NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLI, Issue 9258, 27 January 1916, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS

Owing to heavy rain, the opening day of tho Takapuna K.C.'a summer meeting did not eventuate yesterday- Tfeo events will be run oil to-day, providing the weather behaves itself. It appears that First Glance s accident in the 'Wellington Pacing Club Handicap was brought about by the mare crossing her feet- ■ The Australian horso Eurohin has ivoa the last six races he has contested. Joseph Levy, an old-established Melbourne bookmaker, died last week.. There are 109 horses entered for the Newmarket Handicap. Last year 99 were nominated. The Sydney bookmaker, Walter Kelly, has had .a losing experience. Kelly resides at Mosman’a Hay, and his residence was stuck up a fortnight -ago by three burglars, who got away with .£570 in cash. Only a fortnight ago another bookmaker reported losing a large sum in. gold. from his motor-car. The Australian. fielders seem to have plenty of cash. Apparently they are not partial to lodging it with the banks or in a safe deposit. Where it would be secure. So far, nothing more has been heard of the trouble with the bookmakers over betting at unregistered tracks. The general opinion is that there will not be any, os tho. men interested will stick to the unregistered meetings, which undoubtedly are attractive to tho Sydney public. That is not to be wondered at, as they are situated almost within the city boundary, and cost nothing to get to. ■ Not 1 one of the eleven horses starting i'n the Wairio Steeplechase on Wednesday last negotiated the course without making., a mistake, and of those who came down, all hut two fell at the brush fences. The hig sod wall, with a ditch on the take-off side, was jumped splendidly by alj, again showing that it is not the biggest fences 'which are the most dangerous. The good fields at the Wairio meeting last week caused-, all the available riders to be fully engaged. Thus no riders could be found for Varanian in tho Cup and Pitzosborne in the Welter Handicap. After the running of the Aparima Steeplechase at Wairio. one of ’-he club’s patrols reported that Captain French andy Pakakura,' who finished first and third respectively, had missed fences, and they were distanced, the race being awarded to Oaseshot, with St. Pedro and Lvvena second and third. The. owner of Captain French protested against the stakes being awarded to Caseshot, and after the judicial committee had heard their witness, called by the owner of the former, and tho starter, who was with the patrol steward, and a rider in tho race, the protest was dismissed. Believing the objection to have' been lodged in good faith, the committee ordered the refund of the deposit. Mr Campbell, the owner of Captain French, has now appealed to the .Dunedin district committee against tho Wairio ' stewards’ decision.

The Eicoartou rider, G. Clarke, had a number of unpleasant experiences on his trip to this city. When Mr Greenwood's team wa s being shipped ‘from Lyttelton Clarke met trouble on the wharf whereby a foot was injured; then he had a spill at Trentham during work, and later on Week End shed lum in the birdcage. It is understood p. small bone in Clarke’s foot has been broken, and: that ho will be but of the saddle for some time. In commenting on the deportation from England of Tod Sloan and Mile. d’Herlys, the London ■‘Sporting Life” says that, though it was understood no charge was formulated against the de-portees—-that being unnecessary under the Defence: of the Healm Act —tho immediate cause for the issue of the deportation, orders was the allegation that Sloan and the young French actress had beon connected with the running of a house in West End at which, gaming had been taking place, and. which was frequented by young Army officers. To a'press representative who , asked whether ho had any statement to make regarding the circumstances of his .depart, ture, Sloan said: ‘‘Well, you’ll hear that all right, but not now. I shall talk when I get to America, because I can talk more freely there, and you’ll get plenty of 'copy’ then, I promise you.” As tho American, papers. can ho relied on to make the most of theni, Sloan’s statements are likely to make: interesting reading. The American Embassy in London made no objection to Sloan's deportation.’

Heeltap, who was among the winners at Trentham on Saturday, is a fivo-year-old by Achilles, bus "dam being a mare by King Cole—Zealandia, by Ma-■roro—Tof-boi, by St. Aubyn—Waimea, so that he traces to a well-known old family. The Zealandia mare, as she is described in the Stud Book, had several foals, one of them being Merrio Zealand (by Merrio England), who was a useful performer in the Dominion and also in Australia.

Last month the Epsom (England) Grandstand Association, which has a lease of tho Epsom racecourse .for 106 years at an annual rental of A33of, in addition to originally paying a premium of .£25,000 for tho lease, applied to have the question of rent referred to an arbitrator. This was on the score that the restriction of racing to Newmarket reduced the Epsom fixtures by four days. Mr Justice Sorutton in the first place refused to stay an action for rent or refer the action 'to an arbitrator, and Lord Justice Pickford subsequently declined to grant tho association leave to appeal against that decision.

A good story is told concerning a horse Which won at Trentham and returned more than twenty' to one to her backers. The owner is said to have been averse to starting the horse on the day, but the trainer was convinced that all was well and ho stuck out for a gallop for her. The owner agreed on the conditions that the trainer paid the fees, guaranteeing a totalisator ticket for every pound paid in expenses if the race were won. As often happens in wildcat arrangements of this nature the horse did win, and the owner had to part up more than half the stake (which was a largo one) to get clear of his obligation to the trainer. At a country race meeting in the north the last rider to arrive homo in the hack race was Te Pone, says an exchange. In response to a tremendous ovation he pulled up and took the crowd into his confidence : "I can’t help it te laugh.” ho said, “I saddle up te wrong,, horse.” ,

Says a writer in tile "Bulletin”: liter gets it in the neck sometimes, for instance t I went out to Rnndwick for a ■flutter on Yew Year’s Day, anil the first race saw me with a shilling. I decided to risk the lot. 10 to 1 Entertainer. Result, 11s. Whereupon I put

the odd bob in my pocket, and invested 10s on The Mogul at 8. Return. £4 10s. The odd 10s having been put down south, Merrimeo was my next choice at 7 to 2. That AT returned .£lB, and .£l4 went on The BCHnno Hunter for the Cup. McNoses expressed great pleasure when he handed me .£ll2 over this 7 to 1 chance. I had almost decided to button up, but Vauntness for the Nurserv seemed to be asking’ someone to back her at, 8 to 1 so after £l4 had settled on top of what was in tho refrigerator, on went .£9B, and Ikey passed out -ESB2. Placing £9B in safety, I let Grail carry .£7Bl in the Welter, and Israel yielded up ,£3824. Balance-sheet shows a return from one shilling of i £8740 IDs, after having played safe on every race except the first. But, of course, you have to take Ikey tho right way to do this regularly.