SPORTING NOTES FROM AUSTRALIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 1949, 2 July 1891, Page 26

SPORTING NOTES FROM AUSTRALIA.

(By Hobi Poene.)

Mblboubnb Jdnb 23. THE WEIGHTS FOR THE MELBOURNE OUP, Me Barnard's manifesto in re the great handicap of the spring was made publio property at 25 minutea to X on Mooday, and immediately it was seen that Carbine bad only been allotted

10.12 there was such a run on him that hi 9 price quiskly shortened to 10 to 1, whioh odds wereacfcuallyjacoeptnd. Should Walter Hicken. botham succeed in getting the old fellow fit and well to the post, given as fair a ran as he bad last year, tbe undoubted Champion of Champions would no doubt repeat the coup ; but still 10.12 is a bit of a steadier, especially in view of the fact that our handioapper has let the rank and file of the three-year- olds in at ridiculously light imposts. However, I am not going to pass Carbine by, although I am not so sweet on bis prospects this year as I was last. Some people over here consider Dreadnought well bandicaped |at 9.6. I don't. He is a thorough cocktail, and can shut up quiokcr than any other horse I ever saw in my life. Tirailleur, Merrie England, Cuirassier, Freedom, and Co,, from .your side I must let severely alone, seeing that your knowledge of their capabilities must necessarily knock any theoretical ideas of mine anent them completely kite high. But this I may state, Cuirassier is doing splendidly at Caulfield, and from a chat or two I have had with Ted Kelly of late I fanoy his trainer thinks he will render an excellent account of himself ; but whether it is to be at Oaulfield or Flemington deponent knoweth not, though I should imagine the ten thousand pounder would be his dart. They tell me Melos is back again to old form, and if so he must have a look in at 95 ; but I will not give Megaphone a " possible " with 92. The Admiral (9.0) is preferable to him, and yet Tbe Admiral doesn't look as well on paper as Correze and Greygown do with 8.9 and 8.7 respectively. But then lam positive that we have never seen The Admiral at bis very beßt yet ; and as he beat the record by winning the Maribyrnong Plate and the V.R.O. Derby, and moreover — when notoriously off-colour — ran Gibraltar a desperate race for tbe St. Leger, I must have the handsome Bon of Richmond and Footstep on my Bide. So also with Vengeance (8.11), a clinking great horse, who won the Australian Cup quite as easily" as " Old Jack " snavelled the last Melbourne Cup. Vengeance will start a hot pot, everything keeping well with him to the day. Richelieu (8.7) must on his Derby running hold Dreadnought as safe as if be were boiled ; but, like all the Richmond get, he is soft, and a very difficult customer to train. For all that, 8.7 [ is a bit of a luxury for a horse like him, and we will put him down on the list too. Whimbrel is being bruited abroad in certain usually well informed circles as a veritable rod in pickle j and as my dear old pal Jaok Nicolson has got him in hand, and as he has quietened down like an old sheep, and is, as Pat would say, " the gud of a dare, big and burly in condition, I will keep my eye on him, I can promise you. Mr Hurtle Fisher has a good gelding in Buttons, who has been a rattling .performer in Queensland, and -for the memory of auld lang syne, if for nanght else — he shall be classed as " one of the few." And so Bhall another Queenslander— Tantallon 8.3. He is in Walter Hickenbotham's Btable, and if he don't give an excellent- aooount of himself .within tbe next five months then I am a very bad judge indeed. Sinecure may be meant for the Oaulfield Cup, albeit a horse of his calibre is a bit of a duck to put 7.12 on for two miles, when one comes to ponder over his deeds of dheringdo in tbe Canterbury' Plate won by Aberoorn at the V.R.O. Spring meeting of 1889. G'Naroo and Whakawai are both on the 7.11 mark, and the pair can safely be labelled. "dangerous in the extreme." Of course you know Wbak»#ai was always a particular weakness of mine, and I see no reason at present to alter my previously expressed opinion as to his superlative excellence if ever they can " niok " him on the day. Only last night, whilst having a yarn with Arohie Campbell about things in general, be assured me 'that if he were certain the black son of Leolinus and Lure would be all right on the day we would stand nothing else for the next Melbourne Cap. Laverock 7.7 is the next to oatch my eye running .down the weights, and as he is aNewminster colt, and evidently on' the improving side, it is quite on the cards for Mr Mark Whitty to have to lead him to the scales, Nnmero Uno on tbe first Tuesday next November. Ronald comes from Queensland, whence he has been brought by y our old identity of the Stud Company, Donald Taylor, who carries his sixty and one years as gay as a lark. Donald is a bit sweet on the obances of the-five-year-old son of Sardonyx and Ogarita— "ifit is made a fast-run race." I asaure htm' that he needn't have any doubts about; that part of the business, and as I so assure him the old veteran's eyes twinkle and a kindly light shines in them as he whispers me confidentially that although Ronald is only a galloway he wouldn't care for old Carbine himse'f if he were only on terms with him at tha home turn. So down with handsome little Ronald. Ab I Baid before, the rank and file of the three-year-olds have been exceptionally well treated. I will not stand either Lord Hopetoun, Stromboli, or Penance ; but trouble may very possibly come from Zalineki, Strathmore, Steadfast, and Co. But it is amongst the " Co." that I will look for it — say Swordbearer (7.2), Bel Giorno (pitchforked in at 6.9), Brown Jacket (only by Martini-Henry from Brown and Rose— that's all, with 6.7 as Ms impost), and The Golden King also at the minimum, And there you have them, as follows : — Carbine, Melos, The Admiral. Vengeance, Correze, Greygown, Richelieu, Buttons, Tantallon, Sinecure, G'Naroo, Whakawai, Laverock, Ronald, Swordbearer, Bel Giorno, Brown Jaoket, and The Golden King ; and if you want me to fine those 18 down to half a dozen I shall plump for Carbine, Vengeance, Greygown, Tantallon, G'Naroo, and Bel Giorno.

TITFT3 OF TURF.

Poor Charlie Parker was killed last Monday in Adelaide. He had won one race on Vagary in a masterly manner, and whilst riding her in a seoond venture the Bame afternoon the mara crossed her legs and stumbled, killing herself on the spot, and inflioting suoh severe injuries on her rider that he succumbed to them sqme three or four hours afterwards. I cannot .express to you the poignant grief displayed by all tarts and conditions of raoing men — trainers, owners, and jockeys — when the sad news reached Flemington ; foi sines his arrival from New Zealand Charles; J. Parker had made himself a universal favourite. He waß suoh a thorough little gentleman, and with great culture withal. At first when he attended the training tracks of a morning be was always so point de vie in his general get-up that an opinion got abroad that he was a fop, But h ; s civil, obliging, and gentlemanly demeanour soon proved him to be quite the opposite, and on all sides he was acknowledged to be amongst jockeys " tha mark and model of the time." He was extremely retioent and reserved until you won bia confidence, and even then he was no gossiper. From certain remarks he made I fanoy he must have at one time Btudied for the onuroh ; and he was euoh a well- read lad, aad withal bo witty in some of bis remarks (for he dearly loved a joke), that personally I Boall mourn him as one whose like I may not look npon again, Walter Hiokenbotham leaves Flemington for Qaeensoliff with his equine charge next week, From there, he will most probably take wing for Randwick at an early date. At present tbe traoks at Flemington are in a fearfo)

state, being rendered worse than usual at this period of the year through the Epsom i road away past Bob Mitchell's Kaoecourse Hotel up to the orest of the Hill being cut down in some places and built up close on 15ft in others. M'Kenna is off to Mordialloo with Swordbearer and Singapore. Sipgaporedißported I bimaelf in a race Ttue other day ; but he m i as fat as an alderman, and of course didn't show to Advantage. Nousey Dick fancies the brother to Mon? Meg though, and it may be just as well to remember the fact. I have heard a pig's whisper that yon* weedy Montrose II is a bobby-oWer to fet in to our Grand National Hurdle Race at 9.4. I fancy Donald will have a mortgage on that event ; though Quadrant, Hesperus, Pentagon, BtewcanTand The Pioneer are also highly tpoken of. But give me Donald. Goral, Maybe, and Fearless II should fill the positions in the Grand National Steapleobase. Ooral is only a rat of a thing, but as clever as a oat and as fast m a stagTßhe won only the other day over in Adelaide with 12.0 on her back. FOOTBALL. There was tremendous ezoiteinent on the Melbourne orieket ground last Saturday, when Oarlton and Geelong3met in Ac Presence of 85.000 spectators. The wet ground and sodden ball suited Oarlton, who put up four goals and ■even behinds to Geelongji four behind*. The following is the state ot the premiership list for 1891. so far as the season has gone :—

BASEBALL. The great national pastime of America, is "oatohing on" splendidly all over Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia, and it is nearly a dead certainty that an Australian Nine will tackle Brother Jonathan on his own vantaee^rround at the time of the Worlds Fairat Chicago in '93. There would be " tons of stuff " in it if we could only get » good team together. In Viotoria the Melbourne Cricket Club won the Bpalding trophy and Premier■hip Pennant last year, but they met their kesmet this } both the Metropolitan and Bast Melbourne teams having "downed" them. East Melbourne are nearly sure to eema out on top at the end of the season. There are eight olnbs in the Victorian Baseball League at present, the latest additisn— South Melbournebeing a very promising lot. It is a splendid game for orioketers, and so as 'to educate the publio into its intricaoies (and it is a bit intricate, you bet) we play it prior to our big football matches.

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