NOTES BY RATA.

Otago Witness, Issue 1893, 2 March 1888, Page 22

NOTES BY RATA.

*** The DJ.C. Autumn meeting was undoubtedly a brilliant success, and but for the starting the conduct of the fixture would have been perfect. The starting, however, was certainly very bad in many instances, and it is absolutely impossible for an amateur starter to get his fields away properly at a meeting like that of last week. Starting requires a deal of practice and a thorough knowledge of racing. While talking on the subject with a Northern trainer on Thursday morning he argued the advisability of the obtainment of a professional rider. "A man who cannot ride races cannot start them," he affirmed, and though there is a good deal of reason in this line of argument, it is not quite correct. Doubtless many men could be drafted from the ranks of professional horsemen in the colony who could surpass Mr Driver in point efficiency, but even in accomplished jockeys I have seen some most lamentable failures with the flag, aud I do not believe a good array officer can be equalled as a starter of racehorses. It is an easy matter for me to sit down and criticise Mr Driver's starting adversely; I do so from ocular demonstration, just as does the man whose fancied candidate has been left at the post, minus that man's pecuniary interests. I know what starting is, however, and I also know that writing a sporting article as I am doing now is mere child's play in comparison with an equitable despatch of the fields that faced the D.J.C. starter last week. Mr Driver would be a genius seldom found in either hemisphere, or I am much mistaken, could he set the horses that contested the various eveuts at the Autumn meeting a-spinning evenly with the practice he apparently has had. Still a professional starter employed all over the colony, or in the South Island— or ought it be called the Middle Island ?— would infallibly effect an improvement in the department, and fines would be of cqmparatively rare occurrence. I fancy few professional starters who knew the jockeys well would let them off off as easily as Mr Driver does, heavily as he fines them ; but there, again, the fault is with the D.J.C. starter in respect of the advantages jockeys attempt to obtain. During the three days of the Autumn meeting I watched the performances at the starting post minutely, and I noticed that one or two jockeys with absolute winning orders would set their mounts a-going on the least semblance of the probability of a start. On getting back again they would turn their horses ere they had passed the line, and on the slightest suspicion of movement on either side or from the starter away they would go again. Now jockeys cannot be blamed for this kind of thing provided they can do it, but they ought not to be able to do it ; the starter ought to be competent enough to " twig" the little game and stop it. What would the late Mr M'George have done under similar circumstances? Fined then £10? Not he. A " going into " good enough to make the majority of horsemen quake from the boots to the cap would have been a preliminary to .standing down for a period on repetition of the offence.

*** Though the second and third days' programmes of the Autumn meeting contained nothing of the importance of the Duunedin Cup the racing was of a very excellent description. On Thursday afternoon the Tally-ho Handicap inaugurated proceedings, and it is evident that the local jumpers are considerably in front of those trained elsewhere. At the Ohristchureh Metropolitan meeting the Southern hurdle racers were ruorc than a match for the cream of the Northern horses in the same category; andhere again eachof the three jumping contests fell to a locally -trained nag. In the Tally-ho Bishop rode a fine race on Dunluce. On passing the half mile post the ultimate winner looked fairly out of ife, with Garibaldi and Mac going great guns in the van. Rounding the bend, however, Dunluce gradually closed aud jumped the last hurdle level with Mac, the pair running an apparently good race home, though Duuluce evidently had the bit in hand. This horse is in grand fettle at present, and he is an undoubted stayer-. His double victory was a bit of luck for Q. Smith, and, per contra,

Trapper's running off at the last obstacle on the third afternoon was a great disappointment to J. Poole, who planked his coin on his own horse in each of the three hurdle events. This mishap, too, effected uniformity in the division of stakes, but for Trapper's mistake the three hurdle races would probably have gone to a trio of prominent local jumpers, unless, indeed, Secretary, vrho was carried out by Trapper, had succeeded in getting home in front of Poole's nag. The contretemps, however, enabled Dunluce to score on two occasions, and consequently benefited Smith's stable. It ought also to have a beneficial effect on the hurdle arrangements of the meeting. These could be improved upon greatly, and so long as the obstacles are put up on the inside of tho course mistakes like that of Trapper aud Secretary will be of comparatively common occurrence.

*>* Gipsy King's magnificent performance in the Cup even paled before his meritorious victory in the Dunedin Jockey Club Handicap. Conceding Silverraark and Springston 251b and 241b respectively, he won by a neck with a bit in hand. Silvermark and Springston are both good three-year-olds of the handicap class, and Gipsy King's success in tho D.J.C. Handicap at such weight disadvantages stamps him a racehorse of exceptional calibre, and if his stable companion Maxim be really his superior he would compare favourably with the greatestracers of the present era, and theso arc quite on an equality with the most illustrious of their predecessors. I should like to see a few horses of the Gipsy King and Maxim type sent to England. France and America have severally lowered the English colours iv the most coveted prizes of the British turf, and were colonial sportsmen, with tip-top colonial-bred ones, to get fairly amongst them I fancy it would want the concentrated genius of the English racecourse to save the dignity of the Old Country from palpable descen&ion, especially in an ordinary year — a season when there are no Ormondes, St. Simons, Bend Ors, Robert the Devils, St. Gatiens, Isonomys, or Barcaldines about. Ido not think Gipsy King is the equal of any of these horses, but I feel certain ho is bettor than some Derby winners I have seen, notably Sir Bevys, Sbntover, and St. Blaise ; and lam confident he is as good a horse as Melton was at his age. In Carbine, too, O'Brien has a fair clinker, and one that will develop into a racehorse of the very first class with ordinary luck. Manton will also be an excellent colt ; he has plenty of bone and substance, grand action, and a good contour, and as a three-year-old he will show to greater advantage than ho has done this season, provided he remains sound. "Comparisons are odious" I know on every recognised authority, but in racing matters the proverb is odious. We have nothing here that can look at these Northern horses in point of quality, and the proceedings of the Autumn meeting further evince the singularity of a horse like Le Loup being comparatively restricted to backs in the absence of better patronage. The victory of Gipsy King in the Cup and D.J.C. Handicap ought to be sufficient to counterbalance some of the recent show-ring decisions. * + * Apart from the hurdle racing the local stables were very unsuccessful at the meeting, ■ except Mr Goodman's, and his &uccess may be attributed mainly to judgmentof purchase, training, and placing. In Silvermark and Apropos he has a couple of good horses over particular courses, and he brought them out in the acme of perfection, and netted two or three good races. It it thought that Silvermark ought to have beaten Gipsy King in the D.J.C. Handicap, but I entertain a different opinion. Price certainly ran wide at the turu into the straight, and lost quite half a length, but Gipsy King, though the verdict was but a neck, had something in hand, I fancy ; and in a match I don't thiuk that Silvermark could defeat Gipsy King over a mile and a-half at 2st. This demonstrates the difficulty of handicapping horses properly. Here we have the best three-year-old trained at the Forbury easily beaten bya Christchurch crack at 251b; and considerably more weight than that would be requisite to bring Silvermark and the worst of the Dunedin contingent together, apart from weight for age. Indeed the Forbury-traiued horses are a very indifferent lot, and they ought not to be so, and probably they will not be so a couple of seasons hence.

\* The placing of the hurdles and the construction of the outside totalisator house constitute the only flaws I have byen able to spot in the managerial arrangements of the Autumn meeting. The hurdle racecourse is certainly a bad one in consideration of the obstacles being fixed on the outside of the track, and the outside totalisator house might be greatly improved upon. Speculators cannot get to the window easily, neither can they see the numbers properly, in consequence of the palings in froni. Were these palings removed wholly and constructed after the fashion of those of tho larger machine-house inside facilities for the transaction of business would be augmented. Iv the event of a rush, investors cannot obviate unnecessary crushing in the narrow entrance now in vogue, and under present conditions it is somewhat impossible to see tho numbers correctly from beyond the palings.

*** I have received a copy of the " New Zealand Turf Record " from the compiler (Mr F. G. Whetham). It is one of the best got up turf guides I have seen, and accuracy and facility of reference are prominent features iv its compilation. Apart from the ordinary record of past races it; contains no end of information valuable to every sportsman, including winners of great races in England, Australia, and New Zealand, colours worn by riders, scale at weight-for-age, rules of betting, and other interesting matter. It id clearly printed on good paper, and though its publication is a little late in the season, its value is obvious nevertheless. The volume ought to command a ready sale. Indeed, a requisite patronage of the production of a work of this description would prove of material benefit to the turf. Under existent circumstances, or, at any rate, apart from Mr Whctham's records there is no means of reference to the performances or pedigrees of half tho horses that run at country meetings, and as a matter of consequence they can be " run in " galore under the administration of impartial executives. My opinion on the matter, based on letters received from time to time, is that they are " rung in" occasionally, too.

The D.J.C.'s autumn races were brought to a close on Saturday, after one of the most eujoj'able meetings yet held by the club, remarkable for the manner in which the winners were "spotted" iv the totali.-ator. The s-ura put through the machines this year, £29,694, is nearly £700 above that of the previous year, but is considerably short of 1880, wheu the amount was £34,313. The disqualification of Alex. Mackay for malpractice at the Win ton meeting nine months ago has been removed, and endorsed by the Dunedin Jockc-yClub. The Committee of the D.J.C. at a meeting voted £21 for the family of Jeffrey, who was killed on tho railway on Saturday. At a meeting of the Waimate County Harrier Clab on Saturday last Messrs M. C. Studholme, W.

H. Beckett, R. H. Rhodes, Pelham Jones, G. P. Lovegrove, J.C. Thierens, and W. C. Smith were appointed a committee to conduct the affairs of the club' for the ensuing year. Mr Thierens was appointed honorary master of the hounds. Funds to the extent of £151 11s 3d were promised in support of the club, and some lists were still ro come in. The hounds will go into the kennels about the middle of March, and the first run will take place about the beginning of April. Under the new regime hunting in the Waimate district should koep up to its old form. The Hon. G. M'Leau has sold his horse St. Ives to Mr D. O'Brien.

First Lord has been purchased from Mr Lyons by Mr J. Dooley, of Waimate, for £130.

Very good entries have been received for tho first races of the Gore District Jockey Club, the Cup attracting nine, the Waiouea Plains Handicap ten, and the Trot and Mandeville Plate eight each. The nominations for the Cup are : Clinkerina, Clogs, Streamlet, Duuluce, Mazurka, Victory, Camerine, Aparima, Wardrobe. At the Resident Magistrate's Court, Hamilton, the South Auckland Jockey Club sued Adams for £29 15s for entries, and Adams and Perry for £38 14s, totalisator claims. In each case a verdict was given for plaintiff) with coots, £11 4s. Adams says he was instructed by the South Auckland Racing Club to collect eutries in Auckland and forward them to the secretary, which he did. The whole of the entry fees were not paid to him, and he instructed tbe olub to that effect. They, however, considered he was responsible for the amounts due by owners, and they proceeded to recover the money by law, with success. Mr Adams will now have to take proceedings against the owners in question.