SALIENT SUBJECTS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1130, 27 October 1893, Page 25

SALIENT SUBJECTS.

BY VIGILANT. / The New Zealand Cup is run on Tuesday the 7th November and the weeding out which took place on Friday last has left only eighteen survivors, who will have to undergo the further ordeal of the final payment on Thursday Nov. 2nd. It now seems probable that we shall not sec more than thirteen or fourteen comprised in the field which conies under the starter's hand on the eventful day. Of the North Jsland contingent which failed to come to the scratch on Friday, Fraternite, Westmere, St Anthony, Royal Rose, Strephon, Musket, Loch Ness and Tussock have all had their admirers, and have all been at one time or other liberally supported by their immediate friends. St Anthony would no doubt have been accepted with had he not lamed himself ac Napier Park, and Royal Rose would have worthily represented the St Hippo stable had he not gone amiss. The others have been tried and found wanting;. Of the Southern seceders ; Outpost met with an accident, Captive had a public trial with Dilemma, which showed his owner that he had no chance ; Lady Zetland has no doubt given best to Prime Warden, Tempest to Hippomenes, and Mr P. Campbell's Magazine has not proved himself able to fake his part with the ' crack ' of the Yaldhurst stable. We have now left three of Mr Stead's, two each belonging to Mr W. Douglas, Major George and Mr J. B. Reid, and one each to Messrs Hobbs, H. Lunn, J. Pau 1 , J. Stephenson, T.Daly, D. O'Brien, S. Mercer, the Hon Captain Russell and the Hon J. D. Ormond. There are seven Northerners against eleven Southerners. The four owned in this island which I fancy have the best show of bringing the prize across Cook strait are Major George's the Workman (I will not have Pegasus), Mr Ormond's Thame, who ran a good second the year before last when not nearly well, and

Mr J. Paul's honest old stager Boulangerj who ran sufficiently well at Rangitikei to show that he was coming on and who will have no St Hippo to run him off his legsth's time and Captain Hussell's good mare St Katherine who will keep going when others are stopping. Of course the great question is whac will represent Mr Stead ? My own opinion is that, notwithstandingall the whisperings and rumours that are going about, the Yaldhurst champion on the day will be Stepniak. Hiy rest since landing will do him little harm, for he was full of condition when he left Australia, and a month's steady work will be quite sufficient to put him right. Of the other two, 1 shculd much prefer Melinite at the weights, but she has been trained for sprinting and might not get the two miles, nor, for all we know, might Ich Dien. We know that Stepniak can, and we know that he is fast as well. Prime Warden has so many times been going to pull off a big long distance handicap and has failed so often that it is hard to trust him, but I am of opinion that he never had a better show of bringing off the expected coup than he has this time. He has a nice weight, Bst 71b, and I fully expect him to beat both Clan ranald,Bst 61b, and Hippomenes, Bst 31b, both of whom are under suspicion as to ability to get the distance, but are just now in great favour. Mr J. B. Reid is, I think, keeping in his two for fear of accidents, for, all going well, there is little doubt that Skirmisher will be kept for the Darby, in which he has a show next to none, aud Dilemma's running the other day proved that he is fairly well. The 91b he has to carry more than last year should nob trouble a 5-year-old horse, for his total weight is ■ still a lot under Bat. Mr Douglas is certain, I think, to start both his mares, for they are much of a muchness, and it will be a question of which is in the best fettle on tho day. Both are thoroughly game and may be depended on to stay it out. Ido not think it is on the cards that Liberator, our Grand National Hurdles winner, will emulate the performance of the Victorian Grand National hurdler, Tim Swiveller, nor do I fancy Mr Mercer's Beadonwell, though no horse can be more depended on to do his best. The only one left to discuss is the most mysterious animal in the race, Mr D. O'Brien's filly Response, by Richmond—Bis Bis. It is represented to me on good authority that fu'ly £BOOO has been altogether taken about this young lady, which, if true, makes her backed for about as much as all the others put together, and where the money is to come from if she wins goodness only knows. She is stated to have always beaten Loyalty whew they galloped together before the latter left for Australia, and she is also reported to have done the other day the best mile and a half gallop on Ric carton course ever seen done there. Two Wellington bookmakers instead of laying her have taken all the money they can get about her. aud they laugh at seeing such prices as 100 to 7 and 100 to 6 quoted against her, because they say they are quite willing to take 100 to 12, but cannot get it. The fact of Dan O'Brien engaging a good man like W. Topham to come over and look after his stable looks as if there was some good thing in it, and from this more than from the rumours current 1 am inclined to believe that Response i* a good filly and will run a good race if well on the day. At present my opinion is that the Yaldhurst stable will supply rhe winner, but after that trio I cannot pass Prime Warden and Response. That the winner will be found amongst these five horses I firmly believe, but if my judgment is at fault the three Northerners, Boulanger, St Katherine, and The Workman, may supply the misssing word. There is more than a fiver attached to discovering this puzzle. I hope to solve it next week. ' Tho very last horse I should have selected ' was the exe'amation of several prominent sportsmen in Wei ington when tho news arrived that Tim Swiveller had won the Caullield Cup. I must confess that the contingency of the V.R.C. Grand National Hurdle winner turning out the winner of the Caullield Cup never once occured to me and must admit that I was as wide of the mark I was so confident of hitting as 1 could possibly be. I would, however, ask my readers to suspend their judgment aa to the wisdom of my selection uiml alter the Melbourne Cup, for if The Jeweller does not run prominently in that race then I will admit that I am quite out of it. We are told by the cable that 'the result of the race caused much comment concerning Tim S wiveller's inglorious display at late suburban meetings.' The latest Australian files did not reach mo until Monday after the result was known. A perusal of these certainly does not substantiate the accusation that Tim Swiveller had been run 'stiff' with a view to enabling his party to get on at an outside price. I find in the Aus tralasian of the 7th and the Melbourne Sportsman of the 11th reports of the Aspendale Park Races on Tuesday the 3rd inst. Here is that from The Sportsman :

Aspendale Park Handicap, of 50 sovs. One mile and a-quarter. Hon G. Davis' b h Tim Swiveller, by

Swiveller —Barlosqud, 6yrs, Sst 13^0 (C. Lewis) 1 Mr R. Howie's b m Rosebrook, (jyrs, Sst 71b (A. Ilomm) 2 Mr J. L. dough's eh g Halifax, 4yrs, 7st 31b (T. Shrirnpton) o Other starters :—Tridentate', 4yrs, Ost (T. Flood) ; Salient, 3yrs, Bst 21b (A. Griffiths ; Ayah, oyrs, 6st 101 b (F. Fuseo); Drouin,

I oyrs, 6st 101 bJ. Lloyd); Tellus, 3yrs, 6st I 7*id (E. ConolJy : and Leah, 4yrs. 6st 71b (A. | Day). i Betting :—7 to 4 against Tim Swiveller, 3 to 1 Salient, 5 to 1 Ayah, 7 to 1 Halifax, 10 to 1 others. | Tellus led for a portion of the journey, j and then iioscbrook took up the running, followed by Ayah. At the turn the favourite j shot up, and, drawing away, won comfortably by a length and a.half from Rosebrook, who was two lengths in front of Halifax. Then followed Tridentate, Ayah, and Salient, with Drouin and Tellus the'last two. Time, 2min 20sec. This does not look like ' dark ' running, and how, in the face of his romping over such cattle as Tridentate, reported last season the best three-year-old in Queensland, and Salient, the winner of tho South Australian Derby, the son of Swiveller could have been so overlooked is. very puzzling. And the problem becomes more difficult of solution when we see the estimate of the horse formed by the handicapper (Mr Dakin I presume) of the Melbourne Hunt Races. In the Handicap Flat Race, 1 mile and a furlong, he gives Tim Swiveller Sst 101 b, putting him fourth on the list of 39 horses, the only ones above him being Porisea, 9st lllb, Wild Rose, 9at 71b, aud Sworibearer, Bst 121 b.