TALK OF THE DAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2157, 27 June 1895, Page 30

TALK OF THE DAY.

** Having disposed of tho roguish Esp arto and relinquished the charge of Gitano, Stewart Waddell has only three horses left in his stable *— viz., Arline, Captive, and Lady Spencer, and be ban accommodation far three or four more. Ib is a rare thing to find Waddell bo slack as thi», and I dartsay now the fact in known he frill soon get the offer of some more cattle to make up c decent team. Eveiybody knows Waddtll to be a man of experience and okiU, and very few of our present trainern have trained more winners in recent years. Taiaroa, La Roee, Hats, Occident, Captain Webster, and Captive are only a few of the many he has bad charge of.

* # * When Mr W. Hutchison addressed the electors at South Dune din a couple of weeka Bgo te said that he had passed over to a friend of his the ta&k of introducing a motion into the House for the abolition of the totalisator, but that when a division was. called for he (Mr Hutchison) would not be far nwsy It would seem that the friend alluded in was Mr Carnell, the member for Napier, for that gentlemnn has already brought forward his motion, and backs it up with the following reasons : (1) Because we aro convincsd that the use of the totaliiator i« productive of incalculable injury to this colony by fostering the immoral habit of gambling in both old and young. (2) That by the Legislature giving its sanction to tho use of this gambling maohine it has made simpleminded people believe that nothing ia immoral ■which the Legislature authorises. (3; It has helped to fill the coffers of the racing olubs and to pay the expenses c f racing etuds at the cost of tradesmen and others whose debtors have spent in gambling the money that should go to paying their just debt*, and it has by the large amount of revenue which is derived from its use made racing of such frequent occurrence that this colony is overrun by a most undesirable class -Of people, which has a most demoralising effect on the colonist, mere especially upon tho young. (4) That it is illogical and unjust to punish one kind of gambling and to eijcoaragn another kind, and that the State should tot derive revenue by licanfcing anything that is itncaoral and vicious ; therefore it is moßt desirable that the totftlisator be abolished, and that the Government bo asked to bring in a bill this session to give effect to this resolution.

*»* There is nothing very serious in this indiciment. Mr Camel], it may be supposed, has little personal and no special knowledge of the subject", and is content to gather up and adopt the remarks of others who are equally icueceat in regard to the turf in general and the totaligator in particular. If this presumption bs correct, »ud I base it on the facb that Mr Carnell puts forward merely general statements, made without a pretence of authority or circumstance, it is hardly likely that the Legislature will follow his kad. He surely will be asked to produce facts instead of assumptions ; he will have to argne rather than preach ; he must be prepared for cr css-examicabioiv at tho handß of xneu like Captain Ruesell,the Hon. G. M'Loan, and Mr Carucrosn, who do know a totalisator from a tea table, end are cogciaant of its particular influence on the turf; and if redeced to that position Mr Carnell will be compelled to submit fre6h reasons of a more practical order or resign himself to defeat, uuless he happens to catch Parliament ia a careless mood and cau manage to score a fluky succe... The thiDg he has to fight against is this : that the public appreciate tha totfcliaator p.s a purifying influence and & fi-.ir and open means of betting ; and this being the case, society roust undergo a radical change before tbe m^chi^e c*n bo ousted. Some <lay or other the qppoiv nt 3of the totalisator may coax Parliament to delega'ise the machine, but that will not mean much, for after Parliament has had its say the People will speak, and wheu they begin, and say what they mean, neither Mr Carnell nor Mr Hutchison nor any other individual will be heard.

*** My tip for tbe Hawke's Bay Steeplechase came off right enough, and a rattling

dividend was declared. More important, however, ie the significance of the result so far as the horse is concerned. Norton is not falling back to the status of a second-ola«ser. He c»n hold his own over country, which is his proper gams, even when opposed to such a fast oneas Liberator. The latter was certainly trying to concede " weight, but it was a stiff impost that Norton bad, and bis success brings him to his rightful place at the top of the tree. I believe he is the best Eteeplech-ser we have ever had in New Zealand, and his acknonledgmanl as the present champion may perhaps influence Mr Gallan in regard to fature tnovemeßts; in other words, now that Norton has recovered his pr<;s«ge it nny be reckoned good enough to presrente to &. finish the tcheme that bas been ro long talked about, and send him to Er-gland to challenge the Liverpool company. If this should be done we of New Zealand will readily put np with the loss of the horse for the sake of gitting him fully and fairly ttied against the English chasers.

*jj* There seemed to bs but litt'e desire to back anything stra^gLt out when the handicaps for the V.R C. Grand National were published. Ten to one was tbe offer of the fielders, but no one wasted to spe-ju'ate in lumps. A few doubles were, however, taken, and in there the favonrite picks for ths Hurdle Race were Neli, Blil, Dundee, Tim Swiveller, Roso»tem, and Wilton, while for the Steeplechase nothing was looked at but Daiovo&od Knebaworth. "Aj&x," commenting on the handicaps, says: Even •wi:h 12 10, Tim Swiveller will, if well on the d«y, render a good account of himself. Favour Bhould ran well, and so should NeJi, for she is a good fltayer. Mareden with 11.13 bas a look in, but Rosestem bas more than he is entitled to on form, though I fancy he is a pretty fair bone, and I will nob have him running against roe. Cheaterman is very harshly treated for a three-year-old, . bnt Bmnulea is nicely weighted. Capstan hts cot tco much weight if he can jump at all. and Polonius is also nicely handicapped. Lower down I Ike best Bill, Dundee, Wilton, C*r]ton, Durable, and Artiet. To pick half a dozen against the field I will name T;m Swiveller, Polonius, Dundee, Wiltou, Carlton. and Emma'ei. For the Steeplohase Mutiny -and Daimio read all right, and so does Flat Iron — in fact, the latter is particularly well in. Timoni has a chance!. Batanzoo ii a great tip, and of Waiter I heir good accountf. Lower down I like be?t Baltoro, Chester 111, and Old Jndge. The hall dozen I shall ettnd by at the present ttage are Flat Iron, Daimio, Batanzos, Highborn 11, Chester* 111, and Old Judge.

* # * The bill introdneed by Mr Willis into the New South Wales Assembly to legalise tho totalipatcr is the same as introduced by Mr Farnell in 1892. It provides that yearly licecses shall be granted for the uns of the instrument by the Colonial Secretary to any racing club giviug in stakes at lf-aet £600 at every day'a rawing held by it, a-t which the totalisitor shall be used. Every such club, if its race meetings are held within 20 miles of Sydney, must have at least 300 member*. For clubs beyond that radius they naust have at lo> sb 50 member*, exolusive of those who may be members of any other r*cing club, and their daily pr.'za list must be of tho value of not less than £300. Every member mustbeasnbuciiber of a guinea or upwards a year, and the license f*e for a totalieator shall be £25, in addition to £10 per day for every day on which the machine is used. The club? are to be allowed to r*t»in orjly 10 per cent, of the takings as commission, and this money must be expended in stake gfor the legitimata encouragement of racing. _ fourth of tbe nes profits are to be paid to a fund kuowu as tbe support of Charities Fand, which shall be disposed of annually by tbe Colonial Secretary. Each club tshall only be allowed the use of the instrument on eight days in each year, and it must not be used on any one raceccurae for more than 20 dnjß in a year.

* # * It will not be surprising if action is shortly taken by the turf authorities to heavily punish persons making bogus entries. If that is done, the culprits will receive precious little sympathy, nor should they, since the making of an entry of that sort in fraud is obviously intended as a means either to mislead the bandicapper or help a bitting swindle. In New Zealand the practice is nei- a common one, since there is no possibility of thereby working a point in connection with betting — the totalisator ha 6 killed all such possibilities — bat in Australia cases of the 6orfc are becoming rather frequent. The latent hail* from Victoria. The Age'« Albnry correspondent writes th&t Mr .Ripken, the own»r of Barbingle, who was fined by the Euroa Racing Club for not scratching the horse, states emphatically that he never entered tbe fcorss, and was not aware of Barbingle being amongst the nominations vn e il he saw in tbat paper a notification that he had been fined. The owner of Waxwoiks was also fined at the same meeting for nob scratching, and it is believed tbat in this caee also the entry was made without authority.

*** Tbe Gcraldine Trotting Club found the Domain track so wot last week that the tecond annual meeting was held in a neighbouring paddock, tbe property of Mr \V K. Macdonald. This proved to be cot very good going, but there was no other option if the meeting wan to be held at all, and held it was. In the Maiden there was a capital set to bitween Victor Wild and May, the latter winning by I' ss than a length. Meg, starting from the limit in the Domain Handicap, led all the way, thus briugiDg about the result generally prophesied amongst tbe knowing oiie.*. The Selling Race was a gift to Soapsuds, though the only investment made was on his solitary opponent. Being sabmibted to auction, the winner was bought in at £8 10s. Te Wanabu, who ip a sort of champion in bis olass, failed to give Victor Wild 44sec in the two miles of the Geraldine Handicap. At the pane the winner 6bowed, Te Wanahu would have been alongside him if he could have shOvm a gait of smin 49sec ; aud as he did not we can understand that the course was exceedingly labouraome. Te Wanahu certainly managed to sfloure the Farewell Handicap later ou, but he had lots to spare when showiisg only the poor pacof 4min 28« c for a mile and a-h&lf , or equal to sinin 57 l-3sec r or two mileß. Tbe fastest race of the day was the EJlectric Handicap, won by Commotion in 2miu 56*ec. Mason aud Roberts worked the machine, and passed through £406, or £62 less than at tho meeting of laac winter. The best dividend of the day, £22 10a, does not equal that paid out oh Jimmy 13 months ago.

* # * The report presented at the South Canterbury Jockey Club's annual meeting staled that, although the amount given in Rt»kes has been oonriderably lessened, still the result of the year's racing shows a small loss, but tbe amount received as rent from the raoeoourae has more than covered the deficiency. Looking through the figures I calculate this loss on the racing by adding on the one side the fees received from owners, £464, the totalizator receipts £605 l?s, the race receipts £269 13s, and the surplus from selling races £51 16s, these totalling £13 Q 1 6s; and on

the other side counting, as expenditure neceacary to the r.'.ciug, scakes £1140, State tax £96, advertising ar,d printing £55 10s 63, general expenses £49 13s 61, salaries £97 2s, baud £21, and stamps, telegrams, &c, £10 11s sd, these totalling £1470 6s~Bd ; and if this is a fair way of coming to a contusion I fiad the lops on the racing £79 0s Bd. In connection with the various items ifc is pretty pain that salaries are cub down to about as fine a point as possible — a little increase in this department would surely not be grudged by the memoers as sr,ou as the funds will allow it— and I notice further that nominations and machine receipts show au increase as compared with the previous years, while there has been a largo saving on general expenses, and we have ifc on the authority of the chairman that working expense*, apart from racing, show a profit of £65. An important source of revenue in this direction is the £51 odd received as rent of the course. Takiog another view of the position I find that whereas the clab began the year with a balance of £12, this now stands at £30 ; moreover, the assets, which include £110 in the bank, are unencumbered by a farthing of liability. This is really a very satisfactory state of affairs, and Mr Gordon P. Wood (the able secretary) aud the other officers who take an active part in the management are to be congratulated on the soundness and hopefulness ot the position.

* # * Horsey men are notoriously expert at identifying an animal thstt tbey have previously oeeD, bnt down south ju*t bow there seems to be a mix-up tbat puzzles everyone. The position is thus stated by the South'and Times : At a mesting of the Lumsden Hack Racing Club to receive the report of the president on a visit paid to Lady Barkly and Centre Bush to see the horse Faxhion, protested against at the late race meeting, Mr Yardley iv formed -the club that Mr Cowie produced Fashion at Lady Barkly. Mr then visited Mr Knith's Bogjie Burn farm in company with Mr Timpaoy, aud another black horse, said to be Redleap, was there shown to them. The resemblance was sd great that one horsa could easily be taken for the other unless a minute examination was made, and the explainer wai well acquainted with both. Tho difficulty Mr Yardloy had to contend with wac, that while knowing the horse entered under the name of Fashion, he did not know Redleap, and could not of his own knowledge say whether the horse shown to him at Mr Keith's was Redleap or not, A lot of other evidence of a contradictory nature was adduced, and it wes resolved to return to Mr M'L'uicblan the guinea paid with bis protest, and to regain the stakes until the identity of Fashion is conclusively proved ; if at any future time Fashion and Redleap are proved to be identioal action to be taken at once ; ou the other band, if it could be shown thet both are in (-xietence, the stakes to be paid at onoe to Mr Cowie. Steps are to be taken to keep a sharp lookout to get the m&ttsr speadily settled .

*** Discussing tho merits of the deceased Kisber, "MiJo," a London writer, anys: Though associated with one of the most romantic periods of England's turf history, it will be remembered tbac there was a horse cunning in his day which wbs indubitably bstter thau he —Petrarch to wit. Bred ab the Ktaber Blud in HuDgary, Kisber was git by the Eagli'h horse Buccaneer, onoe the property of the late Lord Portsmouth, and b» dam was Mineral, an English mare, bo that Kisber wp.s not an alien in blood by any means. Mr Baltszzi, his owner, bought Kisber for £500 whfn a two-year-old, and knowing that he had a goad thing, sent him to Newmarket to te trained by the lata Joseph nuyhoe. His fii'st two appearances in public were unsuccessful, but in the Dewhurst Plate he disposed of that extremely smart animal Spriugfiikl, thus giving a taste of his quality, which mduced Mr Balbszzi to reserve him especially for the Derby. How he won tha race in the easiest manner by five length 1 ? ia a matter of turf bi-tory, but iD the opinion of many of ns Petrarch, who atari ed favourite, ought to Inve c-iptured the Blue Riband. The {Jroperty of the late Lord Dupplin, one of the Quest card players or his day, Petrarch was purchased with tha proceeds of a night's card play, and, if memory strvee, £10,000 was the sum paid for him. Possibly the leBB scid about the defeat of Petrarch the better. Perhaps the must beautilul colt that ha* ever trod the English turf, he was a pbenonimal perfcrmei', and iv th-.! St. Legtr bta 1 ; Kiebsr in a must decisive manner. Kihber, who until the Monday before hi 3 Derby ran as the Mineral colt, crossed over the water and won the Grand Prix with ridiculous ease. In this race he established a record as far as betting ou the event was concerned. There was a rush to get on the Derby wiuaer, who started at the prohibitive prioa of 5 to 1 on.

* tt * At the time of Ncrdcufeldt's death it was said, without ccntrariicHon, that the deceased gen of Onyx had never begotten a winner since joining Mr Hordern's stud farm. That reproacb, due perhaps to no fault of tbe horse, is now removed, for on the Bth inst. Miss Norn, thetwnryesr-old daughter oF NorJcnfeWt s-.ud the Cadogan mare Lady Norah, won the Nursery Handicap at Sydney. She earned 7.3, the top weight being _il!irkrankie*sß.s, started at 7 to 1, was ridden by deal, and, after a great race with Niagara's son San Marco 6.7 and cne or two other?, she ran iv an easy winner by*a couple of lengths, doing the six furlongs in lmin 15£ sec The Auckland colb Osculator finished fourth, bub apparently impre>s'd the spectators for one of them (" Umpire ') sajs of the son of HotohkißS and Puugawertwere : "He is an imtcense youngster, but showing plenty of quality, symmetry, and muscular development. He was lact away, and was late in getting through the field. Ido not hesitate to recommend ths claims of escalator to consideration in future events for which he may be tmgaged." The Gozo breed was well to fcbe front on the same day, Messmate 8.6 acouuttng for the Duckenlield Stakes, seven furlongs, in lmin 28£ s ec, with Sundial 8.1 and Pharamond 8.0 a dead heat for second place ; and Cradle 6 10, who started a complete outsider, won the R*ndwick Stakes, a mile and three furlongs, from Newman, the latter endeavouring to give away a coupe of B*oae. The honour of top weight in this r&ce went to The Jeweller, who was loaded with 9 5, and made no chow ; but Ruenalf 8.9, though proppy in his preliminary, beat the msjority of the field— a fact that ifc mty be as well to keep in mind. Caatlebar made the pace in the Steeplechase, and, everything else meeting with mishap, he cantered in alone.

*** In one respect the Merry Girl case in Sydney h&B become fatuous ; I tntxutUsit ib has hung up for bo long a period. Tne t«rtn of «ix weeks elapsed from the time of tbe objpc.ioti to i s settlement by Tattersall's Club. It will be remembered that -the race, the Kensington Handicap, was run on April 25, and Merry Girl came in first, but was subsequently disqualified for weighing in 21b over, and the race was awarded to the favonrite, Pearl Powder, who finished second. The bookmaking members of Tatter* all's Club declined to pay the Pearl Powder wages, and subsequently the matter was brought; before the committee of the club.

In the meantime the Kensington authorities paid over tho stake to the owner of Pearl Powder Tho decision at last arrived at is that the bets go to the b-«ckors of Merry Girl. On behalf of the bookm&kers it is urged that they lrd p-tid Mercy G.rl money before the objection was euWed, aud that they should be protected from liability to pay twice.

%* English advicss by the 'Frisco mail comraer.cs with the wind-up of the Newmarket First Spring meeting, this giving us the particulars of the One Thousand. This classic race proved to be » facer tor backers. None of the first five in the list of quotations so much as gained a phce. Float, the favourite, was prominent tor about six furlongs, and then Kiafing Cup, the beat-looking of the party, seemed dangerous, but she failed to Btay, and Galeottia won easily at the finish, with the much-improved Gas (half-sister to Ladas) in third place. The time vra^ only moderate, uni the faot that Butterfly finished close up with the placed hor»es is relied on to show that the fillies this year must be a long w*y behind the colts, for in the Tudor Plate at Sandown Butteifly could only get a moderate second to Tithonus, who in turn was -wholly outclassed in the Two Thousand. The winner is described by the Sportsman's commissioner as a wallgrown biy filly by Galopin out of Agave, and no sqnentlyown sister to that dis»rjpcinting lvn-se Gakopsis. She has power and bone, with great length and general wear and tear character. Somewhat droping quarters detraot from her symmebry in an ideal sense, but she is all over üßeful and looks like improving.

***The Chester meeting followed, with it» old- established Cup, which some authorities say was instituted as far back as 1511, as the centrepiece. There were 16 »bartei-5, the largest number sinoo the victory of Tarn o' Sbantcr in 1876, and Mr Buoha.ian's Nswcourt was elected first favourite. He, however, failed to stay, and Captain Maohell brought off a 20 to 1 chance with the Irish-bred Kilsallaghan, whose tinp, 4-coin s£sec, is the brat record since the old dhtanco wjp reverlei to in 1881, with the exception of (hat nwde by Quantum last yftar, whea the record of 3min 29£»eo waß proclaimed, and has not only never been corrected, but is repaated in this year's register of the lisb of winners. When the cibla brought word that Captain Machtll had won, most of us guessed tbat the gallant and expert military man had brought off a coup, but ao hint of this appears iv the papers to hand, and oue, inched, names the owner's winnings as £300. The Dee Stakes was remarkable fGr the decisive defeat of the favourite, who in a field of six could not get a shop. Oa the other hand, a fine display of consistent running was exhibited by the four-year-old colt Clorane, a son of Castlereagh and May Girl, who ttarted twice oa the second day and won both his racss, the Cheshire Handicap, a mile and a-quarter, with 9 2 on his back, or wifchm 4:b of the tnuohbslauded Son of a Gun, and then, later on, the May Plato, a weight-for-age raoe at a mile and five furlongs. It is a rare thing to see a horse rocing twice in the same day at bij meetings in B gland, and to actually land a double is a feat which has set the scribes to Avork hunting up for similar instances.

* # * Fanny Boat, who was made a warm favourite for the Royal Two-year old Plato at KempSon, was sold ao a )earling for 510gs to Mr Courage, whose colourj he carried iv the raca. As we were informed by cab'egrani, Mr L. de Roths cluld'a pair finished first; and second, and the result seems to have been well received by tho crond. Moriiy Cannon had a bit of bad luck iv this race. Three owaers had each an equal claim on his services, and, toisiug to see who bhould have him, the o vner of Santa Maura proved Micoescful This filly, however, played up and threw her rider on the way to the post, and, starting off on htr own acsount, her uumbi ; was taken down and Lhe raca started without i.er. St. Fru-quin, the winner, ia by St. Sinuu from Isabel, by Plebeian from Parma, by Parmtsau — Arcbere^s, by Lo^gbaw; hence a relationship to Musket. The niuth contest for tho Jubilee Stakes was not particularly cxcitiDg. Viofccr Wild, the ex-selling plater s:>lrt not long since for 330gs, had the race virtually won a*i a quarter ot a mile from home, aD(I eventually beat the highly-fancied Grey Leg by aboub half a dozen lengths. As Victor Wild started at 20 to 1 ifc might be supposed tha 1 ; his success was a turn-up for the bookies; but the revers9 of this was the case, for Victor Wild had hosts of backer* all over the country, and, while most of the fieldera were hard hit, some of the starting-price men had to suocumb altogether and have been forced to face the degradation of solid "graft" for a liviug.

*#* Backers in turn hid a rough voyage on the opening day of the Newmarket Second Spring. They missed the really good thing of the Breeders' Piate when they lob Jolly Bost atatt at an outside price ; and the Newmarket Stakfs result wai a ptrfect disaster. Sir J. B Maple hid two engaged— viz , Kirkconnel and The Owl, the Utter having been purcha3ed from tbe Duke of Portland for 1200gs, and when the declaration wan made for Kiikoonnel herose to the head of the quotations at 5 to 4, while his stable companion went back to 20 to 1. In the race Kirkcounel was one of the first beaten, and the other fellow won an excitiDg race by a neck. The owner was no doubt pleased to wiu, bub it must have bt en a qualified sorb of pleasure, mingled with mortification at the collapie of the favourite. This was quite a surprise to him, we are told, and, sbrange <o say, he hal a similar experience when Siffleuse won the Oae Thousand for which Dame President was a strong order by the public, though in that race there wt<s no declaration. Among th^ other races decide] at this meeting was the Payoe Stakes, which in 1383 went ts Mr'Sbtad with Splendour, the horse he had bought for export to the colonies. Sfconenell was made the medium of one of (he American plunges for the All-aged Selling Plate. He failed to finish in the first three, but there wa? a general de.'ire to obtain possession of him, aud Mr T. Hoodleas, who ran second with Crawley, immediately exercised his rigUt and claime-i the horse, refusing afterwards a profit of £259 on his bargain. On the smne day the United SSatos gelding Banquet II cleverly won a selling plate for which his p»rby supported him to t.he tune of £5000, and at the subsequent auction some extraordinary bidding is reported by the Sportsman to have taken place. Entered to be sold for £300, Mr J. A. Miller, owner of Drogo, who finished second, at once entered tho lists, and a pissage afc arms onfiufid ho l r/e>n Idm and Mr Dwyer, tbe piir bidding agaiiiSi- e->ch other resolutely ani without dwelling. The ••!eas," "twenties," "fifties," "sixties,'' and "ixundreds" c«ne almoftt as fast as Mr Stevens cauld take them, and hundred after hundred in this way was reeled off tilt 1510ga was reached, at which sum the gelding was bought in. The huge surplus of 1210gs was thus left for division between the owner of the second and the f and, than which we cannot call to mind any larger surplus ever haTiog been made in a selling race, though last

year at Goodwood the bujing in of Powerficourft for 1000£8 left 700gs.

*** A rather peculiar incident is related as haviug occurred at \Vo3onga, the border town between New South Walos and Victoria, Somehow the scales got out of gear before th<J weighing-out of the candidates before the last, event had been completed. Four were engaged—viz., Lenore, Ktnsa, Mea Oolpa, and Oncia. The riders of the first-named pair were duly woighed-out, but through the fracturing of tho balance gear, Mea Gulp* and Oncia had to wait until repairs wera effected. Meanwhile the other pair, thinking no more rnnnsrs were coming, went to the posb, and were senfe away by the starter, Lenore passing the post first?. An outory wr.s raised, and as a consequence it was resolved that the raco Bhould b3 ran over again, but the owners of the horses named refused to start a second time, and Oncia and Mea Culpa alone competed, Oncia scoring a win. It is probable that Lenore's owner will endeavour to upset the decision whereby the race was run a second time.

*»* By means of the cable we get tt« weights for the Melbourne and Cau'field Cups, and therein rnj readers will find plenty of food 'for thought. Following the plan pursued in previous years I shall refrain from expressing any positive opinions as to the merits of the handicaps, preferring to take tie ideas of oar fr.'oads in Australia when they arrive. It may be noted, however, that Sar&oan is not very badly treated in being awarded 8 2, though the chances are that he will find other fish to fry .nearer home; and that the Auckland colt Oscillator is put; in atrtongs 1 ; the moderates. He, of course, is on the ground, or at any rate; in Sydney, but whether or not h? is good enough for Melbourne Cup company ia a point to, be determined. There are some warm members engaged in the two-mile race, and at the weights I should thiuk that Devon, Els wick, Brain, Ron da, and Kirkby are among those who will have to be reckoned with ; but these are mere passing ideas, aud we shall get some more reliable notions on the subject when the Australian opinions came to hand.

*** "Taihoa" telegraphs on Wednesday eight :— O wing to tho breakage in tha telegraphic service with the South Island lait night I was unable to send my usual budget. The Hawke's Bay meeting to-day did not pat much money into tbe local puntcro' pockets so far as the two principal events were concerned. The best local selection* for the Hurdles were Couranto and Hopeful, while Langley the Devil also carried a fairish amount of money. Kapua was rather indifferently backed, so the books had a fnirly good time. In the Steeplechase everyone rushed Liberator, and many punters who followed Norton in our big steeple cureed their folly in standing ofl him to-day. As I anticipated, Norton, within lib of his weight in the latfc Christchurch National, was too mucb for his field. After Liberator, Tiritea w»b a popular selection, bu 1 ; as events proved they were never in the hunt. Most of Nortoo'f contestants came to grief, but I have not heard whether Liberator and Tiritea wero amongst thecout'n.eat; which fell. Bombardier 1 * second to Norton jurtified what I wirtd about him list wetkas ta hi* pace if a "stand up" were given in, but at best ho is an unsatisfactory brute to follow. Norton's time (Bmin 38jcc) is not brilliant-, but is fully accounted for by the going, which was very heavy. — George Wiight's string at Raudwick will be added to when tho Sydney boat on her way acrtss reaches her destination, a3 Fright and The Daucer Were eout away by her yesterday. The jumper Fore-and-aft also journeyed by the same bDi>t, but he has no connection with Wiight's charges.— So far as I have been able to aßcertaiu, the parties connected with St. Clement have not niide up their minds to send Sb. Lpgftr's eon 'o Sydney The fact that he was given 9 2 in the Rosohill Winter Hmidioap, run labt Sat u> day week, does 100 argue that he would be given vt ry lenient treatment if he went over. — In all probability an early visitor to the other side will ba Armilla, the two-year-old filly by Castor from Necklace, who is engaged in the Maribyruong Plate. — Amalgam, the aged son of. Nalator, who competed at our recent meeting, has been bought by a lady from India, and was shaped en route to his new home by the Mararoa last Mondiy.— l uuderataud tiat Mr B. D. O'Rourke haß purchased Lsontine from Mr S. H. Gollan. The price paid was £109. The horse will be used for stud purges naxfe season. — Plicate advices from Melbourne ftate that no hopes aro entertained of Nat Nathan's recovery. A well-known northern pencilier is being treated for cancer of tho s-otnach at Fitzgerald's Private Hospital. The patient is Blowly sinkiDg, and the doator holds out no hopa of his recovery. — The Mararoa, which left this port last Monday for Sydney, took away Lavinia, rising 3yrs old, a filly by Tannin— SSyoil, who should show promiMJig form this season. She acted as runnerup to Foimi in the September Stakes at Ellerslie at the openiog Spring .meeting, but , shortly after broke down and was turned out. -•'