SPORTING NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 4898, 12 November 1878, Page 4

SPORTING NOTES.

T^fiAMR^^I^MjtI^MEETING.! A4Qtberi«npor ) iaSt J ,fis</i\r i e l pf the Center-; .bury Jockey Club has-been brought to *olusisn, a"fid wiile iiot Ms successful ttemj \ny,of its bfertetmssors itimay be ■ tenrtetL: #<*ne#«nfc' of surprises!. -In the first place who«1SoHfl(* 7 W^e' ( b*fo^ ; the nfotti believed it possible that the Redwood stable, eebsrdered to) be more dangerous with the team of fourteen horsea Ted Cutts had in hand, would not score V solitary win during the three days' f icing? Yet such was the case, and after !prk^.'final defeat in the Christchurch was so disgusted with his run of bad luck that, he declared he would not stajfcanother horae ; during the meeting. -3Ste—only—ene he -had that turned out a I winnepfgajSij^JJator,,-and that, colt he sold 0n..; the evening first day's racing. Ariel, winner of a Canterbury Cup ; Bribery Jand. Longlands, .both, of .whom have secured the Canterbury Aabtinin Handicap ; Naiad ■ and Ramarama, nettlier of whom had pyrformed before, but who are well-bred enough: for any company —these- five were supposed to be the beat of'the lot in training at Choke-, bore Lodge, and —fchej were severally backed for a lot of money for their various engagements, with the result that, without exception, they put their] backers in a hole. Ramarama, however, it is .only fair to say, had strained a sinew in his; last gallop ,on the training-ground, and. broke down in the J. C. Handicap, thus: showing the failing inherent in the Towton—i Waimea family. This wa3 a great blow to! Mr Redwood, who avers that Ramarama could always give Natator 71bs and a thorough beating. In the Derby York for a time looked liko<'npuetting the favorite, but when called upon the soft spot of the Moss Rose and Svveetbriar breed showed itself, and he "chucked" it up at the identical place where his relative, Cloth of Gold, shirked the contest in the Autumn Handicap two years ago. Ariel did not-

appear thoroughly wound up, and the same remark applies to Longlands, while Bribery's "temper has not much improved, though even when she got off well she did not show the speed of her early days. Pinfire appears to be only a commoner at the best. Next to the crack stable, in public estima-; ticn? came. the Maribyrnong eatablishment,. Jt&e. horses in which were entered in the names of Mr D. O'Brien awl Mr W. F. Neilson, 'their real owner, however, being the; hon. William (or '^Ready-money'") Robin-] son. Of- flat-racers There were Fishhook,! Luna, and—at the.last moment—Natator ;■■ -while the cross-country horses comprised Te Whetumarama, The Moose, Eclipse, and The Lad. Yet with thuutsray the stable landed • only three events, and the principal one of «these was due to the alien Natator and not] ' ? to one of their own training. Fishhook did not disgrace himself, however, for' his close third in the J.C. Handicap with 9st 41b up in 3min. 35$ sec. was a great performance ;, while in the Cup his backwardness in condition, and the bad' management of his rider, are accountable for his defeat. Luna maintained her reputation for being a clipper over a short distance by carrying off the Flying Handicap; and Te Whetumarama displayed his good jumping powers and great pace to considerable advantage in the Publicans' Steeplechase' 1 Handicap. While on the subject of steeple- - chases, I may mention that the Maori horse, Agent,, and Eversley, are the three, finest cross-country performers that; havemet in tnW Colony for -years ; but the T»s-| manian cannot stay two miles, and the best he could do was to gain second place in each : steeplechase.. The Agent is a fine fencer, and shows great power, but Te Whetu-j \ maraima surpasses the pair in both pace and! indeed, is not surprising,,' seeing that he is.a son of Traducer. the! third stable in point of apparent strength, was Mr R. Ray's, he having Guy Fawkes, Tern-; pletoh, Maritana, Sinking Fund, and Lady! .Ellen encered for different races. The black horse, perhaps the most consistent performer ~we have ever had, unfortunately broke down in his dickey leg when fast work was being put into him; but Maritana, Templeton, and Sinking Fund came to the rescue, and by their brilliant victories placed Mr Ray at the top of the list of winning owners at the meeting. Maritana astonished even those who know her best in the J.C. Handicap, for she ( made her own running, and, just stalling off Chancellor's determined rush, won the race in the extraordinary time of 3min. 35£ sec—time that has been sddom beaten in Australia. Maritana is by Traducer out of Hypatia, but nothing is known of her dam'» breedyig, and until a couple of years ago Mr Money, her then owner, thought : her only good enough to run in hack races. He and others little knew the treasure he possessed, ; but wiieu she passed into Mr J. Lunu's . .bands.she scored several wins.at up-country gatherings and on the West Coast; aud even - then it remained for Bob Ray to get her fit enough to compass two such Jierformances as her second to Longands in 'fche last Autumn Handicap and J»er present victory. Of Templeton I ~,need say very little, for he and his deeds are well known from one end of the Colony to the other. He was never fitter in his life, ' but the Cup distance was thought a bit , beyond him—especially with such redoubt- • able opponents as Natator and Fishhook! In addition to this it leaked out that he was • not going for that race, and as a matter of fact it was ouly some twenty minutes before starting time that Ray determined <*n haying a throw in for it. How the , " little horse," as he is popularly went for the Cup, and how be won it, are now natters of history ; but it is imp? possible to describe the blank looks of the -Katator-Fishhook party at the unset of their two candidates, or,the enthusiasm of the fielder* and of the large section of the public who do not bet but who absolutely idolise Templeton, Sinking Fund, though not quite himself and run with a bandage on his • off fore-leg,-ran a fair second in the Free Handicap, won the Metropolitan Handicap (but was distanced), and won the Selling Race. With reference to the distancing of Sinking Fund and Maritana in the Metropolitan Handicap I think the stewards .••were unnecessarily severe. As soon as the i weights came out Ray looked upon the race as a gift to Sinking Fund, and merely started Maritana (who is really the property of Mr Pilbrow), in order to have two strings to his bow in case of accidents. Inadvertently he ■ omitted to declare which he intended winning with, but both he and Mr Pilbrow thought it a certainty for the ehesuut, bar accidents. Such it undoubtedly was, at the weights, and my opinion is that if Wattie had ridden the mare with the utmost vigor she could not have beaten her stable companion. The action of the stewards looked very much like grudging Ray the two victories he had won, and seizing upon a small point to step in and prevent his achieving ■ more%uccesses. The whole matter was con- < ducted ih a very peculiar manner —the numbers of Sinking Fund, Maritana, and 'Danebury were put up as first, second, and t third; no notice was given that was lodged; betting men '•:'. tne public generally were allowed to pay : and receive over Sinking Fund ; and about two. hours and a-half after the race, to the astonishment of all excepting a few who i., were "in the know," a notice was put up ) that Sinking, Fund and Maritana had been distanced and the stakes awarded to Danebury. This created very general consternation 'and great confusion. One speculator who had lost LBOO on the first two days, and had ( pulled back L 450 by backing Sinking Fund, : was naturally much anneyed ; another gentleman who had bought that hor e fcr a high price in a big sweep, and had " shouted" champagne on the strength of his winning, looked unutterable things; while the listl men, who had paid to backer 3 of Sinking Fund, were rushed by backers of Danebury —the receivers over Sinking Fund carefully .' avoiding them however. On the whole an impression prevails that some of the stewards •were animated with a desire to vent their

spite against an owner who, though nut an -•aristocrat,' had the audacity to he successful; or else that gome persons iiiter- •' ested had put the officials up to an '<■ infringement of the laws of racing which • might otherwise have been overlooker. ':. P ei f? m "y happened several times during The owners ran two horses in a raOT'with'rtutrtleclariDg, and no notice was taken of it. This" question of declaring is one about.which c diversity of opinioriexi'sts, for the public are as often un- , ~ intentionallymisled by a decla.ration as-with-out it. For instance, in the Free Handicap

Mr Guligap declared to. win with Lady ofi the .Like, -but w/m'Sritn A t>snebiirv—the! iormer getting ■ofrbadiy.' Of t-e rest of %;?: l W Lady Kllen did not run up to formed of'her, 'hut I think! she lms a good raco in her y ; -.t-. In point of strength theYaldkurst stable was cor.si- i chred about equal to Ray's. It contained! the Sydney ho-ste Laertes", '. Danebury, Lady ! °/. t] "i L: i ke , S.»n,uster, Mufti. Merlin, and! the Austrian l CamVa'Uo.' : '6i thaee, allwrtay' be dismissed as of riot much account except, Laertes, who was in anything but good trim ;; and Danebury, who was in rare nick, reminding one of the promise of his two-year-old career. Dick Mason had Mr Gilligan's lot given into his charge too late for him to make the mo-At of them, but Danebury was certainly very fit. He won the Free Handicap, Railway Plate, and Metropolitan Handicap (after, the distancing of Ray's pair), and the hr.jfc two-races wr-ro more exercise canters for him, yet the time for each was very good Mr Malloek had Foul Play and Nemo representing him, and the former, after disapIKHnt_ug his friends in the Free Handicap and Railway Plate, made some amends by securing the Tradesmen's Handicap. Nemo ran but .a poor third to Natator and York in the Dcrbj, but beat the moderate Pinfire and Dundee in the Maiden Plate, and on the third day electrified everybody iu the Christchurch Plate by turning the tables on both colts—receiving 51b. from Natator and the same amount to York. Still I think he' cannot hold a candle to the Derby winner wnen bo.tk are fit and well, but that the son of Albany and No Name rdU always find his master in Natator over any distance. Mr A allodia victories were very popular. Mr Horsefall does not appear to have anything very grand in King Quail and Ratcatcher, for though the former is a nicelooking colt he could not live with the company he niet in the J.C. Handicap and Cup ; while Ratcatcher could only obtain third situation twice out of fields of four. The lattendon colt, however, may be worth watching. Mr Webb had only Eversley and Dundee to rely upon. Of the former 1 have already spoken, and of Dundee all I need say is that, as I mentioned in my training nates, he is a racehorse all over. His poor exhibition in the Maiden Plate I think nothing of, for the colt was very shin-sore, and when he can stand a thorough preparation I shall expect to see him do something good. Mr Roskruge.'a Kalulu is scarcely worthy of mention ; but the Wangauni mare Foam is full of quality, though evidently unequal to carrying 7st 81b to "the end of-two miles m good company. Lara struck ine, both on the training-ground and in the actual racing, as being simply out for an airing; but not having seen him before I may be mistaken in thinking him not half fit. Last, but decidedlynotleast, I coma to Otago's j solitary representative, Mr H. Goodman's I Chancellor, and right worthily did he uphold the credit of our Province. He had been .tried before the races to be able to cover two miles in splendid time, but the apparent good thing was kept very quiet, and when he went down to the start for the J. C. Handicap long, odds were obtainable about him. No one was surprised to see the Otago horse, with his light weight, in the van for a mile and a half, but everyone—save perhaps his owner, who had backed him to win a good round sum—was fairly astonished to see him stick to Maritana all the way up the straight. As all know, the mare beat him by a nose, though Chancellor's head was in front a stride past the pest, and if the positions had been reversed there would have been a tremendous cheer from the numerous Dnnedinites present. To go so near winning so great a race in Buch grand time was a great feat, and it emphatically wipes out the stigma that Chancellor cannot stay. Still, he "Wll never be a weight-carrier, but under a light impost his gameness is undeniable. In concluding this notice of the meeting I have great pleasure in testifying that the arrangements—with the exception of the secrecy observed in conducting the Metropolitan ; Hasdieap inquiry—were perfect, that , Mr ¥'., Digby was the same hardworking and courteous secretary as ever, and that praiseworthy punctuality was observed throughout. lam glad to hear that the club think of erecting a new stand, bomewhat after the style of that at the Forbury, for the present edifice ie a most inconveuient one.