CANTERBURY DOINGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1905, 25 May 1888, Page 24

CANTERBURY DOINGS.

By "RATA." Last week I visited the establishment so ably presided over by Mr R. Ray. It is well within rifle range of the racecourse gate, being situated just behind Mr O'Brien's and opposite Mr Butler's stable, the three buildings forming an acute triangle covering a limited area of ground. The first stable erected at Riccarton on the enclosed plan, it is necessarily less complete than Mr O'Brien's, but it comprises every essential requisite for the facility of labour and the comfort of horse? nevertheless. Built of wood, it is roofed with iron, lined underneath with wood and interlined with felt. The object of the interlining is, of course, a regulation of the extremes of temperature, and I believe that felt is an excellent material for the purpose. The hayloft is constructed in gallery fashion above the boxes, and is perfectly open : and this device is adopted in the interests of ventilation, which is mainly confined to the end and box windows, the latter of which are small and single-framed, and revolve on an axis principle. The stable contains eight capital boxes, and the boys' quarters are situated immediately outside the entrance door. These comprise two apartments, and also constitute the saddle-room — an old idea, but a very excellent one. Except Son-of-a-Gun, who belongs to his trainer, the whole team is the property of the Hon. W. Robinson., The first box I entered was occupied by the two-year-old Exchange, a horse that is yet a maiden — a somewhat singular feature in one of his quality. He is not particularly big, but he is a racehorse all over, with exquisite symmetry, plenty of muscle, and no lumber ; he stands low on his legs, and is uncommonly well let down behind, and if he be unable to win a race in good company during the coming season he belies his looks. Chain Shot is also a good-looking one ; he is a bit on the big side, which gives him a leggy appearance, but he is immensely powerful and there is nothing awkward about him, and when galloped he moves with a free, even action, and there is no reason why he ought not to prove a very brilliant racer. Many judges take exception to excessive Bize, and Mr Cookson, an English studmaster of very wide experience, recently attributed roaring as an entire consequence of oversize; and he may be right, too, but I do not think so. A goodly percentage of colonial racers attain inordinate size, yet these as a ' class are as sound as the smaller horses, and roaring is comparatively unknown in the colonies. Then why should mere size engender a peculiarity of ailment in England and not in Australia and New Zealand? The accomplished " vet." pronounces roaring an effect of paralysis of the muscles of the larynx or similar affection of that part, and no doubt that is the immediate source of the disorder, but it appears that the source of the paralysis is unknown or varied. That "roaring" in itself is distinct from " whistling " and thick wind may be an accepted fact, but I strongly suspect that in the majority of instances the larynx ailment — the source of rearing —is generated by causes similar to those which produce " whistling " and thick wind, and that they have their origin mainly in climatic influences ; and on this score I think the colonies will surpass the old country as a field for the introduction of blood stock. Roaring is a common ailment on the English turf, and perhaps it is a distinct disease, but it is a fact that continued racing will frequently convert thickwinded horses and " whistlers" into roarers, and it is evident on practical result that animals affected in the wind are more susceptible to roaring infirmity than perfectly clear-winded racers. Mr Cookson avers that he never saw a thoroughbred standing 163 that was sound, and the statement would probably be corroborated by nearly every English trainer of experience— yet

how many colonial trainers could do so ? Respiratory ailments are far more numerous in England than in New Zealand — t.#.,more numerous in percentage — and this is obviously an effect of dissimilarity of climate. That " a good big one is batter than a good little one" is evidently also an axiom equally true of prospective result as of present excellence in the colonies ; and should the racehorse attain a greater degree of perfection in the future than he has done in the past, I am of opinion that that perfection will be attained in the colonies. Son-of-a-Gun was the next of Mr Kay's charges I looked over, and in point of looks he is fairly passable, but I believe he is a bad horse and has hitherto evinced a very perceptible inclination to stop on completing three furlongs. Up to that distance his speed is good, and perhaps bis stamina will improve with age. Engagement has been a disappointing mare so far, though she is built on most approved lines of conformation, and is perfectly sound and the possessor of an excellent temper. To look at her, either in her box or on the training track, one would imagine that she was good enough to distinguish herself in good company, and I suspect that we have not seen the best of her yet ; many horses considered worthless at her age have developed phenomenal excellence ere their retirement. Merrie England was the first of a pair of yearlings I saw, and he is a magnificent colt in all his points. When I first looked him over at Middle Park I fancied he was a bit heavy -in the neck, but this is merely a result of shortness — an advantage rather that a fault perhaps, and an invariable characteristic of a compactly-built animal. He is a big, well-balanced colt, deep in the girth and low on the hind legs, with fine shoulders, a good back, and grand quarters ; his arms and gaskins are very muscular, and his hocks long, broad, and clean, and if ha be many ounces behind the best of next season's two-year-olds I shall be greatly surprised. The other youngster is a chestnut, by St. George from Charity. He is a good topped one, capitally backed, deep in the rib, and low set, but his hind legs are light, and he is very small, and a long remove from the quality of Merrie England. The last of the team I saw was a half-brother to Le Loup and Lurline — a nag out of Mermaid. He is a six-year-old, and has never raced since his two-year-old season, and he hardly has the appearance of a horse likely to develop great excellence now. The Lancaster Park Trotting Club's May meeting was celebrated on Saturday afternoon in pleasant weather. The course is a very excellent one, and surpasses that of the Canterbury Trotting Club in point of surroundings. This, however, is not the result of superior management on the part of the Lancaster Park Club, neither is it an effect of longer institution or greater financial prosperity, but merely an outcome of the fitness of the ground procurable by the executive. Lancaster Park is an athletic ground, with a capital cinder path, and that constitutes a first-rate trotting track under ordinary conditions. By ordinary conditions I mean ordinary meteorological conditions. On Saturday these were ordinary during the progress of the sport, but their effects were extraordinary, and the inside of the course wa3 very heavy, and in some parts fetlock deep. That doubtless affected the trotting somewhat, though that was fairly good, when the class of trotters at present trained in the vicinity and the number of stakes offered for competition are taken into consideration. There is very little difference in the circumference of the cinder path and the track at the Agricultural and Pastoral Association's show grounds, but in dry weather the Lancaster Park ground would undoubtedly prove the better going. Then Lancaster Park is very tastefully laid out, and is quite as perfect an athletic ground as Riccarton is a racecourse. The stand is an exceptionally good structure of its size, and the ground outside the rails is double banked. A feature of the arrangements is a peculiarity of number board. It is made on the principle of a big non-revolving blackboard, with stationary numbers running down the left-hand margin. Opposite these numbers the board is divided into parallel lines of small squares, the side of a square being equivalent to the depth of the space occupied by the opposite number in the margin. Each square is fitted with a black-painted zinc slide outside a white bull's-eye, and the object of this is a registry of laps. Provided nine laps have to be negotiated in a race, nine bull's-eyes are exhibited opposite each number representing a starter, and on the completion of every lap one of these is covered against each competitor's name. The idea is a very good one, and on a track like Lancaster Park, it is an undoubted improvement on the ordinary telegraph board. The executive of this club, too, apparently mean to advance with the times. On Saturday afternoon they introduced a mile trot, to be run in heats, in their programme. This is an American system of trotting, of course, aad though the initial venture was hardly a brilliant success in consequence of a small field and heavy going, it is a class of sport that ought to become pop alar with trotting properly developed. One thing against it is the size of the tracks now used by the two trotting clubs ; they ar« too small. Indeed, with more straight-away going I fancy that trotting in harness would bring out better fields than it does at present. On small circular tracks passing with sulkies is a difficult matter, and " standing in " is easy of accomplishment. In the mile trot at Lancaster Park the cinder path was divided into two circuits, with inner and outer circle measurement, and there is no apparent reason why a similar innovation would not prove a practical success in trotting under saddle even. The fields would be brought very much nearer together from a spectacular point of view, and the handicapping would be unaffected. The first event, the Maiden Trot, won by Jimmy, a five-year-old, ridden by W. Kerr, was decided before I arrived on the course, but as the winner came in comparatively alone there must have been a good deal of the procession business in the last mile. The second affair was termed the Novel Race Handicap Time Trot (in harness), and it brought out but five competitors. Of these Billy Dunn was made a raging favourite on the totalisator — by comparison — and starting from the limit he went faster than anything behind, and ultimately trotted past the post a hundred yards in front of Megrims. I don't know anything of the winner, beyond that he is a bay gelding and a very indifferent trotter ; but a sequence of such victories and a certainty of the reduction of trots to absolute "morals" is sufficient argument in favour of innovation of some kind. The Birthday Handicap Time Trot (in saddle), a three-mile race, was fairly interesting over two-thirds of the journey, but from that point it was a case of " one in it and the rest nowhere " ; the conditions of victory were similar to those of the preceding event. Narrow Gauge,the winner,however, is a good stamp of a horse, and must be nearly allied to the thoroughbred. Starting 20sec from scratch he passed his opponents one after another in grand form, and appeared to go throughout as fast as did Gipsy, who finished third. Now Narrow Gauge is jast the kind of animal to make a good trotter, and with a few of his stamp, broken to harness, we might see a development of mile trotting. Perhaps he is

nob quite as fast as Gipsy at her best, but he is a nailer amongst trotters now. There are very few wellbred horses to be seen on trotting tracks, and this is doubtless a consequence of the inferiority of the lower class of racers ; a racehorse — provided he be a racehorse — wants to be very bad before he is beyond winning afc some race meeting. It is a fact that the thoroughbred makes the best trotter, but so long as a racehorse can win at his own game it would bo unprofitable to make a trotter of him ; not that trotting stakes are less valuable on comparison of class, bat racers are not nursed as trotters are. Win a couple of races with a good trotter, and he is out of court for an indefinite period wherever he may go, whereas a racer good enough to dia« tinguish himself greatly on the trotting track can be taken around the country very profitably if properly manipulated. -Casts-off from the racing- turf are perhaps not the kind of horses likely to make tip-top trotters — trotting ought to be taught early — no more than they are the kind of horses likely to make tip-top steeplechasers, but they would effect improvement on the class that now obtains. It would require a good plater, well-trained, to do .Gipsy or Maniac on level terms on the trotting track, but a very indifferent one educated beyond breaking would smofher three parts of the nags now in training with the greatest of ease. This line of reasoning argues in favour of a reduction of race meetings and an adoption of Mr Stead's proposal of an augmentation of stake money. With an increase of stake money and a consequent reduction of meetings the lower class of racers would be crushed out, and trotting benefited as a matter of consequence; the worst racers — i.e., racers in actual training — are better than the average trotter. The Challenge Stakes (in harness)— the one mile event— was reduced to competition by a trio in consequence of Blaokwood Abdallah's owner declining the contest on account of heavy going. The race was interesting on the score of novelty, and with Plunger and Wait-a-while pitted against each other on level terms an interesting heat was within tho pale of possibility. Plunger showed most pace, however, and eventually won easily. Daisy then covered the course alone and afterwards met Plunger in the final, when she worsted him with cot over much to spare. Daisy was a strong favourite for the race, but Plunger in consequence of his performance in the opening heat supplanted her in the betting on the run off. The Selling Trot was reduced to a match between a couple of very worthless mares, one of which canied four and the other two tickets. The Lancaster Park Handicap Time Trot, however, attracted a strong opposition, and was productive of tho best race of the afternoon. Plunger, with lOjeo start, trotted grandly throughout, and getting to the front in the last lap but one, he passed the post some 50 or 60 yards in front of Shamrock, who was greatly fancied and well backed on the machine. A good trotter is Plunger, and with a couple of dozen of his calibre in the neighbourhood, mile trotting in heats would be worth witnessing. The Handicap Time Pony Trot wound up the afternoon's proceedings. It fell to the share of the singularly-named Brown Joe, who paid each of his three supporters the nice dividend of £32 145.