SPORTING NOTES FROM VICTORIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 1854, 3 June 1887, Page 23

SPORTING NOTES FROM VICTORIA.

(By Oue Special Melboubnb Spobting cobbespondent "olympus.")

■ Melbouenb, May 17. THE TURF. ,

The weather has been rather wintryfied of late and what with that and the fact that the New Zealand boat is leaving a trifle earlier than usual this week [It apparently left too early for our correspondent, as his letter came to hand a week late. — Ed.],- I must claim the indulgence lof my readers till next week. We had a raoe meeting at Mordialloc last Thursday, held on' Mr A. F. Bradshaw's private course,, Richfield. Mr Bradshaw is an old identity on the sporting press,) and his brother scribes left no stone unturned to make the affair a success ; but the following account given of it by "Augur" proves that the sports who failed to put in an appearance displayed the better part of valour. My fat friend remarks :■— " It was unfortunate for Mr Bradshaw, as well as those who attended the .Richfield meeting, that the elements were not favourable to outdoor sport on Thursday. A number of people went down to Mordialloc by the ordinary as well as the special train, and when the first detachment arrived the cabmen modestly demanded 7s, 6d to take each passenger to the course. If they'll charge this to take us there, what will the return fare |be P communed the visitors, and many of them, not caring to face the rain, as well as a prospect of having to walk back, wisely returned to' town. When the special train arrived the rain was ■coming down as if it meant business, and as the vehicles were not nearly sufficient to carry the crowd, a goodly number, went over to the two j hotels, enjoyed a capital luncheon, and came back to' Melbourne. They we're lucky, for those who did go to Richfield had a most miserable time. The road, which is good enough in summer, was in a very bad state, and when Richfield was reached it was discovered that the arrangements were of a most primitive character, the only shelter being the tents. All would have, been well but for the rain, which seemed determined to' spoil sport, and by the time the bell — a badly cracked one — summoned the jockeys for the first race the enclosure had been converted into a quagmire,. tKe mud being more than ankle-deep. Backers had a long way the best of the bout.with the layers, 'for every favourite was successful, though the public seemed to think that Crown Brand beat Agartha in the Mordialloc Handicap, for, when Mr, Wakley gave his decision, they treated' him to a demonstration 'of a negative character. Messrs W. Leonard, H. Smith, and S. Miller, as stewards, did their utmost to make, things go smoothly and get the races off at the appointed time, and fined Mr Bradshaw £5 three-times for late scratchings or some other shortcoming. The return journey will long be remembered by those who had to undertake it. The cabmen imposed a charge of half-a-sovereign, and as their vehicles were overcrowded; 1 there were many stopages by the way, some of the visitors ; at last ■ being compelled to walk back to the . Mordialloc station." ,

We had another outing at Moonee Valley on Saturday, but although there was a very fair muster, the cold wet weather was an effectual damper on the sport; albeit the fates were exceedingly propitious to the punters, the favourites running up to expectations in every instance. •Young Tom Watson officiated as starter, and he •found it necessary to mulct Morrison, Carey, and O'Connor £10 each in the West Bourke Handicap, and Williamson and St. Bacchus £5 each in the May Handicap, for disobedience at the post. ■There is a growing feeling that these fines are

being. injipted, too^^indiscriminately , altogether, , that their extreme severity, prevents, the desired ; .end 'being, attained,' and ; that, like Macbeth'^ .vaulting , ambition, they, '' o'erleap/, themselves, and,' fafl on pother, side.", tThe, lads; who, are , anxious to get well away are not the prime factqrs L .m.messing the starter abdui' , It's , the, youthful, warridrs.'.'who are, moving, in aimysteriousway spmewonder^to perform, and with that objecti in view ; are" causing tlieir, 'steeds to bow ; their , .crested, heads, and tamo their hearts of fir,e.'i But' these' generally .escape ;.?cathless} {.some . young, kinchin, ,pyer-anxious ,to^ 'tecome a . Tom Hales,' &';Tei P^dwer^a Mick n O'Brien,* or an; , Alec .Robertson,^, being dropped,, on', and made a Fearful Example 6i; simply because ,He adhered ', too "closely, T »to , the game, of *?P°X, W i^ef- No doubt 'ijhere, are, cases. where t^he lad's instructions; are : " Get^well , .away ;. ( never t mind. the' starter,'', but t4fin,,the , meni;6rß pay, the piper,; and^nqtjnjuch' Qarm is ,A? n . e s ,tF&**ks§ffi>%f?. wureisKo'w'eyer, and^ner,es t alt of the present system pi penaUsing is that numbers r of .young, ;^ell-conducted,, prbmising lads^re .driven ouij' of .the profession, through having, incurred the,,.animus,qf the; starter, and .discovering that in Victoria tp.be once a 'martyr is to be always a'martyri ; , ■. J „ - iMr.C. L. Macdonald'^colt Success (by Emulation) has preyed,. < himself a pretty slippery, fellow , once or twice, and after .winning :a selling^ race .at Caulfield on Saturday x he ,was bought, by the: Indian buyer, Mr E. , Weeks, for £140, the club benefiting to the, tune , of £110 by the deal, tbelieve his destination is to be the same as Myall King's— the land of the i .Rajahs., .Somebody is bargaining for Hexham, with the same object in view; but Mr White's price — £500 — has stopped business at, present. All sorts of rumors were afloat that Isonomy intended paying a visit to India; but it is now authoritatively, statedthat heis as .sound as,a bell and a probable .starter for the next Melbourne Cup.- : „ ; . • , Rumour has been busy of late with an animal who acquired some' distinction- in Queensland overuhe small sticks.- His name is Friction, and, if one were to believe all he was told,' he must be as fast as the wind and as clever as a cat. There was terriblcanxiety displayed • amongst some ■ Victorian dwnersto purchase him, but eventually he went into Sam Martin's possession for £500. He is undoubtedly a godd looking animal, and may probably prove successful over Flemington, but with a vivid remembrance' of Inglesides and The Drummer still floating through my brain I would prefer biding .a wee ere I ventured a'prediction either one. way or the other. Not so, however, some _ of my brother scribes, /who directed attention to his really excellent performances, and augured therefrom a rdil good 1 time for the chestnut even at the headquarters . of the exponents of the illegitimate game. ' This gave umbrage to Mr Martin,' and on Saturday week' he is credited: with' having threatened to 'J smash; the face" of "Vigilant" (of the Sportsman). As a matter of fact, I think' Mr M. is a trifle too far gone into the sere and yellow leaf to successfully undertake such a job ; but, whether or no, it-is a pretty time of da|y, ofs a verity, when such chastisement as "smashing his face in.", is threatened 'to a" sporting writer for simply publishing his honest convictions ! And while on this subject I can tell you a very good yarn anent a New Zealand sporting writer, who sojourned with us iri Victoria some few years ago for a brief period. Taking him • all-round, he wasn't a bad fellow by half; but although he was wont to gush in the organ ott which he was engaged about his " early worm " business, and " brushing with hasty steps the dew away," a strict adherence to truth compels me t'o,state that his bump of early rising was a very big hole indeed. However, as I have"' said before; he \ wasn't a bad sort, and as there wasn't a newspaper man on the ground would withhold anything from him, he used to get along pretty well, considering. I' shall never forget one morning he and I dropped into Bob Mitchell's Racecourse Hotel to sweeten our bilgewater on thje road home from the training track, and on entering the sanctum sanctorum, we discovered a 1 lot of sports congregated, foremost amongst whom was ] the Old Terror of the Training Track. Whilst finishing our whisky my friend remarked, " Let's see, old fellow ; so-and-so and so-and-so worked together this'morning, did they not ? • I faucied I caught .sight of them finishing up as I' came over the hill." ". Oh, no," was my reply, " the first named simply cantered twice round by himself, and the other hasn't worked yet." "Ah!" exclaimed the Old Terror, and everyone present had his ears pricked immediately, " that shows the nice sort of stuff that's put into -the papers at times. That's the kind of in formation the poor public get dished up for 'em." Immediately, quick and dicisive, came a reply from my comrade— all the' m'drebitingly sar-. castic because of its' truth— "Well, 1 sir, you at least have little to complain of on that score. It doesen't matter to you much what sort oi stuff, appears in the papers, seeing that you cannot read them;"' There was no talk of "smashing, faces" on that .occasion. I fancy he would have met with a bit of bad luck had he tried it on.