CANTERBURY DOINGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1900, 3 July 1890, Page 26

CANTERBURY DOINGS.

Bt RATA.

In a colt by Nordenfeldt— Pulohra Mr Stead has one of the most promising youngsters in Canterbury, and one likely to prove a brilliant two-year-old. I have not seen him, but he has a big reputation at Bicoarton, and it is very evident that he Is a good looking one. Amongst those trained on the racecourse ground I do not think there will be anything exceptionally brilliant in the two-year-old division. Should the Flattery colt in Lunn's stable remain perfectly Bound, and show an absence of the waywardness characteristic of some of his relations in tho past, he will train early in the spring and gallop fAst. In Florrle, by Tasman— Bubina, Mr O'Brien has an excellent filly in point of symmetry, but if the Pulohra colt ba as good as his reputation makes him he may probably be good enough to put down auythiug of his age at present in Canterbury. Nothing in the Chokebore Lodge lot seems to possess more than ordinary quality, but the likely galloping capacity of youug horses is very difficult to gauge at this season. When they get into strong work in the early spring they sometimes develop! unexpected speed, though perhaps more frequently their performances are vice versa when highly thought of in respect of breeding, conformation, and action. Yet it does not appear probable that Chokebore Lodge will be as successful in the chief juvenile events of the forthcoming season a 9 it has been in paßfc years with such as Oyuisoa and Pygmalion. The Middle Park pair in work appear to be progressing very satisfactorily. Mr Webb's colt by July— Veno ia now being broken in ; he is well made and very quiet, but I doubt whether the Julys will be up to the quality of the Tasmans. The Wave filly is exercised every morning on the racecourse, and she is going on well enough in her exercise, but it appears to me that the Veno colt will be greatly her superior. A peculiarity of colonial horses is centred In long tails, but the tall of the Wave filly has been ! cut somewhat short, considerably shorter than I have seen that of auy racer here. She has not been dooked, but the hair has been cut pretty close to the stump. Horses' tails is a subject that has for years entailed a lot of discussion in regard to docking, and there appears to be very little or that kind of thing in this oolony. It is absolutely unnecessary in racers, but I am strongly of opinion that it is really required in hunters, in consideration of the season they are hunted and the constitution of the ground over whioh they travel. In regard to racehorses, however, many trainers like to out the tail pretty short, and it certainly cannot do any harm to a horse iti training should it fail to do any go >d. The tails of a majority of racehorses here are not attended to beyond being kept faultlessly dressed, or ecrewed up in heavy going on training tracks. Mr Webb is about the only owner or mentor I have seen that has cut the tails of his horses, and he appears to generally adopt a modified English fashion ; he outs the tail flush aoross in line with the hocks. ¥et perhaps in regard to racers the style of tail trimming is more or less a matter of fancy or a matter of usage. Kegarding Mr Webb's youngsters there is little doubt that the Veno colt will prove the best of the trio for next season's two-year-old racing. Landsborough is baok at Lunn's again b9ing trained for the Grand National and other events in the Grand National programme. He was given a strong gallop over the schooling fences this morning Incompany with .Ahua, and there is a deal of difference in the quality^of the pair. Ahua shows the quality of a good racehorse, and his stamina be sufficient to compass the " National " country he will require no end of beating. Lunn rode him over the fences this morning, and no doubt he will also pilot him in the big cross-country event. There is a big pcmt-and-rail fence in the centre of tbe c mrse, just opposite the hotel gates, put up for schooling purposes, that trainers of chasers and hunters do not particularly care for. At any rate they only send their horses over it on exceptional occasions ; yet the jump is not a bad one by any means, and I should aay somewhat lower than some •f the tod walls. There were some gooi jump 3 over that fence last season immediately before tho Grand National, aud no doubt there will be some jumping over it again beforeflShe decision of the big steeplechase. It is a fence that will not "glre" iuany way, and last year a jockey got his collar bone broken when riding Gunpowder (ft good jumper) over it, and no doubt accidents of tbat kind frequently induce truineis au<l riders to give it a wide berth. A post-and-rail fence is more dangerous than an ordinary wall a jaiehow, but the schooling fence at Biccarton cannot bo anything like as stiff as some of the iron-bound log fdiicos t hey have in Victoria. Mr O'Brien and Tommy L.y ford ware of the party when tho obstacle was being criticised this (Monday) morning, and neither was of opinion that it waa a difficult fence for any fairly well-schooled steeplechaser, . . i I was in conversation with the original owner of Hercules to-day, and singularly enough I In9peoted the fence where he was killed yesterday morning. It is beyond the present Grand National country, and nearly opposite the five furlong post. It is a stlffiah kind of jump with a tolerably wide ditch on the taking-off side, but the former owner of Heiculas informed me today that the horse had negotiated the obstacle on many occasions previous to meeting wiih hia fatal accident, and that the accident must have been a result of racing bang on to the fence when it was really turned at nn angle. There is a lot in that, too, and one of thjj most rasping jumps in the present "Natioual country would be at a very considerable angle if a jockey got on to the course proper and paised the racecourse rails closely, and a knowledge of chese things make the services of mon like Ly ford and Stewart, who know every inch of the journey, valuable. The sod wall at the top turn in tbe present country is also ah an angle, nnd requires judgment and un iutimatH knowledge of tho ground m negotiation. Obstacles like these require mat accurate manipulation, and over a country like the Grand National at Biccarton au accomplished honeman is worth a bit of weight. Erin-go-Bragh is being pushed along in earnest in view of the Grand- National meeting, and I fancy he will make an uncommonly good timbertoDper: but Sheenan tells me he is not going to persevere with Preston over sticks. He is not up to sufficient weight apparently, and it is loss of labour to educate a jumper for the 9>t division in inferior company; one rattling good "second." in his own

class might pretty well "cooper" him as a monetary success. Ruby and Peerswick are in good winter fettle, and no doubt both will be prepared for spring engagements. I should, however, like to see Mr Webb have a better in his stable than any of the pair. Orackahot, Bay King, and Thackeray are being worked steadily. Bay King Ido not particularly care for ; he lacks substance, and he is down on the near quarter. As a vearllng the breeder of that colt entertained a very high opinion of him, I believe. I understand the breeder was a lady, and that the youngster was sold on the express condition that he would be named Bay King. Lunn has got a big team of horses, and a very useful team at that, including Ahua, Ixion, Landsborough, Merrle England, Chain Shot, Count d'Orsay, and the Apremont— Flattery colt, about the biggest^ string brought out of a morning at present. Chain Shot is in good work, and it is evident that hopes are entertained of his standing. Should he stand he Is an uncommonly good horse, and lie was unfortunate in meeting Manton in the Derby of two seasons since. I fanoy, though, that Son of-a-Gun was just about at good at that time ; that roan broke down too early to show his real calibre on a publio racecourse. I know that his owner thought he had a very good thing in that horse for the New Zealand Oup when he ran second. A good many people about here think that Abua will go for the Grand National Hurdle Race in preference to the Grand National Steeplechase, but I should hardly thiuk so. My impression is that the stablo will be represented in the National by Ahua and Landsborough.and injthe bighurdle race by Ixion. It seems impossible that Ahua can run in the National and then win the hurdle race under 12,8 on ; a 9.0 minimum. For whatever raoe he goes he will have a big say at the finish. It appears that Daddy Longlegs is being trained at Tlraaru this Beason. and tbat his connections are somewhat sweet on his chance of success. I do not know anything about him beyond the fact that be is fancied by certain sections here. There is no gainsaying the fact that he is a good jumper and has previously compassed the course, but he is not the class of horse that Ahua is or that Mangaohane is, and if he be good enough to win the " National " he ought to have done so last year. There is a lot of lottery In oross-country raolng, however, and with an accident or two jumping ability and staying oapaoity might bring " Daddy " home. Still acoideuts are the " fortunes of war," and you can hardly stand an Inferior horse on tbe " off ohance" of aooldent in snch a field unless you know something very unlikely, to be known, or very unlikely to exist in such a field. I do not know how Little Arthur is actually progressing at Ashburton, but when I aaw him down here be jumped hurdles wonderfully well, and he impressed me as a horse likely to stay well over fences, and travel fairly fast too. In regard to weight be oould nob be very much better in in the " National." Mexico has been regularly hacked about the roads recently, but he is not In training on the course, He is a capital jumper, and it appears to be an open secret that he will be reserved for the Hunt Olub meeting. Catamount is in good winter nick, and notwithstanding some of his running la?t year I bellevejhe will be a good horse now. When a two-year-old, I know he could travel very fast ; he could show his heels to Sultan over half a mile at a certain conoession of weight, and that form in itself is good enough. Yet a singularity in some horses is that they will run better on apublio raceauurse than they will on the training tracks at Kiccarton, and Sultan was one of those. No doubt the seoret of that rests in the fact that they like grass better than they do a plough or tan gallop, and for that reason, immaterial of the difference of actual raoing and exercise galloping, youngsters ought always to have the advantage of a good grass gallop. Mr O'Brien's horses are in steady work regularly, and it appears evident that some of the youngsters will prove serviceable horses if not even particularly brilliant as two-year-olds. Hazel, the two-year-old by Nordenfeldt, is a filly that will be heard of in the future. Butler thinkß tbat Agent was the bast chaser that (ever looked through a bridle— better than Clarence— and he would like to'have an Agent in tho coming " National." I should like to see him have one too ; he is the kind of owner one likes to see have a slice of luok.