IN A NUTSHELL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1915, 3 August 1888, Page 23

IN A NUTSHELL.

Arsenal still wears a boot. Apres Moi in the private sale list. ,' Oolt by Idalium — Baroness named Niger. Redwood colt returned to Redwood owner. The Grand Prix this year was worth £5771. Duchess of Montrose married a voting fellow of 24.

Acceptances for New Zealand Cup to-morrow (Saturday).

Empress and Canezou are to visit Le Loup this spring.

Recall is credited with being a particularly clever jumper.

Australian Peer is said to be doing exceptionally well. Lady Betty is not on the track as often as could be wished.

Enfilade is looking thicker and better than he did in the autumn.

Billy Sharp now riding the Hon. G. M'Lean's horses at exercise.

Trident has been sent to the stud, aud will stand at Bathnrst.

Duuedin will be poorly represented by jurnpeu at the Hunt Club meeting. Monte Christo won the Homebush Handicap at Rosehill on the 14th ult.

A yearling son of Cheviot and Myrtle sold Nt w South Wale 3 for £150.

A four-year-old colt by Pinole Patchen sold for 75gs to go to Melbourne;

Mirella unplaced in a two-mile race at Rock* hampton. I should think so.

Wcrd comes from Newcastle that Cardigar is showing signs of lameness.

As I exptcted,the yarn that Artillery was amiss turns out to be bunkum.

A Gippsland horse is credited with having jumped a fence 6ft 10|in high. There are 60 or 70 days' racing in the yeai withiti a dozen miles of Sydney. £500 has been refused for the Tasmanian-brec colt Hesperus, by Euclid— Buttercup. Mr Chaplin has sold nine of the Blanknej yearlings to Lord Calthorpe for £10,000. Mr Hammond hhoa o selected Sportsman as the name for the yearling brother to Sultan. Plausible, who ran third for the Melbourne Cup iv Malua's year, is doing good work. The V.R.C. recommend that in welter races 2.7 be added to the scalp, of weight for age. Death announced of Green Mountain Maid one of the greatest brood mares in America.

The owner of Creamie landed £1000 by the success of his pony at Hurliugham recently. King Olaf, a son of Splendor, is spoken of as one of the best two-year-olds iv Queensland. Beryl, the sister of Nordenfeldt, is said to be a handsome filly, and one of the little-big sort. It is whispered in Dunedin that Maxim and Gipsy King will shortly take their departure for Melbourne.

Inquiries for Springston this week. What odds that Ruby is not the better of the two afc the finish ?

The Sandfly dispute is handed over to the A J.C. The Sydney Driving Club seem to bo " full up " of it.

I&hmael, Trapper, Garibaldi, lona, Gitana, and Rimu are tte lot now running at Brown's place at the Taieri,

Glad to be able to state that Mr Sydney James, the veteran secretary of the D.J.C., jb gradually recovering. Bendigo, the brother to Ben Bolt, has been bought by Mr A. Barrington for £250 witt contingencies. Alsopp is training the colt. Abercorn is wintering well, but occasionallj shows^signs of lameness. This, however appears not to interfere with him in any way. fcjorumeil is apparently more forward tbar any other horse training at the Forbufy. All Goodman's lot look well. He has sold Mokoia The Oaks has been run 110 times. The favourite has won on 48 occasions, been second 18 times, third in eight, and unplaced in 36 race^ A*wo-yenr-old named French Park, by Kii>g Ban, has up to date won more money than any horse in the States this season. He has nabbed 14,700d01.

Mr Thomas Bradburn, of Wednesfield.Wolveihampton, has in his possession the skin of the famous stallion Sir Hercules, in a good state of preservation.

Mr Martin Lougnlin, the well-known racing man, has given £100 towards the fund for a statue of the Irish poet, Tom Moore, to be erected at Ballarat.

Crowberry, Orbit, and Seabreeze are looked upon as Ayrshire's most dangerous opponents in the Leger. It is odda on Friar's Balsam not pulling round in time. * « Metal, the son of Tubal Cain and Stockrose that was brought to Dunedin as a yearling but failed to find a purchaser, won four races at the recent Roebourne (W.A.) meeting. ' Yankee records :— Wheeler T. has beaten the record for one mile and half a furlong, his time being 1.47J ; and at a curious distance, one mile and 70yds, the record is newly claimed by Grisette with 1.46 J. ' The late Fred Archer's residence, Falmoulb House, Newmarket, for which he paid over £20,000, has been purchased by Mr, Maple for a quarter of that sum, and he intends adding a large range of stables. ; -

Jockey James M'Laughlin has been sued cr 25,000d0l damages by Nelson King, of Brooklyn (New York); who charges that M'Laughlin alienated his wife's affections. At a recent sale of thoroughbred yearling* heU2

at Lexington, Ky., one colt, a brother to Hanover, fetched £1640— the highest price ever paid in U.S.A. for a yearling at public sale. Forty-two head sold for £10,660, an average of £259.

At the annual meeting of the Tapanui Jockey Club, Dr Jones was elected president, Mr James Brownlie vice-president, Mr W. Quin secretary and treasurer ,'and the following as a committee — Messrs J. Mair, C. Pacey, T. J. Miles, H. M'lntyre, D. M'Kellar, J. A. M'Coll, and O. Grant. Mr Simmonds gave notice that he would move at next meeting, " That the club as at present constituted be liquidated." We have received from Mr Hurren, .Melbourne, that invaluable little work to Bportsmen " Centaur's Index for 1888," giving nominations and performances of horses up to 23rd June. To the secretary of the Victorian Racing Club we are indebted for the programme for 1888-9, with the list of nominations for events closed to date.

MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS

(Sydney Referee.)

That betting can never be prevented by Act of Parliament is an acknowledged truism throughout the civilised world. Politicians may go on declaring it illegal till tbe millennium (the thousand years of holiness on the parth) ; but it is a characteristic of the hutnan r ice, and more especially the Auglo- Saxon portion tbei^of, that can never be effaced. It has beeu engrafted on the British stock from time immemorial ; and it has ever been oae of the main factors in Britain's greatness. No man has ever been accounted worth a dump who refused to back his opinion ; and the heavy wagera laid (and won) upon the accomplishment of feats deemed impracticable are amongst our most cherished traditions. Who, for instance, has not read with feelings of admiration how Captain Osbaldistou raked in the " filthy lucre " when he succeeded in covering 100 miles on horseback within eight hours, or how Captain Barclay materially added to his banking account by being the first man to traverse 1000 miles in 1000 hours, a mile to be walked during each and every hour? And is not the illegality of the transaction completley blotted out when it is discovered that v Old Q." (as his friends delighted to dub the old Marqui3 of Queensberry) proved to have a veritable 11 dead bird " when he bet heavily that he would convey a letter 50 miles within an hour, and not use either birds or machinery to effect his purpose (a result the crafty old fellow achieved by getting the missive enclosed within a cricket ball, aud employing 24 expert cricketers to play catchers till it had traveled considerably over the stipulated distance under the prescribed time)? These tales of our grandfathers are still very dear to us, and tend to show that the same old Adam is still lying— and not always dormant, either — within us.

(Land and Water.)

The recent victory of Broncho over Britishbred ponies reminds us that our supremacy in horseflesh is like our coasts and food supply — somewhat ia danger. Only a year ago we called attention to the curious circumstance that a " mustang " in Meath, a few disadvantages and mishaps notwithstanding, all but won the light weight red coat race there, and we may also recall fcUe fact not known perhaps to many, that some years ago a Jamaica-bred horse who had never crossed a fence in his native guinea-grass " pen " won a good chase in England after a very little schooling.

<Sporting Life American Correspondent.) ' Jimmy M'Laughlin has had a peck of trouble with a rebellious stomach. Do what he would he could not retain any kind of food, and this prevented him from exercising or getting fat. Every doctor consulted gave a different remedy, and between them they soon had the "American Tinman" in a very bad state. Happening to ne*r of the trouble I sought out M'Laughlin, and asked to try an old training recipe, and he did so, with such good results that he was able fco eat bread and cheese in two hours. Thinking that some of the Sporting Life readers may be benefited by the concoction, I present the recipe. Take a piece of uuslacked lime the size of your fist, and put it into half a gallon of water ; shake well until the lime is dissolved, and then let the sediment settle. Pour off the dirty water, and add half a gallon of clean water ; shake again, and let the sediment settle. Then take half a fcumberful of the water, and mix with a like quantity of milk, asd drink fasting. If the lime water is took strong dilute with fresh water. It is an infallible cure for a bad stomach, no matter what the cause.

(Oharterß Towers Tinws.)

Having heard that the jockey O'Neiil in the presence of a number of people in Townsville admitted that out of nine times he had ridden Ctoldstain eight of them had been " stiff," while the other one was to win, which he could not help, I ("Natator") decided, before giving pubiicity to the utterance, to have it verified. That verification has now come forth, as Mr Aubrey •assures me ho heard O'Neill make use of the words mentioned above.

('• Hattler," in the Queenslander.) There appears to be some misunderstanding with regard to the past history of the trotting horse Varmint which Mr Knight purchased cecently in Sydney, and which he asserts was not, as far as he is aware, ever disqualified for anything of 'graver consequence than too frequent breaking in a race, which disqualification would, of course, apply to that particular race alone. Inquiries are being made, however, the replies to which will no doubt settle the matter definitely. I had an opportunity last week of seeing the horse in harness,, when he ■did not strike me as being very much above tbe ordinary run of trotters, but if he could once be (persuaded to settle to his work without getting mad-headed he might be a bit ofra surprijse.

(" Augur," iv the Australasian.)

While out at Flemiogton recently I saw the New Zealand horse Disowned at exercise. Judging from his appearance, I should say that he has done a fair amount of work during the winter, and it is to be hoped Morrison will be able to bring him to the post, for his owner's sake. He was accompanied by a bay, which I took to be Hortense's brother, who met with an accident last year, and had to be treated to a lengthened spell. This reference to the colt reminds me that a Victorian who recently visited Adelaide saw Hortense at Morphetville, and she was looking well. There was some idea of putting her into work again. I should like to see this fine daughter of Gang Forward in her two-year-old form once more, for she was undoubtedly one of the best that was ever saddled at Flemington. Sumatra and Mon tor are among the most improved horses at headquarters, and the two-year-old colt Redbourne, by St. Albans from Royal Maid, has fined down considerably since the autumn. Whitworth also continues to improve, but, like many other of Musket's sons, he has soft fleshy legs, which will give Mr Dakin plenty of trouble. Matchlock's brother, Firelock, is still small, but tb?re is nothingmore perfectly shaped,and Waterman has grown into a slashing fine colt, well up to Derby weight, but his galloping powers have \ >-t to be tested. Walter Hickenbotham, who, I am glad to say, continues to improve, has a smart colt in a son of Richmond and Queen Consort, and the sister to Newstead will not be the slowest of next year's young ones, Morri-

son is now comfortably settled in his new quarters at Bagotyillc, but whenever it is wet the roads in his vicinity are always in a disgraceful state, and sadly require attention. He will have a strong string for the coming season, and one of the best of his lot will be the colt by St. Albans from Maid of All Work, one of the most promising juveniles that has ever been seen at Flemington. Bis sire's great successes have always been achieved with mares whose blood has been well acclimatised, and Maid of All Work, therefore, should suit him to a nicety, especially as she descends from one of those old Tasmanian mares some of whose blood nicked so admirably with St. Albans when he occupied a place in Mr John Field's stud.

("[Rapier" in Sporting and Dramatic.)

The rules of racing in the colonies are inf orced with great vigour. When the winner has once passed the post no one must touch the jockey on bis horse till after the judge has told him to dismount and he has weighed in ; and the weighing is done coram publico. Some time since an amateur won a race, and when he returned to the paddock the girl he was engaged to marry presented him with a rose. She had not studied the rules of racing; whether he had I do not know, but the unsentimental stewards were on the alert, and the winner was disqualified. On another occasion the favourite won; but the jockey lose his cap in the course of the struggle. The sun was blazing away his fiercest, and when the horse pulled up, a sympathetic bookmaker (incidentally ife should be mentioned that he had laid heavily against the winner) went up to the successful jockey and remarked, " You'll have a sunstroke, my boy, if you don't take care — here, put on my hat ! " and offered his comfortable Panama. The boy thoughtlessly took it and put it on — and that kindly bookmaker had " a good race" after the winner had been disqualified, and the stakes awarded to the unbacked outsider who finished second.