Mr. J. Ryan, of Fremantle. According to a Sydney paper, Mr. Spencer Gollah, who raced Moifaa, AustralXaaJStax, and some other horses bred in EngJandj-is not unlikely to be in search of another good "performer to represent him thiere. Mr. G. G. Stead has nominated Royal Glen, Bonifonn, and Count Witte for the A.J.C. Breeder' Plate and Gimcrack Stakes. Count Witte, Bonifonn, and Ellen Terry are Mr. Stead's nominations for the A.J.C. Derby of 1907. Three weeks prior to the English Derby being run Spearmint was quoted at 100 to 3. A week later he advanced to 30 to 1, and subsequently, owing to a report, which was probably correct, that he had beaten Pretty Polly in a trial, a strong demonstration was made in his favour. Avalon, who figures among the entries for Melbourne Cap, may be classed (says a- Sydney writer) among the wonders of to :: 3ay ) s racehorses, and that he is still gdS6essefl*of-a"sotind; -constitution and understandings is evidenced by the fact that Es owner thought him worthy to be entered for a race that is the hardest of all Australian events to win. Avalon has raced through eight seasons, starting at two years old, wheD he ran twelve times, and out of 170 starts has won on twentytjro occasions. It can hardly be said that he is a good performer, and his record 106- unplaced- races does not augur •roll- for. his Cup prospects. Silver, who won the Liverpool Grand National Steeplechase, has had a series of mishaps. His dam died a few days after giving that horse birth, and he had to/be brought up by hand. At two years ' old Ascetics Silver, being frightened by a thunderstorm, galloped ytto a ditch and dislocated one of his hips, a";brother to. Afdgreagh, who was with Him at 'the time, being killed. Recovering 'from his injuries, Ascetics Silver dgshed through a fence and hurt his back so badly that his owner determined to destroy* nim,' but 'was" persuaded' to give tfifijwjrsetjinother and he recover-«d?-to win"£ne Grand National. Commenting on. the visit of New Zealand horses to Australia, "Milroy," in the Sydney Mail, writes as follows : — "Since the marvellous run of success at tihe last A.J-C. Spring meeting of New Zealandbred horses, every sporting eye in the island colony has been turned in the direction of Australia, and at the time it was freely anticipated that there would be a big. 'invasion of horses and men from that' country in search of wealth and glory on this side of the Tasman Sea when the cold weather set in down south, and doubfless these forecasts would have come - outl correct had our Maoriland cousins a few spare Machine Guns, Noctfniforms, or Isolts around to head the anticipated exodus. It is very evident, however, that the Maoriland studs are not equal to supplying tihe demand, or unquestionably the colony would be represented much stronger in the June nominations than is the case. Very few New Zealand horses have been entered for the A.J.C. Spring meeting; therefore iti can be taken for granted that the supply has been pretty well exhausted. It is unlikely, that Mr. G. G. Stead will be represented at the coming spring meetings, but D. J. Price and his partner, Mr. S. Nettlefold, having tasted blood with Machine Gun, are back on the spot again ■with a quartet, which they have picked up here and there during tihe autumn in New Zealand, and the crack jockey, Hewitt, is on his way over to ride them. Price arrived last week with these burses — Melodeon, Savoury, Starshoot, and Chivalry — and v. established at Donnelly's stables, near tihe racecourse. The pick of the party appears to be Melodeon — a eon of Medallion and Melodia, a Goldsborough mare, and a sister to Melodious, the dam of Wallace. Melodia was sold to go to New Zealand at the dispersal of the Tocal stud, with Melodeon at) her side, and in foal to Simmer. Her Simmer foal is Savoury, who forms one of Price's quartet, and is a typical Simmer, though eomewbat smaller than the average. He is a very dark bay horse, hardly 15.2, and a good deal like his orother in blood, Cakewalk, as' well as Simmeran. Judging by hia joints and one knee, he has done a good deal of •work in his time. As a three-year-old he was an excellent performer, but he has not won a race for 19 months. His halfbrother, Melodeon, is a claret bay, who covers a good deal of ground, and is somewhat high on the leg— a good sort of a horse, however, all over, and one that opened bis turf career brilliantly, but, from all reports, lift has outlived his reputation. Starshoot is a chestnut by

Hotchkiss, not much to look at, and, evidently, knows a thing or two, but Chivalry is a very shapely bay gelding, ■with plenty of length and depth, by the Medallion horse Conqueror, from a" halfbred hunting mare." When a great performance goes down to the credit of a descendant of the Musket family my mind is invariably carried back to the bright afternoon at Ellerslie in the spring of 1882 when tihe first descendants of the Toxopholite horse made their debut on the A.R.O. convincing ground (writes "Phaeton" in the New Zealand Herald). At that time few could have entertained the thought that Auckland possessed the horse that was destined to earn distinction as the greatest eire that ever crossed the ocean from the nortfliern to the southern hemisphere. Still there were a few of us who, in the face of much hostile criticism, were always staunch admirers of the sturdy brown ; and Musket was well advertised. Well, tflie day fox the first of bis gets tk> make their debut under silk in Maoriland arrived in November (which, if I remember rightly, was the first spring meeting promoted by the A.R.C.), and Mitrailleuse, a daughter of the English, sire was found a warm favourite for the Welcome Stakes ; but she suffered defeat at) the hands of the King Cole colt Wapiti. The contesting horses had barely passed the judge ere a burly individual surged on to the Tace track, and, making a bee line for the stewards' sband (which in those days consisted of four posts, a floor, and a hand rail), adjoining tihe judge's box, and with a dash of venom yelled, "Where are your Muskets now?" The taunt was evidently meant for the late Captain Walmsley, who was managing director of the Auckland Stud Company. As T think of that j aftternoon, and the remark, I fancy I see the dear old Imperial officer torn quickly round, with his face aglow, and with eyes fairly sparkling, looking for his man, and then with that merry chuckle, which one heard was never forgotten, he playfully remarked "Taihoa,!" Never was the Maori word (synonymous with "wait a while") more appropriately facked on to an irritating query. As is well known, Musket's son Martini-Henry won the V.R.C. Derby and Melbourne Cup in the succeeding spring; while Trenton, one of the mightiest of his descendants, retained an unbeaten certificate in Maoriland. To relate the story of the brilliant deeds of Musket's descendants in the interval would fill pages, and it will suffice to say that the coup de grace was delivered to the last of those who withheld from him his proper place when they had to accept Carbine as one of the greatest horses the world has ever produced. In rambles over Sylvia' Park poor old Captain Walmsley was often wont to refer to the query, "WheTe are your Muskets now?" witfh which he was plied on the defeat of Mitrailleuse in the spring of 1882, and then he would take my arm and say, "Sonny, right on top !" What joy it would have brought to the hearb of* Captain Walmsley had he been spared to see the day when a son of Carbine would be hailed as the winner of the English Derby and Grand Prix de Paris ! Among all the breeders and owners that have come and gone during the last century none has even approached the record made by the French sportsman, M. Edmond Blanc, since he purchased the celebrated English racehonse Flying Fox for £37,500, the greatest! price yet paid for a thoroughbred. M. Blanc has been for many years connected with the turf as breeder and owneT. Following his own ideas he bred a few winners, and when the j Figure Guide was published he was one | of those that denounced the authoT's ideas with derision. But) as time went on he , became a convert, as a little study satisfied him that the Figure Guide was of great assistance to breeder or buyer, and the British communifiy can, in a measure, lay blame to Bruce Lowe and his teachings for the loss of the greatest stallion — bar Stockwell and St. Simon — the world has produced. Flying Fox, being a winner of the Triple Crown (Two Thousand Guineas, Derby, and St. Leger), tihe Grosvenor family were desirous -of buying him in at the sale of the late Duke of Westminster's stud, but the Frenchman would not be choked off, and this gem of gems went to France. Witlh the progeny of Flying Fox M. Blanc has won the original cost' of the horse more than twice over, and recently -sold four of his sons— JaTdy. Yal dOr, Adam, and Viciniu3 — for about £90,000, and retains the beet of his colts, Ajax, to keep tftie Eire company. Sporting France is look iog for a second Flying Fox in Ajax. Writing of M. Blanc and his stud the "special commissioner" for the London Sportsman in a recent issue of his paper thus concluded his remarks thereupon: — "Does not all t&iis show how the French are going ahead, and in a measure attracting the blood stock to their countryl That they cannot permanently do so is the accidenb of climate, but from their State support of racing and horse-breed-ing they deserve to knock us right out. M. Edmond Blanc has 63 brood mares in his latest book, and how seriously he has studied the figures. Time was when he did not believe in Bruce Lowe, but when he found that French classic results almost exactly corroborated the Figure Guide as at first constituted, he quite reconsidered his opposition. The only running family not up to the mark in France was No. (4), and tfhat for the simple reason that there were but very few mares of this figure. M. Blanc set himself to remedy this, and has now ten No. 4 mares at his own stud- If other French breeders were to follow M. Edmond Blanc's example No. 4 family would soon be established in tihat country on its proper level."