CANTERBURY DOINGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1892, 15 May 1890, Page 26

CANTERBURY DOINGS.

By RATA.

Whimberel is said to be a bit bad-tempered, but it is rumoured here that there are more unlikely things than Whimberel beating Gatling in the V.R.C. Derby. That is merely hearsay, however. Nobody here beyond Mr O'Brien knows anything about Whimberel's quality. The owner of Dudu was recently asked by Mr Wilson, the purchaser of Pygmalion, to put a price on the mare. £1000 was the price required, but no deal has yet been effected. Yet if Dudu be worth £300 in New Zealand she must be worth £1000 in Australia.

There was very little adverse criticism on the Riccarton course on the receipt of Mr Dowses weight adjustments for the Dunedin May meeting. I saw the St. George — Hammock colt, passed in at lOOga at Middle Park after the 6. J.Ck Autumn meeting, being broken in the other day. He is not a bad colt certainly, but he is a long remove from a first-class horse nevertheless.

The concluding steeplechase at the C.J.C. Grand National meeting will be reduced by missing a majority of the etiffest fenoes in the oountry.

There has been something of a row between H. Lunn and Kingan in regard to 'the latter taking away one of Lunn's boys. The boy was not apprenticed, and I do not see that the C. J.O. can do much in the matter. The apprenticeship ought to be enforced.

The removal of the disqualification of Nana and J. D. Hill by the Port Victoria Club has been endorsed by the C. J.C.

After a short spell of exceedingly summerlike weather, winter has now set in with a severity sufficient to recall to the racing man the season of sticks, fences, and "leppe'rs." We have no coursing in this neighbourhood, and indeed Dunedin seems to enjoy a monopoly of that very excellent winter pastime. I have no doubt, however, that there are many old coursing men in Otago and Canterbury, who first made a sporting acquaintance with puss and the longtails in the vicinity of • the Borders, who may object to the fairness of the enclosed system in a park no bigger than the Iforbury ; but sb a matter of fact it has been demonstrated that hares have a greater chance of getting away through the escapes id an enclosed park than they have in the open. The greatest inequitable disparity iv open and enclosed coursing rests with the dogs. In an enclosed park a clever, well-trained greyhound can frequently dispose of a faster and stronger opponont that would beat him pointless over an open and slightly undulating country. Enclosed coursing is a comparatively receut innovation, and for a season or two it waß a miserable failure ; but it has been improved almost to perfection, and beyond doubt it has become more popular with the public than open coursing for various reasons, The first method adopted by the promoters of enclosed coursing meetings was to procure as many hares as necessary immediately before they were required for coursing. They were then penned in, and virtually hand fed for three or four days. When sport commenced puss was caught and put into a kind of bag iUid tftkou out to a certain y in), aod lot loo^o, whoa s;he do£& wore iminedialsiy slipped. On one occaf-ioii I recollect a Imro literally rolling over, unable to run a yard, just after it was lot out of the bag, and before the hjunds were well out of slips. Performances of that kind— and they wem tolerably frequent at two or three meetingn— naturally inculcated great objeotion to the enclosed system of coursing cm its first introduction ; but now hareß are bred and turned loose in park?, and well fed, the difficulty of weak bares is wholly obviatad. Ou its promotion enclosed coursing appeared in ho one of the last movements likely to gain rapid popularity, but very few of the most conservative of the old school of coursing men do not patronise it.

Though Otago holds supreme sway in regard to coursing, Canterbury can concede her no end of points in Bteeplecbasing, and it would be impossible to make a Bteepleobase country in Forbury Park like that at Riccarton. A most interesting fixture, too, is the C.J.C. Grand National meeting, and the schooling of the steeplechasers, hurdle racers, and hunters for that and the Hunt Club meeting is about as interesting of a morning ab the galloping of the New Zealand Cup candidates m the spring, I fancy there will be a lot of competition for the various events this season, and no doubt a strong contingent of iNorthern horses will put in an appearance. i VK t0 make a Mature of jumping in the North Island, and since I have been here their horses have been considerably in front of anything m Canterbury or Otago. Ahua is very considerably the best jumper here now, and he is a NorA Island horse, and it is very probable that the North Islanders may find something better than him at the weight he is have been the kind of horse to have landed a coup in Australia had he been taken over before his form was exposed, and even now I do not ccc that he could get altogether crushed out" in consideration of the kind of cattle he has defeated in New Zealand. There is no doubt that the decision of the C.J.O. Committee in regard to an omission of the fence at Outts' and some other obstacles in the final steeplechase has been brought about by last year's fiasco with Irish King and another. That the idea is a good one is obyimiß. Theracementionedis a kind of Consolation, and doubtless some of the horses that will go to the post for that event will do bo in consequence of having fallen previously by reason of not having been schooled over similar fences. It is said that the Grand National country at Riccarton is not as stiff as some of the steeplechase countries in Australia ; but it is stiff enough, nevertheless, and horses not used to similar obstacles will always come down occasionally. I fancy they ought to have a schooling fence at Riccarton, something like the obstacle opposite Cutts', in addition to the fences now in uce for educational purposes.

I do not know whether Ab.ua be likely to go to Dunedin with the weight apportioned him in the Hurdle Race, but I hear that Chain Shot in the same stable will be a competitor at the Forbury. He Beems to be going sound enough, and though he does not appear to be os stood as he was in the spring of his three-year-old season, he still possesses the gift of galloping to a certain degree, and should he stand up during the winter and spring he may yet return to his best form. At Dunedin he will be considerably above the majority of his opponents in front of class, and he may even run well there.

The weights for Amberley have been published, and apparently, they are fairly well adjusted. Count d'Orsay has been awarded pride of place in the Ambarley Cup, but the field appears to be anything but a good one, and on some of his running Count d'Oreay must have a chance. Preston and Sankey have been weighted at 8.0 and 8.4 respectively in the same race, and at both also claim liabilities in the Teviotdale Plate, Sheenan will no doubt journey up with them. Marie also claims a double liability, being weighted in the Amberley Cup at 6.7 and in the Teviotdale Plate at 7.3. She is not worth training if she is not worth running with these imposts, and it may be that she will never pay training expenses unless she be sent up-country and raced as a district mare. Marie is the kind of raoer that a 'couple of victories in £20 plates would be likely to "cooper" on the score of after weight. It appears that the Kangiora meeting was a fairly successful reunion. A majority of Riccarton habitues journeyed up, and a couple of stakes were netted by Catamount and Ruby, Tommy Lyford won the Hurdle Race on Bloodsucker, but was disqualified by the stewards for interfering with Landsborough. Tommy fancies it was a bit of hard luok to get disqualified, but a majority of people seem to think that Landsborough was good enough to have beaten Bloodsucker on equitable terms in regard to riding. Catamount succeeded in getting first past the post for the first time at Rangiora, and now he has commenced to win we may see something of his true form. White has made a lot of improvement in him recently, and he is a certain runner at the Dunedin May meeting. Ruby also scored at Rangiora, and might have been to the fore on another occasion but for having to carry a 71b penalty. The penalising system is a most excellent one. There are a lot of horses in training up North Canterbury way, and it is said that they have some fair plateru and hacks in the neighbourhood of Rangiora. Tommy Sheenan tells me that he has "chucked"' up Sankey, and that he is now being trained by his owner, and in all probability he will be sent to Amberley. He is not of much account, however. The chestnut two-year-old by St. George, in the same stable, is progressing very well, and I believe bis owner considers him a cheap horse, and could have got £20 'on his bargain shortly after buying him. No doubt he will bo put in work presently. A majority of the yearlings here have been broken in now, hut except Yaldhurst can produce something pood, I doubt whether the best of next season's two-year-olds will be as smart as the best of those raced during the present season. Tommy Stewart is putting a lot oE work into St Ivos and Northcolo, and Erin- go Bragh is evidently being schooled in view of tba big hurdle race in the Grand National insoling programme. I should think it would be profitable to put BomG of tho hunters required for tba Hunt Club meeting into work now. ' When a trainer gets a hunter or two threo weeks boforo he is wanted for racing he cr.n improve him vory little, and it is beyond doubt that a d<-al of impro\ ement can ba effected in horses regularly hunted only. Why not train and hunt them at the same time ? Hunting will not in itself train homes for racing. Ruby and Lord Aston will both go to Dunedin, and both are in excellent fettle. Catamount was never fitter than be is now, and it is said he is a certain starter at the Forbury. The Riccarton contingent will be pretty formHable at the D J.O. May meeting.

Pygmalion will leave for Victoria in a clay or two. His freight has been fixed at £25.

R. Mason is going over to Sydney for a trip at th.> end of the week. He tilcis uo h jrs-e-i with him, and the trip will bo a. result of his r-Tenfc illness. He will get warmer we ither over there,

Monteagle is in work again, but his legs do not look particularly well.

Mr Clifford, I hear, will nominate his horses for th<* weighl-for-ago races in Dunedin in future, bur. I have not heard whether Mr Stead intends doing ho.

This (Wednesday) morning I looked over < he J agnail— Nautilus filly, and undoubtedly fihe is a pronmiug foal, though I do not; suppose Pygmalion's fine turn of speed is expected in, her wholly. Crackshot, Butler's two-year-old, is being

kept active, and no doubt a lot of work will be I put into him during the winter in view of J spring engagements. He will be a good three-year-old; and should Thackeray's temper be improved at the post he will take all the 1 beating the best of them can give him over sprint oaurses. He is a very speedy colt. (