AUSTRALIAN

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

AUSTRALIAN

A Melbourne telegram states that after the acceptances for the V.K.O. Autumn meeting were posted bettiug was more spirited, and Spade Guinea was backed for the Newmarket Haudicap to win £5000 at 100 to 3 For the Australian Cup Moorhonse is quoted at 100 to 15. Trenton and Dunlop were among the nonaccepters for the Cup.

(Sportsman.;

The open way in which horses are stopped by their riders in almost every race which is now run certainly speaks ill for turf morality, and men who, in business, or in other matters, act most .honourably, seem to be no exception to the general rule in running their horses. Of course there are men on the turf whoso horses always try, but they are. few in number, nud each year sees this number lessen, as they find it a hopeless and most unprofitable game to continue racing straightly, while all around them take every opportunity to throw dust in the eyes of the handicapper. It cannot be said that our stewards make no effort to cope with the evil, for every day we hear of jockeys brought up and cautioned for suspicious ridiog ; and occasionally one receives condign punishment of a more or less severe nature,like the rider of Quilt atElstern wick. This of course is not without its effect on other horsemen; and after one of these cases we often find horses winning which their owners have deemed dead and buried as far as the race in which they have unexpectedly scored honours was concerned. That these things are often done by the directions of owners can hardly be doubted, while sometimes trainers may act independently of cheir employers and deem they are serving them faithfully. Whether directed by the one or the other, the result is the same as far as the public is concerned, while the books also suffer ; for with the presence of such horses in the race the odds against the favourite do, or should, lengthen, and the smaller the number of triers out of those actually starting the worse must be the result for those who have written the name of the winner. It is evident, therefore, tbat the practice is an evil one, inasmuch as it strikes at the integrity of owners, trainers, and riders, and renders tho whole sport unsavory by creating an atmosphere of suspicion which deadens and ultimately must kill public interest. The question now arises as to how this practice, which almost reaches the dignity of a system, can be repressed or rendered unavailing. Sometimes of course " the engineer is hoist with his own petard." The lad who has stopped his horse to the order of his trainer or employer time after time is up again when the horse has at last got a weight which should render success a certainty. This time his orders are to win. But the books find where the commission comes from, and try to save themselves. The boy is tried, and finds it more profitable to do as he has been accustomed to, and tbe long-kept certainty is again beaten, but this time to his owner's disgust and dismay. Quite recently metallic influence is said to have caused a horse in a clever stable— which started at a most hopeless price — to win, the rider making a semblance of an attempt to stop it close to home, but it won, and it was worth noting how unexpected and unsatiffactor}' the winning of a rich stake seemed to the friends of the stable. The owner or trainer dare bring no charge before tho stewards, lest the boy, in his turn, may relate previous instructions. Sometimes it happens that the boy takes his loping orders from tho trainer, fulfils thuni on the first occasion, but on the next sends a friend to back the horse an the long prices which can usually be had about the moribund, and wins, to tbe utter dismay of those not in the know.

(Referee.)

Wonderful Generosity. — With a fixed deposit of about £50,000 at their backs, the A.J.C. have given the enormous (?) sum of £1000 added to the Sydney Cup. One-fiftieth part of their balance is considered an adequate sum to give to such a race as tho Sydney Cup. But this lOOOsovs does not represent the ameunt to go to the first horse. Oh dear no. The second receives 200sovs and third lOOsovs from the prize. This leaves tho brilliant sum of 700sov.s added for tho first horse. Great Scott ! what benevolence. What open-hearted liberal-minded men we have at the head of onr racing affairs. Such a race as the Sydney Cup ought to have quite as much added to it as the Melbourne Cup. We are losing caste through this parsimonious policy. If the V.R C. can give 2500sovs to the Melbourne Cup, and big money for the remainder of their rnr-ris. why cannot the A.J.C. do the Fame. The A.J.C. hj-ve no right to place such an enormous sum on fixed deposit. The money is to benefit horseraciug, and it ought to be expended in tbat way. Look at the difference between Flemitigton and Randwick, and then Mr. Clibborn, shudder please. A more enterprising club than the V.R C. does not exist on tho faco oftheeaitb. They spend their money as fast as they make it, and would consider £50,0C0 lying idle as "Dead Sea fruit." What makes tho Melbourne Cup at Flemiugton so attractive? Money judiciously expended. What makes the Sydney Cup ac Randwick so unattractive ? The want of money ? No, but tha non expenditure of it. Mr H." Byron Moore is a man of energy, resource, and enterprise, and this is not a mere assertion of my own, it is plainly demonstrated by facts, and such facts as the Melbourne Cup and Flemington — the most complete course extant. Comparisons are odiouj, bo

I leave the secretary of the A. J. C. to make his own. What I want is tho racing public clearly to understand how the A.J.O. and tneir pilot manage affairs. What the Melbourne Cup does for the capital of Victoria aud its business community, so ought the Sydney Cup to do for the capital of New South Wales The amount of money that the Melbourne Cup brings into that city is fabulous. Trade is benefited by ifc, and its citizens reap a rich harvest. For all this they have to thank the V.R.C.'s enterprise. It will be a glorious time when the citizens of Sydney have the same reason to be thankful to the A J.C.

(Australasian.)

Numerically, the entries for the Victorian Racing Club Autumn meeting show a falling off which is to be deplored. In a great measure this may be attributed to the fact that the sport of racing is being overdone in Australia. We have not the population to keep it going week after week as they do in the old country, where so many of the landed gentry and noblemen contribute largely to the fields of horses that appear for the various races contested at the principal meetings of England. In Australia, no doubt, a few who hold leading positions in society are among the most ardent supporters of the turf, but they may be counted upon our fingers. Members of the ring are either directly or indirectly interested in many of the racehorses of Australia, and they and the few rich men we have referred to comprise the great bulk of owners. It is a matter for regret that more of our wealthy colonists do not take an active interest in the good old sport, and it is even more deplorable that there is little prospect of the plane of a veteran sportsman like the Hon. W. Pearson being worthily filled when he retires from an active participation in the sport. While regretting the falling off in the entries for the V.R.C. Autumn meeting, we feel some satisfaction in the fact that the quality of those engaged is above the ordinary run. It is not often that we see such a collection of first-class animals nominated for the Essendon Stakes, which is the first item in the programme. Among the elder division are such celebrities as Malua, Trenton, Nelson, Dunlop, Mozart, and Acme, all performers of exceptional merit. The three-year-olds are represented by Cranbrook, Carlyon, Niagara, Enfilade, and Lava, and if the best of the two divisions meet in friendly rivalry, we shall see a race which will throw half the handicaps into the shade. The true sportsman would prefer to see one contest between half-a-dozen of the abovementioned animals than a score of handicaps in which the worst horse is supposed to be weighted to meet the best upon an equality. During Saturday morning it was stated in town that there might be some disturbance at Elsternwick Park, in connection with the bookmakers' licenses. It appears that a section of the ring stood out to the last, declining to send in their names, and intending to go to work as though nothing were demanded of them. So soon as the V.T.C. decided on licensing the bookmakers, the latter, or at least a considerable portion of them, decided to test the legality of the club's action, and to that end sought counsel's opinion. Accordingly the opinions of Dr Madden, Mr Isaacs, and Mr Hodges were obtaiued, the two former gentlemen deciding that the club had the power to impose a license fee, whilst Mr Hodges went with the bookmakers. The contemplated emeute never came off, for though " swearing they would ne'er consent," they ultimately agreed to pay the five guineas on the understanding that should the courts decide in their favour the money be returned to them. This the V.T.C. committee acceded to, and so matters stand for the nonce. The question that now arises is, should the courts decide against the right to impose a license fee, how will the other clubs, including the V.RC. and V.A.T.G. be affected? It is very apparent that the whole question will be reopened. The V.R.C. committee propose making an important alteration in the date of the Winter Steeplechase meeting. Hitherto the meeting has been held as nearly as possible in the middle of the winter— the second or third week in July, but this year it will be held on the first Saturday after the opening of the Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition, which will take place in August. By this postponement for about a month visitors to Melbourne for the opening of the exhibition will be afforded an opportunity of attending this day's racing. On Wednesday a deputation of the provisional directors of the Mentone Racing Company waited on the Railway Commissioners with the object of ascertaining whether the line to Mordialloc was likely to be duplicated in time for the contemplated inaugural meeting in August. Mr Speight met the views of the deputation most encouragingly, and promised that io the event of the line only being completed to Mentone the department would allow special trains to run. It is very evident that the projectors of the new company do not intend the grass to grow under their feet. The attention of the V.R.C. committee having been drawn to the extreme danger arising from ponies using the Flemington training tracks, it is understood that the practice will either be abolished or restricted to certain hours.

(" Asmodeus.")

A couple of Australian Cup candidates in Dick Swiveller and Abuse have recently been distinguishing themselves in the provinces, and it is quite possible that the animals in question may possess something more than outside chances of appropriating the long distance race The first named will be remembered as the colt who unexpectedly won a two-year-old handicap a • Caulfield last May, thereby upsetting a hot pot i i Albert Loddon, who finished second. Previous t) this he had won a Maiden Plate at Ditnboola, aad the Juvenile Stakes at Casterton. This season he has gained further distinction at some of the inland gatheriugs, and at the late Ararat meeting he followed up his successes by annexing the Cup on the first day and the Settlers' Purse oa the second, only one horse having the temerity to oppose him in the latter race after ths easy manner in which he spreadeagled his field on the first day. Stanley, who ran second, V* as conceding him 161b, and if Stanley was in anything of his old form the performance was by no means a bad one on the part of Dick Swiveller, who is nicely handicapped at 6st 131b, and his only to stay as well as his sire, Swiveller, to possess a good look in. His dam, Brigantiue, is well bred enough for anything, beiug by Talk o' the Hills from Ideal, by Ace of Clubs from Ordeal, a daughter of Touchstone. With Abuse we are more intimate; I selected him as the best outsider in the last Australian Cup, and he showed a bold front to the turn. He subsequently won fie St. Kilda Cup an Caulfield, and gained furtier honours in the interior. On Friday week, t^ie 10th inst., he was opposed by a field of wellperformed candidates in the Maroopna Handicip, one mile and a-quarter, and although he curried top weight, 9st 31b, he won, after a great rice. Neither Dick Swiveller nor Abuse are penalised in the Australian Cup. The approaching St. Leger wears the appearance of being the most open we have had for several years and, in addition to attracting to the post the largest field that has ever contested the three-year-old supremacy in the autumn, the calibre of the intending competitors is quite put of the common, The field will in all proba-

bility be made up from the following, viz. : — Australian Peer, Niagara, Enfilade, Abercorn, Carlyon, Moorhouse, Whakawai, Cranbrook, and others. The foregoing are the leading performers, but then there are numerous other good horses engaged, including Pakeha, Escutcheon, Silverton, Mentor, Dainty, Boz, Marlborough, Sumatra, Enigma, Bowmont, &c, some of which may be induced to enter the lists on the day. At present, indications are in favour of the battle r^yal resting between Australian Peer, Niagara, IJnfilade, and the best of Mr White's lot, Abercorn, Carlyon, or Cranbrook. The fact of the Victorian steeplechase representative, Ruby, proving victorious in the Launceston Cup, and carrying 9st 51b into second place in the T.T.C. Handicap, proves that the horses at present on the Tasmanian turf are a decidedly inferior lot, and widely removed from such island bred celebrities as Malua, Mozart, Sheet Anchor, Coronet, Stockwell, Ringwood, Blink Bonny, Silvermine, Anchorite, and other equine stars who have blazoned forth in the turf firmament from time to time. There has been quite a dearth of juvenile talent ever since, the illustrious St. Albatis quitted the garden of the South, but The Assyrian should prove a worthy substitute, and, given the same opportunities as those afforded Blair Athol's famous son, I have no doubt the Melbourne Cup hero of 1882 will succeed in building up a creditable reputation at the Tasmanian stud.

The Victorian ring is fast becoming an unwieldy organisation, and recent developments make it manifest that breaches have occurred therein which show the bookmakers to be anything but a happy family. The growth of conservative ideas among the leading metallicans has doubtless much to do with the existing want of unanimity, and lately it has become apparent that the privileged members of the Victorian Club are very much inclined to ride rough shod over the rest of the fraternity, and in fact establish a monopoly of the betting business on all racecourses. This was very plainly demonstrated in the recent attempt at Elsternwick Park to boycott all bookmakers who are not members of either the Victorian Club or Sydney Tattersall's. It is a well-known fact that a number of our soundest and heaviest fielders are not identified with either of the institutions named, and it is tolerably certain that the blow was intended more directly tor the members of Bowe's Tattersall's, a much more thriving institution financially than its up-the-street rival. Public opinion was so strongly opposed to the intended action of the Elsternwick Park authorities that they deemed it prudent to desist in widening the breach between the opposing factions of ringmen, aud as an alternative adopted the system of taxation in vogue at Flemington and Caulfield. Even this did not meet with unanimous approval, aud a certain section of bookmakers recently sought legal advice on the subject, with the result that they have been informed that the club is perfectly justified in imposing the fees mentioned. The metallicians, therefore, have bowed to the inevitable, and this announcement serves to strengthen the position of racing clubs on what has all along been considered a doubtful point.

I hear that only slight hopes are entertained of a renewal of the Elsternwick Park lease, and in view of this contingency the Trotting Club shareholders are transferring their attention to the Mentone Racing Club, in the share list of which new undertaking they are already largely represented. It is more than probable that Mr T. Haydon will succeed to the secretaryship of the Mentone Club. This of itself would be sufficient to sound the death knell of Elsternwick Park.

Novelty is a virtue that very seldom finds its way into racing programmes, and the proposition of the Bacchus Marsh Racing Club to hold a four miles steeplechase over paddocks and fences adjoining the course is likely to meet with popular approval. The spectacle would be well worth looking at, and provided the committee can make the stake sufficiently attractive, say a prize of 200sovs, a good field of jumpers should be brought together, especially as the time of the year (June) fixed for the contest is favourable for steeplecbasing.

The New Zealand horses Nelson and Pearl Shell have been placed under J. Morrison's charge at Flemington, and the pair have been treated to a fair amount of strong work during the week in the presence of their respective owners, Major George and Mr Marshall. Handicappers have frequently complained to me of the limited time placed at their disposal for the framing of weights for country race meetings. It is no unusual occurrence for secretaries to forward entries one or two days before the handicaps are announced to appear, rendering the task necessarily hurried. It is well known that the performances of country horses are not so easily obtainable as the widelypublished records of metropolitan animals, hence more time is needed in obtaining the requisite information indispensable to an equitable adjustment of weights. While handicappers are placed under such a disadvantage it is no wonder that owners occasionally call attention to apparent inconsistencies through the medium of letters to the press. As it is to the interest of all provincial , clubs that their handicaps be made as fair and attractive as possible, reasonable time should be permitted for the due performance of the task.