CANTERBURY DOINGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1907, 28 August 1890, Page 26

CANTERBURY DOINGS.

Bt RATA.

On Saturday afternoon I acoompanied Mr Stead to Yaldhurst and looked over his magnificent raolna stud located in the Yaldhunt training establishment under the supervision of that excellent mentor K. Mason. On entering the gates and walking over the farm the neatness and the method of arrangement in regard to yards, paddooks, and gardens remind one very forcibly of a miniature tip-top Bnglißh publio stable. The Yaldhurst stable is a private one, but immaterial of that it must be greatly superior to any other racing stable in New Zealand. Eiccarton is supposed, and undoubtedly it is, the head centre of raolng in the-oolony, and no two stables at Blcosrton oonverted into one oould make a training establishment like that at Yaldhunt. Mr Stead, the proprietor of the stud, has perhaps had a more varied experience of the raoeoourao than any Sher owner in Now Zealand. He has raced In BogffiFhTES raced \t the Cape, and he has been one of the most prominent owners of racehorses in New Zealand for many year*. Bar Derby, Leicester, Qosforth NewcStlef New Bams (Man-eater) aod Four of courses that have been laid out in comparatfveTrecent year*. I should not think there h any important racecourse in England that Mr Stead has not seen, aud no doubt he knew the old Leicester, Derby. Newcastle, Manchester, and Birmineham courses before they were replaoed by "gate-money" enclosures and their fixtu.es converted into first class meetings, with leviathan stakes for some of their prinoipal races. Mr Stead commenced racing in '07, and he has consequently been connected with the turf for upwards of 33 years, and nut hit losses agHlnet his wiunlngs during that neriod and I doubt whether they would counterbalancs eaoh other. For a sequence of yews in New Zealand he must have lost a lot of money at racing, and he has never really been successful in wln«in X bia stakes until the last two or three years, and these can hardly square his previous loisos, I fancy. Racine is like this : a profes«ional owner, if he be clever enough, can throw over the publio fcwlce and win the third time for himself, aud neta lot of 'money, but it is different with the sportsman who runs his horses straight. Straight running is not likely to culminate In a bltf coup in respect of handicap raoing, and big coups cannot be landed now in regard to weight-for-age or olaieio racei. Indeed, very little money oan be made in New Zealand beyond what cau- be got out of the totalUator. When tochiel won the New Zealand Oup, for instance, he ran unbacked by his owner, and merely netted the stakes, and Mr Stead's argument is that a good stnke is of more interest to tho turf than good betting, aud there is no getting away fiora this argument. One of the first advocates of the totalisator, Mr Stead must have studied the subject minutely years ago, and now that, we see the effioacy of the machine and hear tha pros and cons of tho totalis*tor v. b iokbetting, there is no doubt that Mr Stead's j jdgraent is and originally was. absolutely right. Professional racing men go dead agaimt the totaliiator, and the reason is obvious ; they want to make aa much money as they can. With a good betting rinp bafore totaliuator days, you could win a JBIOO itake and net £.000 more at an average of 10 to 1, if you had a horse good enough, but now, with the totaliaat'.r, you can net a £1000 stake, and Bhould your horae be in any way known you cannot get £100 out of the maoUine at 'evens" hardly. The monetary part of that business is vies versa, but thera is something beyond the monetary part of the business, as it oponly appears. Tbe totalisator augments straightneas of running. It is a common thiog for a trainer to remark that in tho betting days you could get a " monkey " for "stiffening" a horae for a big race, and then, of course, the "stiffening" process would have the effect of lowering his weight unduly afterwards,

Mr Stead is well known publicly as * sportsman and a business man. In regard to racing there is no gainsaying the amount of benefit be has conferred upon the turf of New Zealand. He has been a teaoher and not a pupil, a sportsman and not a speculator, H , whatever "professional 'speculator* may say to the contrary, and in business he has not I only developed bis own business entirely for his own profit, but in developing that business he has done | so concomitant with an extension of industry, aud in his capacity as a member of the Chamber of .Commerce he has publicly expressed opinions— unique in the colony, aud very apparently the emanation of great forethought and very extensive experiencethat will evontually be discovered as the only accurate method of rapidly developing the agricultural and mineral iresources and the manufacturing industries of this splendid colony. As an owner of racehorses Mr Stead has owned «ome very excellent cattle in England, the Cape, and New Zealand*, and I do not know that Maxim is not about tbe beat horse yet bred in the Australian colonies, not excepting Oarolne and the best of the crack Australian performers ; he is a beautifully made horse and his performances are matter of history. In professional raolng oircles at Biocarton it is well known that as a three-year-old Maxim could walk over Nelson at weight-for-age, both horaei fit and well. , . , , Apart from being a good judge and a spirited buyer, Mr Stead takes very great interest in the pedigrees of thoroughbred stock, and the proved advantages acoruing from the blending of certain strains of blood. In his library he has the most extended racing references that can possibly be got together, not barring the library of the British Museum. He has records of racing extending from the early part of the seventeenth oentury— more than & century before the first English Derby was run— and these reoords are abiolutely complete up to the present. They must be very valuable, and in getting them together they must have cost a deal of trouble and money, even when the services of Mr James Weatherby— seoretary of the English Jockey Club, and in conjunction with the Burlington street firm of Messrs Weatherby. publisher of the English Sheet and Book Calendars -was brought into requisition. Beyond spotting and business Mr Stead takes au uncommonly great interest in art and literature, and in regard to painting he patronises local taleub considerably in respect to animal painting. His library, I believe, is an extensive one, and in it he frequently sits for hours together after leaving his commercial office, and in it no doubt he has thought out some of the bust sporting and commercial methods of improvement he has publioly promulgated. On interviewing the horses at Yaldhurst I was first Introduced to the brood mares, and en passant I may remark that it is now rumoured at Bicoarton that Mr Stead contemplates instituting a stud farm. He did not mention the matter to me, however, and Ihe rumour may only be a canard. Siesta, lately the property of MrHorsford and one of the Busßley matrons exported to Australia, but bought there by E. Ma«on and taken baok to New Zealand again, was the firat brood mare I saw. She was running about in a paddock in company with Auray, by Rapid Bay from an own sister to Onyx— both appear to be good matrons. Burlesque was in the same enolosure, looking a bit rough in a winter Sapphire, by The Drummer— Amythest, by Ambrose from Heroine of Luoknow, is an excellent type of a brood mare. She is in foal to Trenton, Enid, by Apremont— ldalia, is in foal to Lochlel. i Enid is a young mare, and also a small one, and what- ; ever her progeny may prove to be in point of quality, she hardly strikes me as being the equal of Siesta or Sapphire. Both Iris and Marion are in foal to Lochlel, and I should think that both these mares are likely to niok well with the Prince Charlie horse, and though not foaled yet the beit . of his first season's get may spring from Yaldhurat. Excellent judgment has been exercised in mating, both in regard to conformation and blood. Beau Nash, by Oadogan— La Mode, is not a promising youngster in comparison with other horses of the some age in the Yaldhurst stable, but Mr Stead owned both Count d'Oriay and Ohio as two-year-olds, and they won some raoes, and sold fairly well afterwards. The breeding of Beau Nash is uncommonly good, and though I do not think he will ever make a really good racehorse, he is a better made youngster than Count d'Orsay was, though perhaps not as well put together as Ohio. Badiation, by Apremont, is sired by a horse that can get uncommonly fast racers, but it is very difficult to »ay what youngsters may develop into at this season unless they show the actual contour of fir»t-olais hones. Not a bad looking filly is the brown Ranee Nana, but St. George— Watersprite, and though It is very improbable that she will ever become a- tiptopper in good weight-for-age races or in olaislo company, sne has substance enough in the top, and sufficient power in the baok, loins, and quarters to make her a useful filly. She stands over plenty of ground, too. to give her a long stride with plenty of freedom of action, but before anything very poaittve can be said in that respect one must see a racer in work and thoroughly extended, and even then the best judge in the world might be somewhat "out" on casual observation. Some horses go "short" naturally, and other horses with long, sweeping action, even) bounding aotion, go short occasionally for reasons that cannot be deteoted by the oaoual observer. Watersprite. the dam of Banee Nana, is an own sister to Nautilus, one of the best brood mares at present in Canterbury, and a very fast sprinter when she was raolng. A wiry enough looking filly is Nickname, own sister to Nonsense, Oudeis, and Disowned, and she may prove as good as any of the Albanys have hitherto done, but she strikes me as being a very long way behind Melinite, a chestnut filly by Nordenfeldt—Pearlash, who occupies an adjoining box. A good filly is Melinite, with a oapital baok, shoulders, and quarters, and apparently a good set of legs. She has good baok ribs and plenty of length, and she may yet prove one of Pearlasb's bett fillies. Pearlaih has only thrown one colt, and it wbs born dead. Evidently Pearl, one of Pearlash's first foals —the second foal -was a clipper, and I shall be surprised if Melinite does not prove a good one. The brown oolt Silver Knight, by St. George from Bupee, will in all probability further enhance the value of Bupee as a brood mare. He is a nice colt, well grown and powerfully built, and I fancy he is very little behind what his brother Merrie England was at the same age. Rupee has never thrown a bad foal, and though Merrie England may prove to be her best, he has not done so up till now ; Silvermark was a batter youngater and an equally good three-year-old— Silver Knight will run him pretty close, and I do not know that Bxchange was not a better colt than Merrie England had he stood up. Though the highest prio^d lot purchased at Middle Park in November, it is highly probable that Silver Knight will prove the best bargain obtained at that sale. . Maxim appears to be very well indeed, ana but for the difficulty experienced with his heels he would no doubt have been in training yet. His legs are ai sound as ever they were, and as cracked heels do not come within the pale of hereditary diseases, Maxim may be said to be one of the bast thoroughbred stallions now in New Zealand. His conformation is superb, and hie temper about as- good as it very well can be. Should Mr Stead go thoroughly into breeding. I shall not ba surprised to see a second Bylvia Park In Oaufcerbury ytt. Ailments in horses' legs are very difficult ol discovery sometimes, but there h no doubt now that 9cots Grey's lameness last season was centred in tbe knees. His knees are bad now, and their eventua recovery is a matter of great uncertainty. I believe that Scots Grey is a thoroughbred very considerably removed from the average run of racehorses here, and no doubt the almost perpetual lameness that characterised him as a three-year-old militated very materially against an exposition of his real calibre in several valuable stakes, though as his record stands now his three-year-old career was a fairly brilliant one— he is a Derby winner. Clanranald, a choatnut two-year-old colt by St. Leger from Scottish Lnasle, by ScoMi-h Chief out of Rosette, from Bouge Hojg (dam of Bend Or, sire of Ormonde) Is not a bad looking youngster, bufc I do not particularly ctire for the St. Legers somehow. Yet Olanranald has very little blue Wood in his veins, and his conformation is considerably better than some of his sire's past etook— Town Moor to wit -and he may be a very usefnl racer. I should think he will be fast as a two-year-old.

The- brown colt Sword Belt, by Sword Dauce -Necklace, is a strong enough youngster, with p'enty of boue, but like his sire he appears to be a bit coarse, and I cannot understand how Sword Dance was ever imported to the colony. I do not think Sword Belt will ever be a " flyer," though he is undoubtedly out of an excellent mare, and sometimes foals throw back to the dam immaterial of the sire's quality, provided the siro'i blood be all right. A beauty is Lebel, the colt by Nordenfeldt —Pulchra; he is undoubtedly the best looking two-year-old in Canterbury this season. A oolt with plenty of bone aud musole and proportionate all over, with good loim and well sprung ribs, and a

pretty head prettily set on a short, shapely neck. Mr Stead had him taken out Into the gtableyard and put under the standard on Saturday, and he measures exactly 15 hands now, whioh means that at maturity he will be quite a 16 hands horse, and should any other owner have ft better for the present season's chief two-year-old races he may esteem himself very lucky indeed. Lebel is the best of this season's two-year-olds that I have seen. lam afraid there is nothing very first olass at Biocarton. Florrie and the Apremont— Flattery colt appear to be the most fancied of the lot at present. Indeed I fancy that O'Brien's three Tasmamwill all be useful racers. lusty is a youngster I have always liked-, and the Lonadale Lodge two-year-olds are considerably further forward in condition than those from other stables at Kiccarton, but there is nothing trained on the racecourse exercise grounds equal to Lebel. Oarroaade, a brown filly by Nordenfeldt— Rosarina, is a racing-like mire up to a lot of weight. She is now in nice winter fettle, and undoubtedly she will be wanted for the spring. Eosarina is by Traducer, and Oarronade has some excellent staying blood in her, and she also looks like a filly that will have a Ist of pace. I do not care so much for Corolla, by Albany —Water Lily (half-sister to Titan's dam). Her breeding is evidently good enough, and sheis by no means a bad filly, but she appears to me on merely seeing her in her box to be inferior to Oarronade. Oarronade will develop into a good mare if she stands up all right, and perhaps she is as likely to stand up as any racer in the stable. Liquidation, the chestnut half- sister to Maxim, laoks the bone and mueole of her illustrious kinsman. She aeem« a purely wiry sort, but nevertheless a mare that may Jiave no end of pace when properly wound up, as undoubtedly she will be when wanted to race. ... Beyond growing, a colt that has improved very little on his two-year-old appearances is Palliser. He looks a gcod horse certainly— almost all the Nordenfeldts do-but I do not think he will be anything like the equal of Medallion, who occupies the next box. Medallion is in good winter nick, and whether he be raced here or in Australia it may be taken for granted that, bar acaident, he will be perfectly fit when brought to the post. He is a kind of customer ''.hat a good many owners would like to see In Australia about New Zealand Oup time, I fanoy. Moraine is looking unoommonly well, and there are two or three good raoes in that horse yefc, or I am greatly mistaken. He has evidently wintered very well, and he looks considerably bettor than he did in the back end. In regard to the Biocarton horses, Merrie England is going better every day, and no doubt hie style of galloping is sufficient inducement to inculcate confidence in his New Zealand Oup chanoe. Yet I do not believe he will win the New Zealand Cup. Both Oruchfield and Ohudleigb are in active work, and both, for the present, look either like winning raoes or losing publto money. I have an idea that Ghudleigh is likely to stand, however. Dudu is being sent along in earnest, and she never looked better than she does now. My opinion is that Merrie England will, have all his work cut out to lick her in the New Zealand Oup. George Matthews has got Aquarius clipped, and he is slipping the work into him. I have no doubt that he will stand right enough. This (Monday) morning Sheenan had a two-year-old colt out by Hornby from Psyche. Yet lam afraid that Sheenan has nothing amongst his homebred nags that will be first class. Ixion is very well ; he is improving, and he will be a useful horde during the forthcoming season. Like Ahua, it appears to me that he will be good enough to win on the flat in certain company.