TALK OF THE DAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2287, 30 December 1897, Page 31

TALK OF THE DAY.

By MAZEPPA.

*V* Last week we were running over records of the Auckland meeting-, and the subject is seasonable enough to warrant a further batch of stuff of the same sort. I resume with the meeting which started on Boxing Day of 1881. For the Maiden Plate a warm favourite was found in the Hon. W. Robinson's Envy filly, subsequently named Bnviou.i, but Derretfe coaldn't make her race, and third was her position at tbe finish. Othello romped home. The chief reason I have for mentioning this race, however, is in order to note that " Brasher " Woods had a narrow escape of losing the nuutbe'r of his mess, as the sailors put it. He rodo p, twc-yeac-old named Lady. Sho bolted in the ract>, jumped at a paling foDcc and gofc impaled, Woods having a clone Equesk. For the Cup that year Mr Waltera'a three-yeai-old colt by Yattendon— Peerest, _ handicapped at 7.0, was made favourite on tha ' strength of his having iun seoond to Tbe Dauphin in the C.J.O. Derby. Next in order of the public fancy were Kiog Quail 7.4- and Kri iiworf h 6.8, these being at 4 to 1, while tho f&voci i'Vrt price waa half thst odds. - t The r«cb is easily described; Poet and Hilda led for & ■ couple of miles, when King. Quail made, an effort which placed him in front at the. bottom of the straight. . Hilda then challenged a'gaitr, and King Quail was given a t»eteof the siick, which caused him to swerve,-bufc he stvaighteiied up in plenty of time and bsat the mare hom«by a length, doing the two miles atitl a-qu»rter in 4min 8-: ec, or Bsec faster than Foul Play's time the previous year. The Hilda.- that ran in this Cup wa9, of course, Mr Bates's daughter of Albany and Miss Flat, and is nob to be confounded with the dam of Fulmen. The Peeress colt, who, by the way, w«s nejrei: seen in the race, was afterwards named Fitz Hercules. He did no use- aa a racer. No more did any of the family-— Venus Transit, Grand Duches», Marion, or Torori. Each of these lost more than it,*»on, and the lot together were not as profitable on the turf as their mother, tbcugh she probably had easier ta«ks than any of them, having the luck to be born in days when there were few good horses about. King Quail, winner of the race we have been speaking of, was a good little horeeof the- v&rminty order, descended from the Arab. With reasonable lack he would have nearly won the Dunedia Cup that Adamant shook. He was twice blocked in the straight, and when' he got clear he shot; up like lightning into third pl»ce. ' He never did carry weight, however, and the 8.7 bestowed upon him in the Racing Club Handicap on tho second day of the Auckland' meeting caused him to stop badly at the finish. Billingsgate, though troubled with a leg, won a couple of races in succession at this meeting ; Maid of Honour, pulled tff three; add Ouida, then a two-yeac* old, destined in later life to become the mother of buch celebrities as Artillery and Hilda and Strathmore, was defeated in the Midsummer (Stake* by the Farmy 1 Fisher filly, subsequently christened Fishwoman ; and tho Derby turned out to be a notable race, inasmuch as Smite, an entirely green colt, nearly beat the Peeress colfci owing to the latter making it a slow race and underestimating the novice. ' .

*#* The 1882 meeting was the one at which Mr J. Pilbrow had his memorable, innings. He took up Clarence and Welcome Jack, anil bought Canard there. The purchase turned out all right, since it was with Canard that Mr Pilbrow won both the Hurdle Race and the Steeplechase ; Clarence finishing third (behind New Year) in the race over the little sticks and second in the Steeplechase. Some think the old horse could have done the trick if Canard had not been there. Be that as it may, it is pretty plain that he could hardly have been expected to meet and beat Canard. There were not many men about the turf in those days who could tell Mr Pilbrow how to manage his buyings and eeUwgi. This coup of his was remembered for many a year. The jumper's wins were only part of it. The main performer was Welcome Jack. This colt won the whole of his five races, being ridden each time by Willie Butler. His first race was the Cup, for which his weight was 7.8. At the outset he went to the front, and kept there until it ■ was seen that others were prepared to make the pace sound. On this being found out Welcome Jack retired into the body of the field and lay there till sis furlongs from horne c when he raced up and deprived Merlin of the lead and got everyone^ i of bis opponents settled at the bottom of the ■ straight, eventually winning, hard held, by a couple of lengths from Tim Whiffler, that honest^ stayer The Poet being third. Nominally, Wek come Jack's starting price wa» 2 to 1 against, but if any of the fielders were giving such odds they were more liberal than the totalisatsr, for)' the dividend wai only £1 12s. The very next; race, the Railway Plate, six furlongs, at weighty for age, was also won by Welcome Jack, beatinjt Minerva, Piscatorious, and Mitrailleuse, and -flajing again £1 12 m This, closed iliQ.Jssl

day's work, and as the Derby, the opening event on the second day. was a mere exercise canter For the son of . Miss Flat, he being only opposed by Kingask, it is perfectly correct) as s literal statement, though misleading, to cay fcliat Welcome Jack won three races in euccesoion. Butler cut ifc rather fine in ' - D.-.rby, and some professed to see in it a t f race, but Jack really won with about three htone in Jtiand. What backers thought of the other fellow's show may be gueseed from the dividend, £1 2i. The Publicans' Purse, a mile, at weight for age, was the nexfc race iv order, and this also would have been a soft thing for Mr Pilbrow'd colt had the owner cared for ir, but he pulled Jack out, leaving Piscatovius to win, and elected instead to have a go in the Jtucfng Club Handicap, in which the colt's wsight was 8.7, the same as Tim WhifHer's. This handicap wea decidedly in Welcome Jcek'3 favour, geerng tbafc he wss penalised only 61b by comparison with Tim for winning the Cup, and backers seeing this uatde the visitor favourite, the dividend after he won hollowly — Eob from Tim. this lime, but from The. F^et— being £1 9j. On the third day Welcome Jack w«s content to go for nothing but the Auckl.ind Plate, two miles, afc weight for age, and he w&h deemed euch a certainty that he was barred in one of the totalisatorf, and p«id only 21« in the other, tbis machine paying out on Minerva, who ran second, finishing three lengths away. Mr Pilbrow'rf cheque over the meeting cut of the stake i fund came to £1509, leaving £1413 for all the other owners.

*** Tha meeting just irotf eed has-been called ♦'Phlbrow'd meeting" and •' Welcome Jack's

meeting;?' It might, with equal appropriata.'iiesa ge\f the nume of. " Traduces'a meeting." The splendid Libel horse, then in Jbis twenty-fifth year, was making his exit in a ' t)l«ze of glory. Of 16 races on the programme bis stock collared nice. At the nrxfc meeting, the one o? 1883-84, the Muskets began their wonderful winning'", and though Traducer still feepbbis name goiug, it w»b only by means of Welcome Jack and Lib u ller, the latter nearly done, »nd Mr Pilbrow's borse content to annex the weigh t-for-age races open to all a gee. The case with which Welcome Jack accomplished this tftfk was one of the features of the meeting. He absolutely smothered Wapiti and Mitrailleuse in the RaiLway Plate — a race, by the way, in which St. Leger, now the champion tire of the colony, had sn inglorious ruD, being badly beaten all the way; and being pulled up by Bl'Clusky at the borne turn. The Publicans' Purse found Welcome Jack playing with bis only opponent, Mitrailleuse, against whom the nominal odds were 20 to 1, though I saw an offi r made to take tb*t prce by George Belcher, acd he couldn't get it; and in the Auckland Plate the southern crack settled Nelson half a mile from home and ran in an •easy winner. There was a great deal 'of dissatisfaction as to the way in which Welcome Jack ran in the Cop. He was weighted at 910 »nd never got near the front, finishing fifth, behind Salvage 8.8, TimWhiffl-r 7.12, Libeller 7.7, nnd Vortex 6 0 The latter, riddea by Adam Byerp, made the pace to (he straight, where S» lvage, .■on whom George Williams- (now dead) had the mount, challenged "Tim," and L'fceller el-jo ciuiie fast, and for a few strides there was the hope- of a race ; bat Salvage had the race won at t&e tialf distance, and he got home by a 'length, thus landing a dieeent state" for Mr B_b •"Vallance (who was drowned hi the wreck of the •"Taiaroa) "and Mr Abe Snider (who w&e moi'iaily stricken at a party- iv Dunedin). Strange that! all the chief actors in that race are now •dead. I well remember the somewhat angry argument tbati arose over Welcome Jack's p*r- , -formance. My friend Archießruce ("Phaeton ") '■asserted very plait ly that Wtlcome Jack Sid' not try' a yard, and when oce of the visitors (he also is dead', co I won't mention uam»s) cal'ed at the Htraldi office to argue the point Mr Bruce in a dignified manner replied that he waHn'6 >[oitig-to have a wrangle about the matter, bub if theowneror'anyoneelsefclb dissatisfied with the commentsthey coald havespace in the columns ot the paper and he (Mr Bruce) wowld i eply. The 'Welcome Jack party didn't want tbi<<, Mid their ■discontent fizzled oub in dtsul r ory growlings. I may add that ' ! Phaeton " went uot an inch beyond bis duty in this matter. The D;rby ab that meeting went to Nelson, who, however, h»-d all his work to get> home, he- beicg on the aick list;. Major ©eorge wanted to win with him if he could, but started Wapiti as well in • order to moke sure of the stake. Trenton, Eropp, and Necklace were smooget the young Muskets racing- at that meeting.

*** When in after years I have heard men .gushing about the Musket stocV, my thoughts have often reverted to this 188J-84 race meeting. Very few who were there present to see these race really believed in them, mitrailleuse hadn't at that time developed the speed which subsequently made her name famous, Snider was a tested "shicer," musketeer, was ' bnb a moderate, ditto HTsconeta, and' though three ' Muskets had filled [the situations in the Welcome Stakes- run at .'Auckland in November, there seemed to be no to- the argument tfi&t this was virtually at local race, aud that a .different tale would be jbold'when the Auckland two-year-olds came to meet the southern, cracks. ' Aurfrfanderg were Jaopeful of %he Musket stock', and, to be fair, a few of the local "sportsmen barracked loudly, and in some cases, I believe, conscientioiioly, for their stallion. The majority, however, who . combated for Musket did so out of love for their province rather than from conviction), and it was timidly that they backed thia or that from the surrounding stables. I well i\ member hearing George Belcher, sileucing a group of local patriots, while the horses were about to start for the Midsummer Stakes, by offering to Tbake 2 to 1 that Ugly Buck downed all the Musket mob against him. Trenton had at rbat time very few supporters. The public voted bis Welcome win lucky, and whatever faith they fcad in the Muskets was placed upon Krupp. ITrenton, however, won again, and then the people began to believe in him and to talk Musket. Krupp, too, beat all ths rest* amongst them Ugly Buck, for whose defeat no excuse could be made, seeiDg that he got well away and was simply beaten for pace ; aud when on the second day Krupp signally licked Ugly Buck in the New Year's Gift after a go in which this pair singled themselves out from the pack, the crowd turned roucd and talked such nonsense as you never beard before, a 8 though they really believed Ihat a Musket could not lose. The facts were, cf course, all right. The Musket stock was the greatest find we ever hid in the way of horseflesh. But; it has often been to me a source of Amusement to note the way in which the find •\ras made. As subsequent history proved, Ugly Buck was not a good colt. Something Jbetter tha,n him ought to have represented the ißOutherners. It would have been a better test ftiad Liverpool or Lady Evelyn gone up to* compare formi Still, though the Muskets two-year-olds had very little to beat — though it waa a bad year for two-year-olde generally and the tone despatched as the Canterbury delegate was decidedly unworthy of the honour— the value o£ the Muskets waa fully established afc thia meet inc. They did -what, waa wanted of them

bo thoroughly well as to converb the crowd wholesale, and the new faith had no apostates iv after years.- The next Auckland Cup meeting was marked by several memorable incidents. In tho first race, the Maiden Plate, Torpedo broke Then' c&tae the defeat of the Slander colt (afterwards named Foul ghofc, now in America) iv the Midsummer Stakes, for wbJch he had been deemed a certainty on the strength of winning the Auckland Welcome Stakes seven weeks earb'er. His conqueror was Thunderbolt, who endirsed the form when the pair met again on the second day in the Nesv Y^ar'a Gif b. Another thing to mind the meeting by was the rumpus over the lato ECratching of Welcome Jack 9.10 and Turquoise 8.4 for the Cup Nciiher borse was expected to start, and neither was backed in the later stages of the betting, yet both were left in until au hour before the race, and when they wpre withdrawn Mr Pi:brow seemed to think ifc necessary to write a letter to tho stewards. Wuafc he said w?.p, in substance, that he hod been told his hone would be watched in the race, and if there was the slightest, ground for suspicion he would h?. disqualified ; that as the ground was heavy, and his horsj could not ncfe in heavy going, he icratched rather than run the risk of drqualifi'iatiou ; and thaj be bad backed Administ-ator, believing that ho had as good a right to back that horse as auyone else, and quite as much right as the public had to forestall him (Mr Pilferow) iv the market with Welcome Jack. A3 a matter of iact only mx Parted, and? they ran in the rain. Tho betting was 5t04 on Administrator (rWJen by T-«ylor afc 7.8) and sto 1 agates 1 ! The Poet 612 and Libe'l-r 7.0. The story of the race casi be told in a couple of lices. Poet jumped away iv front, was steadied, theu tock tbe lead at a mi!e n.ud a-q natter from home aud was never headed, wi'iiuing by four leugths from Normauby 6 12, Wood Nymph 5.12 being third and Administrator fourth. The Poet paid £7 sa.

*^..* Mr Pilbrow got another facer when Ugly Buck failed to even get a placs in tho Derby won by Trigidia ; but Welcome Jsck came to the rescue by capturing the three opeu weight-for-age races and sl<o getting home with 9.10 in th>s Racing Club Handicap, aud tUe Steeplechase ough!; to have been, snd in fact was, won by Clarence, though he lo3t the rnorjey owing to a bungle. Mr D. Rutherford's The Lad, ridden at 12.0 by Sheenan, was made favourite afc 2 to 1, and the L-exfc in demand was Alaric 10 10, who had competed in the Cvp — a strange joining of duties ! Neither, however, got a pl.se j. CUrence (12.10, A Lyford) won rather easily from King ( 912, E. W-lliams). A protest was- lodgtd by ilr H. W. Maxwell, owner of Suoray, alleging th»t ClareLcs hh«l other horses had nob kept to the course. Iv the tvidence it was showii that the double huiol-i in front of the stand bad been lengthened by sheep hurdles to kesp the crow<3 from closing up to the proper jumps ; thafe the proper jumps were correctly flagged, but that tbe clerk of course cleared tbe way to tbe wrong parts of the hutdles ; and tbab all the hoi-sea excepting Sumay and Linwoad followed the track thus cleared for th*m, the riders of the" two horsss named taking the jumps between the flags notflhbstanding that the people wero there as thick aa bees. These facts were cltarly shown, and it wss plain- that Clarence could not win. But it was also proved that the judge ba-3 left tbe box before Sunray finifhed: The stewards, in view of ail the circumetancce, decreed that (he race should be run over sg*in, and this was done the next d»y. Barbary, however, could not atart — he bad hurt his fetlock find was shot ; while Clarence and The Lad wtrj tco sore to start r.g*!u. Eight therefore went to the post. Of tbese, after Alaric fell at the water jump, tone bad any say but Sunrav and Linwood, and they fought out a splendid finish, ref uUiog in Linwcod, owned by Billy Weston and ridden this time by Tommy Sheenai* winning by a neck all out. Sheeuan had to ride Liuwood afc 10 b overweight, but ifc wa-.wcrththe penalty to get so good a man for Linwood. Everybody ackj owledged that the rtca was decided by the riding and the generalship.

*#* Subscribers to Tattersail's consultations are gettiog tired of being importuned by owners for big slices " to nothing " of the prospective prize money whenever they draw a horse. A correspondent of the Australasian writes lo say that he does not see why when a man, after subscribing for years and getting no return, at last draws a good horse, he should bo forced lo stand and deliver ab the instance of the owuer. He thinks tbe big money should be distributed in cash priz-ss instead of being given to firs!;, second, and third horse. Wha 1 ; a disappointment to some owners, observes '•' Terlioga," the adoption of tbis pl»n would be. It would be reducing Tattereall's sweeps to ths level of an ordinary lottery, and the racing club?, as well as* the owners, would use all their influence to prevent such a change being made. ' From the point of view oF the people who find the money, however, the suggestion is not a bad one. And those who ipay the piper havd a right to call the tune. The present system Eui's the' cuntribmtors in one way. " Tbe man- who has the luck to draw a Melbourne Cup favourite can lay off his money and' moke a certainty of winning both ways. He can do this wich safety iv a b'g race on which ante-post betting takes place, but where the race ia comparatively * small one, such as the Sandhurst Cup, or a Bubuiban handicap in Sydoey, he is piaclicirily at the mercy of the owner. It is quite a mistake to suppose that owners are let into the secret of who has drawn their horse by Tattersall. Such a thing has not been suggested since the Sweetmeat episode in 1881, aud then Tattereall was not the promoter concerned, and the charge of havhig given Ivory the information was stoutly denied. No, the drawer of a horse has only himself to blame if his identity is discovered by the owner. Bat in (he case of a small race the average owner simply waits for the drawer to approach him, and if he does not; out goes tbe horse, vide Ayrshire in the Sandhurst Cup.

*#* Danstaii rotes are supplied lo the local paper by "Tbe Wizard," who writes:— Mr Waldron has lost the services of his old favourite, Snivel, the horse having been disabled through getting a rusty nail in his foot. This is a distinct less to Mr Waldroo, as the old , horse was in the pink.of condition, and would have taken a lot of beating in the Matakanui Handicap. Black Bess is just; about as fit as bands can mske her. If anything beats her in the big race afc Blacka the time will not be slow. Mr J. White has The Gl-tuier looking very well, also Maid of Erin, who Is fast coming into favour for the Alt-aged Stakes. The Messrs Donnelly have Redwieg and Bellbird in full work. I hear they have got H. MTlroy to ride for them. Mr Wall's Derby colt has conae. on very nicely". In fact, he i« a credit to his trainer, who spares" no trouble for 1 the welfare of tbe colt. By the way, this colt used to Be known a* Emerald, but now is named Ruby's Ray, as there are two horses already racing under the former name. I hear from Hill's Creek that Magic is- greatly fancied

for the Matakanui Handicap, and that ho ia answering his trainer all the questions that ever Rosly'n could. Keliso is a likely starter for the All-aged Stakes. She had a trial wibh <?lencoe, and pub him down easily. I saw the trial, but can't say whether they were playing "keels'' or not.

*V* It can hardly be said, remarks the Australasian, that the extraordinary success achieved by the late Mr James White ab Kirkham has been maintained since that gentleman's death. Under the new management there baa been a great increase in the number of mares, but Abetcorn, despite his great success with Copra, has not proved an efficient substitute for Cheater ; and Martini-Heary, after being given a thorough trial, has been drafted out oE the slud as not quite good enough. Nob long ago a number of mares were culled ou ! j of the Kirkham lot, and probably the pr;specfcs.of the slud'are brighter than they were two jears back. Mrs Scott, the owner of Kirkham, died a little while back, and, as far as w<j kuow, nothing has yet been decided as to whether the stud farm is to be carried on or nob.

*#* Paris, now in England, has been subjected to the cruel process of firing, in the hope that another race may be got; out of him. Poor old Paris ! After all be has done for- his owner he deserved a better fate than to bs fked at bia t.irae of life. I wond?r how many cases there ate, asks "Tir'inga," in whioh firing can be proved to have done any good ? On que&tiour ing Mr Allan ouce, ho told me that occasiouftlly, he thinks, it has had the effect of enabling a horse to stand, but in a burst uf confidence he went on to say that in all probability it was fcb.es long rest which follows firing that had helped the weak leg and not the firing. If tbis is co, why not give the rest without putting the poor hoiso to the torture ?

*** There was a spirited discussion in the train returning from Epsom, writes "Javelin," concerning the pronunciation of Sioux. One man, taking a position wliipb. he probnbly felt nobody would be in a position to combat, said that he knew from the owner that it was Hebrew for Zor. The tavanb of the small party, who treated that ife a j ike, however, eaid positively, "It's pronoucced Soo, my dear fellow, Soo ! A French contraction of the Boglifih name Susan. As common a wordinFiench as Jack or Mary in English. Tite xis never pronoucced in French, you know." The speaker's confident manner and apparent knowledge of his subject carried conviction to mosb of his hearers, but the man who Lad got the office thab it was Hebrew for Zox wonldn't be convinced, and d'fnatly said, '-Whal/re you talking about? How the devil can it mean Susan when Sioux is a gelding ? "

* # * Ife was announced at the meeting of the Dunedin Jockey Club's Committee last week that the Hon. Mr Cadman will- try to fee"i to Dunedin early in the.year, and thf*t if he docs come he will meet the committee and discuss the question of a railway siding to the Wingatui course. Tbis is the stick-up in the preparations for quitting the Forbury. The railway folk find that the trains cannot stop exactly opposite the gates unless a siding is constructed, and thab means a rather expensive- job. The qv>e»tion, therefore, is whether the expense should, be undertaken,- and by whom, or vvhather passengers should b9 taken a little farther on, to. the Wingatui t.tation, wtioh would mean a walk of 300 or 400 yards. I think that if the siding is at all possible with the means afc command, it should be built. Th-;re mu«t be no false economy about the inauguration of Wingatui — nothing 'tbafc would give tLe people disagreeable impressions of the place..

* # * The outbreak of strang'es which has appeared ia various parts of Ofcago and Cant?rbury this season seems to be of a peculiarly malignant character. Nihilist, in M'Ginnesa'a stable, nearly died from the effects of his attack, aud I have to record two deaths in North Otago, eacb, as bad luck would have it, removing a valuable Stepniak yearling. The Fallacy gelding, bought by Mr Sewell for 80gs, and the Lady's Maid gelding, for which Mr Anthony M 'Master paid 45js at theChristchucch sal'i of yearliugs, are the victims. Both were bred afe Elders'ie.

*h* Palmerston races on the 3rd promise to be a great draw, for the acceptances seem to indicate good racing. I take Alderaho* 1 -, Lady Lear, and Taogi Maid to be likely wiuaers during the day.