SPORTING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11239, 7 December 1899, Page 6

SPORTING.

THE AUCKLAND CUP. Xo business of any note was recorded on the Auckland dip during yesterday. Explosion continues a firm favourite at 5 (o 2, with 3 to 1 wanted.

THE SYLVIA PARK TKARLINGS. In another column Mow*. Hunter and Xolan publish the list of yearlings bred by Messra. L. D. and X. A. Nathan a! Sylvia Park, oncl which tlipy will offer by miction on the 28th inst. The youngsters, which are eight in number, urn as follow:—Bay filly by St. Hippo—Maratea, bay colt by St. Hippo- Cantinioro, brown filly by St. Hi ppn -Bollonil, chestnut filly by St. Hippo-Wai-lemnta, bay filly by ,S..;Uou Delnval—Looi:mt, lawn colt by St. Hippo—lmiisfail, chestnut coll by Seaion Delaval-Charcnte, chestnut colt by Bt, Lcgcr-Klleralic.

WHAT IS A CRIvAT SIRE? Ii lias now become Urn fashion to review (he past of sporting subjects, and nothing can bo more interesting than to turn to the groat sires, to whom, in a mHaßiirp, the most brilliant pages of turf history can well be ascribed. The question may null be asked. What ie a groat Giro ? They have been of every degree during' the century that is so quickly passing away, n 8 there have been horses that have, hit onco in their lives with one particular mare, and from that alliance whole generation! of winners havp sprung. I Rave (says "Augur," in the Sporting Life) instances of that the other day when writing of The Baron and Hprlcßivny, unci there have wen ninny other mhos of precisely the saino kind. Then there have been hoi-Fes concerning whom ureal ejpect.it imu havo been formed, and they have nol been realised, excepting, perhaps, in »no solitary instance. A horeo much of th : « dimeter was Bay Miudleton, thought by Admiral Houb to have been the best horse over peon until Olatlialeur appeared on !]io wene. The mighlv »on of •Sultan and Cobweb had never suffered defeat; he had won the Derby, almost running 'away, and had beaten ihi, '.St. I,oi>er winner in what was roally 11 match. Flolonpiig to an aristocratic owner, he retired to ll'e stud under every halo of brilliancy, and was put nt a high fee for those days, that just tempted the elite of the racing world. For years little or no success fell to hie share from the most courtly of stud dames, and his fee was reduced to 12 guineas, with fresh quarters at the I)ri.)ghouiei>. near York. Here bo happened to be nialod to a plain, common-look-ing mare, nomonhat outside blood, that had cost 35?ovs: but it so happens thai this matror, Barbolle. could breed winners to any sire, for in her time she produced Van Tramp to Lanercost, and here was a St. Legcr winner two yeurs in advance of his greater halfbrother. It is true Bay Middlotnn got a second Derby winner in Andover. but he in no way equalled The Flying Dutchman, who but for his unlucky defeat by Voltigeur-, woukl have boon reckoned as finite the best of his century, and many give, him that position now. It does not, however, (rive to flay Middleton the distinction to be placed on the highest rank of sires, as one swallow doe* not make a summer. Waxy's doings aa a niro extended far into the nrcront century, hut ho cannot fairly be eonnidored to havo belonged to it, as ho was bred in 1790. I have often thought that the best of nil the early siren was Rmilius. bred in 1820. He was by a real Rood horse, Orville. who won at all distances, and was considered quite the stoutest runner of his time. Bred in 1799, he. must have been an old horse when he got Kmiliue, who was, by all accounts, a hone of more quality than hit pire, and his performances were built upon more classic linos, as be won the Riddlesworth Stakes end the Derby. At the stud he got two Derby winners, Priam and Plenipotentiary; the St. Leger winner, Mango; the Oaks winner, Oxygen; and other pood winners, such as Euclid, who ran a. dead-heat for the Si. Lezor; Recovery, a great cup horse; Riddlesworth, Equation, Marmalade, Preserve, and others. II was in quality as well as in numerous winners that Emilius excelled bo, as a very old sportsman who has seen 50 Derbies run for up to the year of George Frederick, never ceased to assure mo that Priam was the most perfect new lie had ever soon. His action was so level, and the style in which ho finished his races was almost unique. Then, again, Plenipotentiary was probably a very wonderful hnrpo, but lrcdly managed. Hβ won tho Derby so easily that ho was not pulled up until he had run nearly into Kpsom Town. It is a question whelhor the Rmilius tribo in male line would not have lifted until now if Priam had lived longer in his own country, but being purchased frr America when comparatively voung his English progeny were principally famous daughters like Crucifix, Miss Letty, and Industry. A combination of two of these mares is a largo factor now in the Rosicruoian family, but when The Hero, by Chesterfield, brother to Crucifix, proved a failure at the stud, tbero seemed to be an end of the Priam* in male deecent. It was early in the thirties that, to my mind, tlio emperor of all stallions was bred, and this was no other than Touchstone. He came as a surprise on th'e world, and when tho public were laying 11 to 10 on tho squared Plenipotentiary, long odds of 40 to 1 went besging about Touchstone for tho St. Leger. This was his first great victory, and then he was the stout cup horse of his timo, winning these trophies at Doncaeter and Ascot. At the stud he got threo Derby winners in Orlando, Coth erst one, and Surplice, throo Leger winners in Blue Bonnet, Surplice, and Newuvinsler, and an (Mb winner in Mendicant. In getting other winners he was for years at the head of the sire lint, but the great strength of Touchstone has been tho endurance of his male line, which has seemingly got stronger as it progressed. Although bred in 1831, there arc two powerful and yet separate male branches from him in direct male line, that of Marsysa from Orlando, and on to Albert Victor and Victor Wild, »nd a double line through Newminstor, Sβ represented by the Eons of Hermit and Hampton. There iB no knowing when or whore this will end, and it seems pretty certain to be intact when the centenary of Touchstone's ago is reached in 1931. He seemed to hit with every kind of mare, and the great maros, like Beeswing and Crucifix, that were comparative failures with other horses, produced their great results of Newminster and Surplice with him. How he compare? with Stockwell it may be difficult to decide. The latter equalled Touchstone in the number of Derby winners got, and beat him in those for the St. Legor, but he was bred 17 years after Touchstone, and yet the male line of the one is quite, as strong as that of the other. I should take the Hampton line 'to bo the strongest of any at the present moment, as it is better supplied, btth in sons and daughters. Touchstone «nd Irish Birdcatoher will have to be reckoiud , on all points to havo been the beet sirei of. I the present oentury.