CANTERBURY DOINGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2010, 1 September 1892, Page 28

CANTERBURY DOINGS.

By RATA.

As I have previously remarked, boys are very frequently of more trouble to trainers of racehorses than training the racehorses is, and as a training centre becomes gradually developed the trouble is augmented. In Canterbury owners and trainers have sometimes put a stop to boys' further racing proceedings elsewhere io cases of

"clearing out " without liberty to do so, but even the past " postings " of runaways do not appear to be sufficient to check the game. Some mentors are to blame, too, because they do not agree with the apprenticeship or agreement system, and I think their main objection is more theoretical than practical. The main objection is : If a boy does not like your employ he will never do you any good. The argument is lame, however. If you know your busiuess you can make a boy do as you like until he comes to be trusted with the handling of a horse in a race. Then he can throw you over, but not before if your stable be properly supervised. I do not think a trainer need fear any disastrous consequences by retaining a boy uuder agreement against his will should the stable be properly managed. As a matter of fact I have known very few trainers who would insist upon retaining a boy after that boy had discovered he had made a mistake in taking tho " job," but an owner or trainer only acts in the interests of racing When he compels a boy who intends following racing to return and fulfil the terms of his agreement. According to the Rules of Racing a jockey cannot leave an employer without three months' notice, and a trainer in Canterbury recently acted according to that rule. He is the employer of a good horseman who has ridden many races, and that horseman gave him a week's notice, which he declined to accept. Ido not blame the trainer either, though I should not like to trust many boys with riding under similar circumstances ; yet the sooner stable lads and jockeys engaged for stable work as well as for riding learn to know that they are servants and not masters ' the sooner will the advantages of good stable discipline be apparent. It is not very apparent at Riccarton now ; boys from different stables are allowed to mix too much together. In regard to jockeys attached to a stable leaving an employer, however, the whole thing is merely a matter of a boy thinking he can live on riding without doing stable work. Very few of them can though. When they are working in a stable their pay is not much, but they have little expenditure, and as a rule they get the full amount of riding their quality merits. When they are unattached they usually devote half their time to gambling,- and owners are not slow in discovering that, and consequently discarding their services. For the budding jockey gambling has great attractions. Travelling about with horses, and riding here and there, and netting a good stake every now and again, he has opportunities of seeing gambling and participating in it, and he naturally becomes infatuated with it, and when he gets a "bit" together he wants to leave the stable where he has learnt his profession and where he has to do his share of the work for " fresh fields and pastures new," but as a rule his leaving does him a lot of harm. I have no doubt in my own mind at all that there is a great deal in horsemanship, but many of the best sportsmen believe that an intelligent boy, well grounded in his profession, and who can ride work well, can win on the best horse if he bo put up on him ; and hero in New Zealand I feel certain that a jockey who works hard in a stable and attends to his business properly will get a lot more riding than a horseman unattached, unless indeed, that jockey be very well known through years of experience and integrity. From all accounts tlCe going was very heavy at Amberley on Thursday, and Ahua was not started for the GreaJ; Northern Steeplechase under his heavy burden. Indeed a good many people wonder why he was started at the C.J.C. Hunt Club meeting after winning the Grand National. His owner knows his ownjmsiness best, however, and I do think we have seen the last of Ahua yet in so far as his racing is concerned. Glen, who' wa's looked upon by his connections as a moral for the Great Northern Steeplechase, won the event easily from Chance, and under any conditions of going Mr Murray-Aynsley says he could have beaten Ahua at the weights. It has always been thought that Glen is a good performer in heavy going, but Mr Murray-Aynsley assures me that it is on the hard going ho licks them. One most prominent feature in Glen and his stable companions generally is that they are always brought here in splendid condition. Glen could not be fitter than he is now. At Mount Hutt, Mr Murray-Aynsley has a plough track, a dust track, plenty of grass galloping, and a steeplechase country made after the pattern of the Riccarton country, but with the jumpsconsiderably stiffer.and sofaras I can make out the exercise grounds at Mount Hutt are about as good as any in Canterbury. Launceston was taken up to Amberley, but he hurt himself a bit previously somehow, and he did not run, and he was sent home on Saturday and will not run any more this season. Like Glen, after he has done racing for the season he will be utilised for drafting station horses during the spring. With all his weight Glen will be raced at the South Canterbury Hunt Club meeting, and afterwards taken on to Dunedin to compete at the Otago Hunt Club fixture, and that will end his racing for the season. Ruby has been bought by a breeder down south, and he ought to get some very good stock in Otago, where I believe he will stand. A studmaster from the North Island came down and had a look at him some time since, and I fancy he made a mistake in letting the southern breeder have him. The North Islander wanted a big upstanding horse like Stonyburst, but I shall not be surprised to see Ruby get as good stock as ever Stonyhurst will if he gets a fair show in respect of mares; an excellent feature in Ruby is his splendid leg* ; not one horse in a thousand would have stood the galloping he did when in training. .Vogengang and Erin-go-Bragh are both likely to go to the Timaru Spring meeting. The Guineas will be Vogengang's journey, but he may also run in the Flying Handicap. It is not decided whether he will he sent to Australia yet, but if he should go over there he will only make the journey a week or so before it is intended to race him, and there is a lot of policy in that ; a hoise, in the opinion of those who have raced New Zealand horses at the other side, should«be raced immediately after his arrival or he # ought to be sent over some months before he is likely to be wanted. Neither Crackshot nor Stepniak is badly treated in the Timaru Cup, and doubtless Crackshot will have a big go for the event. He has turned a very unreliable horse, however. He most certainly goes better in private than he docs in public. Crown Jewel pulled off a shoe this morning, and her trainer seemed very particular in not giving her a chance of injuring her hoof on the way home, and while it was being trimmed it was very pateut to observation that Crown Jewel is a very sound footed one. I should think she would be a competitor for the Timaru Cup, but however she may run in that event I do not think she has much chance of annexing the New Zealand Cup. Liberator may be about the most dangerous candidate that Kiccartqu can produce. He is a fast horse, and at the Timaru meeting he is likely to strip perfectly pink. Whenever the weather is favourable for galloping Bobby Ray is always busy with Liberator. Winchman seems to have improved in temper, and no doubt we will discover what kind of stuff he is made of in the spring. If he be of any good he ought to run well in the Timaru Cup under 6.9. Billy Brown has two horses in training now, Pennine and a colt by Stonyhurst— Wai-iti The latter is good-looking, ami may develop .into a very good racer. At present, however, it is difficult to say what he may be in the future. I do not think he will be a dear L7O worth, however.

Both Cruchfield and Lord Aston will be hacked about the roads presently, and about the New Year they will be put into active work in view of autumn racing. Cruchfield has had a long spell, and he seems fairly sound now, but some excellent judges do not think he will stand nevertheless. Captive is going on capitally in his work, and shou'd Lonsdale Lodge succeed in winning the New Zealand Cup I believe Captive will be the horse to do the trick.

Perhaps no New Zealand Cup candidate trained at Riccarton is more thought of in professional racing circles than Clanranald, but some people have doubts in regard to his staying capacity. In point of appearance he is a beautiful horse. One of the most experienced trainers at Riccarton remarked last week that be would beat two out of the three I picked, and that may be so,

but Captive and Vogengang will require some beating, and from what 1 have heard Hybrid is not a bad one.

We have had another bad week in regard to weather, and most of the" work has been confined to the centre of the course. Mr Webb's three fillies are going on very well, and it seems now. that both May and Diadem are likely to perform better in the spring than they did at any period of last season.

Of late years the Bush Inn stable has been lucky in winning the Oaks, and there are more unlikely things than a victory for Black Pearl in the forthcoming ladies' contest, though the field will not be first class* should Black Pearl win. I hardly think it will be first class either ; it very rarely is. I should think the two-year-old racing of the spring will be interesting! At any rate there are a few two-year-olds at Riccarton that promiso developing into good racers. There are more than one above mediocrity at Yaldhurst, too, I should think, if looks go for anything, It is said that the bookmakers did about as well as the machine at Amberley on Thursday. That may be an exaggeration, but there is no doubt the books are a convenience to the -small punter. I have always advocated the laying of totalisator odds, and I do not think the presence of a goodly array of bookmakers on a course can do' much harm ; their business will chiefly be small betting. Isidore succeeded in winning a race for Harry Franks at Amberley, but hitherto Harry has not been over fortunate with that jumper. Glen's success in the Farmers' Steeplechase at Amberley was looked upon as a foregone conclusion, and perhaps he is a better horse than people give him credit for. Timarif running will bo a good criterion of his present quality.