Turf Topics.

Free Lance, Volume X, Issue 477, 21 August 1909, Page 21

Turf Topics.

By "Te Ngaio."

fY\ HE Cantenburv Jookey Club I bi ought them Giand National meeting to a chus© on Saturday last. Good sport was provided om tihe tin ye diays, and, taken tut»oge<t>he<r, the gathering was a yieat success. Auiatus, who showed improved foim a-s compaied< with his TieJitham running, easily won the i,iiia!li Hurdiles. The contest was lobbed of consid arable interest througlx KeJJso coming to gnei. Luckily its. 1 idei , J . iMcG>regor, was not seirioftisly buiit. Pdiopo ran two ci editable races art. RiiOcaTtom., and should &oon oi-edit hi& owners witn a win. North East placed the Wnntei Ou'p to ALi. xUcManawa-y's ciednt. The Euroclydoii geldung was a ihot ia\ouirlte on the machine, and tuliliy justified the confidence ot backers. A. Ollkvei, the weJiL-known, lightweight, made an auspicious sifcart loathe new season by rousing tihe two winners of tine Hat races at Riccantoaii on the farst dtay, namely JSoxth Jiafit and N^land. May his luck ooautdDaie. Sir W. JElussell's mare. Nadador, woa the Graaid National Steeplechase in easy style. Tlhe victoay was made easier by seveiaJ. of the contestaaiits faJltui'g. Nadadox was one of the outsiders on. the machine, and- sihe a etui ned a substantial dividend. Eldorado, who acted as nuna-eir-up to Nadador, is a raie cut of a 'chaser. He emulated Gold Seal's performance of last yeai by annexing tihe Beaufort Steeplechase on the second day. The Goild Reet geidiog was weE ihandfed by Banji Thompson,, wiho was also aseo^ ciated WLth Gokl Seal's sticceiss last year, so 'history repeated itself. Jack Pot went amiss, and was not started at Ricoarton. Tijas was bad liuok for Alt Ellmgham, who- liad the Ghainflimk gelding very well. ilo«xa&m, usually a safe conyeyance, fell whiLe conteybinig the big steeplechase, and luckily j/ts uder, lorn PrLtehaid, escaped unsca-thed. Compass paid a surprisingly good dividend when the Day^taj: gelding won, the Jumpeis' Flat on the ni'st day a.t Riccarton. King Post, who was paying a sensational dividend to win., ran, a. good race by hmshuig behind .North East. His owner, a well-known Brooklyn builder, beu.efitted oonsoderably by tuo big beoond dividend paid by his horse. N viand did not,' belie his leputation as a gailopu-i, as he practically spreadr eagled his held in the final event on the first day at E-iccaiton, winning jjx hollow fashiun.. Vasa's fuH-birothea" wa» turned out m lare buckle by Geo. Price, Wiho Jlatoly took over "Mr. Higihdeii's" team. This was Price's first race as a tramei foa his i>ation, and the result was highly saitosfactary. Lovell, an miniate of the stable presided ovei by J. Prossei, at Porirua, won two small steeplechases at Koccarton, and must be set down as useful 1 . In both of its wins H. Teltoid waspiJot. Compass won the C.J.C. Huadles very comfortably, the otiier pkueegetters beuig Pikip& and Ben Jonn>oai. Coffey had the Daystar gelding well forward, and is to be congratulated) upon tihe success that attended his effoits. B. Hatch has commenced the reason, id a winning veuii, as he piloted Mr. Pvutherfoxd's mare Gwendolima into first place in the Islington Handicap, on the second day. Polyanthus easily accounted for tlhe opposition in the Spieydon Hurdles, and won comfortably. Jim Munn has this mare very well, amid she should, soon be heard of again. Loaigner was w itlidi awn, from tlhe Heathcoto Handicap on the concluding day at Riccarton in favour of his stable companion Iran.vi._ but the Sou3)t mare was not equal to tihe task, the winner turning up in Bonny Glen, who ran seven runlongs in quick time. North East was selected as tihe best of good things m the Heathcote Handicap, and saw a very sihort price, but Mr. McManaway's geMiing evidently feit the efforts of its previous exertion m the Winter Cup, and finished out of a place. The owmier of King Post has, during the past season, severely rated handicappers for the exolfbed opinion they have held of his Seaton Belaval geM-

uig, but, aftei the good slhowiaig of King Post in e\cnls at Riccarton, Mr. Sinclair has veiy tattle grounds for oompuaint. Eldoiado again demonstiated what a good 'chasei he is by placing to his owner's ciodirfc the Lincoln Ste plechase, on Uie concluding day at Raecaiton Mi Troutbec k was not present at the meeting to sec Jus gelding scon* Longnei did not iuh up to expectations at Riecaiton, but shomJIU do better Jlatcr on in tlie season when 'llic Officei gelid m g us more seasoned lai. W. (j. the popuiiar oecietai^ oi mil \Vaii>ukuiau Jocikey (Jjub, was in town last week, seeing ais soai <j<Jtt to S^cinej, wiieie he takes> an engage nieau witm the Lreaclh-jMaj'low Dianiatic c<Jinpauy. iNou tout the RiocaJ ton Cammvai is hshL'd tiraiuieis wjlk be givomg attenLi.n to then charges an. view or ohe spmig naeLtmgs tnat willL be set going by tiie JVLait-on Jockey Club on be-pteinbei i&t sunid 2nd. \ cry atttiactiye biilis-od-far© have been ii«ued by the HorOTVihearuia Racing OLuU ajid tne Lawer Valley Jockey Cj.ub, and theie shouLd be a good response fioan owners and trainers on Eomanation. day. Tienthani amd tine Hutt wilS be weilil repiesented at the Marbo.ii meetiag, on September Ist aaid 2nd. Trameis will ■have an opportunity of freshening their iioiises up in view of the pllethoia of spring lacing that will 1 take pliace v\ithm the next few months. 'There are a laige number of ooniimg aspirants foi tourdlLe lionouis dairing the coming season, as no less than 35 en-trues have been received for the Triall Hurdles at Mastcm. Lovell has bee-n. foree'ly nominated for Hunt events at Marton, and, after its good sliOTViiig at Bocosxtom, willl, no doubt, occupy pridie of place in the weight departnien't. The largest dividend! paid at Ricoarton during the progress of the recent Grand National!: meetiinig was 1 on the Seatoai iJeiLavaJ. gelding, _ King Post, when n t ran second to North East in the Wniti'i Cup.

Messrs. AJicock and Co., of Lower Cuba-street, have just received cabled information from the firm's Mel/boua-ne Jioiuse that m a billiard matcih nil) Sydney between LindTum, Ausifcraikan t/iifljaid champioD, and Master Geoige Gray, who recently toured' New ZtaOiand, Gray made a break on Ihursdidy last week of u 74. ot which 490 were soared off the red ball, Gray's average for the session being 285. This wonr dai'f ul achievement constitutes the Austral asian bilLiard record, and the world's billiard reooirdi oft the red ball. Gray in both instances has bix>ken his previous records. The match was played on an Aicock Standard tablte, built to the British BilU'iaTd Association) templates, consequently the iecards wiJi hold good, and in due oourse be accepted by the Bntish BiUiard Association. Theie wai a sound of agony by night Of sneezing, wheezing, gioaning, and of teais, It woke adjacent slumbeieis in a fright, And made them quake with supeistitious feais ; Yet 'twas no spook that rent the midnight ail, Oi ghost, or goblin 'scaped from sepulchie, ' Twas only Binks, declaiming in despau — His cold was worse, and he'd no Woods' Peppermint Cuie.