NOTES BY PHETON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6063, 23 April 1881, Page 6

NOTES BY PHETON.

E racin" at the Ancki;iml Racing Club a tunm Meeting was, with thu exception ot : Steeplechase, veally cxcullont. The •stcr Handicap resulted in a complete boil 2r, the winner turning up i" King Quail, ul Play ran the ijrahd horse he really is, ishhig second. The son of Tnulucer, howsr, had his revenge on the second day, for won both events for which he was sent, the .-Shorts Mr. McDonald hail both Foul ay niul Paramcnn engaged, but lie did not ciaro to win with either, and both raced e whole way, coming up the straight under e whip. People could hardly believe it at •st to .ice the two stable companions racing, id flo-"»in<r hard, for first place, but when iey realised it Mr. McDonald was heartily leered for his sportsmanlike conduct, he Consolation Race brought a very .easant meeting to a close, and the only jing that inarrt-1 the meeting was the dis•aceful attempt to put old Sportsman out of ie Steeplechase. Tlie Canterbury Jockey Club appear to iye had a very successful meeting. In the reat Autumn Handicap the result turned it exactly as I predicted in my notes on Ipril 9—Lady Emms being first, and Sir iodVed second. The winner is by Yattendon .it of My Fancy. It will no doubt bo '••cry ■! ratifying to Sir Hercules Robfnson whon he ; Jars "how the filly has acquitted herself in loriland. rho starting at the late Auckland races is very bad all through. In the Ellerslie ..rindicap, 4* mile, Sir George got fully four jgths thebestof thestart. iCenilworth, who ri" second in this race, had his head turned e won-.? way, while several of the otiier yrseswerealso in bad positions, when the flag eut down. The grand race which Mr. i aunacd's colt ran, leaves it open to doubt ) hetlier the son of Daniel O'Rorke would \ >ve Avon had they got away on even terms. i -i the Flying Stakes on the second day, Sir eorge also got away with three lengths the .at of the start. Ido not put the wretched ".arts down altogether to the fault of the 1 .arter, for the jockeys gave him a lot of •duble, by breaking away. I should advise ,iptain Walmsley to indict a few fines, .hich would perhaps act in a salutary manir on the jocks. The Natator affair has been settled by the runediu Jockey Club, by that body censuring ■ie owner for his conduct. Under the cirim3t:inces, I do not think the club could ive done more, as, strictly speaking, Mr. ance did not transgress the rales of racing, hope other clubs in the colony will .show as rea's a desire to purify the turf as the Dundin Jockey Club lias done. I notice from Christchureh telegrams rthat <le33re. Drake and Sneider, the well-known ■ookmakers, served a notice on Messrs. lobbs and C4oodwin, the proprietors of the otalisator, which was being worked at the ate Autumn Meeting held at that place. The lotice set forth that the proprietors were vorking the instrument in contravention of ';he Gambling" Act. These gentry threatened ;o take legal proceedings against Messrs. ETobba and Goodwin if they did not remove the totalisator from the gronnd. As the Jockey Club refused to indemnify them, they Df course had to desist. After this proceed- ■ ing on the part of bookmakers, it now only remains for "the friends of the totalisator to ! rally up, and see that the working of the ■instrument is made legal in the next session ■of Parliament. .-. . ._- • ■ : No one, with perhaps the exception of the bookmakers, could have felt other-' wise tban gratified at the decision come ;to in the case of the protest lodged; itagainst Mr. Rutherford's honest old. horse Sportsman in the Auckland"Steeple-: ohase. From what I could gather of, the matter it appears. tuat in crossing. over ' the road to Bowmaa's gardens on the second time round, Wilson was alleged to have jumped his horse at-the "wrong" side of the flag. The place where this occurred is about a four-feet stone wall. On the first time round, Wilson, the rider of Sportsman, in his evidence said all the horses went through a gap which had been made in the •! wall, and which was between the flags. He ■ took his horse the same course the second .■■ time —throngh the gap—when he heard cries ■- that ho had jumped at the "wrong " side of :; a flag. Wilson did not turn back, because ; he said he knew the course so well, having been over it in the morning in company with : Mr. Rutherford...; There cannot be the i; slightest doubt but that the flags had been j: shifted. No sooner had Sportsman.passed j : the post than an excited man pushed ' j himself forward, holding in 7 his hand J a list of persons, who he said ■ aaw the • horse jump at the "wrong , ! !side of the flag. Mhe. stewards met, and, after taking evidence, adjourned to the spot where the alleged wrong jumpjng took place. Tho man who placed the nags stated that the. flags, had been shifted, for i ' he remembered mating the gap in the wall, i after the flags had been put up. After such ; j evidence as this, the stewards were con|j rinced that the * ilags had been shifted, and ij awarded the race to Sportsman. It is a great !.! pity that the person or persons connected ;j with this dirty piece of . work cannot be '; punished. Such acts as these tend treatly to ' bring the turf into disrepute, and is it any wonder that ive hear some of our straightest ; racing man contemplating retiring from the f turf altogether ?■•• : r Mr.WaltersgotaturninattheChristehurch .< meeting with Libeller in the Flying Handicap I and Billingsgate in the Selling Kace. : The ( Peercss-Yattendon colt started in the Cham-i-'-pagne Stakes, and finished second to Somnus. ; He also started in the Nursery Stakes, but J could :pt get nearer than third. " ' • A good deal of heavy betting was in--5 dulged in by the members o£ the ring on the i.lato Sydney Gold Cup. I hear that several I of the knowing ones laid their heads together, ; and even went to the expense of cablegrams ■ ! from Sydney,for the.purpose of getting the X Jjest of a certain "Liliputian" book., but {unfortunately for them the information they ■i received did not name Progress among the ; likely winners. Several of these "knowing = ones" may now be seen with elongated faces, I while the "Liliputian" is all smiles, andcon- ? templates wintering in Sydney. ' I notice that Mr. John Smith ha 3 decided j to retire from , the turf, and that gentleman • has instructed Mr. Alfred Buckland to offer ; tho whole of his horaea hy auction on Friday ,! May 20. The names oE the horses are Maid •} of.Honour, Xactippe, Tim Whiffler, blk. f. : by Malta, br. c. by Jilaribyrnong, outo£ Rose I of Australia. . ' ;• The yearlings which were sent over from i Mr. diner's studfarm in Victoria to Christ- :( church were all passed in at the sale held on ■■ '

■' .^S' Hike's Herald says:— "lt is :? stated that an account o£ the Jockey Club's : races which has been published in the ■ V, anganui Chronicle mil and employment ; for gentlemen of tlie "long robe. Some scurrilous strictures on the judge's decision . in the Iradesmen's Handicap will form the ione of contention." Tho above refers to :. the Tradesmen's Handicap, run at Napier ,; last month. It appears that a, horse named ,j- Mavis had secured a long lead from both J. Libeller and Natator in this race, and it . ;' looked coming up the straight as if the pair •r -would never catch her. However, Libeller : got up, and it was said by a great number of ;< r those present that he won by a clear head, j but the judge decided that Mavis had won, -;_ • and awarded the race to her. The fairest ;' v/ay for the judge to have acted was to '■ declare the race a dead heat, and it would, i I think, have given satisfaction to all parties. Libeller has started twenty-one times this J season, with this result: —First, seven j times; second, six times; third, three j times; unplaced, four times; and one walk- ' over. ; J. At the settling on the Great Autumn j Sleeting, the following amounts were paid , over:—J. Chaffe, £57 ; Sir H. Robinson, ■ £503: H. Dower, £431; Hon. W. Robinson, l< £110; BeU, £10; Pγ. Frasar, £ 137 ; Walters, >; £134; G. Batts, total, £1438. -.". . : ,' Eleven of Mr. Nbsworthy's horses were ■ K said ycrt«rday for 743 guineas. The highest ! 125 guineas for the chestnut geldTr^S 4^ 1 ' byKorari, outof NoNainl, by *^rS:^-f ; S b y- ; Mr. Martin bought ■« -out Albany, out o£ Malice, for 120 '* tineas TTS for 105 guineas. The attend - §-™f B^ A **r. Yallance a b c by Albany,