CANTERBURY DOINGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1955, 9 May 1889, Page 24

CANTERBURY DOINGS.

| . .By RATA. A few mornings since— the morning succeeding G. Jackson's death— the subject of the distressed jockeys' fund was broached by a couple of prominent trainers and racehorse owners at Riocarton, and it appears to be a matter that requires investigation in itsjelf and revision in its conditions. I know nothing of the subject beyond the actual existence of such a fund, and it is very apparent that trainersmenjwho ought to know all about it-rare (equally i ignorant of its' method of management. All the fines levied on disobedient jockeys at the postare understood to go to r the distressed jockeys' fund; and in reality that is the only redeemable point in connection with the fining process; but how many jockeys are i benefited by these fines- in the case of accident or otherwise ? Some little 'time ago^for instance, George Williams died, and nothing but the generosity of his profession enabled him to get decently to the end of, his tether. Men of that kind, with few exceptions, are rarely able to sustain the monetary pressure entailed by a long and fatal illness— George Wflliams died of consumption, and no end of horsemen do thesame thing, consequent upon incessant wasting— and these are oases that ought to be met, < or partially met, at any irate,' by the distressed jockeys' fund- > Then ilast week, again, we have, the case of G. Jackson, and he was a very exceptional boy amongst his class ; he' waa a good horseman, and a hard-working and industrious lad ; and, moreover, it appears that he was the chief support' of his mother— a widow. He went to New Brighton, and received a casual mount oorn r Count d'Orsay, which might have ibeen worth about £2 in the case of his. not win-, ning, and as the sequel proved he carried his life, in his hand when he- crossed the 'saddle, and though accidents are comparatively few on the flat, very few jockeys who have been in practice for a lengthened period have' escaped accident of Borne kind, or even some very (narrow squeaks of actual death. I have seen dozens of accidents, from a broken nose to instantaneous death, over sticks and. fences, but I. can ouly recollect one casein the fiat similar to Jackson's, rand: that resulted in the death, of oWi McDonald, /as fine^ a>mtd->wejght as ever put jfpot.in stkrup. ■Heiwas riding. Buchanan, a 1 grey, horsey the.proipertyof < •$iMc.Manton»"-.or fratheK-Mr-Crawf urd. "• jthfen,"and dnnearjng<the distance. .he .was bang aip<with the. vangaardjn;a;bigffield,.third! off. the; rails, 'il)r,thinkp-tad I .^;Mac.j' ( iwasr.jusj; com<mencing!jjtoJridei him*. 1 Btfehanansawasj a^badr ) brute;-! * hdwever,cothoughsbe (! .had n previously ' •wonjwtbeibLincolnshire-; Handicap—- he, *ac-.. complished f.that feattf through { ; bolting, , and; i overpowering' hißj jockey* •-jrßifliront actiqn ( w,as-. < slovenly^ itooi'andooh' being pushed/ « .bitl at s distance he crossed his'?legs and oamedp|?n(ftnd; aara'lightweight — I; forget at .the/moment .whan , it was— ridden byrWhite(not the ;Nety l^aakad, wentoverhiin and -tipped;, M'Dopaldipn, the' head witbiiihis-.-hoof,* killiDg,,ihim jatoaostt immediatelyiH?*Adcidents oiv thatihand-wDlhap-r jpenxto ony. ijbckey^but- evenfM^Donaidjs s fi»Be^ ibey.ondsj the 7 accident, t. was very> dissjmUar, f ,toJackson's^ he was-^a- fashionable mid-weighttin; igoodlpracticeon a'richfturfj andta.monthjprefr •viooslyhe'had qteereds Fpjchiill-ta.viotc|ry.inrthe.i iGesarewitchj foriwhichtMr fKeene^emuheraJied . himvery Jiandsomelyj and i Walton, ;the, Yankee . .Mplunger^ogave,vhimif£3oop, besides, h ge, <fidr not <reqttire:v/any;rbehefit 'itQUMs&n 4if fcce^eij f jockeys' ffund^but .George Will\amfl,,did, andjßQ] KljdaJaekson? and (Heith^caofctMm^ot ariy t thj^&^ atfd i^{f^nd r vftpta <Sveeha4lißga My WtePPS&m* M»k it is on a bad footing; it seems that every club bas a fond of ita qwo ( amd aa » consequenoe

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one -rarely ' hears of a jockey 3^ benefit from any of them. As a matter of fJ such, a fund and racecourse; -management, two very different things, and-it stands to r?l?r ?l ? that the distressed jockeys' fund ought not fa? under the controls various racing executive, j conducted in business like fashion* It is v n j stood that all fines go to the fund, and if ba used 'legitimately there ;> is no- reason «C the fund should not be confined to tS metropolitan clubs, or to one metropolitan cl^ and a properly audited balance sheet pnblijk annually. Very great -dissatiaf action exists? garding thematter airßiccarton,\and rightly^ I think. Trainers know jockeys *anS' stable Ut and their individual chaifacteri^tica and pecaaU? positions better than, auj body, and if &ju really exists— and .there cannot be any about tuat-T-trainers , are entitled to knowu the money is- appropriated. It appears to a, long odds that the fines levied throughout ttl colony are not wholly disbursed far. the parp^ they are supposed to be mainly intended, M Jackson, for instance, we, had; 'one *of the W clasß boys perhaps that go intbja colonial stj^, he, had every appearance o^i a, , lad the making of ..a good, man in him, he died poor ■ through perfectly legiti^ influences, and, he, died through, the exige^ of his profession. ' What are the: .consequent Cutts, his employer, and Lun.n, whose hors« k rode when he met with the accident at Brighton, have buried him, and a subset^ has been, raised to partially alleviate his pe^ ary loss elsewhere. ■. That might have been dog, even with the distressed jockeys', fund j, proper working order ;- no donbt it would hi\ been in such a case. Racing men are the 004 open-handed men in the world, but theyn, 1 shrewd business men nevertheless. Traium! and in some instances owners, are respond within limits for jockeys while they are stab!) lads at home, and it is quite within , their pn, vince to. look after their advantages .abroad, ujj the sooner the .' distressed; iockeys'' fund i taken inhand and placed, on la proper footbj the sooner will riders be "beyond the immsdiiij generosity of their profession incase of accidett or illness, frequently brought' on by wasting, \ colony like thi?, !requjreß shoh a .fund moti particularly than \a : big,4acirig, cquntry when the ridingd is < mainly cut.i up. between, say, > couple or three dozen professional horsemen, who live by riding alone. ■' j The disparity ',of class >in New Zealand racers is admirably shown in some of SulWi victories. ; I have seen him ,carryipg over 9atit some of the minor meetings, -in Canterbury and - literally walking lover his field, and he carried 9st 71b in a good field i| Wellington and did- ditto. Sultanas certainly 1 good second-class horse, and, he is a horse mti aa iron , constitution, but , notwithstanding hit ■ victories recently he is not a top-sawyer by com. parison with real good cattle such as Carbine. C«. bine would walk over him at weight-for-age,anj so would Manton, fit and well, though he defeated Manton at ,Dunedin. , I fancy Butler is an nj. lucky owner. andArainer ; . in ■ Manton he has 1 real good colt, but he has never been actoallj fit but once, and that was at the' Metropolitw meeting, when he, succeeded in netting a treble, He baa been/ something like Artillery, who 1 believe was a very good ihorue could he have bee: got actually fit. Of coarse, &n owner and traina can do anything with his horses he, likes, pw vided be be^actually owner ,and trainer, and provided the horses are. run straight, in whatever j condition they -.are brought to the,, post, i trainer, • however, even if » he be^ a 'trainer aod owner, is, in the public interest, subject to iht criticism and striotures of/ a properly constitute! sporting press. .Butler is subject to that, aid there is no gettiDg away fiom the fact thil Manton has never had the show that Carbine has; he"would never have won the treble at the Metropolitan meeting had he notbeenieentupto .Hawke's Bay in, charge of Billy, Butler ; he wm raced into condition prior, to that treble^ When sent down to Dunedm again* he was not mv thing like fit to run, and very few trainers wonld 'have sent him there— not many- would have sent him to Auckland, I. opine.., When sent to Dao< edin, however, he waa not anything,, like as well as when sent to ; Auckland. ,^H.B contracted 1 cold when on the' voyage k> Auokland, and lv had not got rid of its effects when sent to Don* edin. Fit and well; Manton could -have walked over Sultan, Vandal, and, »D^udu ,at Dunedm ; of that lam perfectly certain,, and *. fit and well so Carbine i would .evera, have t won? .the. Sydne; Gold Cup,, of that I am , equally certain, Over and above 8.4 Carbine! could never concede Manton 101b. Carbjnejis.the be»i horse- 1 . have seen raced in. the colonies, and bar Ormonde, Isohomy,/Sfy. Gatieh, and Si. Simon, I, have never seen, a three-year-old thil coulddick him, and I now.j believe that »nj one .of these. 'could.; .He; ceßtainly. carried » terrific weight inltha Sydney/ Gold Cup, ball do not believe an. 1 ounce, mqce'j than; St. G»ti«n carried at, the. same .age;, id tbe-Gesarewitch-he carried Bst 101b or, Bgfc 121b, lif I recollect rightly : I have no records, my memory is by only.<, record. I recollect Jsfae race 1 well; fro o half way down the Bushes hill ,the issue never in, donbt, and .St.Gatiea actually rompw home from a< light weight Qf Lordßoseberyj" trained by Joe Cannon—and a French hone^ trained vby, Jennings, and that -nag was a gow one, too; , My, own opinion- of ,that. race is tb»» no competitor in • the. . field , could hart possibly extended «St. -Gatien, .bar Florence and she was jjin the. .same', own* ship, and jaftejrwards won, the Cambridgeshire from Bendigo. , Now,, the CesarewiW handicap was framed on a 71b lower scale && therSydneV Gold Cup— a 5.7 minimum— and Si .Gatien's impost ,was therefore ; more than C«J bine's ; , and it is a .moral .certainty , that the fi«° St. Gati§n .opposed was abejter one all throaga tbaa ; that which opposed Carbine. in the Syon^ vGold Gup.,,. Yet even;^St# GatienJwas never tw horse ,as a three-year-old < th'afe:Qrmpnde v& He was a veritable phenomenon/ .1 1 did nofc»* him winthe Hardwickft:Stakes^a .four-yetf' ,pldr colonies at that time, bat bob the accQuntstxtf j>k& race ipm certain he *•* -notnnJihe.fQriftihe fshjo^ediniihe same tm® jthe^.prevjoua.ni seßson^dJ He->!iiwalked « T^ Melton on that occasion,- i^and: thoog* fku'li^to, J hp?ae, n( I O rflnj r , jsure * Melton «J a9 r ;gop.d .as^M^ting pi»t^>g»»f }M?lton, caj^yingcftl^.^^iqlipry.-in-.the «» Chester Pup^andotha^rWian^Sj some. tWS^f ?"' t in a,fi.eld/{lik§ thj^.thft^ opposed him.,- Myim pressm is, tji^parbine.ls.a^rstTcJass ***& 0T ™ land f ,{opjpiQn,jWas formed, when , he cam rdownj.tOvD.unedm.jas^a^iiw^ryie^r. o^ aDd . 1 .MantouMtreble^tritheo^etMpsytan tneehng i .w^thepnJy.man-rrMriq^rien was,away then .a^,JElicoar^ni,that f mainfained, he.wasja pe«^ horse.^han -Manton; yet J,hav.e; r<Beenr <Been w^ Worses .than Qs^nenl^M^lyW^Z that^u, cannot carry the qoug -pf :^hor^e. Iw,yp«r1 w,yp«r eye \ &i? aJU^bish; ffl l nw -pase&ouit, of 7 jeyecy tgnaac^ng,. writer^ snow mu,<jh^nt 1 a J hqrßa as.the <p)e pjj nj.Uf«» leader writer in the best English P . vjVrf, with the speeches of prominent poutaow*

yfhy, there is no comparison whatsoever, too! 1 firmly believe that the proprietor of the New fork Herald, when he made the remark that a •mod editorial constituted the highest standard of intellectual excellence, was perfectly right ; jie was certainly right by comparison. Cutts is the only trainer that comes out before breakfast at Riccarfcon now, and after Aflhbnrton he says he will be finished for the geagon, and a successful season he mast have jure had too, as success goes now. Mr O'Brien jus evidently postponed a trip to Australia ontil the spring, and Ray has got nothing in totiaiag whatever, though Son-of-a-Gun was walking on the course a few mornings since, flatter is away, and " Billy " looks after his team jo bis absence, and the majority of platers and jumpers are in good work. Mr Taylor seems to be fairly successful tfifch Ins horse.^ Panic won at Timaru and paid » fairly good dividend, and I fancy he is not a bad horde, though his owner says that Snapshot ca n walk over anything he has. Ohudleigh netted a couple of events, and Mr Goodman had a bit of luck with Apropos. I fancy that mare would be a clipping good one for Australian racing; when in form there are few sprinters that can give her weight, and though Mon Loup rjn her pretty closely at Timaru he is not in anything like the same olass. Apropos, howflyer, has been heavily weighted at Ashburton.