CANTERBURY DOINGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2355, 13 April 1899, Page 37

CANTERBURY DOINGS.

By M. Qui».

There was not a very largo attendance at tho blood stock sale at Riccarton on Wednesday last. The bids came slowly, and many of the lots wers pasned in. Mrs John Carter, of Tinwald, purchased Lady Zetland for 260gs, so it seema likely that the New Zealand Cup winner's now quarters will not be far away from her old home. Beauty Sleep was passed in at 65gs, Maximus at 40gs, Reverie at 135gs, no one bidding for Phaethon. Mr Todhunter's chestnut colt Warbeck by Perkin Warbeck II — Take Miss, waa passed in at 210gs, three other lots offered .by the same owner sharing the same fate, while foi another there was no bid. Sir G. Clifford's Tanglowood and Francesca were paased in, and no business resulted from the offe. of Boccaccio, a two-year-old Lukeshell — Dudu gelding submitted by Mr E. Cutts. Valentine failed to elicit a bid. Mrs Carter a!ao purchased Miss Kate at 25gs. Sir George Clifford secured Catherine Wheel to mate with Claurauald, while Mr J. F. Reid obtained possession of Crest for his Elderslie stud. At 55gs Mr J. C. N. Grigg seemed Conqueror cheaply enough, and tho Enghshbred Benzoin cannot be dear sfJ 130gs. Fireside 130j;s fetched her full value, I should say,but Mr i>algoty picked up a fair filly in Nantes at 125gs. Courtier waa not offered, neither was Black and Red. Nihilist waa passed in at 70gs and Clarence at 25gs. [The sales effected are reported in another column.]

The following are the winning payments in connection with the Canterbury Jockey Club'a Autumn meeting : — G-. G. Stead, £950 ; H. Goodman, £660 , P. Webb, £440 ; H. A. Knight, £270; C. P. Murray-Aynsiey, £190; H. Friedlander, £1.15; R. Reay, £135; M. Hobbs, £135; O. Bradley, £120; T. Sheenan, £110; O. R. Wise, £90, Sir G. Clifford, £80; P. Holmes, £50; D. O'Brien, £40; E. Cutts, £20; S. Solomon, £20; Bt Alexander, £17 103 ; T. Stewart, £10; V. Harris, £7 10a; total, £3490.

The report that the Lancaster Park Sports Association favourably viewed the suggestion to enlarge the Lancaster Park track to half a mile induced a correspondent of a local paper, signing himself " A Shareholder," to object to the proposal. To thiß Mr F. Wilding, chairman of the company, has replied at some length. Ho saya: — "I entirely disagree with the assertion that the encouragement of trotting with its ' attendant evils ' is ' foreign to the purposes of tho company.' It is the business of the company to cater for all legitimate forms of outdoor sport, and the amount of encouragement which the directors can give to any particular sport must be regulated to a large extent by the popularity of Jfe^S sport with the public. Trotting is now firmly e*^*li«hed in our midst.

It has come to stay, and all the preaching power in the colony cannot prevent it. It has gene on at tho Park for a nurnbei of years without objection from any one, and with advantage to the finances of the company. Persocally, I do not know very much about racing. There may be attendant evils. 'The race is not always to the swift/ but I believe that no racing body in the colony is more vigilant in its efforts to keep the sport pure and honest than the committee of the Lancaster Park Trotting Club. On the few occasions on which I aave attended the trots at the Park, I noticed a large number of ladies and gentlemen of most undoubted respectability enjoying the sport. There was nothing to cavil at, and pereorally I considered the proceedings decorous and dull enough for an archbishop, or for the most moral shareholder in the Ground Company. No doubt, my trotting friends would say much the same of an interprovincial cricke; match. The fact is that in a sense thore are evils attendant on all our sports, or rather ou the weaknesses, physical, mental or moral, of some of those who follow them. . . Surely yoi_r correspondent willr admit that it is far botxer that trotting, even with its ' attendant evi^s,' should be controlled by men of capacity and integrity, with no pecuniary interest to serve, animated solely by their love of sport, than by proprietary clubs, formed simplj for moi'ey-making purposes. So long, therefore, as the Lancaster Park Trotting Club continues to conduct its meetings in the present laudable niunuar, and so long as they and the large numbers of the public who " patronise thole meetings .desire to continue wiih us, the Park will bo at their service. I wilL go further. If financial difficulties can be got aver I shalL do my best to bring about the much-needed extension of the course. The track as it stands is neithei fair to the host horses nor is it altogether safe. It should be lengthened by about 300 yds, and it should be 30ft wide all round so as to l'acilitate passing in the hnrne33 events. Wo hay* done a good deal to meet tho requirera.;.its of all other kinds of sport, and it i 3 ti?ne that some attention waa paid to trotting. ■'

Tho uominations for the Ashburton County Racing Club's Autumn meeting are fairly good, and the meeting should be a successful one. Only six horaea are entered for. the principal evejifc on the first day and nine on the second, but the ihorter racoa have filled well, and a glance at the list diseloaes that the entrants comprise a number of faat horses. The trotting (kvencs, as usual, have attracted a large entry" Tha races set aside for ponies havo also obtained a. capital nomination. Boreas, Tortulla, and Ideal were sent north by the steamer Waihora on Wednesday night. The first coursing meeting of the Ashburton Coursing Club will be held at Lojigboach. Mr .0. O'Brien, Ricoarton, will be judge, and Mr M Henly, Ashburton, slipper. Sir George Clifford will shortly sent? down four or five Clanranald youngsters to receive their first racing lessons from E. Cutts. XTanton waa placed third in the Final Handicap at the Laucaster Park Trotting Club's Autumn meeting, although he was outside the distance when. Ipswich won. Johnny 111 was just inside, but 'was beaten in the run home by Manton. The lules of trotting distinctly lay it down that any horse outside the distance when the leader passes tho judge must be considered as not in the race. I have frequently written on this point, as it often happens tliat a scratch horse, especially now that the distance has been extended to' 50yds per mile, though outside the distance when the race is won, easily defeats those who were insido. Wb. eu the distance laws were made trotting did not occupy quite so much prominence as it does now, and it was necessaiy that something should be done to stop fraud The Trotting Conference might fairly consider the advisableness of doing away with the distance laws, and pay the stakes to the horses as they finish. Nowadays second money is quite valuable enough to make a decent stake in itself, and there ssoms to be no reason, why the rules should not be altered to suit tho times. It is worth a trial, anyway. I never could sco the justice of one horse, simply because he happened to bo pitchforked iuto a race, getting the whole stake, and the proposed alteration would be the means of distributing tho money into more pockets. I hear that the club has decided to await the decision of tho association before awarding third money. Mr F. Mulholland informs me that he intends to dispose of his trotting horses in training. His luck has been terribly bad, and many were the congratulations showered upon him when Scrutineer won at Lancaster Park. . This horse had previously run second no less than 19 times..

It is generally conceded that tho start for tha Great Autumn Handicap was probably Mr Piper's happiest effort.

Only one handicap favourite on the flat got home at the C J.C. meeting- This was Sequin in the Epsom Welter Handicap. I have not heard of any local bookmaker being struck with the double Boreas and Pitch mid Toss for tho Great Easter and Great Autumn Handicaps respectively. Battleuxe, by his win at Auckland on Saturday, relieved the pcncillers of a fairly large sum. Few anticipated that the horso would pay such a dividend as £5 ss. •■

I hear that Monte Carlo, the well-known trotter, has broken down.

The second day of the Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Glub's Autumn meeting was uot so well attended as was the first day, but the racing was really good. The totalisator investments for tho two days amounted to £SSS9, as against £9178 for the corresponding meeting last year. The southern horse Bazaine, running in Mr A. G. Holmes' s name, won the Innovation Handicap by 40yds from Vasco, who had only two investors on him, and had he bsen successful would have paid a dividend of over £200. Big Jim got away slowly, and coould get no nearer than third. Young Boston distanced his opponents in the Po:iy Handicap, Jes3ainino being just outside the distance. Tho High-c'ass Handicap was secured by Hie North Island maro Motuiti, who kept in front the whole way. The Baron tried hard to overtake her, San) Slick also quietly decreasing the gap, but at the end of a mile Motuiti was still going well. Utah was pulled up before completing the mile, and Prince Imperial followed suit immediately afterwards. Commencing the second mile The Baron was within four lengths of the leader, Sam Slick and Vickcry, who had started from scratch, next, with Harold 8., who was breaking badly, in close attendance. These positions were unchanged for another lap, but in tha sixth and final round everything but Motuiti and Vickery was breaking, The Baron and S;m? Slick giving way to Harold B. and Vickcry in the straight for home. Tho last-named, who was forced out wide, finished second, and Harold B. third, with Sani Slick fourth. Motuiti covered tho distance in smin lOacc, and considering that Vickery was presenting her with 9sec, the latter put up something like smin 2sec, HaTold B. smin 7&sec, and Sam Slick smin Bsec. A protest on the ground of inconsistency was entered against the winner, but was dismisrfed. It is shown that on the previous Saturday Mootuiti had been seriously interfered with, and as this was well known to the stewards the protest wa3 dismissed. Probably it would have been as well if some action had been taken at the tinr* Big Jim al?o had to submit to a protes-t foi inroi'-i-jtein-y v.i'm he won the Advance Handicap, 1 ut the stewards again dismissed t'.r obj< < ti'.n. A-, ,i matter of fact, there w:i o"'v -i lirT«T"i:ei' of (. <e« or 7sec in the horse t , -no. ..n n ii rvr.'r Spec trotted wonderfi.' ..11, lrit he tjr. -1 badly, and finished 60., cL {join '.no winner, Johnny

-4 IH being just inside the distance. Ebon* stayed better -md trotted much steadier than' his antagonists in the, Linwood Handicap, and only Dakota, finished within the distance. The last-named shaped well for a mile, as also did Redmirc, who appeared to have the race at her raezcy at the mile. She skipped s<" often, however, that her chance was completely ruined. Shylock also lost a promising chance by breaking, hut Dictator was never prominent Spec was going so. welJ at the end of the first half, mile that her prospects looked particularly rosy, but she, too, played up, whilsi Ruahine, though going well,, would have required to trot the two miles in smin Isec to hava finished alongside the winner. Polly Huon, for th: first time at the meeting, got well away, and she had passed tha breaking Fleighor, Islam ropay Irvington. and Sing Sing just after a . lap had been completed. Zoplia, the favourite, trotted well for a short distance, but at the mile Polly Huon held a commanding lead . From this to the finish, she was closely pressed by Tracy Belle and Manton,. both breaking but neither succeeded in actually catching her^ while Sing Sing was going well behind the lastmentioned pair. Polly Huou. won by about three lengths from Tracy Bolle, Sing Sing* suffering defeat by Manton. for third position. The Telegraph Handicap appeared to be a gift to Redmire at the half, distance, she having passed Scrutineer, but she went up opposite tha stand. Scrutineer again went on in front. Redrnire was catching the leader at ovory stride for tho remainder of thp distance, whilst Gazelle was close on Redmire's heel 9. Scrutineer wan by about four lengths from Redmire, Gazelle another length away third. Ipawich wound up the meeting by easilj taking- the . Final Handicap, Hazeldean second and Johnny 111 next.

The acceptances fox the- Autumn meeting ,ol tho South. Canterbury Jockey Club are not to hand at the time of writing. I would suggest that the following horses may run prominently : —High-weight Handicap— Medallius ; Washdyke Welter Handicap—Warrant; Autumn Handicap— Pitch and Toss and Double Event; Pony Race—Heliades and Topsy; Flying Handicap — Edelweiss and Rochester, Handicap Trot— Garfield and Toby.

Van Wilkes, the trotter, waa sold for £80 in Tattersall's on Saturday, Mr Allan being the purchaser.

I hear that definite arrangements have not yet baen made between the D.J.C. and Mr H. Pipei

D tin das is regarded as well treated is the Thompson Handicap at Wellington.