IN A NUTSHELL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2129, 13 December 1894, Page 31

IN A NUTSHELL.

— Carnage is to have a few mares. — Skirmisher is in active work again. — J5 won the Sandhurst Cup at Beudigo. •— Au Revoir scratched for the Auckland Oup. —Prime Warden is favourite for the Auckland — Childwick thus early gives up racing for stud duties. , , . „ —-Goosander and Blarney scratched for the Wellington Cup. — Monte Carlo if well should have a show in the Rangitikei Cup. . — James Allan is now training Emperor, the best son of Chancellor. — Wilton, by Lord Wilton, has been relegated to the illegitimate game. . — Skirmisher represents Dunedin in the Wanganui Cup nominations. — M. Allan takes Leona and Pirate to the goldfields meetings for Christmas. — Raconteur won the Dewhurst Plate very easily. There was only one in it. — The Wellington Club will use Gray's starting machine at the Summer meeting. — In aid of the survivors of the Victorian rider Martin Bourke just over £100 has been collected. — The Tasmanian stallion Mozart, who this season injured one of his limbs, has had to be ''—The C.J.C. has voted £10 to the jockey C. Jones, who had a leg broken at the Gcraldine meeting. . , . — The disqualifications have been removed from the horses that ran at Le Bon's Bay last New Year's Day , „ , — The Winchman, Claremont.ManbyrnonK, and Reflection are the Dunediu-trained horses entered for Southland. — Billy Brown has got his riding license again. He is one of the best judges of pace among our leading jockeys. . , — The late Martin Bourke s savings amounted to £932, the whole of which goes to the deceased jockey's mother. . „ ._, — Eight nominations for the Maori Kaik Plate —double last year's number. But tho trots show a. serious fall ing off. — Only five nominations for the Imwam Cup, but the minor events have filled pretty well— the Trot particularly so. . . — Ralph Wilkes has trotted a mile in 2mm 6jßec, and is looked on in America as a likely horse for the record. . - Waltzer, a two-year-old by Darebin, counts third in the list of winning horses in the States during the past season. . — The Wellington Trotting Association has refused to endorse the Palmerston North Club's disQualification of J. Taggart. — Shoemaker, Who 15 entered for the Auckland Trotting Cup, was one of the trotters brought from America by Mr Lopez. — I like Georgie Sharp as well as anything else for the Racing Club Handicap at Christchurch, and King Wai for the Flying. — A backer laid 100 to 1 on Killiecrankie when that horse was leading in the straight in the Juvenile Stakes at Randwick. — The South Australian Jockey Club has decided to adopt the V.R.C. system of giving the liandicapper power to rehandicap winners. — Gangway ran second for the Cambridgeshire. Had he won Sir J. Blundell Maple would have landed his £10,000 double from Joe Thompson. — The Tuapeka programme has been arranged, and will appear next week, The sum of £382 10s is offered in stakes. Worth going for ; what say — The V.R.C. Committee have decided that race clubs in advertising programmes of their race meetings shall publish the name of their handicapper. , . , — Gouvernail, second to Isinglass in the Jockey Club Stakes, is such a savage that he had to be muzzled before being brought back to the paddock. . , „ — The C.J.C. has received entries as follows :— Welcome Stakes (1895), 86 ; Oaks Stakes (18%), 39 ; Derby Stakes (189tJ), 84 ; Champagne Stakes {1896) 82 — Ebor, the son of Robert the Devil, who has been winning in Victoria, is said to be bound for New Zealand. He was weighted at 14.6 at i erth, and 14.2 at Bendigo. — When the Premier was at the Duuedin races lie picked Stockfish to win, but reserved his modest investment for a later .race, in which his selection went down. — It was announced on November 1 that the English Jockey Club had withdrawn the notice warning Charles Wood off the racecourse and heath at Newmarket. p^— N ow that all the accounts for the V.R.C. Spring meeting have been rendered, the committee find that the profit on the meeting will only amount to £8,100. — Further reductions are contemplated by the V.R.C. It is said that the next Newmarket Handicap and Australian Cup will only be worth £600 each to the winner. — The American horse Clifford made a new record at seven furlongs over the circular course at Sheepshead Bay, having run the distance with 9.1 in lmin 25§aec. , . — With hia 51b penalty for winning the Otago Cup Prime Warden's weight for the Inangahua Cup was raised to 10.3. I say "was," since he is hardly likely to compete. — Colonel North has presented the Khedive with the stallion Cedar, by Discord or Silvester out of Annora ; and the Khedive's return gift is two of his best Arab mares. A correspondent of Sydney Referee says that Scot Free, Musket, Melinite, and Roscius are bound for Australia, and that Harry Harrison takes some horses over next year. — The Jockey Club Stakes, of £10,000, did not cost the Newmarket authorities a shilling. Owners' subscriptions brought up the stake to £12,235, and that was the sum disbursed. — "Hotspur" says that the Hon. J. D. Ormond's filly Film (by Eiridspord from Margaret) recently broke her fetlock by falling over a sheep that had strayed on to the exercise track. — The Ashburton Club has held a special meeting to consider the financial position, and for the purpose of taking steps to place the club on a sound footing. The committee were empowered to act. — Capstan, who does not appear to have done very >yell since Mr W. T. Jones sent him to Ballarat, has returned to his old training quarters at Mordialloc, being now an inmate of Andy Ferguson's stables. — Utter, by Martini-Henry— Uralla, by Chester, winner of a dozen races for Mr Oxenham, the last one with 9.12 up, has been bought by Mr R. de Lopez at 400gs and carried off to 'Frisco, where she will race some more. — Plausible, who ran third in the Melbourne Cup won by Malua, was recently matched to beat Rosemont (by Guesswork) in a once round on the Moora course (Vie.) Each carried 10.0, and the Guesswork representative won easily. — " Terlinga" states that Cobbitty is quite sound again, and his owners hope that his recent lameness was only the result of a slight sprain, which may not stand in the way of his doing a preparation for the St. Leger and Champion Race. Mr Bruce Lowe's death in London was from heart disease. His visit to England was to arrange for the production of a book on the science of breeding. The special commissioner of the Sportsman will act as literary executor. ji'rom a New Zealand letter in Sydney Referee : The new Gaming Act has not stopped the tote price books. They were betting [at the N.Z. Cup meeting] the" same as usual ; in fact, I know one firm that handled £600 on Cup day. — It is a singular coincidence that Lord Drumlanrig's grandfather also met with his death whilst out shooting in August 1808, whilst his father's iiext brother was killed by a fall over a precipice in descending the Matterhom m July 1865. „. „ . — Two of the trotting stallions recently lmported,from America by Mr de Lopez have been sold in Sydney — Antrim, by Albert W. from Jeanette, to a Queensland breeder; and Grand Moor Junior, by Grand Moor from Consande, by lowa Chief, to Mr Eales, of Duckenfield Park. — At Purdysburn, in October, something like a record was established at a coursing meeting. The total courses run for the day reached 103. Seventeen years ago, however, this %vas fairly eclipsed at historical Lurgan with 102 trials, for the latter was in th* open, whilst Purdysburn is an inclosure. — A rather uncommon operation was lately performed in Australia upon i Sam Welters

brother, who ia named Theseleno, the horse being what is technically known as (a cryptorchid (commonly called a rig), the missing organ being searched for and abstracted from among the bowels. „ — A deserved commendation by ' Castor : With a constitution and legs of iron, and the temper of an angel, Prime Warden has stood more knocking about than any horse of the present decade, and now at seven years of age he stands head and shoulders above his contemporaries. — During the Houghton week of 1840 a fancy bazaar was held at Newmarket, under the patronage of her Majesty and Prince Albert, the proceeds being destined for several of the town s charities ; while, for the edification of another section of the turf's followers, Ben Gaunt and Brassey fought at Six-mile Bottom. — There were 238 thoroughbred mares bred at Rancho del Pasco last year— nine foals were slipped, ten died from various causes, and IM3 mares foaled safely. This makes an average of 80 per cent, of mares bred got safely in foal. Thirty of the weanlings are by Salvator, 23 by the great Maxim (now dead), 22 by imp. SirModred, 12 by imp. Dareuin. , , — The luckiest false start in a race probably occurred at Feilding races. This was in the Manchester Handicap on the second day. After one break-away it was noticed that the firot night of hurdles past the stand had been left standing from the preceding race— the Hack Hurdles— and the start was delayed until they were taken down. — " Gipsy King." . — One of the best yearlings in the States is Mr Dwyer's filly by Maxim out of Touche Pas. She covers a lot of ground, is a big, up-standing, well-muscled filly, with a fine blood-like head and neck, and a full, intelligent eye. The stable connections claim they do not know bow fast she is. She is said to have been tried three furlongs with weight up in Sb'isec. _ — During Windsor (England) races, Tom Cannon bought back for 40gs a mare which two years ago he sold for 5500g5. This was White Coral, who in 1892 beat Bill of Portland, then considered the best two-year-old of the season. The late Mr "Abingdon" Baird thereupon gave Cannon the big price named, since when she has run 10 times and won but one paltry race. — Mr Alfred Joseph has a letter from 'Insco in which Mr Gunst says : Racing is booming here just now. Thisfallwearegivingawayabout £70,000 in purses. All the best horses from the east have entered, and next spring we start the new race track on Australian principles. It is the course that you (Mr Joseph) when in 'Frisco offered a big sum for, but could not close negotiations for. — The racecourse at Maspeth, Long Island, has been lighted by electricity. The jockeys say that there is plenty of light, and that they feel perfectly comfortable in running the race. The Maspeth racecourse is half a mile long. The track is lighted by clusters of glow lamps suspended over the middle of the course, and the horses as they run round are followed by powerful search lights. — Gangway, favourite for the Great Tom Stakes at Lincoln, was in trouble fully a quarter of a mile from home, and The Tinman seemed to have the verdict in safe keeping at the distance when he had beaten Poets' Corner. The scene presented a different phase in a few strides, however, as Irish Car, who had changed sides, drew up on the outside and smothered The Tinman for a final spurt. — They know how to appreciate a good hor*e in Queensland. Battalion, who won the Prince of Wales's Cup at the Queensland Turf Club Spring meeting, was on his return to his home at Dalby met at the railway station by a large concourse of residents, who formed into procession and, preceded by the town baud playing "See the conquering hero comes," marched through the principal streets of the township. — The Gesarewitch derives its name from the son of the Emperor of Russia, who, on the occasion of the first Cesarewitch, gave £300 towards the stakes in commemoration of his visit, while the sovereign, in 1845, founded the Emperor's Plate at Ascot, which was competed for annually until the breaking out of the Crimean War checked the source of supply, and involved a return to the old name— the Ascot Cup. —M. Max Lebaudy, a French racing man, is hauled over the coals for trying to reintroduce bull-fighting into France. He had a trial recently at his residence, and the spectacle was so bloody that the police were asked to intervene. They declined on the ground that it took place on priva f e property. The most extraordinary part of the business is that M. Lebaudy is himself a member of the Society for the Protection of Animals. — Writes " Ajax" : The decision of the A.J.C. to prohibit the "tightening of girths" in the straight at the last moment (which is often a very patent pretext to give the rider the office whether he is to win or lose) has been noted with satis faction by racing men in Melbourne, and there has been a pretty general expression of opinion that the V.R.C. should do likewise. It would tend to stop the "stiffening" of horses after they have been backed by the public. — Before Judge Boucaut J. R. Lammey appealed against the decision of the Adelaide Police Court fining him for a breach of the Gaming Act. The charge was that Lammey encouraged betting in his shop. The judge quashed the conviction, with costs. In Riving judgment he said he had a great horror of betting, and never went to the races. Ho knew nothing of the ways of betting people ; nevertheless he could not allow a person to be subjected to a heavy penalty when there was insufficient evidence to convict him. — Says a N.Z. writer in Sydney Referee : Roscius will cause a sensation at Ranclwick. He is only 17hds Sin, and has got feet on Win as large as a wash-hand basin. It is quite a treat to see him gallop. His stride is something marvellous. He seems to be only cantering, and as to jumping, he does not jump, he simply walks over the fences. He is a washy chestnut, and looks as if he didn t have a feed for a month. Judging by his appearance there must have been a giraffe loose in the neighbourhood where ho was foaled. — A peculiar accident recently happened to the Maxim— Florence M'Carthy colt, Tir. in Victoria. When returning from a visit to the Rt. Kilda beach the colt suddenly " played up," and during the acrobatic performance somehow managed to sever an artery (presumably through striking himself) of one of his hind legs, which bled very freely until Gentry, who was in charge of the colt at the time, managed to check the hemorrhage by using a pin for a tourniquet. Although the colt lost a lot of blood, he is now none the worse for the mishap.—" Porthos." — A neat thing in jokes by a writer in Melbourne Sportsman : The trainer of Velvet Hand on the Kyneton course arranged with a lightweight to give the horse a gallop, and instructed him to jump off at the half-mile post and let the horae have his head— meaning, of course, that he was to ride steadily for a certain distance and then bring the horse along at top speed. The boy, however, was not well up in sporting phrases, and when he reached the indicated spot he jumped off the horse, tied the reins to the saddle, and turned the animal adrift. Asked for an explanation the lad replied, "You told me to jump off at the half-mile post, and let the horse have his head, and I did so."