TALK OF THE DAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1947, 18 June 1891, Page 25

TALK OF THE DAY.

BY MAZEPPA.

*„,* The report that the Government intended to tax the totalisators turns oat to be true. The Budget embodies a proposal to levy a charge of 2£ per cent, estimated to yield £10,000 per year. This estimate is probably within tbe mark. Last season the total amount put through the totalisators in tbe colony was £579,414, and I think it will this season run to nearly £600,000. The money is there, and the Government will have it. The only question is which party is to bear the tax. It must be either the owners or tbe investors. It can't be tbe olubs. If the tax is made a charge on the olubs' receipts what will happen, what must happen, is tbat stakes will 1 be reduced by tbe amount of the tax, I don't think this would be wise. Owners have a bit tbe worst of it aa it is, under the present system. The only alternative is to put the tax on the dividends, and make tbe winners pay it. That seems to me to be the lesser of the two evils. It would of course be made a grievance, but as it could not be avoided we should Boon learn to put up with it, and, after all, 'the Dunedin, Auckland, and Canterbury people, and those belonging to other places where tbe dividends are calculated to a sixpence, would not be muob, if any, worse off than those wiio go to race meetings where they don't break the shilling. This will be better understood after reading some remarks in a paragraph later on in these notes. * -•«•

* # * The powers, above only know when the limit of stake money will be reaobed in New Zealand. I am beginning to doubt whether there is an appointable limit. Tbe amount grows larger and larger in the case of nearly eveiy club of importance, and reductions are rarely heard of, These remarks are suggested by the faot that the Canterbury Jookey Club has just adopted programmes for the next season showing an all-round increase in added money. To the Spring meeting £5080 will be given as against £4585 in tbe moribund season ; to the Summer meeting £680 as against £600; to the Autumn meeting £2430>s against £2150 ; making an increase on the three meetings of £555, and a total of £8190 as against £7635 for the three meetings in the season now expiring. Figures show tbat in the Bpaoe of 10 years the olub has so improved its revenues as to be able to more than double its added money ! For the season of 1881 82 the amount given by tbe club was £3570, and that sum topped .the list of New Zealand olubs, Dunedin being about £400 and Auokland about £500 behind Canterbury in tbat season.

%• Are not these returns somewhat startling 1 I think so ; and remembering further that a corresponding advance is Bhown by other leading clnbs during tbe interval, and that the improved state of affairs has been attained unto in spite of the depression whioh we are now happily ceasing to talk about, and notwithstanding the faot that our population has not increased as fast as the census men would like it to, the comparison is little short of wonderful. Just one example, extracted from my records, to show what tbe inorease comes to in some items, Take the added money of the five principal metropolitan clubs for the season now dosing, 1890-91, and compare it with the added money of the season just a decade ago, and this is what we find : — 1886-81. 1890-91. £ & Dunedin ... ... 2,805 10,590 Canterbury ... 3,570 7,635 Auckland... ... 2,356 7,305 Hawke'tßay ... 750 3,775 Wellingson ... 1,283 3.725

Xotals ... £10.772 £33,030 And the comparison is slightly unfair to tbe latter date, because, for the sake of being strictly correct, I have left out of count tbe Grand National, which is to all intents and purposes a fixture of the Canterbury Jockey Olub — the reason for its omission being that the. alteration of date puts off tbe meeting to August, wherefore there is no Grand National between the actual period comprised in the racing year from August Ist 1890 to July 31st 1891. Tbe figures are, hewever, sufficiently impressive as they stand. The improvement represents 10 years' operation of the totalisator — nothing else, for nowadays stewards are not made to suffer the indignity of being compelled to go round with the bat.

%* The death of Mr Henry Sampson provides " Augur " with material for a readable paragraph. During Sampson's short stay in Australia says the authority referred to, I suppose I saw more of him than anybody else. To most people be appeared to be retiring and morose, but this was the consequence of being a martyr to gout, whioh never helps to sweeten the temper. To me be reemed to " cotton," &b the Yankees say, and I had several pleasant times with him. He told me the story of bis life, and it was very similar to my own — perhaps that accounted for his warmness of feeling. Like myself and many of the sporting writers of England and Australia, be commenced life as a " printer's devil," then went on as a compositor, and by the time he bad served his apprenticeship he found himself writing sporting pars for the papers. He was an anthusiaatio disciple of boxing, and, as an amateur, was one of its cleverest exponents. Gradually be worked bis way upwards, but the remuneration for sporting matter in his yonng days was not princely. With about 500 others, he and John Corlett applied for a position whioh was open on the Sporting Life. A weekly article was to be provided, and tbe pay about £2 10a a week. It was thought to be odds on either Sampson or Oorlett getting the billet, but, fortunately for both, neitEer was placed. Subsequently Henry Sampson fell in with a brother of Sir Charles Dilke, and they started the Referee— Dilke finding tbe money and Sampson tbe brains, " Fen- ,

dragon's" incisive style of writing quickly caught the publio taste, and the Referee became the most popular of sporting journals. G. R. Sims, the famous playwright, was engaged to write a weekly article, and tbe Referee went off like hot cakes on a frosty morning. Dilke died, and Sampson became sole proprietor. He lost several thousands in libel actions, but this only made the paper go better. John Oorlett was equally fortunate, for he got hold of the Sporting Times. "And now," said Henry Sampson, as he finished tbe story of bis life, "instead o£ slaving on the press for a few pounds a week, John Corlett and I are making nearly £10,000 a year from our respective papero."

\* Three brood mares weeded out from Mr W, R, Wilson's stud were recently brought to the hammer in Melbourne, and went for a mere song. These were Akeake's daughter Moonlight, one of Captain Walmsley's breeding—a mare that missed good opportunities when in the land of ber birth, having failed to produce raoerß to tbe best of the Auckland sireß ; the Otagobred Envious, known some years ago as tbe Envy filly ; and old Rnupo, dam of Mata and grand-dam of Huguenot. The matron last mentioned is now 22 yeara of age, and therefore about done for, and the othe^ two referred to are well up in years. They were all served by Nordenfeldt laat spring, and it is believed that Envious is in foal, wherefore she was a bargain at the price paid. The other pair have presumably missed, and if so are of oourse next to valueless. At the same sale some well-bred youDg stock, by sires such as Boolka, Glorious, Epigram, Sardonyx, and Robinson Crusoe were disposed of at very low prices ; and a yearling by Sheet Anohor was quitted at 35gs. These must not be regarded as test prices. The lots S6nt up must have been mere weedings out.

•„• During the week I made a call at the Hon. G. M'Lean's stable, and was courteously shown round by M'Guinneas, who, as usual, had everything in apple-pie order and the stable as smart as a bank parlour. Of the seven horses quartered here the ones that seem to me to be improving the fastest are Dilemma and Conjurer. Dilemma now stands about 15hda l£in, so tbat be will not be a very little fellow when be has done growing, though he is so sturdily built as to look less than bis real height He will at any rate be bigger than his mother, and she was big enough to win two Dunedin Cups. This colt has the cut of the workman about him— ajnice short, well-arched back, good shoulders, capital quarters, and with musoular arms and thighs — in faot, he is a well proportioned horse, blessed with an honest disposition, the best of health, and a nice even temper, and if he does not turn out one of the most reliable that Warrington has yet produoed I shall be mistaken injhim. Conjurer is a different kind of colt altogether— not so stiffly set up, and more of a gentleman as tbe phrase goes, but I am satisfied tbat he is a colt of high courage, clean in bis limbs, and sound in every respect, while he has an undeniable turn of speed, as was shown when he finished alongside of Taaßy in the Rußsley Stakes— a raoe that he might have won if he had come round the home turn a bit handier, or if he had not been asked to give Tassy weight, for the winner was nearly all out. Conjurer iB in robust health, and could be got ready for racing at very short notioe. He has never been siok nor sorry so far. Dormeur keepß well, and when tbe warm weather oomes he will be able to do without the covering over his eye which he has worn for some time. Pique iB a mare tbat would soon be knocked out by rough handling, being a delicate kind of member that has also suffered a good deal with her teeth ; but with care she keeps wall — indeed, I never saw her looking better, and perhaps when she ages another year she may give us more frequent reminders in publio tbat she is not a commoner by blood or in shape. Little Emmason's leg is sound again, and the colt is in great heart, ready to start another preparation. What there is of him is all grit and good temper, and ha is about as slippery a beginner in a race as I c&n put my finger on. The two-year-old by Gorton out of Lady Evelyn has not yet had time to work himself into shape ; and the yearling colt by Le Loup— Indolence is of course alao only commencing* his work, but in regard to this last-named member it is easy to sea already tbat he is the makings of a handsome colt, nicely proportioned and well grown, and just the joifc_oi_ youngster that may develop into a Cup winner. He is certainly a cut above what his halfbrother Dormeur was like at the same age. M'Guinneas may be justly proud of the healthy and well-oared-for appearanoe of every mem- ' ber of this lively team, and I hope that next season he may land a good stake with one or two of them.

%* Although every sporting paper of any note 'in Australia laid itself out specially to prevent any of its patrons overlooking the faot that 4 o'clock on Monday, the Ist of June, was tbe very latest hour and date for receiving entries for tbe Melbourne Cup, &o, &&, I have no doubt (writes "Freelance") tbat at least half a score of owners of ha'f a score of third-rate horses will, as per custom, next November, explain bow they didn't .win the £10 000 Cup, and attribute their bad luck to tbe lack of publicity accorded by the sporting press to tbe date of receiving entries. Here's a sample:— -"'Twas like this, old man. My roan colt O'Sbea — him as won tbe great Handicap at Busbton last Easter come two years, with Paddy Murpby vp — was a dead moral for this Melbourne Cup and Derby as well. Carbine wouldn't have been in it with him. Deuce a word I saw about the Ist of June in the papers, so I sends down to enter him in good time a full two months before the race, and, begad, Mr Miles/ who seems to be tbe racing boss in Melbourne, tells me I'm too late, and they wouldn't let him start at all, and that's how I lost the Melbourne Joup." " How old was he then, Jack, if you were going to enter him for the Derby?" "Old iB it? Well, he won the Gippsland Derby as a year* ling in '84, so age wouldn't trouble him. 'Twaa the dates tbat puzzled him. I'll make - sure next time anyhow. Next year I'll enter him for the Derby and Cap of 1898, and see whether this Mr Miles will block us then." Far fetched this 1 Not by any means. Drop into any bush pub in tbe baok blooks towards ■ tbe tail end of next October, when all Australia has caught the Cup fever, and you'll hear such whys and wherefores and apologies generally for not winning Derbies and Cupa as will place my mild and chronologically correct ' yarn entirely in the shade. *#* r Jhe great Ascot meeting, which was oooupying the Englishmen's attention last week, may be dubbed the Australians' Ascot. Mr Cooper will not be ashamed of being called an Australian. He is one at any rate, and the first of tbe colonials to make a mark at Home in races of the class of the Prince of Wales' Stakes, now won by his filly Melody, the English- bred daughter of Tynedale and Glee. Besides this Mr Cooper landed tbe Gold Vase with Mons Meg. This stake, though less valuable than the onß taken by Melody, iB perhaps, the more difficult to win, and it is almost enough to warrant a "cock-a-doodle-doo" to find an Australian-bred youngster getting home

in a long-distance event, thus justifying to some extent the olaim put forward on behalf of our cattle, that their Btrong point is staying. Mons Meg is evidently about the best raoer so far transferred from the light of the Southern Cross, though it must be Been that the horses she beat in the Vase are no great shakes at weight for age, and it is probable that Melody is the better of the pair. The daughter of Glee is, one might guess, only about one remove rom firat-olass. She was beaten when sent for *' classic " honours, but she is able, notwithetanding her penalty, to take it out of Orvieto, one of the winter favourites for the Derby. In the Gold Oup, alas I our Australian filly was beaten out of a place. %♦ The Wellington Conference will find plenty of work to do; and if the members are disposed to spend time in deliberation on the various subjects brought forward, instead of galloping through-the order paper in a formal way, a deal cf .good may be done. Among other matters notice of which have been given is Mr Clifford's motion in reference to racing partnerships. I do not know how it will be worded, but the object, I understand, ia to make the registration of all such partnerships compulsory, bo that in the event of disqualification the guilty parties may be all punished. The presumption is, I presume, that the nominator may be a man of straw, put forward as a scapegoat for the more important personage, the real owner, to whom disqualification would be a severe blow. If this is the idea it is a very good one, but I am not quite clear aB to whether it can be carried out. It could not without a considerable amount of trouble. Take for example the case of a bill of sale being given over a horse. That implie3 a partnership of a kind. Would that have to be registered? I should think so, beoaußs in some instances the party lending the money would exercise what pressure he could to control the running of the horse. In other cases advantage of the position would not be taken— it would all depend on what manner of man it was that lent the money— but it is a proverb aB old as Solomon that the borrower is servant to the lender, and to make quite sure of nabbing the right party, the stewards wonld have to know who had the ordering of the horse's doings. Further, for the same reason it would have to be formally intimated who were concerned when horses are taken by trainers on termß, as they often are. If these precautions are not taken, the registration of partnerships will be apt to become a farce, and the means of diverting punishment from instead of- direoting it to the parties who are actually to blame, for it must be remembered that nothing would be easier than for a man who meditated a swindle— say of the Warepa kind— to be artful enough to register beforehand as partners in the ownership a couple of unknown acoomplioee to whom racing law would have no terrors. If, on the other hand, theße precautions are taken, it means a deuce of a lot of work and trouble, and if the thing is started it must be gone through with. In this connection it may also be pointed out that Rule 67 already provides that a club may require to be disclosed the name of the bona fide owner or owners of any horse presented for entry. Mr Clifford evidently wishes to go a step further than thfc, wherefore he proposes, it may be supposed, to proceed somewhat on the lines indicated above. If the practicability of the proposal can be shown I for one wish him luok. Anything to stop swindling. *«* The Hawke's Bay Olub has several matters to bring forward. One of these is a proposal that no steepleohase shall be less than two miles, with at least a dozen tenoes in that distance, and at least six fences in each succeeding mile. It is new to have a rule on this subject, but I do not know that there are many ateeplechasea in the colony at Bhorter distancea than two miles, and if the rule is passed it will make very little difference. Why it should be passed I do not know — there are probably good reasons, and these will doubt* less be advanced. I should have thought it would have been better to legislate in the direction of cutting down some of the longer distances, Bimply on tha score of humanity. The club's Beoond proposition, to make it unlawful to have hurdle (races of less than two miles, is almost sure to meet with opposition. What objection can there be to hurdle races at a mile and a-half ? Some of the beat races over the little sticks that we have seen at Riocarton and at the Forbury have been at this distance, and the shorter course gives the seoond-clasßers a show, which surely may be allowed without opening the door to an aoopsation that we are pandering to an indifferent class of horeea. Our experience does not lead to the conclusion that that ia the case. There ia another suggestion from the same source as to the restricting the number of races to be inoluded in a day's work, it being proposed to make this new rula : "At any meeting held on any date from September 1 to April 30, not more than eight; races Bhall be included in any one day's programme, and from May Ito August 31 not more than seven racas shall be included in any one day's programme." Personally I should be satisfied with five or six races a day, but there is no principle involved so far as I can see, and if there is not there can be no use in making a rule on the aubjeot. * %♦ A f urther'proposition made by Hawke's Bay is that rules of the totalißator should be incorporated with the Rules of Racine. That is a very good notion, as an endeavour to ensure uniformity in the working of the mabhine. I oannot hope, however, that all the rules suggested will be adopted, At least three of them are open to grave objection. In the first plaoe, it is not fair that " all money invested on soratohed horses goes to the winner, aud can on no account be returned." Why cannot it ba returned ? It is surely not a difficult job to deduct such moneys from the total and pay them back to the rightful owners after the race. I say rightful owners because in all fairness the investments so received cannot belong to the clvb — they are obtained by accidental misrepresentation for which the investors are not in the least degree responsible. When a horse's name iB put upon the face of the machine the presumption is that it is a legitimate means of speculation. It ia supposed to be put there for that very purpose, and — here is the test — it iB no part of the publio duty to find out how it came there. Granting, for the sake of argument, that investors are snppo. ci to inquire as to the right of every horse to be represented en the totalisator, what a pretty state cf affairs we should have. People rushing in an endless string to the secretary to ask assurance as to every horse on the maohine. The idea is absurd, and more than absurd, fox if such a system were tolerated it would be bound to engender carelessness, and perhaps open the door to suspicion of something worse.

•„,* There will always be the risk of an occasional mistake in putting up the horse's names on the face of the machine. I remember one happening at the Taisri. I had just walked out of the stewards' dark hole after writing a paragraph about St. James' win of the chief event, when I" ran against Walter Buddioombe, apparently waiting to weigh out. Not recognising the colours he was wearing I asked him what he was going to ride in tha next race. " Nightshade, sir," he replied, and thaßking him, I passed away, determined to

lose on that mare the half soy that I had already made if I could find a friend of my way of thinking. The first man I spoke to was agreeable, and be went off to get the tioket. By the time he had squeezed in, Nightshade's name had been removed, signifying that she was soratched. My friend oame and told me, but I had seen Nightshade do her preliminary and knew there mußt be a mistake, so I persuaded my comrade to try again, " and look sharp," I Baid, " for there is very little on the mare and she looks well." He did another squeeze, and just got to the counter in time to be too late. As it turned out, Nightshade ran into a post, but she would have won if the aocident had not occurred. The cause of the humbugging with the name was a misunderstanding between the owner and the seoretary aB to which raoe the mare was to be scratched for, and benoe the name was replaced when it was found that the withdrawal was for a later event. That was a bona fide mistake, but these sort *of things are always annoying, and no system is to be commended which may make officials careless.

* # * The second totalisator rule the suggestion of which I objeot to is that " all holders of winning tickets must claim their money within an hour after the last race, except when a protest has been lodged, in whioh case the stewards will appoint a time for payment of money. But in such event, the holder of tickets on any horse in the race who' may be subsequently declared the winner shall register saoh tickets with the seoretary within an hour after the last raoe, or they Bhall not be entitled to the dividend." As my friend the Referee editor points out, this rule would hardly work in country places where townsfolk, who may be visiting the races, have to hurry away to catch a train. The same argument applies to the latter part of the rule— by which the holders of tiokets on a horse in case of a proteat must register such tiokets with the seoretary within an hour ofter the last race or they shall not be entitled to the dividend. Here, especially, it would be rather hard lines if a man who had to catch a train to town and might not perhaps know that a protest had been lodged were debarred from receiving his dividend because he had not registered hiß tioket with the seoretary. "■^Objection the third is one in which I feel quite confident of being backed up by the public. It is to the proposal that no fraction of a shilling shall be paid out in a dividend. It is ajnoral that the conference will throw out this suggestion with very little ceremony, and it is equally certain that if by any chance it passed that body it wonld cause a great deal of dissatisfaction among those frequenters of racecourses who have become acoustomed to a sixpence. Looking up the reoords, I find that of the six principal metropolitan clubs, three adopt one style and three the other. Auckland, Canterbury; and Dunedin pay to a sixpence, and Wellington, Wanganui, and Hawke's Bay to a shilling. Let us take examples of how the rule whioh it is proposed to make a general one works in the North. I have chosen an example, the first to hand, selected at random, from eaoh of the three olubs mentioned. At the Wellington February meeting The Spy won the Hurdle Race on the second day. There was £1080 invested, and £489 on the winner, and the dividend declared was £1 19s. Take 10 per cent, from the £1080, leaves £972, and not allowing the breaking of a shilling the divide ad was oorreotly made out to be £1193 ; but that absorbed only £953 11s, leaving a profit in odd money to the club of £18 9a. If the dividend had been calculated to a sixpence, as in Dunedin, that would have coat £12 4s 6d more, and still the olub would have had a surplus in odd money of £6 5s 6d 1 These figures of mine are, I think, right ; and if so they make a strong argument againßt the present proposal. My second example ia a race at Wanganui, the Two-year-old Stake in Marob,||cvon by Tiraillerie. There was £659 invested, £290 on the winner. The investments, less 10 per cent., were thus £593 2s, The dividend was £2, which ran away with £580. The olub thus made a g&in, over and above the 10 per cent.,, of £13 2s. To have given each of these 290 tickets another sixpence would have cost £7 ss, and still there would have been a profit of £5 17s. The third example is from Hawke's Bay. Namoa won the Nursery Hondicap and paid a dividend of £2 10a on eaoh of the 264 investments she carried, thus accounting for £660 ; but the club had £672 6s to operate on after taking 10 per cent, from the £747 invested, and thus made a gain (over and above the'recognised percentage) of £12 6s, which [Bum could have been shorn of another sixpence all round and still have left the olub £5 14s to the good ! * M * The fact is that the public don't grumble at the nominal 10 per cent., though they really pay a great deal more. The way the matter is just this : winners are satisfied whatever the dividend is, and < losers don't oare a hang, not being interested. But it does not stand to reason that investors who have become acoustomed to getting their sixpences would be satisfied to lose them. They would then wake up with a big howl, and perhaps clamour not only for the sixpences but for some system by which the odd money would be returned to them. These indivisible sums mount up to a lot of money. It is not my present purpose to say much on that head, but I may mention that, taking an example at haphazard, I find that at the last Dunedin meeting, at whioh there were 14 raceß, the sum received at the totalisators, less 10 per cent,, was £11,160, and the amount actually paid away oame to £10,820 7*, leaving a margin in unconsidered fractions of £340 115, and thus ehowing that instead of 10 per oent. the public really paid nearly 12| per cent, for the privilege^ of investing. Now, as I have said, nobody is likely to growl even at this high fate, but would it not be justifiable to kiok up our heels if aßked to pay, say, another 2 per oent ? I think so, unless indeed it were put on as the Government tax. That would, of course, be another matter, and one that it would be no use growling about.

*** T. Corrigan, the well-known crosscountry rider, met with a rather severe accident on the 4th insr. In company with two other jumpers (says the Australasian) he was schooling a horse named Vampire over the big jumps at Caulfield, at one of which, along the railway side, the horse got right under and turned a complete somersault, breaking his neck Unfortunately he fell on top of Corrigan, rendering him unconscious. The foroe of the fall was bo great that the horse rebounded and fell a second time on Corrigan, whose friends present all thought that he was killed. The scene of the accident was reached as quickly aa possible, and Corrigan was discovered lying underneath the hindquarters of tho horse. A slight abrasion on the nose and right oheek, with a badly lacerated tongue, comprised the injuries sustained by the popular little Irishman. Mr W. Pearson, who owned Vampire, arrived on the course just aa the acoideut happened. Oorrignn has been singularly unfortunate with j ampin? horses during the last two or three years, no less than live— Moondyne, Pesral, Peter Osbeck, the Albuty gelding, and Vampire — with which he was iv some way or other associated, having met with fatal accidents.

*** Mr Stead's three horses arrived safe and Bound in Sydney, and have already per-

formed — two of them at any rate, but without success. Their weights in the June Stake, of 250sovs, six furlongs, run at the A. J U. meeting on Saturday laßt, were :— Scote Grey 8.10, Palliser 80, Moraine 70. Scots Grey bad 8,4 and Palliser 7.6 in the Winter Stakes, one mile and a-quarter. A private message in the Press states that Scots Grey and Palliser ran in the June Stakeß, and were unplaced, but inasmuch as Palliser's weight in that event is given aB 7.6, which was his impost in the Winter Stakes, it is open to question whether Scots Grey was not sent for the June Stakes and Pailiser for the Winter Stakes. In either case, both horses ran unplaced, worse luok, A second message published in the Press tells us that Moraine has been sold.

*** Some particulars of the racing at the Newmarket First meeting are now to hand. The Hastings Plate, in which .Kirkbam made his first appearance last season, was regarded as a match between Friar Lubin and Gone Goon, and so it proved, as after a desperate finish the Friar beat the Coon by a head. The winner is by St. Simon .from Esa, by Unoas, There were nine starters for the Two Thousand Guineas, and their prioes at the post were as follow : — 5 to 4 agst Gouverneur, 3 to 1 Peter Flower, 13 to 2 Orvieto, 9 to 1 Common, 100 to 8 Cuttlestone, 20 to 1 St. Simon of the Hook, 40 to 1 Cleator, 50 to 1 Ragimunde, 100 to 1 Roußseau. The, race was a most uninteresting one, for Common took the lead before half the distance had been covered, and never after being headed, won in a canter by three lengths. A good race was made between Orvieto and Peter Flower {for second place, and this the former gained by half a length. St. Simon of the Rook was fourth, and Gouverneur next. Time, lmin 47seo. Value of race, £4250. The winner was bred by Lord Alington, and is the joint property of that nobleman and Sir Frederick Johnatone. He bad never before performed in public, and he is the only dark horse that has won the Guineas for 10 years, when Peregrine won.

•«,* On the second day the chief event was the March Stakes, of IOOO3OVB, one mile and 11yds, in which, as the oable informed us, Amphion beat Mark Price and Mons Meg. There were seven starters, and Amphion's weight was 10.1, while Mark Price carried 8 1 and Mons Meg 7.0. Amphion won with the greatest ease by a length and a-balf, and Mark Price fairly dished the Australian filly in a square run for second money. " Pavo "in his j remarks on the race writes :—": — " Mons Meg's debut, after realising 2600gs at the sale of the late Mr James White's Australian horses last October, was anticipated with some interest' ; but I was not more impressed with her to day than on that oooasion, as she looks like what she ran— a Blow, plodding, heavy-topped filly, with plenty of bone, however, to carry her frame. A greater comparison could not possibly be drawn between the representatives of far distant hemispheres than Ampbion and Mons Meg, the former of whom has furnished into a grand horse, and once more proved him* self a worthy champion of the British turf by his gallant victory to-day." Wentworth, the brother to Dreadnought, made a beginning by running in the Ely Plate the same day, but it was a most inglorious performance, for the oolt went out absolutely unbacked in a field of six, was last all the way, and pulled up lame. The race was won by Mr Baird's Cordelier. There were 12 starters for the One Thousand Guineas, the favourite being Siphonia at 2 to 1, but Mimi (7 to 1) made the pace and won in a canter from Melody, doing the distance in lmin 44 l-53e0, or 3seo faster than the Two Thousand Guineas, whioh is run for over the same course.

%• The V.E.O. handicapper has taken mighty pood care that Ahua Bhall not win the Grand National at Flemington. He has given the little horse 12.12 in the steeplechase — a very high estimate of his ability over the big country —and only 12 3in the hurdle race. It is very evident that he has been misinformed as to Ahua's ability. The stiff little son of The Painter is a first-class hurdle racer, formidable at any weight, and perfectly master of 12 3, while he has never yet got to the end of a trying steeplechase course, and is overweighted on his performances by at least a stone in the event to which lam referring. Chemist, too, is very highly rated, while on the other hand Uranus is too leniently treated. The Hawke'a Bay handicapper placed Uranus at 121b below Chemist, whereas in Victoria the difference is 321b ! In the face of a mistake of this kind it seems a farce that the Victorian handioapper should delay the weighting of Jupiter until information as to the horse is to band. If the information he expeots is as reliable as that on which he has acted he would be as well without it. Understand, pleaße, that though I say Uranus ought to have had more weight I don't select him as a certainty. He is past his best days, presumably, and I would sooner stand horses like Fearless and Coral, Both Ahua and Izion have a say in the Hurdle Race.

*„* At Sydney TattersaU's Grand National meeting on the 6th inst. the Hurdle Race was won[by Fiscator and Ragpicker's son Nankipoo, who started first favourite. Satyr, the son of Leolinus and Naiad, was unplaced. The Flying Handicap had three equal favourites in Corvette, Denman, and Kilmore, who eaoh went out at 5 to 1. All ran creditably, but Gaytime won cleverly by a length in the fast time of lmin 17seo, Chicago's brother Ataiiotty i was last of all. The Sailing Race proved a moral of morals for Strephon, who started at level money. The Steeplechase, with its prize of £250, brought out a field of eight. It was said (remarks the Sportsman) that Dr Oortis could win with either Grafton (12 0) or Inverell (10.0), and the former baing left in was made an equal favourite with The Don, Bonnor and Recruit a point longer. Bonnor fell at the first jump, and his jockey, who was dragged a long distance, had a hairbreadth escape. The Don also oame down, Recruit made the running till half a mile from home, when Grafton went on in pursuit, and the pair entered the straight together, but after a splendid race the lightweight, well ridden by Mr E. Wicke, wore old Grafton down, and won by four lengths, The Don, who was remounted, being distanced. This lattar gentleman will ba worth watching. When the field saddled up in the Winter Stakes, backers and penciilers were crowded up wherever shelter could be obtained, owing to the rain. Nothing was backed with much spirit, but Jack and Splendora were the favourites at 5 to 1, Knight Templar and Tridentine being next in order. Denman made the pace, and at one time looked like winning ail the way, but his stable companion Jack romped over everything at the finish, and won by four lengths. Jack is reported to like soft courses, but the race was made softer for him by the fact that eoveral who finished in tho ruck did not appear too anxious to catob him. Perhaps they wero a bib rigid with the cold weather.

%* It may not seem a very important matter that is eettJed by the Golouial Secretary's circular, a copy of! which, as forwarded to Mr Sydney James, appears in this iaßue, but every knot cleanly undone ia bo much towards the disentanglement of racing law and procedure, and as such is a distinct benefit; to all who have the management of race meetings. Wherefore let us give the Colonial Secretary a round of applause for attending to the matter. The facts are simply these : At the Dunedin Jockey Club Committee's meeting on

February 14 last Mr Sydney James reported tbat he had communicated with the Undersecretary, in reply to a ciroular from the Colonial Secretary's office, suggesting a Bohedule ot steps to be taken by olubs previous to application for a totalisator license, and that "the letter and schedule had met with the approval of the Programme Committee. Briefly put, it was that olubs must give enough added money net to oomply with Rule 22 after the usual 5 per oent. for expenses had been deducted, and that in case of two selling races on one day the first only should be computed as part of the added money, and in the case of a novel race only one half of the amount of the stake should be computed as added money." Ac previously explained in these columns, this suggestion was made by Mr James in the interests of all parties, so that he and other secretaries would be able to pass programmes without unnecessary delay, and the country olubs would also have an understood rule to work on. The Colonial Seoretary, it will be remembered, took a very firm stand in regard to the added money, and would not permit any deductions, or chance of deductions, from the stipulated amounts ; hence the perpetual referring back of programmes which is now avoided. The mandate of the circular to which attention iB called is exactly on the lines proposed by Mr Sydney James, and I must say that a.. fairer proposal could not have been made.