TURF TOPICS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 3678, 2 March 1899, Page 3

TURF TOPICS.

Rubin, who has been running ve y consistently lately, had no difficulty ji; winning the Racing Club Handicap ;-■-* the Manawatu Meeting, but there war- a great battle for second place. Bush Res •. Donneraile and Castashore being all 1 < - gether at the finish. Bush Rose carry his 9st into second place like a trade - man; he is apparently a sterling got I horse. Castashore had to put up a i. ; pounds penalty for his Taranaki Cup v ; , an d ran very well in the circumstance . Rubin repeated his success on the secoi t day, when he annexed th© Autumn Handicap, of a mile andl a quarter from D p - rieraile, the Napier mare, Primula, ben * third.. Doubles were the order of tj j meeting, Aquatic, Splinter and Marw - lous each winning two events, win ? Pokoraoko took three-yboth Hurd s Races and the High-weight Handies' . In the last-named event Keith s her:; was called on to make a desperate firm* , and just got home by a neck from It re Blood. ,* . * * *

Douglas was taken down to Palmerst*: u for the big handicap on the first day, bt- • as the going was hard his owner deemt i it inadvisable to start’ him. Oinga, vl * is in the same stable, accounted for it l opening event, the Flying Handicap, * t very easy fashion, the local horse O; ■ borne being runner-up. . Osborne secure I the last race at the meeting, the Farewe Handicap, paying over £5. The start if-’ this race was a bad one, Marina gettiu : left at the post. Osborne got the bet . of the send-off and won all the way.

Marvellous, winner of the two Hat-/ Races at Palmerston, is by Foulshot cu of Flirt. The Hutt horse Rata was we ! fancied for both events, but failed to tut up to expectations. Southerly Buster, a son of Sou’-wcster, was a strong orck', but could not do better than place hi in ■ self on both occasions. The Miller shou *; have been beaten by Jadoo in the Borough Handicap, the son of Armanentgo - ting home by a neck. Tortulla was a torr”. tip and .started favourite, but she was .apparently not herself. Fleka had- a ra>". chance of scoring in the Electric Hand cap, getting a few lengths’ lead at tho start, but when Aquatic, (Natatof —Cor;sandel caught the colt it was all over, an 1 she won by three lengths. ' #

'■Kp principal winners at the Manawai rnootirio' wereL. ’ Fitzmaurice, £335 : P. Keith, £170; "VV. Homes, £l3O ; O; P. Donnelly, £SO; R. H. Brown, £o<’. and W. Lemon, R. Platt, A. Shears? and J. Taylor, £2O each. The club mad*, a profit of about £2OO over the meeting.

The most successful rider at the Pa'msrston meeting was C. Jenkins, who won two races on Rubin, two oh'Marve - lous and one on Aquatic. Alic Hall rod;: Pokonioko in his three races, and Hirgins was up on Splinter in both hurd e races which he won. ». » *

Sabreur fell at the second fence in th Hurdles on the first day at the Palme ston gathering, bub his jockey, Higgins escaped without iniury. * ■■■ '' ' “ ■■

There were turonty-one horses left lithe Canterbury Trotting Club’s. Juveni r Stakes (for two-year-olds) after the thr payment. . Mr Buckland, of Sydnc.,. has two engaged, both by Vanclere. *’ 'I- * ♦

As I-anticipated, Allair/won,tho M o summer Handicap at Christchurch, put ■ ting down the local- horse, Boreas, by a length and a half. Mr Stead’s horse wr-s a )iot favourite for the St. Albans Hanoi cap on the second day, but failed to gel place-under 9st 31b, the..winner..turniiy; up in Pitch and Toss, who-has been ra*. ing wretchedly latterly. The winner jv*;:■•' closely pursued by Qoldleaf, who,, he I ■■ ever, could not get within half a len/T of Pitch and Toss,, who paid over £l° Blazer ran well in both his races, roi ning tiecond ...to ’ tho 'lightly -weighlo'' Cherrystone in .the. Craven Plato, aoi; winning the Champion'Stakes, a seven furlong race. St. Clair’s son is a real ■ smart horse, and it is a pity that he v / so w-ell looked after by the, V-R.C ; hand' canper for the Newmarket Handicap, ir which ’ event he _ would probably , have made a good showing.

Black and Red and Skirmisher, whhave not been in winning form for son j time,’ both scored at the C.J.C. Meeting. The first-named was well-fancied for Jit. race, albeit Motto was strongly backe •• but ran most disappointingly. Her stab -c mate, Courtier, bv St. tion b was successful .in the Richmoi!, I Plate, but Benzoin, the English-fired co k failed to make any impression on his fic l in the Champion Plate. ,

The entrants for the Greymouth Mv tropolitan Stakes are :.—Haria, Epaulci Speculation,, Paladin. Surrey, Sequin and Swordfish. Pokoraoko has been nominated for the Hurdles.

.The Hon W. A. Long’s fancied hone Beachcombers - (Lochiol —-Seaweed); an . Hopscotch (Grand Flaneur—Terra-«• suffered defeat-at "Warwick Farm befo" the last mail left. Beachcomber start eat 5 to 4’ in-.tlie Pace Welter. (9st, 71b). r* which there were 21 starters, but fail o ’ to-get a plaqe. Even .money and sto ■' on was ’ The betting about Hopscot ch (list) for the Stewards’ Mile, in wlrc’i 16 were engaged, the minimum weigh' being. 7st 71b, but he faned to get first second or third.. -Mishap, the winner, i s a daughter of the Musket horse Enfilade The Hon. Mr Long won a race with the wcll-brecl Gentle Hermit (Bill of Po- 1 land—Solitude), and Mr "VY. P. Crick secured! ■ a double with oadur and CoQueen, the last-named being a daughto of Lochiol.

The New Zealand-bred Lady Margar**' Botreaux, taken- across to Australia I*’ Mr Huneerford; was beaten in hor.frs--1 race, at, Mentone, running second to Detonator in a five-furlong run.

A fair share of Tattersall’s sweep mn nov comes to New Zealand. Mr J. Kennedy, of Kurow, is announced as havin' drawn the first prize, £1225, in theLaun ceston Cup consultation.

From Melbourne comes -the announce mep.t of the death of John Evans, r leading jockey of the sixties. He was ' crack both on the flat and over hurdles and owned Firetail. who won the Y.KJ Grand National Steeplechase over Si> years

An owner of a valuable string of rac *■ horses, having to njako a prolonged business journey!! left thoir management ir tb o hands of a ; friend- Th c - latter w:■ * one day speaking to the trainer, who after some general remarks concerni)'tho team, said. “Ah, it was cruel luck the bay colt going wrong just before the Derby. He’rl have given it a shake -sure . as; you’re sitting on that chair/ “Haw. well, these things will happen.” replied the owner’s deputy, “but lot’r hope we’ll be able to get him all right for next year’s Derby 1 ”

* * * . .. , Flyin’g Fox still continues favourite for the English Derby, St. Gris beiny next in demand. ' ' ■ 1 ■;■* ; » , * » •

The holding of an intercolonial confc - once of racing men to discuss varir.ur matters connected with the Australian turf is being advocated by the Melbourne writer. /‘Javelin.” who avers that racin' ■legislation in the colonics has become too parocuial in character, and an inter change of ideas might lead to the prov mulgation of some'” measures conducive to tiio improvement of the Australier turf as a .whole. There are assnredlv some reforms, he savs, both feasible, am' possible, which might be brought into beneficial operation, towards the ado;*-

lion of * which no single colony has yet wade any movement. Two mutters which naturally ■uiemselvtes as being worthy of consideration are the advisability of adopting a close season for stocplechasinrj and the best means of raising the standard of Ausralian jockeyship. Neither has yet received, at the a of any colonial racing committee, the attention which is imperatively demanded in the interests of the Australian turf. In the practice of all the year round stocplcehasing the best interests cf genuine sport have been sacrificed to loss worthy considerations ; and it is high time that some steps should be taken to effect a more marked distinoion that exists at present between the steeplechase course and the slaughter yard. Concerning the other matters referred to, common humanity demand: searching Inquiry into the causes which have besmirched Australia with an unenviable reputation for killing a greater proportion of jockeys' than jany other country under the sun.

At the last Albany (W-A.) meeting Mv Towton won four,out "of the five raee programmed, and ail the horses were sired by Neckersgat.

There was a humorous decision giver, at the little Alfredton meeting over the big race there. The rider of the thin horse protested against the winner Joi jostling. This was upheld by the stewards, who, however, ordained .that the winner should retain the stake.; _ By way of punishment they fined his rider £2, the alternative in event of non-pay-ment being disqualification for life. 1

Instances of race flukes are very plentiful,, and in recalling a few “Milroy’ says there was never a mere remarkable one than when Viscount heat Chester at level weights when they were two years old, 22 years ago. Viscount was but a moderate handicap • horse, whose merits in second-class handicaps were generally assessed at nearer 7st than Bst, while Chester was one of the greatest racehorses known in Australian turf history That Charge beat Coil in the Derby-is known well enough to the racegoer 'os to-day, but no doubt many, have forgotten that Coriolanus, beat thai king among stayers, Commotion, throe miles. Such a performance could bo understood if Qoriolanus had turned out a good horse, but he did not, though he did win the Tattersall’s Cup with 7si 101 b up', a' race that Commotion co.ulfi have won; with ■ lOst. That a horse can concede much weight but little distance in a race is an old turf truism which was never better illustrated than on the day Wycombe* beat two such performers as Abercorn and the Australian Peer three miles ’at Randwick; nor are Dreadnought’s backers likely to forget when he tided to give Novice a good start from the distance in the Epsom Handicap ten years ago. It would take a very smart man to have hand! sapped Abercorn ah J Wycombe together, or to l ave brought back Dreadnought to Novice with weighty Flukes will happen on the best regulated courses. ' ■:

•'Owners 'have -given the new club, the Horowhenua, an encouraging start, the nominations received being highly satisfactory,; the least number in any- event being nine, and that is for the big moneyTho Handican Hurdles—usually a sraad- , event —has filled splendidly, seven teen having been nominated.

Tho greatest evil of the time, according -to• an American .authority, is thai horses ■ are overrated.i Reviewing the racing on the Eastern turf for the past year, he says that there are some animals "which seem to thrive with freqent ricing. He is aware (hat training has beer revolutionised of late years, trainers finding it more profitable to keep their horses in condition by public racing, and less, work; -in ■ private.'. Nevertheless, tor., amount of : racing a horse-does now.a'datf,, is enormous, and must impair his poweps It accounts for much of tho “ in and, ou/ racing. Ho 'is raced until he is sta_e. then he is rested. With the rest he “fidf up,” -sand when next he starts ,he is. short of work and is beaten. But a race or two does him good—-it puts him “cm edge — a!l d when be- starts again anc wins it is called a “ reversal of form.” But the constant racing with brief inter-, vals of rest renders his utter collapse only a question of two, or at most three, seasons,unless, indeed, he is one of the lower order of horses -that; cannot, race fast enough to injure themselves. The outcome is; that in -America they have fewer four sind five-year-old horses of the ter class than they formerly had., Om way to remedy the evil is to make Lie leading ' stake events sufficiently valu■ablo •to induce owners to reserve their liorses for them. Even that would only bo a ■■partial remedy, sis many owners “ like to see their horses start,”... as they phrase it, and are content to race often for races of moderate value, so. long as they can have the added pleasure of “having a; bet ’on.’ jtf they had less racing they would have better horses, and better racing/but the public demand for amusement is too great to permit a reduction of tho racing.• At all events the excessive racing produced last year a state of affairs so startling-that many were slow to realise it. ; lie alluded to the fact that the four and, five-year-old horss were.so jaded from the effects of over-racing in previous years that the three-year-old colts could give away theii year 'in weight and heat them.

A' regular palace has been built fo: the champion Galtee More, purchased by the Russian. Go vernment some time ajro The various apartments in it are hardly what one would call by such common-, place terms as boxes or .-stables. ■ The-e Is a spaciuos courtyard with covering, only to keep,out snow and rain, hut fred access for the air, and at ono end is a gallery with tiers of seats, where .it ift the fashion for the privileged of ooph sexes to congregate and watch the famous . hotsa at exercise. , ;

The old and stupid mistake is once ! more making its appearance in print that. I the famous sportsman, Lord Falmouth., ! never made a bet. This is entirely ; j wrong. When he commenced racing I Falmouth used, to bet pretty, i heavily. One day after racing he was i going home with some friends when one ' of them asked him, “How have you done i to-day?” “I am quits,” replied juord I Falmouth triumphantly;. “ You seem I pleased at that,” was the rejoinder, “but ! if that is all you want, you were that at • tho start.” This so impressed Lord Fnli mouth that *he renounced betting then i and there, and only once more had a I waver, the famous sixpence with the wife ; of his trainer, which he paid in a brooch 1 —a sixpence set round with diamonds. » It * * . * *

Juvenile form in South. Australia seems to ho pretty mixed this season. Every two-year-old race run has been won by a different youngster.

I One of Hie things that will be expected ! is the alteration of the 1 promises now occu- : pied by C. Smith, tho Cash Draper, of i Cuba street. This is positively necessary i in order that the clothing business can he I carried on in the upper portion of..the ] building during the rebuilding of. the new I shops. To prevent goods being spoilt by j dust I shall sell, and to sell I know I must 1 make some special inducement to buyers, i I nm now holding a clearance sale for a. i few days. New, clean poods in every de--1 rmrtment will be‘sold, and I shall include i tho balance that has been left over from 1 the salvage .sale. To those who. are fur j nisbing [ would reepmmend-an inspection 1 of linoleums and floorcloths. Beautiful designs, grand quality, at, about holri price. . -t.'S j “If yon get the best of whisky, it will ■ never get the best 'of von.” A. and B. Mackay's liqueur is the. best. "65