THE TURF.

Evening Star, Issue 12163, 6 April 1904, Page 3

THE TURF.

Smith Canterbury-™...April 13 and 14 Masterton —.April 14 and. 15 Forbury April 16 Wellington April 21 and 23 [Gossip bt Old Ijjentitt.] Congratulations to the Messrs W. T. and L. C. Hazlett on their success with Vladimir in the Great Easter Handicap. I think they were quietly confident that the horse would run well, but hardly deemed it » good thing. Vladimir seems to like the Riccarton course. He won the Winter Cup this season,- it -will be remembered. This is the fifth time the Easter Handicap has come to Dunedin. Hippomenes won it in 1892, as a three-year-old; Casket in 1895; Goldspnr in 1897; Pampero in 1901; Vladimir in 1904. The Taieri meeting on Monday was exceptioaally well managed. The officials seemed to be looking after their duties, and the general .preparedness for all details betrayed a full grasp of the business by the energetic secretary, Mr A. E. Quelch. The starting was very good indeed, and Mr W. A. Turnbull (who used to own Miss Ann) making no fnss about it. The only horse left was Skagway, and that was nobody’s fanlt. She is notoriously unruly at the post. At the Trial Stakes a debutant won Easily. Ben More had never before started. Harry Jackson was half afraid that the colt would not get away from the barrier, as he had only been tried with it a couple of times; hut young M'Guire got him of! with the others, and when galloping he soon settled his opponents. Perhaps he was lucky in getting rid of opposition from Red Ronald. This horse wa.s badly galloped on in the race, and could not be started again at the meeting. At the same time Ben More showed really good form, and shaped much better than his sister Witch Winnie did at her first attempt on the same course. Tire President’s Handicap was a poor nice after the first quarter of a mile. Casque rioted over his opponents, galloping very generously. Tap was not ridden too well in the Two-mile Trot, or I thin!,- he would have won. But he was a trier, no doubt. Garryowcn, on the other band, was capitally handled by Latimer, and won easily at the finish. Of the unplaced lot I tl ink Messenger the most likely. By the wy, the rider of this horse was allowed to go out with a hard felt hat on. This should not have been permitted. Goldspar's | erformance in the Flying was not accepted as satisfactory by all who the race. Godfrey seemed to he relying too much on a final spurt, and when wanted it was not forthcoming. It must be remembered, however, that an old horse like *" Goldy ” is not always to be relied upon. In some of his other races it has been said that he lost by being made too much use of. -This Flying, by the way, was started before the public were ready, and not half the money intended for the machine was put on. Crown Imperial was nicely ridden by M’Guire, and hung it out well Arbitrator made a one-horse race of the second Trot, and Flower o’ Clutha managed to keep in front in the Easter Handicap after Transport stumbled, whilst Casque outclassed his opponents in the Hack Race, Mr Von Donssa, secretary of the Orikaparinga (S.A) Clnh. recently propounded a new scheme. Speaking at a luncheon, he raid that he had set hia heart on giving a £2,000 steeplechase to celebrate the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the club and Lis secretaryship. He felt confident that he would put such a statement and guarantee of success before his committee that the Onkaparinga Racing Club would have the distinguished honor of being the first dub in South Australia to offer a £2,000 stake ior one race, and the first club in the whole sf Australia to give a £2,000 steeplechase. He had been thinking this matter out for a year or so, and under the conditions in which he proposed to Oder the stake, and which he had carefully thought out and worked out, the racing world would find something new. The proposed conditions of the race under his scheme were that the first horse would receive £BOO, the second £SOO, and the third £2OO. The breeder of the winner, as at present, would be paid 100 sova, and £IOO would be given, to the trainer of the winner. That would account for £1,500. The remaining 500 sovs he proposed should he equally divided among the starters and invested in the totalisator by the dub, the amount of the dividend to he added to the winner’s stake. The nominatioE fee would he 2 sots, and the acceptance fee 8 sows. The maximum weight of the handicap would not exceed 13 stone, and the distance of the race would remain at three «nd a-quarter Dries. In order to illustrate his scheme he had prepared certain figures, and he would take last year’s Great Eastern Steeplechase as a basis. There were thirteen’ starters, and if the c’uh bad donated the £SOO as proposed, each owner would have been entitled to 385 £1 tickets. The following would show the dividend the owner of the winner would have collected : —Royal Mad, £167 10s ; Byrmga. £192 10s; Aloha, £264; Ronald, £321 10s; Colonel SHGnski, £462; The Actor, £523 10s; Drummer, £537; Tranquillity, £843; Cromwell, £868; Ranji, £1,039 10s; Supple Jack, £1,247; Convoy, £1,319; Emflene, £2,142 10?.

Chassepot, whiner of the Onkaparinga Cup on Easter Monday, is a five-year-old gelding owned by Mr J. Gove. He ran second in the Maribyrnong (Vic.) Handicap about ten days previously, being beaten by Seal, to whom he was conceding 261b.

Blazer slightly knocked one of his legs; that was the reason why he did not go to Christchurch.

The leading race meeting in Victoria on St. Patrick’s Day was at Kyneton. There were eight starters for the Cup, and the betting was confined to one, the top-weight Avalon, 9st, who eventually went out at 7 to 4 on, while the bookmakers offered 12 to 1 bar him. Avalon was well enough in, hut not thrown in, several others who might have beaten him being scratched. He won easily from Echo, about whose identity there is some doubt, and after Echo had subsequently wot, the Jumpers’ Flat t ßace there was a protest against him on the ground of incorrect pedigree. There was no evidence on the point, and the protest was dismissed, and £2 of the £5 lodged forfeited. “Ajax" remarks that Echo looks all over a Lochiel, and is very much like S&oddart, who went to India. His pedigree is given as by Wellington. Chere Amie, winner of the Doncaster Handicap on Saturday last at Randwick, created a surprise at Rosehill on the 19th March by hearing the favorite in the Carlingford Mile. Barden was generally blamed for taking'"matters a trifle too easy on Sir Faust, bat all agree that EL Farrell rode a most vigorous finish cm Chere Amie. Opposite lie stand, the last-mentioned horse’s chance of beating Sir Faust seemed such a hopeless one that Farrell would have been excused if he had eased his mount. However, he kept hard'at work, and his energy was' rewarded by a bead win. The day before Chere Amie -won at Rosehill a. wager of 1,000 to 20 was taken about him for the Doncaster.

There is quite an Australian flavor about the Grand National this year, as MrGollan, the owner of Moifaa, was for many years resident in New Zealand, and so was P. Hickey, the trainer of the gelding, while the second horse, Kirkland, was got by Kirkham (son of Chester), one of the •horses sent to England by the late Mr James White in the hope of winnincr the English Derby. An analysis of one of the most successful “ dopes ” used in America showed that the magic elixir contained spirits of wine. Oleum Gaolthori, water, cocaine, certain alkaloids, caffeine, oil, wax, grape-sugar, tan and menthol There was 20 per cent! of spirit and the same quantity of grapesugar, and the rest was made up of alkaloids, with cocaine as the most important factor.

The Hawkesbury Autumn Handicap was won by Sir Leonard (9.13), with Idolize (6.9) second, and Sir Faust (8.0) third. Idolize and Sir Leonard turned into the straight together, but a few strides further on the favorite ran past Idolize, and, net being farther troubled, ran home the easiest of winners by seven lengths from Idolizwho beat Sir Faust by half a length. Cur-and-Loch-Arfirfriq fcat.