THE TURF.

Evening Star, Issue 12844, 20 June 1906, Page 3

THE TURF.

Bfcwke'a Bay. ._., June 20 and 21 Napier Park. Jane 27 and 28 [Gossrr By Old Identitx.] J. iPComb has been engaged to ride Mr Stead's horses next season. Pipi is working regularly and doing well at Fwbury. Mr Jeffs says he thinks he ■will not send the horse to Wellington, but let him do a thorough and quiet preparation fox the Grand National PetroVna. ja out of work, and will not be taken up till October. Part of the centre of Wingaiui course is to be ploughed and sows—the part where the rushes are beginning to look wild. The annual general meeting of the members of the Dunedin Jockey Club will be held on July 9. In accordance with the rules, the president, vice-president, and six members oi Committee retire from office, but are eligible for re-election. The retiring members are: Hon. George M'Lean (president), Mr S. Solomon (vice-president), Messrs G. B. Bullock, W. J. Coughlan, J. Ikiw, J. Mills, and J. Sinclair Thomson. Maniapoto, MeJodeon, Mahutonga, Solution, and Delaware (the latter now owned by Mr Harvey Patterson) are amongst the fcommations for the Melbourne Cup. Cicero, who had not raced since being beaten by Val d'Or in the Eclipse Stakes last Jury, made his reappearance in public at the Newmarket meeting on April 20. He ran in the Newmarket Bienni.il Stakes, one mile and a.-half, and, carrying 10.0 and starting at 5 to 1 an, won as he liked in 2min 32Jsec from his solitary opponent, Shilfa.

Mr J. B. Joel is credited with having landed £36,000 as the re-Tilt of Dean Swift's success in the City and Suburban. It is safe to add, however, that the chestnut gelding's numerous defeats prior to that race had ccurt his owner many thousands. Backers in New Zealand paid £123,120 for the privilege of betting with the totalisator last year. On this tie ' Australasian' remarks: The privilege of betting with bookmakers must have cost Victorian backers more than four times as much.

A peculiar situation presented itself to the judge at the conclusion of the Alderman Dap. in Adelaide. The lad on Avalon. who won, completely obscured the heads of Red Streak and Memento, who finished on the rails, and, as they were so close, he was forced to declare it a dead heat for second place.

Garry Evans, of West Australia, intends visiting the New Zealand hot springs as soon as the winter is over. Sciatica is his romplaint.

From the ' Australasian' : Silver betting In the early eighties was almost unknown; bnt men of means, who in those days thought nothing of risking a hundred on a horse, now look upon £5 as a considerable investment. The change not only applies to tho rank and file of backers, but also to rich owners. Mr G. G. Stead, we have been toH by Mr W. E. Dakin, who trained the horse, backed Le Loup for the Melbourne Cup of 1879 to win something like £BO.OOO, and we know from Mr Stead himself that he backed Lochiel for £40.000 in the Newmarket Handicap of 1887. Now Mr Stead never bets a shilling. He says he gets more satisfaction out of running for the stakes alone. Prizes, of course, are much better in New Zealand than in the days of Le Loup and LochieL The totalisator is responsible for this. _ With the victory of Sol in the Great Northern Steeplechase some interesting facts corns to light with regard to his various ownership fwrites u Phaeton "). Tho son of Soult waS first owned conjointly by a Waikato trainer and a local hotelkeeper, and after his unattractive display at two years old he was to the auctioneers, and though he was put in at a reserve of £2O, no one could see that value in him. Sol was subsequently bought bv Mr W. C. Morgan, and the latter passed" him on to Mr S. Wells, of Cambridge, who was under contract to buy him at £4O, but only if he proved a suitable hunter. Sol filled the bill a'l right, and after he won the Maiden Steeplechase at Cambridge and the Hunt Club Hurdle Race at Ellerslie Mr Wells informed JMr Morcan that be had received several offers to buy Sol, bnt that Ire would prefer to sell to Mr Morgan if be felt inclined to take the Soult gelding at £SO. 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 halfinterest for certain terms conceded for training the horse. Sol remained jointly ow ned by Morgan and Hannon untU a few weeks back, when the former bought out Mr Hannon for a consideration of £l5O, and at the break up of the partnership Sol went into Dennis Morraghan's stable. The A.J.C. did not get particularly exiting contests for the £550 given away for two steeplechases at the Birthday meeting, and the chances are (writes ** Pilot") that until events of this class are more numerous on suburban and country programmes steeplechasing at Randwick will never be particularly satisfactory. As it was, there were only seven runners on the first dav and four on the second. In the First Steeplechase Anriculnm and Up-to- j Date both gave a good exhibition of jump- < ing, but in the second Up-to-Date was the only horse to complete the course. Al- ! though Mr Anderson gave a good price for j the New Zealander, he is now a cheap licrse, and is such a " safe conveyance" that he will always be dangerous in the j moderate company he is likely to meet at j Randwick, no matter what weight he may j be allotted I

A dozen started for the Birthday Cup, cf 800 sovs, 1J miles, at Adelaide, on the 2nd June, and the result was as follows :—Mr K. Kelly's Zepho, by Pilgrim's Progress— Zeph, 7.9 (M'Neilage) 1; Mr A. M'Farlane's Dynamite, 8.11 (X. Godby), 2; Mr C. Smith's Memento, 7.13 (Lewis l. o. Other starters: Red Streak 18.12. Burn), Avalon (8.7, O'Brienl, Katoomba (8.3, Sutherland), Bright Pilgrim (7.9, Riddle), Ganvmedfs (7.8, Brock), Strav Lad (7.7, M'Gee}. Felirita (7.5, Matthews), Staccato (6.10, Hall), St. Andrew (6.7, Ballantyne). Dynamite was favorite. The correspondent of Sydney * Referee * says that Stray Lad set a fast pa':e, which evidently made the rider -f Dynamite anxious, for he appears to have started for the front too soon. .After disposing of Stray Lad, Memento had to be beaten, and after a keen contest both seem to have tired and given a good plodder like Zepho his opportunity. Differently ridden, probably Dynamite would have done better. Tnat old campaigner Avalon cropped up as the winner of tbe Alderman Cup. He was reported !\3 working very well, and was doubtless at home ever the long distance—a mile and three furlongs; those following him home including Red Streak, Memento, and Zepho. That good mate Isis won the Steeplechase with a big weight.

" Ribblrtlen ** write?: The Birthday Handicap at Flemington on 4th inst. was a bad betting race, and bar Boabdil (9.5) and Bright Beauty (8.2) backers could not be tempted to speculate. Boabdil was generally regard<-d as the good thing of tlie day, especially taking into account the ct-mpairv he was meeting; and although Bright Beauty just for a moment threatened danger at the distance, Boabdil was not fully extended. Boabdil is pretty well up to weignt-for-age class, and in handicapping Step Out at 9.9 and Boabdil at 9.5 Mr Mfn7»e3 may be said to have acted harshly to one and leniently to the other. Boabdil is a proved stayer, Step Out is not. Mr Wilson did not invest a copper •a Boabdil, but the victory was well merited, as be has experienced a lot of ill-luck with the horse. But for an accident on the eve of the race Boabdil might have won tie Caolfield Cup, and he was distinctly unfortunate in the Sydney Cup. Proceeder was the runners, but he finished a long way in the rear. Spearmint, the Epsom Derby winner, was bred by Sir Tatton Sykes. Tbe original Bir Tatton went in for Quantity, and did not trouble about naming his thoroughACTS ON NATURE'S PLAN. The successful medicines are those that assist Nature. Chamberlain's Cough Remedy acts on this plan Take it when yon have a cryjd, and. it will allay the cough, relieve the lungs, aid expectoration, open site »eereßons, and help Nature in restoring tbe astern t» * heattbjr eoHdaaca—{AdxLJ

breds. Fifty yeat* ago he bad a sale, and some of his mares were brought to Australia by Mr . Thomas Chirnside. Some good winners—Sowarrow, for instance — have come from these mares. The present Sir Tattoo, who was a visitor to Bundoora within the last few years, acts on a different principle, says the 'Australasian.' He only keeps a few mares, but they must be first-class. He buys the very "best race mares—La Fleche cost him. 12.500 guineas and Plaisanterie about 6,000 guineas—and sells all his yearlings. This policy pays him well. It is a rare thing for his yearlings to average less than 1,000 guineas. Spearmint, the Derby winner, is on© of the lowest-priced yearlings from Sledmerc ever sold. Major Eustace Loder, the owiier of Pretty Polly, only gave £3OO r'neas for Spearmint. The Derby winner trained by Mr Gilpin, a " gentleman" trainer, who has been wonderfully successful during the last few years. Pretty Polly has, of course, been his principal winner; but he has won a number of big handicaps. With Flair and Admirable Crichton in the same stable, Mr Gilpin had every chance of finding out what Spearmint was worth, and, judging by the betting, tne stable have had another big win over Spearmint. Tbo Two Thousand Guineas of 1906, writes our London representative, provided many difficulties for backers. What with doubts as to whether the " cracks " of last season, like Admirable Gricliion and Black Arrow, had recovered form, the relative amount of improvement that the last few weeks had made in such recent winners as Gingal, Beppo, and Ramrok, tho uncertainty as to whether Bill of the Play could stay the mile, and lack of knowledge of the racing abilities of the rest of tho dozen that- made up the field, punters were hard set to know how to place their money. When the numbers went up, weight of money quickly gave Mr Lionel Robinson's Gingal the call in the market, 100 to 50 soon being the best price the fielders would lay. Bill of the Play, Admirable Crichton, and Beppo were fancied most of the remainder, and wera well backed a£ the finish at from fives to sevens. Frustration also found friends at 10 to 1, as did the Dame Agneta, colt and the vicious Black Arrow at 100 to 8, Ramrod at 100 to 7, and Gorgos at 20 to 1. As the race showed, the " talent" went alwut as far astray as it was possible for them to have done. Bill of the Play was the first of the favorites out of it, for he- was looking the wrong way when the tapes went np. and had no chance of catching the field. Black Arrow was done with at the Bushes, Gingal never seemed able to get on terms with the leaders, which at this point were Ramrod and Admirable Crichton. They both swerved badly, leaving Gorgos at the head of affairs, with tho Dame Agneta colt and Beppo in close pursuit. Ramrod was straightened again. in timo to take part in as pretty a final setto as tho Guineas has produced for some years. Inches only separated the quartet as they rose from tho dip, and it was only by a short neck that Gorgos claimed victory from tho Dame Agneta colt, which in turn heat Ramrod by a nose for second honors, Beppo being close up, fourth. The winner is a colt by Ladas out of The Gorgon, owned by Mr A. James, who bred him. He was distinctly lucky to win, for but for swerving, Ramrod (a son of Carbine) must have beaten him easily. The One Thousand seemed on paper a gift for Sir Daniel Cooper's St. Frusquin filly Flair, tho winner of the Middle Park Plat»'. And backers were quite content to go by the book; indeed, they considered the bookmakers quite generous in being content to take 11 to 10 about her. The only other competitors backed seriously were Victorious, L-'lalume, and Snow Glory, but neither they nor any of the others could make Flair extend herself. She was content to canter in the van' till passing the Bushes, and then drew clear away from the field, winning with ears pricked in a back canter by three long lengths in the fast time of lmin 401 sec

Already Flair has won Sir Daniel Cooper some £B,OOO. and bids fair to add as much more during the remainder of her three-year-old career. Possibly, indeed, site will prove to the Australian, knight what Pretty Polly has to Major Eustace Loder—a real gold mine. " Polly," by the way, had an outing at Newmarket, the first of" her five-year-old This was in tile March Staltes. a. hilla and. a-quartcr. Her appearance frightened away all opposition save that of His Majesty, who carried the same weight as the Major's famous maro, St. Wulfram, a four-year-okl to whom '" Polly " was conceding a mere 31b, and Mondamin. «ho hud 171b the best of the weights with (.Jallinule's great daughter. The betting was 1,000 to 35 on Pretty Polly, who ambled alongside her rivals till tho Bushes, and tht-n drew away to win in a cantor by a couple of length's from Mondamin. You couldn't call the event a race, for the mare was never called upon to eitend herself at any part of the journey.