IN A NUTSHELL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2202, 14 May 1896, Page 33

IN A NUTSHELL.

— Baron Hirsch was a native of Munich. — Chainshot has gone to England by the lonic. — The North Canterbury Club has £166 in hand. — Trainers in India are not allowed' to own horses. — Mr O. A. Parker, judge in Tasmania, died recently. — Sir Robert Jardine never allows his jockeys to use whip or spurs. — Mr M. C. O'Connell, of Palmerston North, has purchased Narrate. — Jack Taggart has purchased the jumper Barman (Somnus Barmaid). — Asmodeuß" votes The Harvester one of the greatest horse* in the land. — There was a 5s totalisator working at the Wellington Trotting meeting. . — Jack o' Lantern, by Marvellous — Phizgig, has been sold for £400 to go to India. — Courallie, after beiDg sold to Mr Uphill for £680, could have bf en placed at £860. — ifiuroclydon's name will probably appear amongst the Melbourne Cup entries. — A atraight-away track for trotting horses is to be built in the vicinity of New York. — An Euglish paper says that the lightest pair of jockey's boots ever made weighed 3ioz. —At Benalla (Vie.) a horse named Nunquamnonparatus" won the Maiden Hurdle Race. — The 1898 Chicago Derby, of £5000, has been declared off. Why, I know not. There were 247 entries. , ! — Derrett roda Marino at Egmont, and the' j horse waß made first favourite for the Hawera Stakes. — Mr D. O'Brien's recent purchase, the yearling colt by Autonomy from Bangle, has been named Patriot. —As the result of a suit at Nelson, a jockey named Hughes recovered £11 odd for wages and riding fees. — The V.R.C. St. Leger winner, Cabin Boy, has been sold to Mr Riley, of Townsville, Northern' Quecnaland. — Becky bharp, who was put to Apreruont last spring, has unluckily slipped her fo&l. She is getting up in years. - — Mr R. E. M'Rae's stallion Morpheus has received an accidental iujury at Hawera, and it ia feared he willnot recover. — Martini-Henry's sister Engagement has been sent by Mr P Campbell to St. Serf, sire of this year's One Thousand winner. — A protest against Nat, alleging that he ran inside a post In the Hawera Steeplechase at JEjyoont, was dismissed as frivolous.

— Dillon, g c, 11 years of age, won a mile race at Sandon Park, (Vie.) on the 25th ulfc. It is nearly five years since his last previous win. — The story ia continually repeated that Swift got up ia the last stride and beat Review, who was declared the wituxir of the NeLon Cup — J. Monaghan has again token up Mr Gollan's two-year-old BonlwiiKer, ;by Dreadnought from Lady Florence, a daughi A of Florence McCarthy. — Wolverine's sister Maid will probably race no nioro, Mr M'Glnne'iS having sold her to a man who proposes to uss her for breeding purposes. — Bijou, two years old s by Medallion from Sapphire, was recently injured by an accident. She is half sister to Elueflre, tha Challenge Stakes ! I winner. | — For the May meeting at Fleiniogton the Sydney plan of retaining entrance fees aud allow- , ing sweeps for startera to go to owell the prize will be adopted. — five first prizes at a recent flowar show in New South Wales were awarded to the Rosehill racecourse management. Where are our flowers in Duuudin? — Miss Madge, by Apremont— Take ML-s, was put uj> to auction on Saturday by Wright, Stophensoi), and Co., and knocked down to M. Allan at 31Jgs. —J. Alkop's team at Randwick has baeu strengthened by the addition of Clarion, a colt by Carbine from a Richmond mare, and a filly by Carbine from Sierra. — Tho V.R.O. Grand National Steeplechase this year will be woith about £1500. The committee have decided to add £1000, and there vrill be a sweep" of o<ovs each. — Mr W. Blsckler refused an offer of 400^8 for Duke of Richmond (Richmond— Gratitude), with a further contingency of lOOgs if the colt should win the S. A.J C. Leger. — The V.R.C. has determined to strictly define the amateur status of riders, and end tho anomaly of having bogus "gentlemen" who make jockeyship a means to sin end. — - A recent Belling race at Canterbury Park (Sj-duey) proved moist profitable to the club, for the winner, Sir Arthur, who had beea nominated without rtserve, brought £135. — Fuitunatus hurt his hip recently when being landed at Madras. He kicked with threat violence when being swung ashore, and was in a very exhausted condition when finally got clear. — Majunia, winnerof the Newmarket Handicap, and sister to Malvulio, who won the Melbourne Cup, baa bean sold for 1000«s to go to England, and will probably r£ce there. —Mr Uphill's last shipment to India included the St. Olair i ony Chieftain, referred to by Melbourne Sportsman as "perhaps absolutely the be»t 13.3 pony ever foaled in Australasia." — I hear of the de*tk of Hero, the Totara gelding who in 1891 won the Maiden Steeplechase at the OUgo Hunt Club meeting for Mr J. Clos3 and ran necond to Waitangi in the Hunt <>up. —Me Joseph Cairn Simp >on, of California, will make a tour of America in the interest of Mr Lopez's Australian starting machine, which has been tried with such success at San Francisco. — Eiymologically speaking, the word horsechestnnt has nothing whatever to do with, horses. A Frenchman, however, has made the discovery that hoi^e-chestnuts are an undoubted cure for broken- winded animals. — The Calcutta Turf Club has decided to increase the value of the Viceroy's Cvi) from 8000 rupees to -10,000 rupees. It is anticipated that before the conditious are finally fixed up the value will be 16,000 rupees. — Sir Mocked, the handsome son of Traducer now in America, was represented last year by 62 racere, who won 181 events, worth £14,500, this placing the New Zealander thiid on the list of winning stallions. Hanover was first and Falsetto second. — The S.A. J.C has decided to deal with those ringmen who continue to bet totalisator odds without the authority of the club. 'Notices have been served upon three ringmen, warning them off the course for having infringed the by-laws and rules of the club. . — Honeymoon (Maribymoßg — Bridesmaid), dam of Courallie, died recently at the Turonville Stud. She was bred in 1875 by the late Mr A, Town, and at different timea was mated with Grandmaster, Welcome Jack, Gleiialvon, Gemma-di-Yergy, Invader, and Fusileer. — In the racing season of 1893 Baron Hirsch's coloura vyere not so successful as usual, the sum won by them in public stakes being poly £7500. The baron, determining that the charities should not suffer, doubled the £7500, and handed his almoner a cheque for £15.000. — There were several "spills" at Egtaont, none of them leriou", excepting in the case of Higgins, who fell with Lord Vivian in the Efowera Steeplechase, and the same afternoon received an ugly fall with Bradskaw, wh«n that horse toppled over a spar in the Final Steeplechase. — Mr Ben Curtis telln me that he has retired from odds-laying and handed over his well-worn pencil to his aon. I make young Ben a present of the advertisement out of respect for his father, whom I have known ev*r since the days when he didn't make a book at all, but wa- content to take a pitch on the Forbury as " a list man." — Concerning Reiponse, whose latest performance was to run a dead heat for third place with Royal Rose ia tho April Stakes at Rand wick, a Sydney paper says : She is one of the sort that would just miss winning in either Melbourne Cup or a pony race with equal facility. If Richmond's daughter ever does win a race it will probably be on a protest. — Nays the Lake County Press : It is rumoured that a local s-poit will journey to the Dunedin Hay meeting frith » view to picking up a decent platei foe next season's gclclfields meetings. With »uoh gt>od cattle up country as Wild Wave, Stockmaid, Cornicel!o, Duuluce, and Rebec, not to men- | tion a number of young ones, it v»ill take a, fairish I nag to pay its way. j — There does not appear to be any immediate prospect, of a second watch between Mystery and the bicyclist Harris comiDg off. Mr Robertson wants the trotter and the cyclitt to start off in different directions, so that the mare will not I have to "pace" Han is. • But the cyclist thinks , there would be a danger of collision, in which he would be the most likely to suffer. — Referee say a that Mr S. H. Gollnn has instructed his manager to send Home a number of his horses, and Mousquetaire, by Nordenfeldt from Frailty (dam of Trenton) ; The Possible, by Nordenfeldt—Realisation (dam of Maxim); Sternchaser, by Nordealeldt —Crinoline ; wad Pounamu, by Newminstcr from Beryl (sister to NordenWdt) are mentioned as those that will in all probability leave New Zealand at an early date. —An exchange says that race meetings for graagfed horses are going out of favour in Queensland, as instead ot providing honest sport, the reverse is the case, and it is stated that more crooked business takes place at these meetings than is ever heard of at legitimate racing. This statement may be contradicted, but the fact remains tbat pulliDg, wilful jostling, " ringing in," and other offences are of frequent occurrence. — At Brisbane last month the first case since the pasting of the Gambling Act came before the Police Court, the defendant being J. Uowridge, a tobacconist, well known in the northern capital in connection with consultation sweeps. Dowridge, it appears, disposed of a ticket giving an interest in a lottery entitled the Working Man's Benefit Company, Limited. The case was argued I at length, and a flue of £10 inflicted. Notice of appeal was given. — The Argus says that the steeplechaser Floater was conveyed from Melbourne to Warrnambool in a horse-box on the s.s. Flinders, and was placed in the vessel's hold. On arriving at Warrnambool they were about to take the horse out when he made a leap clean out of his box and fell among the cargo. For a time it was feared that Floater was seriously injured, but eventually Smith (his trainer and rider) safely landed him on tho breakwater. Much to the spectators' ! surprise the horse was not injured ia the ! slightest. —On the subject of English cross- country riders Vigilant," of the London Sportsman, writes as follows : That a few of the professional jockeys are better than the amateurs over a country is not disputed, but thebe&t amateure are streets ahead of the second-class professionals. The profeßsionol jocksy, as a rule, has not bo much pluck in him to start with, and by repeated falla and knocking* out he develops lack of dash— to saff the l«ajf of & No maahaa uwa sum o£

riding and ridera than Mr Arthur Yates, and he says, ' Give mo a gentleman for choice." — Thus an Fnglish writer : Personally Hook upon the 'good old days" as mo « or le^s a fraud, as I consider that sporfc goner-rfl/ ia i, uch in ad> vance of what it was even '.id or id yy,\n a?o, It is true we then had good ra«'eliota:.", kuOi! 'eh isers, good hunters, goort ho'inds, g od «rt>> hounds, good crickttew, good athletes, au«l goo'l billiard playera. But had we in tUode days an Ormonde, a Corueaw&y, or Cloistei", a Mastar ftl'Giath, a W. G. Grace, a John Koberts, or a man that could sprint 100 yds under leml t'ino, or one that could jump 6ft 3in in height? Emphatically n6 I — Some of the American riders have got down to the fact that it is poasible to get a " go " on the starting machine, judging by the following clipping from the San Francl-co Breeder and Sportsman of March 12 ;— " Jockey Shields has clearly mastered the situation, and while he does not ' beat the flag ' ho comes pretty near ' ducking the webbing. 1 Thiee times yesterday he shot his mount out from under tho barrier while in was making its upward flight, and before some of the pin-heads got their mouths clojad again Shields was showing the way at a merry clip. Ho won I with every mount Wednesday, and won all tha ' way. too. If some of the other boys do nob get on ', to the wrinkly Shields will have an immense , followi g."