ENGLISH SPORTING NOTES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 8837, 5 July 1889, Page 6

ENGLISH SPORTING NOTES .

[from our own correspondent.] . Mr James Smith, who is the manipulator of Goldseeker, was the first man to carry off the double event of Cesarewitch and Cambridgeshire with one horse (Bosebery), and the recollection of the blow he then dealt the ring still makes Steele and one or two others shudder. Smith erred in the matter of the City and Suburban through not remembering Goldseeker’s near relationship to Hermit, whose stock have proved, times out of number, that they run best when a little big. On the few gallops Goldseeker had taken before the race a son of Bobert the Devil could not possibly have stayed the distance. In the paddock, too, before the start, Mr Leybourne’s horse behaved like a veritable demon. Mr Smith is not the man to do things by halves. "Shall we send a small commission, say to back Goldseeker for £SOO, starting price up to town ?” his brother asked him. “Do as you like. I don’t care for any of it,” replied Mr Smith, and on his return to the Bing refused 1000 to 30. Mr E. Smith, however, sent a £2OO commission up to the Victoria Club, which must have mitigated his affliction materially as the s.p. was returned 50 to 1.

Two of Mr J. A. Craven’s horses, which had been badly beaten in their home trials, won the principal races at Saudown on Thursday and Friday unbacked for sixpence. In one of these events, the Walton Two-year-old Stakes of 1000 sovs, matters were aggravated by the stable followers to a man being on Tom Gannon’s Cross Beads, whom their Charlottesville (by Fitz James —Miss Pool) cleverly defeated in the last few strides by a neck. Porlock, the hero of the Princess of Wales’ Handicap Handicap of 1000 sovs, is a good-looking three-year-old by Wenlock, and will certainly be heard of again as he beat a big field. Melanion being a little off colour, the Duke of Portland had no option but to start Donovan for the Two Thousand Guineas, which seemed to be such a certainty for him that there was no betting worth the name on the race beforehand. Eight horses faced the starter, but of these three alone, Mr Abington’s Pioneer, Prince Soltykoff’s Gold, and Mr Baird’s Enthusiast seemed to have a remote chance of lowering the lucky Duke’s colours. Donovan looked his best, and after seeing him in the paddock, the Bing wanted 85 to , 20; in fact, in many instances plungers laid 5 to 1 on the crack. Pioneer was second in demand at 100 to 8; 100 to 6 being offered against Gold, 25 to 1 Enthusiast, and 100 to 1 any other! An outsider led to the distance, where the favourite came out, apparently full of running, and most people closed their glasses, remarking that the race was over. This, however, it certainly was not. Pioneer and Enthusiast challenged simultaneously right and left, and in a moment or so it became obvious they were bolding Donovan. A scene of the wildest excitement ensued. Pioneer was beaten opposite Tattersall’s ring, but Enthusiast ran on 1 with the utmost gameness, and he and Donovan passed the post locked together. An awful moment of breathless silence followed, similar to that which ensued when Grafton all but beat Paradox for the Guineas of ’BS. This time, however, luck was against the punters, for Enthusiast’s number went, up, the outsider having (so the judge said) won by a head. May 17. ■ Kempton Park, on Friday and Saturday afternoon last, mere nearly resembled Ascot on Hunt Cup day than a mere suburban racecourse meeting. It was “ the thing, don’t you know,” to be there, and from the Prince of Wales (who to the distraction of masherdom came in a “ pot ” hat and “ dittoes ”) downwards, every •“ chappie ” able to beg, borrow, or annex what the Pink Un calls sufficient “’oof for exe’s,” made a desperate effort to put in an appearances. Owing to the victories of Bendigo and Minting, the Jubilee Stakes at Kempton has become the most important of all the spring handicaps, and the result of this year’s contest will certainly not detract from its prestige. There were sixteen runners, and of these eight had strong parties behind them, who honestly believed tbe race all over but shouting. First and foremost, of course, came the great Goldseeker (four years, 9st 11b), who looked trained to the hour, and whoso connections were confident of his emulating the unexampled feats of the two previous winners. A few shrewd men shook their heads at the idea of the son of The Miser being classed with Minting and Bendigo, and one tout (“old Jack Dickenson”) boldly prophesied Goldseeker would be “ nearer last than first.” The majority of plungers, however, boldly stood the City aud Suburban winner, taking II to 2 to win and 2 to 1 for a place. Another horse backed for tons of money, with surprisingly little justification, was that three-cornered Orbit (4yrs, 7st 131 b). Money poured into the Bing all the morning for him. “ What has he done? ” I asked, "Beaten Friar’s Balsam at the handicap weights or what? ” “ Oh, no, but. Porter galloped ’em roughly together, and he swears its a ‘dead snip.’ Lord Alington has £3OO on.” The result of this sort of thing was that Orbit finished up first favourite at 5 to 1, and ran nowhere. True Blue 11., also very heavily supported, cut up badly, and so did Love in Idleness (a great paddock tip), and Bullion. The three-year-olds, Amphion (7st lib), and. Screech Owl (Sat 71b), though weH-backed by their connections, were left alone by the public. Amphion, it was reckoned, would have to be a crack, indeed, to give nearly astone to True Blue 11., and to meet The Eejected (syrs,Bst 31b) at a disadvantage of4lb on the weight-for-age scale. Screech Owl, too, the same experts condemned as second class. Lord Cholmondeley’s well-named, son of Wisdom and Noisy nevertheless led the field a rare dance. For three-puts of the journey he was fully two lengths in front of everything, and lobked like winning easily. The field, however, closed up as they neared the turn for home, and then Amphion drew out. There was a bit of a scrimmage as they |awapt round the. comer, inwhich it is jpoesibie- TrueJ3lu%

(of whom I caught, a momentary glance) and one or two others Buffered. Amphion, however, was always in front, and from this point had the race in hand. Screech Owl got to his haunches again once, but nothing else threatened the leaet danger, and General Byrne’s colt eventually won comfortably by three lengths, a similar distance separating Lord Cholmondeley’s horse from The Selected, who finished , a bad third. Little Boy (another three- 1 year-old) ran fourth, Bullion fifth, : Hartley sixth, and Goldseeker last but one. Amphion has, unfortunately, no classic ; engagements, but may meet Donovan at Ascot. The Boyal Stakes, of 10,000sovs (over one mile and a quarter), on Saturday, provided ns with one of those " dead certainties ” to which we are rapidly be-! coming stonily innured. Friar’s Balsam was a “ moral;” Seabreeze bad been badly : beaten in her home trial; Ayrshire waai "off colour,” besides being inferior to’ Melanion at the weights; Wishing Gate' and Koyal Star were oommoners, and The: Barqn a fraud. I have never specially! admired Friar’s Balsam, and I failed altogether on Saturday to notice that the colt was “a mass of muscle,” and looked a "triton among minnows”alongside Sea-; breeze and Ayrshire. Seabreeze’s coat: seemed staring, and she whisked her tail! suggestively, but Ayrshire appeared all right, though not, perhaps, such a goodlooking horse as Melanion. The Duke ■ (the lucky Duke) put Barrett upon the latter, and let Watts wear the second colours on Ayrshire. The Bing, for some reason, were simply wild to lay Seabreeze. They never tired of offering 10 to 1, and in many cases tendered 15’s rather than lose < money. At one time backers of the! favourite had to lay 6 to 4 on, but the amount of money for Melanion at 3 to 1, and for Ayrshire at 6’s eased matters somewhat, and at the start, " I’ll take 5 to 4” was the bookies’ cry.

Friar’s Balsam and Melanion shot off first, but were quickly pulled back, and Wishing Oate and Eoyal Star made the running at a “cracking” pace, with the four fancied candidates next and The Baron last, a position he maintained throughout. They bad only gone threequarters of a mile when, to the horror of plungers with good glasses, George Barrett was seen to be uneasy oh the favourite. In another minute the doubt became a dread certainty, and at the bend for home the jockeys of Melanion and Boyal Star were also riding hard. It was now a guinea to a gooseberry on' either Ayrshire or Seabreeze; and with Watts sitting perfectly still on Ayrshire, whereas Bobinson had begun to move on Lord Calthorpe’s filly, the issue was not much in doubt. Seabreeze made a gallant fight with her old foe, and will probably beat him again, when at her best. On this occasion, however, the odds of 10 to 1 betted on the Derby winner at the distance were never in doubt all the way up the straight, and though Ayrshire nominally won by only three-quarters of a length it was an easy victory. The surprise of the race, next to the collapse of Friar’s Balsam, who obviously can’t stay, was the running of Wishing Gate. Though the rider of this filly allowed the pamped-out Melanion to annex the third place, she had beaten him fair and square, and must therefore (if George Dawson’s calculations are correct) be within Tibs of the mighty Donovan. This should be good enough to win the Oaks. More probably, however, Melanion has been over-rated. Ayrshire and Donovan have now made the “lucky Duke” between them— £s2,427 in stak.es alone. Ayrshire secured £6565 as a two-year-old, £8675 as a three-year-old, and has commenced his four-year-old career with this £9500 stake. Donovan’s winnings to date total £26,787, and he will in all probability add the Newmarket Stakes of £7OOO, and the Derby of £SOOO to them within the next month.

“How I Lost £500,000 in Two Years” is the title of the book in which the irrepressible Benzon proposes to lay bis woes before a sympathetic public. Of course,; " the Jubilee ” does not write the* moving tale himself. He merely supplies the matter, which is being “ thrown into form ” by an impecunious journalist of some repute. Naturally Benzon’s name will alone appear on the title-page. The book (if one-naif £ hear about the contents be true) should cause a sensation in sporting circles, and lead to a very pretty crop of libel actions. Like all “ fly flats” who' come to grief, Benzon flings the wildest' accusations broadcast. Certain shrewd patrons of Sherrard’s stable (in which Benzon trained), are more particularly accused of plundering him, and a flood of light is cast on the inner histories of the great races of 1886 and 1887. The Jubilee represents himself as a judicious combination of the dove and the serpent—frank and honourable, yet shrewd and watchful. Had he got fair play, he intimates, he would have been a match for the Bing, whose tactics soon became familiar to him. The people he was not equal to beat were the noble tampers and aristocratic thieves, who, whilst pretending to be his friends and to give him information about their horses, really laid “ plunging” traps for him to fall into. This may be true, but the Jubilee forgets on how many occasions he forestalled an unfortunate owner who came into the ring to back his horse for some small race after having seen it saddled and put up the jockey, only to find “ the plunger ” had appropriated every cent of the money, and that instead of getting 3 or 4 to 1, he 'must take evens. Naturally, after “ dead sharps ” (like certain “ selling race ” owners I could name) had suffered once or twice through Benzon’s forestalling, they found ways of retaliating. The death of Bobert the Devil recalls the spendid series of successes which “the two B’s ” (Blanton and Brewer, now, alas! dead, too) scored in 1880. Blanton, of coarse, always maintained that Eossiter, who was only beaten a short head by Archer on Bend Or, for the Derby, waited too long, and that Bobert the Devil should have won easily. Few . present will forget the . torrent of objurgations with which the unfortunate jockey was assailed when Be returned to weigh in. Thesporting press, unfortunately, also agreed that Kossifcer had been to blame, and when, in the autumn, Bobert the Devil beat Bend Or easily in the Leger and the Champion Stakes, it certainly did look as if the Derby form were all wrong. Next spring, however, the Duke of. Westminster’s noble chestnut (now himself again), after winning the City and Suburban under 9st, threw down the gauntlet to his old foe in the Epsom Gold Cup over the Derby course. There were only these two runners, and the race caused the greatest excitement. Tom Cannon rode Bobert the Devil, on whom plungers laid 6 to 4in thousands, and Aroher Bend Or. Contrary to expectation, there was no fine finish for the Leger and Cesarewitch winner was beaten at the distance, and Bend Or won comfortably by a neck. Blanton, of course, declared afterwards the colt was a bit “off” that day. At the stud, Bobert the Devil has only been a moderate success. Minthe, Mr Vyner’s half-sister to Minting, by Camballo, won the ladies’ race at Newmarket on Friday with ease, two rank outsiders. Wrinkle and Polka, running second and third. There was very little betting. After Theodore’s easy victory in one of the smaller handicaps on Thursday, followers of Mr Botbsohild’s stable concluded the One Thousand must be a good thing for Qagoul (a daughter of Galopin and Coomassie), who had shown her heels to Mr Sassoon’s old horse in a trial. The filly started favourite at 7to 4, but failed to stay; as did Prince Soltytoff’s Cherry Bounce, who was also much fancied. Byan’s stable now fancy they have the Derby in their pockets, as a few days before the Two Thousand El Dorado was tried nearly 71b better than Enthusiast. That may be, but one cannot help remembering Eyan’s trials seldom pan out in public as they do in private. Donovan’s party fancy the horse was short of work, as he blew tremendously after the race. The Duke has, however, resolved to run him through for his intermediate engagements, and not keep him for the Derby as he had intended if the colt won the (Guineas.