CANTERBURY DOINGS. By RATA.

Otago Witness, Issue 1943, 14 February 1889, Page 24

CANTERBURY DOINGS. By RATA.

Dudu had an eusy victory in the Wellington Oup, and she is one of the cheapest racers purchased here for some time back. She left as fit as her trainer could posßibly make her, and I believe it is now intended to send her to Duuedin. and it is also thought that Bhe has more than an outside ohauce for the Cup there. Indeed it looks very improbable that Sultan could have beaten her at Wellington even had he not gone amiss prior to his departure North. There is no doubt that Sultan's connections were very sanguine of winning the stake, and I hear that he was mainly supported on the strength of a gallop he did with Manton, aud ifc seems highly probable that that gallop was inaccurate. Manton is not fit by any means, doubtless a consequence of a prolonged cold, and though he may have been easily beaten by Sultan, the form could have been very little criterion of the latter's prospects afc Wellington when pitted against such a mare as Dudu, trained to the minute. On result I do not think that Sultan could have been in form ; on the second day he only gob home in front of Dudu at a concession of 131b, and I do not think that that difference represents their relative merits over a mile and three-quarters both fit and well— Sultan is within less than 13!b of Dudu over that distance. Should 13lb actually eepwate them at these weights— Sat 71b and Gst 61b— Dudu mußt be very nearly in the top-sawj'er category, and I feel certain that aheis not so. Of the other horses that journeyed from Rfccarton to Wellington Adulation scored a double, and now she has commenced to get her head in front she may win a few Btakeß over sprint courses ; it is beyond doubt that she is speedy on the training track, yet mares of her kind are good cattle to own. Repose is jußt as bad, and she is considerably slower, and, like Adulation, she must have proved a very unprofitable racer to Mr Butler; indeed, he wanted to get rid of them some time since, and I believe they were taken north for that purpose. Escapade won a sprint event, and he is a fast horse over six furlongs ; Mb West Coast journey appears to have benefited him too, and I fancy he will prove a cheap horse at the £100 paid for him after tho metropolitan meeting, though ha is not. anything Hke the bargain Dudu was. Slieennu was unsuccessful with Erin-go-Bragh, aud doubtless that horse found better company to meet at Wellington than he usually docs in Canterbury. He is a good sprinter in a particular

class, but he is not a good horse, and his successes recently merely illustrate the inferiority of the horses running afc the minor meetings here in comparison with fche besfc horses in training. Apparently 1 Marlborough is coming to Riccarton again, and undoubtedly he Is a useful horse for small meetings. It is said that he is not full blooded, bufc I believe that he has merely a stain in his pedigree, and that simply means that his pedigree cannot be traced. Some of the besfc colonial horses have been like fchafc evidently, and Manfcon It a case in point ; but there 1b no doubs whatever fchafc Manfcon Is a thoroughbred. Doubtless in the earliest days of racing In AusI tralia mares have been imported and their pedigree not known, who were nevertheless thoroughbred mares, and Ifc appears fchafc that Is where the stain in a pedigree invariably comes in. The fifcain la Maufcon's pedigree ia on his dam's side. Tres Deuce is from Gifcana out of 6 Ipsy Queen from Gipsy, who was imported to Australia without a pedigree, and was described as " Mr Smith's celebrated raoing mare"; but there la, I fancy, little doubt that Gipsy was a thoroughbred. An owner would be very unlikely to import a halfbred mare for racing purposes, and an imported halfbred mare would hardly be described as a celebrated racing mare unless she was something very exceptional or the company she met at that time very indifferent. Moreover, such a stain is actually wiped out in three generations for all practical purposes. The Dunedin Cup looks like coming to Canterbury, and Riccarfcon cannot help playing a strong hand for other events at the meeting. Manton, in good niok, would go uncommonly near winning, but he is not in good nick, and his chance, gauged by his galloping, does not appear to be a rosy one now. Vandal was galloped with him a few mornlngo since, and he had all the besfc of ifc ab fche finish ; indeed, Vandal has an uncommonly good show, and he will be there or thereabouts at the finish. He is quite fit, and he can stay fche distance all right. He appears to be going better now than when be ran so good a race at the C.J.O. Summer meeting. Brifcish Lion is not perhaps as thoroughly pink as when he journeyed to Auckland, bufc he is not in bad fefcfcle nevertheless. The lameness he exhibited a week ago was apparently of a trivial nature, and like some other goed horses he looks a bit lame sometimes when there is nothing wrong with him. Sfc. Clair is being galloped of a morning, but his foot is still bad, though fchafc might not prohibit him winning were he good enough otherwise. I fancy, however, fchafc Vandal will just about win, and in Dunkeld, too, that stable will have a big say in fche Champagne Stakes. Ruby and Vaulfcress will both betaken South no doubt, and they are very unlikely <ft return again without scoring. Vaultresß ia trainlog into a good kind of mare, aud a capital feature In her is a wonderfully fine temper. Like Ruby, she has done a lot of work Bince she won afc fche O. J.O. Summer meeting, and she will be difficult to beat In fche Stewards' Purse Welfcar; thoughlßosebud is also a good mare, and Golden Crest is a clipping filly over six furlongs, bufc no doubt Golden Greet will run in the Publicans' Handicap, and she will very nearly win fchafc too.

It appears that a strong contingent will journey to Dunedin from Rlccarton. Outts will take down several, viz.— Dudu, Ravenswing, Golden Oresfc, Gynisca, Alsace, British Lion, and St. Clair. No doubt British Lion and St. Olair will both run in the Cup, but it is odds on Dudu beating the pair, provided her Northern trip has not affected her in any way beyond additional weights. I hear that her owner was very " sweet " on her for the Wellington Cup in face of the demonstration made in favour of Sultan, and ifc is rumoured thnfc he backed her to the full extent of the market— which would mean considerably less than the stakes, I opine— after his arrival afc Wellington. Indeed bookmaking In New Zealand is Hke this now : A bookmaker will lay 500 to 25, 60, 75, or 100 against anything that he knows —through information— has no chance, but a horse that is supposed to have more than an outside show can only be backed with difficulty at the shortest odds. Afc any rate that is what trainers and owners say, and they ought to know. Dudu, for instance, is quoted at 100 to 50 — 2 to 1 is a better quotation — for the Dunedin Cup, and Cutts would be fortunate in getting 200 to 100 in three hands about the mate, provided he wanted to back her. I do not believe he could gefc ifc. R. Ray got 500 to 25 aboub Son-of-a-Gun for the New Zealand Cup whpn .9on-of-a-Gun was supposed to be unnhlo f,o ?■!( j,, (, (, j n could not get 500 to 100, or any pnro of ifc perhaps, for the Derby after the horse had done a good trial and the result of the trial had beoorae known. St, Olair ia being sweated pretty frequently now, and he seems to be going fairly well in his work, bufc nofcwithstar ding his Hghfc weight, he is unlikely to be returned the winner of the Oup. though he may be to the fore in some of the minor events. Ravenswlng is in capital form, and she ought to run well at the meeting. Seven furlongs or a mile suits her down to the ground, and with 8.2 on her back she will run well in the Publicans' Handicap; but afc 91b less, I fancy Golden Creßfc will prove the better. Ravenswing is stinted; but should she show anything like good form this season, no doubt the foal will be taken from her, and she will be raced again. Some of the best mares fche colony has produced have been similarly treated, I heard a trainer remark recently, and there is no doubt that a mare can be put in better fefcfcle after being covered than she can be possibly got Into previously. The great evil of covering mares as three-year-olds Hob In the fact tbat they cannot be raced in fche back end provided they are covered sufficiently early, and if they be covered late, a la Ravenswing, they are of no good on the turf until late in the following season. R. Ray is taking nothing South. Merrie England looks very well, bufc his quality will not be seen until he is a three-year-old ; he is a big, powerful colt that winding 'up wholly would not be likely to benefit. Engagement and Chain Shot in that team are out again, bufc both have gone off somehow; fche mare is bad iv herself somewhere— she is delicate—except when walking, and then ohe will jump about like a kangaroo, and it wants a good boy to stick on her sometimes ; give her a rousing gallop, however, and she pulls up lame as a rule ; and Cham Shot has gone off considerably after his form at fche metropolitan meeting. All Hay's horses, bar the two-year-olds, were trained to the minute for that meeting, and all of them have deteriorated subsequently, and that is frequently seen in racers ; indeed it is so well known in Kngland that strings of horses are trained specially for particular meetings, or a particular series of meetings. Sir R. Jardlne, for instance, is always formidable afc Ascot ; fche Duke of Hamilton at Goodwood, as a rule ; Mr Lambfcon's team during fche Sussex fortnight ; and fche late Mr Bowes used to be uncommonly dangerous afc the northern series of fixtures— jusfc following Lewes— commencing with Stockton and finishing up with Doncasfcer, The horses that went to Wellington have not arrived at the time of writing, and berond Oufcfcs' seven, Mr Webb's pair, and Irish Kirn?, it is impossible to say what will go to Dunedin. Mr Lunn says he is not sure whether Irish King is actually going, but from the work h j has done recently I should think he is pretty certain to go. He is in grand form, too.