IN A NUTSHELL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2369, 27 July 1899, Page 36

IN A NUTSHELL.

— Altair has arrived safely in England. Bolaros'is scratched for the Caulfield Cup. — Castashore is likely to go to Riccarton shortly. — James Kean died in Atickland on Wednesday last week. — Dum Dum is the fii-3t of Carbine's stock to win in England. — Boreas is, I shculd think, unlikely to go to Sydney to carry 9.6 in the mile race. — There is some talk of racing the imported stallion Cyrenian, but it is, I should say, unlikely. — Newhaven's hill sister Sea Queen, with foal by Zalinski, was recently sold in Melbourne at 70gs. — The New South Wales mare Vcnusta, by Darebin, has two seasons in succession slipped twin foals by Lochiel. — The double Lancaster and Lancaster was recently backed for all the money in the market for the V.R.C. Derby and Melbourne Cup. — Shell, winner of the Two-year-old Handicap at Flemington on the Bth, is by Carnage, and Quartz Reef, who ran second, is by Gold Reef. — " Malua ' reports that A. Pringle has in hand a very fair team — viz., Lexington, Stirling Lad, Honest Wilkes, Carrick, and The Gossoon. — The value of Musa's Oaks was £4150. The most valuable Oaks was that won by Formosa in 1868, when the stakes were represented by £5450. — The V.R.C. Hurdle Race was run at a good sound pace throughout, and the only mistake made by any of the 1,8 starters was the refusal of Nansen. — A strange fact in connection with the V.R.C.'s racing on the first day of the Winter meeting is that the only fall of the afternoon was in a flat race. — A London cable states that the Jockey Club suspended Tod Sloan, the American jockey, for disobedience at the post at the Sandown Park meeting. — Newhaven did not start for the Liverpool Cup on Saturday last,- and Merman, who had been backed at 4 to 1, was beaten out of a place. East Thorpe won. — There seems to be some doubt about George Frederick's soundness; hence, no doubt, the caxise of the son of Carbine and Danse going for 160gs at the recent Melbourne sale. — John Young, of Alexandra, a miner by occyipation, and formerly secretary of the local racing club, was found dead in his hut last week. Heart disease is supposed to have caused death. — False teeth for horses, which were suggested by the president of a French humane society a few years ago, have actually been invented, and are gaining favour with owners of large stables in Europe. — The Singapore Derby last month was won by the Australian-bred Vanitas, who carried 10.5, with Gay Lass 10.5 second and Colzean 9.12 third. The distance was a mile and a-half, and Vanitas won easily by four I'-n^tbs. — The Grafter made hia English debut at Epsom last month. Carrying top weight (9.7), lie finished eighth in a field of 22 for the Epsom Plate, a seven-furlong handicap, worth 46250v3. Uniform (8.2) also started in the race, but finished in the rear. —Mr Henry Kedwood, "Father of the New Zealand Turf," is 75 years of age, and he told a representative of a Nelson paper recently that ho made no less a sum than £70,000 by means of racing, and that he never put a penny on the totalisator in his life. — Battalion made his first appearance on tho English turf in a mile race at Kempton last month, being one of the last three in a field of 11. He carried top weight (9.0), the minimum being 7.1, while the winner, Merry Methodist, a three-year-old, had 7.5. — The Queensland Turf Club is going in for the encouragement of jumpers, and registered country clubs have been notified >that the Q.T.C. committee will subsidise all hurdle races in the programmes of such clubs to which the added money is not less than £25, to the extent of one- third of the prize money. — The bad luck that befell Count Schomberg last year in the Grand Steeplechase de Paris did not deter Mr H. Bottomley from having another cixt in for the race, and he expected to do better with Gentle Ida thiß year. The fates were against him, however, for the mare was put out of the contest by a fall. — David Ross was convicted and fined £20 by tlie stipendiary magistrate at Wellington this month. On a former occasion Ross had been fined £15 for tote betting. The magistrate said ho could, in the present case, send the man to gaol, but he was not willing to send him there if he and others would only stop the illegal practices under notice. They must not set the law at defiance. — The first descendants of the Auckland-bred stallions, Artillery and Foul Shot, have made their debut on the racecourse in America, and won races. Big Gun is the name of the successful Artillery, and Fine Shot is the Foul Shot winner. Fleur de Lys and Rifle, by Maxim, have also been winning at recent meetings on the Pacific Slope. — Only Royal Whistle and Queen Fairy came out to oppose Caiman for the valuable Imperial Stakes at Lingfield (Eng.), and such a foiegone conclusion was the race reckoued for Lord W. Beresford's colt that the betting ruled at 20 to 1 on him. The American-bred one was in front all the way, and won easily, covering the mile in lmin 41 4-sscc. — The time occupied by Musa in winning the j Oaks (run over one mile four furlongs and 29 yards)* was 2min 44sec, the time of Airs and Graces last year being 2min 45 4-ssec, and that of Limasol in 1897 2min 45sec. The best on record in connection with the race is the 2nim 40 4-ssoc of Memoir in 1800, and the next best the 2min 42 4-ssec of Seabreeze in 1888. — John Rieff, the American feather-weight (who is credited with upwards of 100 winning rides in America), had his first public ride in England on Mr R. Crokcr's Sv/eet Chimes in the Portslade Welter Handicap at Brighton, in June. The lad is a biother of L. Rieff, who also rode at the meeting. He is 14 years of age, and weighs, in riding breeches and boots, 4.7. — According to Mr P. Scli^, prcsidant of '.ha Trotting Conference, 24 meetings ha/ 3 beei held during the year, covering 45 daya' r .icing at which the added money amounted to £15,076, while tlie tolalisator investments totalled £122,919 10s, which shows an average of £2731 per day. The added money does not include four meetings at which thetotalisator was not U3ed. — A corninis'uon was in the market for Fleet Admiral for the Melbourne Clip, £10,000 being wanted at 100 to 3, but after exhausting the Sydney and Melbourne market at that price only £7000 was obtained, when 25 to 1 became the best offer. Most of the bookmakers seem to prefer laying doubles, but even m that form of speculation business is not won'lcriully brisk. — The Auteuil Grand Hurdle Race- proved fatal to one of the competitors. Baron de Cholet's Valescure struck a hurdle when a mile and a-half had bean covered, and came clown with such force as to break his back. He was a four-year-old by Valauris out of La Bitardc, and had won a hurdle race at Lyons this year as well as three other events of a similar kind last year. —W. Rhcecc, who waa badly injured when The Moor fell with him at Randwick oil June 3, died at St. Vincent's Hospital on July 5, after lying unconscious for over a month. Rheece, who came from tho Riverina- district, was a very plucky riderj but he was decidedly.

unlucky, and it is doubtful whether any crosscountry jockey in Australia met with a greater number of mishaps. — Eastern King has a strong liking for "Warwick Farm, says Sydney Referee, and it does not matter how badly he has been running elsewhere, ho can always be relied en to run a good race at that track. On tho Bth he scored his third Warwick Handicap, and as on previous occasions dashed up and pulled tho race out of the fire just as something eJss appeared to have it won. — The V.R.C. Committee has revised the programme for next season, with a view to making the conditions more popular, increasing some of the stakes, and making other alterations. In several cases sweepstakes are reduced, and second money increased, with the view of making racing less costly to owners, particularly in the jumping races. — George Fordham was riding out to do a " preliminary " on Derby Day, when a friend stopped him, and whispered : " George, I've got a fiver in my pocket; what's the best thing I can do?" - The very best thing you can do," was the candid reply, " is to run home to your wife and get her to sew that pocket up with twine, and it might be as well if she chained you to the bed-post also." — After a sequence of 16 losing mounts Tod Sloan broke the ice at the Epsom meeting on Knight of the Thistle, a 7 to 4 chance, but by that time the majority of the American's supporters had retired for repairs. A couple of days later he won the Royal Stakes on The Wyvern at 7 to 1, and it is so unusual for him to be on such a long-priced winner that in most of our exchanges special mention is made of the fact.

— At an ill-regulated up-country meeting in Australia, the favourite in a steeplechase was bumped about a great deal by a rank outsider. At length the rider of the former cried out, both in sorrow and in anger, '' Why don't you ride straight, man ? You'-v_e nearly knocked me out three or four times." "Well," answered the other with a fiendish grin, " what do you think I'm here for?" And the stewards, who stood in, stigmatised the objection as frivolous and vexatious !

— Bookmakers requiring registration by the A.J.C. must sign a declaration, whicn iun3 as follows : — " I have not, since the 31st of Align st, 1898, directly or indirectly carried on, or assisted in carrying on, or acted as clerk to any person who has since taat data carried on, the business oi a boolxmakiT at any unregistered meeting; nor am 1 directiy or indirectly interested in any shop cr office kept for the purpose of betting, or at which betting is carried on." — No excuse can be made for Soult's defeat in the Grand National, and it must simply be put down to the fact that he cannot stay out three miles. The Ago says that at two miles he would probably have won; he might have had a chance at two and a,-half, but the extra frnir furlongs was beyond him, and the collapse came after he had brilliantly singled out from his field in the vain endeavour to overhaul Valdis, Mystery, and The Armourer on approaching the home turn. — On Derby Day, writes a London reporter, \vo had missed the customary "Derby dog," and as if to make up for this some malicious person let out a kitten a3 the Oaks fillies wended their way to the post. It was some 17 minutes behind lime when Mr Coventry, after one un successful attempt, lowered his flag. Sibola wa3 suffering from a F.light abscess in the mouth, and she dwelt whei the order to go was given, thus losing grotiud which uu- [ questionably cost her the race. — A two-year-old filly by Derringer out oi Freda spotted silk at the Wolverhampton gathering. She is the property of Mr W. Stubbs, and the race she ran in was the Bushbury Selling Welter Plate, of lOOsovs, run over five furlongs. There was a field of 12 starters, but the race was not a true run one, two horses getting away well in front of tho rest and having the contest to themselves all the way. There was thus no chance of gauging the young Derringer's form, but she finished sixth in such a race as it was. — English papers to the 9th of June are to hand. The stewards of the English Jockey Club were to propose, at the annual meeting to bo held in London on the 19th, to alter mle 35 to read as follows : 35. The starter shall give all orders necessary for securing a fair start. Tho horses must be started, as far as possible, in a line, but they may be started at such reasonable distance behind the starting post as the starter thinks necessary. " All races confined to two-year-olds shall be started by . a starting machine to be approved by the stewards.' Reckoned to have been very unlucky m the Corn Stakes at Epsom (Eng.), her connections relied upon Lutetia to pull them through in the Lingfield Spring Two-Year-Old Plate, and odds of 7 to 4 were betted on her doing so. Our Grace and Mainbrino were the only others backed of the half-dozen runners, and the correctness of the market estimate was shown when they filled the leading berths at the finish of the race. The favourite won cleverly. She is an American-bred filly, by Pontiao (eon of Pero Gomez) out of Luella B, by Onondaga — Kelp, by Strachino. — Says London Sportsman's special : Sloan on Lutetia got left at the post to all intents and purposes for the Acorn Stakes, which fell to Dum Dum, who scored cleverly from La Roche. The Duke of Portland had the satisfaction, after all, of being beaten by a daughter of Carbine, and very glad I was to see Dum Dum win, for there are so many kindly disposed people about who are ready to crab a horse if he does not score at the very first time of asking. Dum Dum is a clean, wiry filly, that doubtless stays well, and we are not likely to have heard the last of her. — Of old horses that ran during the Epsom week, Mr Allison writes, Newhaven deservedly holds first place, and I should think Mr Cooper regrets now not having entered him for the Ascot Cup. He gave tho impression last year that he could not stay the distance, but then _he was all to pieces. What he might do now another matter. It is wonderful how clean and firm these" Australians keep on their legs year after year. Old Maluma never looked bettei or sounder. Robinson sent her to the post in excellent condition, but she may well have lost her dash by this time. Uniform is another from the same stable who is bad to beat on the score of looks, and he was well trained, too, when he ran, but it is to be feared that his constitution has been permanently impaired by the attack of " fever " from which he suffered last autumn.

— Musa, winner of the Oaks, was bred by her owner, Mr Douglas Baird, and made her first essay as a juvenile at Newmarket, when she was an easy winner of the Breeders' Plate, beating Dark David, Wild Irishman, and nine others. At Ascot, in the New Stakes, Flying Fox beat her by three parts of a length, and then at Goodwood she finished third, and last to Eventail and St. G-ris for the Prince of Wales' s Stakes. Her next appearance was at Doncaster, where she followed Mark For"ard home for the Champagne Stakes, and another second awaited her at Newmarket in the Prendergast Stakes, for which Mya¥ka gave her a length and a-half beating. She closed her two-year-old season by running third to School Girl and Lord Edward II for the Free Handicap, and reappeared this year in the One Thousand Guineas, when she ran home third behind Sibola and Fascination.

— Winners of the One Thousand Guineas have on 22 occasions confirmed their Newmarket superiority in the Oaks, the following being the list of heroins* of the double event: Neva, (1817), Corinne (1818), Zinc (1823), Cobweb (1824), Galata (1832), Crucifix (1840), Mendicant {1846), Governess (1858), Formosa (1868),

Hannah (1871), Reine (1872), Apology (1874)', Spinaway (1875), Camellia (1876), Wheel of Fortune • (1879), Thebais (1881), Busybody (1884),Miss Jummy (1886), Reve dOr (1887), Mimi (1891), La Fleche (1892), and Amiable (1894). Included in the above list are two One Thousand winners who ran dead heats for the Oaks, the judge having been unable to separate Governess and Gildermire in 1858 and Camellia and Enguerrande in 1876. The first-named pair ran it off, with the result that Governess won. by three parts of a length, but in the case of Camellia- and Enguerrande the stakes were divided.