THE TURF NOTES AND COMMENTS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 28, 3 February 1914, Page 2

THE TURF NOTES AND COMMENTS

(By Sir Bedivers.) Since the Egmont Racing Club put on two w.f.a. events its summer meeting has leaped from comparative unim» portance into prominence. To-morrow's card is an attractive one in every respect, and as some .of the best performers in the Dominion are engaged the racing should be of a highly interesting description. At the moment it is difficult to gauge the probable strength of the Egmont Stakes field, but Expect, GJadiole, Mia Cara, and Sir Moseley are likely to Bee the post, and if the first named has thoroughly recovered from the effects of the injury he met with at Trentham he may be favourite. _ Bronze was again unlucky at the Wellington summer Meeting, and despite her now too frequent failures, she is likely to be well fancied for the Egmont Cup. On Trentham form Byron promises to be her most formidable opponent, but bhe ga.ve him 101b and a beating in the Consolation Handicap, \yhereas to-morrow she will only be conceding him Sib. Emperadot* would be better suited by a shorter journey, and his chance ■will largely depend upon the paco set during the early stages. Should this be slow he will be dangerous. Wellington Cup form suggests that Leonta should run well, for ho carried 7st 7lb- into fourth place and he has only an additional lib to deal with to>morro\v, Iji the W.R.C. Handicap, however, he failed to finish among the first seven under 7st 91b. The result of the Flying Handicap will be inlluenced to some extent by the luck of the draw, but if Ermengarde should be fortunate in this respect blis will be certain to have a large following. At Trentham _ bhe was badly interfered with. Adroit beat her at 171b in the Metropolitan Handicap, but tomorrow, there will only be 111b between them. Avaunce is engaged in both the Wai« papa Hack Handicap and the Flying Handicap. She did well at Trentham in acting aa runner-up to Pavlova for the Trial Plate, and will be well supported for whichever event she has a cut at. Old Metidip is due to make his reappearance iv the Whereroa Welter, bufc he is scarcely likely to be ready, and probably Rewi Poto and Austin will be preferred. Monologue, too, should rua well, and the issue appears to be open. Mr. W. G-. Layng^ who t will be well remembered in trotting circles in this country, kindly sends me the Christmas Number of the California!! Breeder and Sportsman, of which heis editor. Therein, he has a most interesting article on the influence of thp thoroughbred Btallion Belmont upon the modern light harness horse. . In the course of this he quotes the horse's late owner, Mr. William H. Williamson, who in 1892 wrote as follows ;-~ "Belmont was a very pretty bay without white^ fifteen hands two and ahalf inches high barefooted. He was foaled in _ the spring of 1847, bred by Garret Williamson at Springdale, Hamilton County, Ohio. He was sired by American Boy, first dam imported Prunella,, bred by His Majesty William IV.. by Comus ; second dam by Partizan (son of Walton) ; third dam Pawn (sister to Penelope, dam of Whalebone and Whisker). Belmont was never regularly trained ; in fact he was not bridle wise when he started across the plains m tho spring of 1853 when six years old. He was ' kept "two-»yeai»f ©n«St«n#*,Gj;eek in Colusa County and taken' to San Joso ' in 1859, and stayed there until the spring of 1860, when he was moved to the rancho between Oakland and San Pablo, where he died on the 4th of -July, 1865. He was a horse of remarkable action and had the best natural trotting gait of any horse I ever saw, but in his day it was hard to make people believe that a blood horse could get trotters. For the chance he' had he was a Very bug* cessf ul horse in the stud, having got such horses as Owen Dale, Miami and Reveille from Maria Downing and Bonnie Belle, Langford and Pele from Liz Givens— the only two thoroughbred mares he had an opportunity to get racehorses from. But besides these he got Dashaway, Ida May (i Musidora, Charlotte Cushman, Bell Lippincott, and other good horses that were out of mares of very doubtful breeding, and some of them were good racehorses in any kind of a crowd. He had more uniformly fine colts than any other horse except, perhaps, it was his sire, American Boy, and had horses been trained to trot in those days as they are now, he would have become celebrated as the sire of trotters. As an illustration of the impress the sire of Belmont made on his colts, lie lived to die of old age, a.nd was said to have never got a sorrel colt. Whether this is true or not 1 don't know, but I do know for the last ten years of his life, a good deal of which time my father owned him, 1 never knew of a Borrel colt, and had there been one it Would doubtless have been reported as a matter of curiosity." * The above mentioned Langford was the first thoroughbred stalHon foaled In America, west of the Rocky Mountains and a photograph of him is reproduced. From this he seems to have been quite a good-looking horse, but significantly enough a rather ehort-quartered and bigfooted animal as are many Celebrated trotters to-day. Whiskbroom, who won several important events in England, put up a. remarkable performance last season in America. In winning- the Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park he carried 9st 41b and ran a mile and a .quarter fn the world's record time of 2min. There was some doubt cast on the time, but it was accepted by the Jockey Club and^ entered on tho record books of the asso-" ciation. The six extra boxes that are to accommodate Mr. W. G. Stead's horses at T. Qmulivan's establishment have now been almost completed. Ten _of Mr. Stead's mares and four yearlings are now at his newly-acquired stud farm at Flaxmero. 'The mares include Hope Diamond (with a foal at foot by Martian), Class (the dam of Bon Ton), Dreamer (dam of Bon Reve), Ringdove (dam of Ringform), and Lily White (by Martian—Cruciform). Class, Dreamer, and Rinddove all have foals at foot by Boiuform, and Lily White is in foal to Mr. Reid's imported horse Rokeby. Tn» eluded among the pearlittgs was a full* brother to Bon Ton. Following are the nominations for the Woodville Cup Handicap, of 200 soys j one mile and a quarter :— Sura tura, Trieste, Mummer, Braeburn, Mangaroa, Tmmer, Waipaku, and Kooya. Nominations for the Nelson Jockey Club's Annual Meeting are due on l?ri» day. Nomination* for all event* to b,<» dp. cidod at the Dannevirki? Autumn Meet, ing close on Saturday. Did yon see the start? You would sec much better with a pair of good prismatic binoculars. O'Connor nnd Tydeman, Palmerslon North, sell them from £5 10s.— Advt.

For children's hacking cough at night, Woods' Gmi Peppermint Cure, le 6d, Zt