ENCOURAGING STEEPLECHASERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2320, 18 August 1898, Page 31

ENCOURAGING STEEPLECHASERS.

Mr B. Gray, in a letter to the Australasian, deals thus with a subject that is of widespread interest:— "l suppose Mr Dakin will not admit that 13.7 and 14.0 are next to impossible weights for horses to win under, when the going is like it was on Grand National clay. A stone then over 11.0 means two on any ordinary course or day. and nothing but a really clever horse, thoroughbred, and fit, could have won with the 12.7 that Floater carried. Now, to breed a Floater, educate him, and bring him fit to the post, costs a very large amount of money, and the V.R.C. should do more to encourage the breeding oi such a horse. He must win three Grand Nationals before he wins as much as a 6.10 horse can in a Melbourne Cup, and how much more desirable a horse he is goes without saying. Suppose a horse starts by winning a National with 10.0 up (how few do let records say), he will be up to 13.7 before he starts for his third, if not his second, Grand National, as, of course, he will have won one or two good steeplechases in the interval. I am not for tying the hands of the handicapper, nor yet a believer in either a minimum or a maximum weight. What I would suggest as to the way out of the difficulty of not giving a young horse a chance to win one of these big stakes, unless the crack horse of the year, such as Sussex, Game, Redleap, or Daimio, were given these cruel weights, and so let him win a fair amount of public money, is that the club should give several steeplechases in the course of the year say, from £300 to £500 each, in which it shall be a condition of the race that no horse shall be handicapped over 12.7, then those entering would know what they had to contend with, and a fair performer could not grumble at, say, 2.0 less, nor could the horse that had won a National or two grumble at 13.7. We would then see far more good horses, not only of steeplechasers, but all other classes. lam not with Mr Russell who wants hurdle races to be run over a distance of not less than two miles, for although I hold they are a hybrid race, neither proving a flat racer nor a jumper, yet it is said there are horses who will win a good hurdle race over a mile and a-half that cannot stay a mile on the flat, and these have to be considered. Indeed, I contend that those sportsmen in England who are trying -to do away with five furlong and three-quarter mile races are taking away a very subslan tial inducement for breeders and buyers of racehorses. There are always a large number bred that can go no further racing, and it it a mistake to suppose that they are not troocl for other purposes, as some of the best journey horses and hunters I ever rode were of this class : while as sires and dams many of them have been equally famous. King Alfred, for instance, could never get a place in any race over half a mile, and Fisherman was beaten off in all races over a distance until he was a three-year-old, and there are hosts of other colonial dams and sires I could cite if it would not occupy too much space. I don't love either short races or big weights, but they are both necessary evils, and our club only requires to treat them as such, and not pro mote them, which. I am sorry to say, they are now doing." To this the editor adds a footnote : Mr Gray's memory has played him false as regards Fisherman and King Alfred. Fisherman was a failure as a two-year-old because he lacked brilliancy. He ran six times. At half a mile he failed signally ; but three times, when the distance was six furlongs, he was either second or third. He won at a mile on the first day of the next season. King Alfred only ran seven times in England. As a two-year-old he ran third in a six-furlong race and fourth in a mile handicap at the end of tho season. Noxt season he ran in a two-mile race (won by Rataplan), and in three mile and a-half heat races. Evidently King Alfred's owner did not think him deficient in stamina.

THE TURF REGISTER.

Prompt to time, in this respect setting an example to its elder Australian brother,- tho New Zealand Turf Register for 1897-98 nmdo its appearance at subscribers' addresses last week and could be purchased at the reasonable price of half a guinea. Publication dose on the. heels of the dauavting season is made

J a point of by the proprietors, the Christ^ j church Press Company, who by tho way havgj now had the work in hand for eight yefrs^ and for this promptness they deservo the) thanks of the sporting community. Rightly] also, they are entitled to tho gratitude of that; 1 vast host of men who take an interest iii | horsey matters. Without such a turf guide od is now supplied the multitude of backers andl breeders and owners up and down the country* could not keep themselves properly posted ir» j tho indispensable data of the turf, and it isf a well-known fact that when the propriscor^ started on their present undertaking it was! without any immediate prospect of profit. J» ' should like to see their enterprise and their^ [ skilful work acknowledged in a practical wajf { by a general demand for copies booming thej I circulation to such an extent as to make thej j business soundly payable. Gratitude, how- \ ever, is not one of the attributes of cut* • sportsmen as a body. They expect a lot fee ! sixpence and a truck load for a shilling. Jj prefer, therefore, to advocate the claims of thef , Turf Register from a strictly commercial poms 'of view. In doing so there is an abundance of argument to hand. The Register is very neatlj; printed; it is also wonderfully correct, onlj| 13 errata being discovered so far, and of thetjQ three are not attributable to the staff ; it coijt 1 tains full reports of every race meeting, witl^ the trotting performances separately indexed 5j ' and the tables of previous winners now include the results of the Melbourne Cup and! Derby. The book is steadily growing in sizeV ' being 18 pages larger this year than last, and jj find the information as to the rules, coming; | events, etc., full and reliable. The lurf j Register is, in short, indispensable to the true; ! sportsman — a book to buy, not to borrow ; andi one which will compare favourably with works' j of the same sort in other parts of the world.