TURF GOSSIP.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1211, 17 May 1895, Page 25

TURF GOSSIP.

By ‘ f GrifsY King.”

•DISHONEST RACEHORSES! The frequency with which -<?&cekor£e3 are tubbed “cocktails' 5 and “rogues 55 whenever the owner of the alleged undesirable property comes in contact with the stewards ■®f a race meeting is becoming a byword mow, and I should say this old gag is -about worked out. Of course, there are •“dishonest racehorses, 55 We know, but they .are not so numerous as it is sought t 6 make the public believe. One of the rhost singular things, and a charmingly inconsistent action, is the tenacity with which -an owner will hang on to an alleged “cocktail.’ 55 This would probably not be so much noticed, because an owner may have a difficulty in quitting a hotse £3 Whom he has not given the best of characters ; but what reasonable escftse an owner can give for racing a horse which he himself declares to fee unworthy of trust baffles everyon'e who attempts to think the matter out. At this distance from the scene of the Aidershot enquiry, it is difficult to come to & satisfactory conclusion on the matter, but a particularly awkward question is asked fey an Oamaru paper* the North Otago Times, which says 5-—' _ “The Aldershot enquiry has ended satisfactorily—for the owner of the horse. Judging by the report of the meeting, the •evidence would seem to have been altogether in favour of the owner of the horse, -and the verdict was therefore a judicial •oner; the weight of'evidence was in favour •of the defendant, and he was acquitted. There is a peculiarity about the case, however, which exhibits a weak side in human nature. Here we have a man who is known to be anything but a fool, owning and racing a horse that he knows to be a * rogue, 5 and practically wasting his substance in trying to get the horse to turn •over a new leaf, and run honestly. We •presume that nearly every racing man is a betting S&ati, and the sums that must have feeeh lost in the effort to get Aldershot to •come ta first must have been only equalled fey the mountain of disappointment experienced at his so often coming in last. To own a horse like this would smash a financial institution with a capital greater than the gross surplus of the present Government. What earthly void in the economy of racing does Aldershot fill? Does his owner keep him for the purpose of ascertaining how long it takes for a rogue of a horse to make a bankrupt of his owner? We presume not. Mr Stead says Aldershot was an honest horse while he had him. His morals have therefore been •corrupted in Dunedin, and he is evidently going from bad to worse, and if he is not ‘disposed of to some honest fish hawker or marine store '(Sealer he will wreck a career that opened auspiciously under Mr Stead’s tcare, bat that now seems to be gravitating to farther disqualification. Mr McKewen should dispose of the horse, for every jockey club may not view the roguishness of the horse by the weight of evidence brought forward to prove outbreaks of this undesirable quality. We do not say that there was anything suspicious about the running of the horse. We did not see the race, and consequently must be guided by the evidence given, but it strikes us as peculiar that an owner should keep and race a horse after he discovers that he is an arrant rogue. 55

WELLINGTON TROTTING GLUE’S WINTER MEETING. . If a showery morning happens on the day selected for a race meeting, it goes •without saying that the public become shy 0 f going too far away from home. This was just the position of the above at its last meeting, held at Miramar Park, Kilbirnie. Undoubtedly, the meeting would Slave been a financial success had the day *be§n fine, but the weather was so changeable that it was not until 11 a.m. that the stewards could decide whether to proceed with the races or not. A temporary gleam of sunshine turned the balance, and the meeting was gone on with; but, through considering the advisableness of postponing the meeting, the officers were delayed in starting proceedings, and although it was 1 o’clock before the first race started, those conducting the meeting expedited matters so much that the last race was decided by 5 p.m. To accomplish this, the officers were at high pressure all the afternoon, and that the meeting should have gone off so smoothly and pleasantly is ail the more creditable to the Club. The attendance, for the reason mentioned above, was reduced principally to those who were well provided with top coats, and a sound constitution, and numbered about 500. However, those that did put in an appearance ha l -provided themselves with the sinews of war, and during the afternoon Mr F. N. Jones of Nelson registered LIBO6 in his totalisator, a highly satisfactory afternoon’s work considering that at the last January meeting, which was favoured with fine weather, the total investments were only L 2097. I made brief reference in my notes last week to several of the chief points at the meeting. Owing to the absence of Mr H. R. Woon from Wellington, the secretarial duties were attended to by Mr G. Slater. Mr J. K. Hamilton occupied the judge’s box in the absence of Mr Andrew Young, who had not sufficiently recovered from his recent illness to brave the possibility of getting wet. Mr H. Piper, the well-known starter, very kindly attended to the duties of timekeeper, in the absence of Mr J. King. Considering the soaking the track had received during the early part of the week previous to the meeting, it was in good order [ although a trifle heavy, but, notwithstanding this, fair times were put up. The trotting, apart from Prince Albert’s display, was equal to, if not better than, any we have seen at Miramar Park. This was to be expected when the quality of the horses is taken into consideration. The handicaps had been framed with the yiew

of giving good performers a chance, and the club that favours the limits in the handicaps being kept within reason will always receive the support of owners who MVe good horses, arid ik the long run this will pay aily club. ..The public are ffo't partial to sbeinjl d lot of crdcim iilriibliPg sttoxtiid the tracks, and the sooner owners recognise this fact and weed out their “ old-timers, 55 and get horses more up .to date, the more chance they will have of annexing a stake or two. Now that trotting is an established sport, the limits should be steadily reduced, : s6 as to encourage the better class of trotting horse. After Khanddllah had at last lost his maiden status’, trotting the two miles in 6min 12sec, with the assistance bf J. Taggart-, and payirig tlid Acceptable dividend Of iSS Bs, we were introduced to a really good pony in the Pony Harness Race, in Roseleaf, who is said to be a full sister t 6 Beware, and claims the Sydney horse Vaheliffe as sire: She has good action, and got over the ground in a free, even sort of way, and nearly defeated Beware by the distance. Roseleaf is owned in Palth'erston North, and trained by L. Robertson. Many were surprised to find seven horses gO to the post to do battle against the Christchurch horse Prince Albert, whose reputation had preceded, him: . After the best part of the tw'd iriilbsand a half in the Wellington Trotting Handicap had been - traversed, Rotherham was the only hope of the local division, but although he trotted in good style, 'he was unable to concede Prince. Albert: 18'sec. The time put up by the latter, 7rhin lOsec, was a good performance, considering the course was somewhat heavy. Besides, until WhitefoOt began to show such a. bold front, in the third lap, Kerr did not push Prince Albert; but when he did, he soon forged the son of Perkin Warbeck 11. to the front, and from that out maintained his position, defeating Rotherham by six seconds. There is no doubt that Prince Albert could have put up better time, and I shall expect to see him register a sterling good performance one of these days, particularly on a track like Lancaster Park.

Some complaint was made about the lenient handicap awarded to Prince Albert, but in giving the horse only 38 seconds start in a 50 second limit, the stewards put him as far back as they could r'easdnably do. The horse bad started About ten times previous to May 2nd-, and although he failed to run prominently, the stewards were not going to pitch him into the handicap, neither could they snuff him out of the race simply on the strength of his private reputation. He was an extremely difficult horse to handicap, as the stewards were wejl aware that the horse was better than his performances indicated, still they had to assume that the horse had been doing his best when he started previous to the time they were called upon to handicap him. It is useless trying to hide the fact (which everybody was talking about; that the performance of Prince Albert at Palmerston North on February 28th and at Miramar on May 2nd Were so inconsistent that one can hardly credit it is the same horse.

The necessity for such an amendment to 1 the rules of trotting as that recently added by the Canterbury Metropolitan Trotting Association re “ inconsistent running at previous meeting *' becomes very apparent wheu we come across a case such as this. The Wellington Trotting Association should at once adopt this amendment, and, further, should alter their rule with reference to rehandicapping winners 7 seconds to the mile. This should be left discretionary with the handicappers, and allow them to rehandicap a winner as much as they think proper. If these matters are not attended to before the next trotting meeting of the Wellington Trotting Club, they may find their meeting paralyzed throu s n some “ sleeper ” making his first appearance at Miramar, and going clean through the programme in much the same way as Pncic Albert did. I think the club were extremely lucky in getting so many horses to the post in each of the races in which Prince Albert was engaged, but by their appearance they assisted the club out of a serious difficulty, as the public consistently backed Prince Albert, and consequently the 1 money was doubled each time on the totalisator, and the club got the benefit of it. But it may not always wind pp so happily. Miro added another Selling Race to his previous victories in these races, and was sold cheap enough to Mr T. Bryant, of Johnsunville, for Ll2 10s. The Miramar Harness Trot, of two miles, was a good set to between J. H. and Prince Albert, who had been penalised 11 seconds, thus receiving 15 seconds from J.H., but just when the latter was beginning to make up his ground, and looked like catching Prince Albert, he broke up. He got to work quickly again, but broke at the bottom of the straight when things were getting interesting for the , Christchurch horse and the partisans of the latter were shouting out to Kerr that J.H. was close behind. The win of J.H. would have been popular, apart from the fact of Prince Albert being less than an even money chance. But Mr Bryant’s horse has such a bold style of travelling that he has become quite a favourite with those who attend tbe Miramar meetings. The horse was certainly given a chance in the handicaps this time, but Mr Bryant was once more disappointed. Old Jenny trotted as well as I have seen her before, but cheerful “Dick” Henry was smiling good-naturedly just the same as if he had won. “ Dick ” is one of the most cheerful fellows I have ever met, and win or lose he always appears to be the most contented man in the world. At Palmerston North, when Three Cheers just defeated his mare Jenny, whom he was driving, he was the first to congratulate Edwards, the driver of Three Cheers. The Pony Saddle Trot was not particularly exciting, as Trio, got going smartly, and, losing no time, she defeated Billy Buttons by nearly eight lengths. Billy is a wonderful bit of stuff, and it is surprising the way he carries J. Taggart, who must scale all list 71b, which is a big handicap for a pony, but Taggart and J. Wright are about the only two men I know that can get Billy to trot in anything like his best form. The dividend

paid out on Trio was fit- itisj tfc largest dividend at the meeting. , When nine horses, went out on the track to contest the Electric Handicap of one mile against Prince Albert, who was penalised seven seconds,, making his handicap nine seconds jtroiU. the sefatoh horse Nea, many looked upon the r race ( .as a iorlbrff hops for the id tie.' Alleged shrewd judges, calculated that J.H., who had to give' three seconds start to Prince Albert, VvCfikl just about win; It was one of the best races of the' meeting... The horses started from the opposite side Or the course from the saddling paddock, and they were pretty well clustered together passing the judge’s box the first time, with l/rince Albert, Jumbo, Vermont, Wee Ben arid _ Clyde in the front division. As they werit.aldiig ttici back Rrifjce Albert forged ahead slightly, although YevriidUt ftapl J.-H. were trotting in rare style a few length's away from the inviricible Christchurch horse. Coming irito the straight Vermont and J.H. | miked their gait, arid although , J.H. got going again quickly, lie suffered defeat by a length, Alohdhgh, Priiice Albert hMd something in liand. Vermont was a neck away, third. His trotting in this event was in marked contrast to that which he displayed in the Selling Trot. His performance in the latter event is excused because he had an inexperienced horseman up, and J. Wright was riding him in the race under notice. I canrioi see How the stewards could have recognised the great discrepancy in the two performances had the horse won. It wbltld be hardly fair to the public to ask them to take this explanation, although perfectly true. If a man chooses to pul up an indifferent horseman in one race and be practically distariced, I don't think the public would starld the same horse running away with the next race, even though he may Have the assistance of a first-class horseman. When Prince Albert returned L 3 18s dividend, those who thought it too great a task to ask him to win the third event in the one afternoon were rather taken aback, but he won all right, thus performing the “ hat trick.' 5 There was only one protest lodged during the day. This was against Prince Albert in the Wellington Trotting Club Handicap, for “ going before his time and not coming back when caLled.” The Stewards were not long in deciding this, as it was patent to everyone that Kerr did take the horse back when ordered to do so, and in doing so lost at least four seconds.;, in fact Whitefcot, who had to give Prince Albert twp secoi ds, left the mark before Prince Albert turned £Hmd. W. Kerr is an experienced man in the trotting world and should have set a better example to the other riders. The trotting rules provide for riders or drivers being fined for leaving the mark before their time, and this rule should have been enforced, and I think it would have been, only the starter explained that Kerr brought his horse back immediately he was ordered to c o so.

EGMONT STEEPLECHASE MEETING. The Hawcra sports were somewhat unfortunate in having A mo'nr rig dn the day Selected fbr their Winter Meeting, which iriust have seriously affected the attendance. The alleged depression ” was not a feature of the meeting, as the sum of L 2215 was put through the totalisator during the day, being an increase of L 123 as compared with last year's total. Where racing clubs sell the “ privileges," such as the gates, &c., they are in consequence more concerned about the totalisator receipts. Winter racing, especially the cross country events, does not end satisfactorily for handicapping purposes as a rule, but. the Hurdle Race and the flat races appear to have been interesting. Good fields contested the various races, aud it is pleasing to note, considering the number of falls in the steeple events, that there were no accidents of a serious nature. Alf Lynch, who was riding old Raven, again injured that unlucky shoulder of his, and E. Williams, the rider of Merman 11., also injured his shoulder. As usual the Egmont Club licensed the bookmakers on the course, five pencillers paying the fee of five pounds. The owner of Natatorial was fined -£5 for late scratching in the Hurdle Race. In the Hurdle Race Langley the Devil, 9st 51b, repeated his Hutt victory of the first day, but owing to the course being heavy it took Mr Boyd’s horse 4min 21 2-ssec to gallop the two miles and a distance. Narrate, 9st 91b, showed improved form, while the Wellington steeplechase favourite, Belle, 9st 101 b, only succeeded in getting third. Conscript, 10st 91b, who fell with C. Crocker at the Summer meeting, retrieved his reputation by winning the Hack Hurdle race cleverly from the consistent Nugget, list 121 b, with Leander, lOst, the half-brother to Marquis of Tewkesbury third. Tangaroa, lOst 51b, started favourite, but he was so far out of the race that his performance is excused on the strength of the heavy going. The Handicap Trial Steeplechase saw Spreydon, lOst 71b, and Langley the Devil, lOst 71b, and Egmont, lOst lllb make their debut over the big fences. However a “tried one/ 5 Mollyhawk, by Natator, who ran in the nomination of Miss Roberts of Auckland, won very easily Spreydon succeeded in negotiating his fences alright, but Egmont and Langley the Devil fell. Egmont was not remounted, but Langley went in pursuit of the field again, and judging by the way he made up his ground again, it is thought had he stood up he would have been returned the winner. But I am of opinion, the same as I was about Dromedary in the Wellington Steeplechase, that his owner did not deserve to win, as there was only one race in between the Hurdle Race and the Trial Steeplechase, of two miles. Practically the horse was asked to run four miles and a distance. I think Langley did a good turn for his owner by winning the Hurdle Race, without dragging him out about an hour arterwards for a two-mile steeplechase. Some of the horses in New Zealand are raced to death. The First Hack Flat Race, of one mile and a half, ended in a battle royal between Man-o’-War, 7st 81b (the Nelson —Muskerina colt, who was tin-

sbxed ia'sii Widte?)y and Ascot Yale, Bst 51b, £1 though' Starlight iiiid & Say entering the £it'ii£sstt: .fudging 1 ’ by Man-l/-* War’s running, ho iffis" gjofoete’ of the' old bull-dag finish about him, and he fair ISX wore' Ascot Vale down and defeated her by a neck’,The Egmont folk appear to have* fared as badly as we did over their big Steeple-* phrase, although they had a longer run for their tSotley- Roaeuis, 12st 81b, was the only horsb’ to’ dt'om the fences safely, although'it is generally’admitted that when Booties a‘nd' Raven fell at the last jstn p, they had Bo'siius,;.wlfo' was then several lengths away, in difficOMes; Opinions are divided as to whether Raven of Bootle's would have won. It appears Booties struck Raven’s quarters at the second to last jut&’p,- which knocked the “ stuffing ” out of the old b&ttler, but when they came to the last fence Booties' via® just in front of Raven, and the chances afe Rad both stood up Booties would have wbif. However,- “ Jay f ’ Russell, who always appears to be obotifc V>hen & man is wanted in a oalSe of this sort, jumped onto Booties ana rode him' up the straight, and secured second money fof Mr Shove.- Alt Lynch. was not so'lucky, as thxo'ngh'having his shoulder hurt he could not get into tile saddle again quickly. The general wish' was for old Raven to win, and there would have been few more popular wins this season, as bis owner and rider, Alf Lynch,- has had very bad luck through getting hurt so many times from the horse. Austral, the Wellington representative, much to the surprise of every one •vv'bo saw him' get ovef the alleged trappy country at the Hutt, baulked early in the race, and could not b’e induced to get over. Ihe following are the ftistoers of this race :

Lord Vivian (6sc 91b), an undersized bay gelding by Flageolet (by Feve)' did ss turn for D. Knight's stable in the Second Hack Flat race of six furlongs after a good finis'with Man-O’- War, Ssfc 21b, and Tonganui, 6sb 131 b, Mr. Knight purchased Lord Vivian at the Egthofit summer meeting for LSO, and as he has competed ui several races since then, the stable would require to have a few pounds on the Lll 9s dividend to recoup them the first outlay on the horse. The Final Steeplechase of two miles, ended in much the same manner as did the same event when Disturbance won this race, he being the only horse to finish. Egmont, who was with this year’s winner, Rambler, at the last fence, fell at this obstacle, which allowed Mr Mcßae's game old horse to run home an easy winner. Egmont was remduntddarsd obtained second money. The last fence in the steeple'chaseeaurse at Egmont has frequently proved fatal to the chances of several horses, and I think it would be as well to alter the style of the fence in the hope that it may then be negotiated safely. The Final Steeplechase, too, I think, should be run before the last race, as by the time the former race comes bn the light is very bad, and the horses competing are more likely to come down or baulk than get over. The Wanganui Club very wisely made a similar alteration in their programme last year.

Yr. Owner. Winner. Wght. Time. st, lb. m. s. 1887 Mr A. Shearsby Orient ©' 7 48 1888 Mr W. H. Keith Allegro id O' « 3 f 1889 Mr F. Bell Rossiter 9 9 7 18 0 Mr E. McEiwain Auckland 9 7 7 44 1891 Mr H. H. Hvyr Takapu 9 10 7 67 1892 Mr Williamson Shillelagh 10 6 7 9 1893 Mr E. Shove Booties 10 7 7 49 1894 J. J. Russell Union Jack 10 7 7 5 1895 Mr H. Alexander Roscius 12 8 7 21|