Sporting Notes.

Lake County Press, Issue 697, 27 February 1896, Page 7

Sporting Notes.

[By Peeping Tom-] The Antumn race meeting of the Dunedin Jockey Club, concluded last Saturday, has been a marked success in every way, and I venture to say that the club is now in a better financial position than it has been for some time past. One important feature of the meeting is the fact that considerably over £2OOO more than the sum handled by Messrs Mason and Roberta at this time last year went through the totalisator. _ In spite of all the croaking about bad times and the incompetence of the Seddon Ministry, it appears that the British public of New Zealand are not so badly off after all, when twenty odd thousand pounds is betted on horse racing during three days at the Foi - bury, and I believe that I am right in assuming that a considerable portion of the above amount found ite way to the totalisator from the pockets of the working classes. After all New Zealand is not such a bad place to live in; Messrs Stephenson and Hazlett had a very good innings last week ; horses from their stables securing no less than five of the principal events. Gipsy Grand proved himself to be quite the hero of the meeting, winning three of the events with comparative ease, and making very good time, considering that he was never fully extended at the finish. In fact, his time for the Forbnry Handicap (2min USsec) has only been beaten once previously. This was when Occident won for the same stable in 1889, and cast the mile and a quarter bebind him in 2fnin lljsec. It is a fact worth noticing that in addition to Gipsy Grands fine performances, another Australian-bred one was in strong evidence at the Forbury last fveek. This was Jane Eyre,, by Boz from Governess, and she captured two good races for Mr Hugh Craig, who bought her for £SO less than a year ago ; a remarkably ohean purchase, as I remarked in these columns at the time. Old Lib. was again much in evidence over the small sticks, and it is hard to tell how good the old fellow is yet. 13st 51b is a stiff burden to carry oyer miles, and yet when it came to racing Liberator simply romped home from Revolt, a hurdler of no mean order. The locallyowned mare Ulster, appears to hj ive ran respectably in the hurdles on two occasions, but I hazard the opinion the sou’wester mare Is far from being in good condition. Our old friend Stimulant won the Disposaj Stakes last Saturday, beating a large field in very fast time, viz., Imin sscc for the five furlongs. It is rumored here that T. Budclicombe had a very big win over the victory of the Amulet gelding. Mr Goodman was the buyer of Stimulant at £32 after the race, but I fancy the little chestnut is still the property of the Brothers Buddicombe. In last week’s Witness a long letter appears from Mr J. Maley complaining of the steward’s decision at Maniototo, when Amelia, winner of the first day’s trot, was disqualified as being a ring in, and supposed to be a mare called Semolina. Mr Maley has fallen into the too frequent error of persons who rush into print about such matters, that is, ho has used a good deal of abuse and and very little argument. Had he endeavoured to establish Amelia’s identity as being what she was represented to be instead of roundly abusing the stewards ar.d all and sundry, methinks the cause of himself and friends would have been better served. It is not often that stewards make a mistake in cases of this kind. I have never yet heard of a case where horse or owner has been wrongfully disqualified for attempted ringing iu, but I have heard of many instances where the fraud has succeeded and the offenders been allowed to depart with the spoil. If the stewards of country racing clubs have emd in the past when dealing with such matters, it has been on the score of leniency.