TALK OF THE DAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2373, 24 August 1899, Page 35

TALK OF THE DAY.

By MAZEPPA.

THE GRAND NATIONAL DOUBLE. When news came through that Blackberry had won the Steeplechase I asked Peter Grant • whether he had anything going against his double in the Hurdles, and to my surprise — for as Blackberry was absolutely the least likely candidate on public form I did not expect to hear that he had been backed except in outside wagers — to my surprise, I' say, my friend Peter responded that while the firm had several horses running for them in the Hurdles, they had laid Blackberry with more than half the final acceptors, and that two of these — namely, Social Pest and Defiance, represented the biggest wagers in the double book. " I'm afraid," added Mr Grant, "that wo haven't a hope. Defiance muse win, bar accident." As all know, his proph3cy turned out correct. And the picking was not mere guesswork. I understand that before he came south the Hon. Mr Ormond's horse cleaned out the New Zealand Cup candidate, of the stable, Sir Lancelot, in a highly meritorious go on the flat, and his exercise jumping at Riccarton was so good as to cause our local correspondent, not by any means an impressionable youngster, but a man of mature experience and exceptionally sound judgment, to write beforo the event that, whatever happened in the race, Defiance would sooner or later prove to be one of the best of colonial hurdlers. Since the result i have interviewed Peter Grant again, and thia is what he says : "Wo laid tho double to the extent of £800, or. to be exact, £803. Ilex would have been a skinner, and between the double and the straight-out betting by Mat Barnett and myself we should have wop £1500 if Ilex had got home." Asking further where tho money had gone to, the reply was that it had all gone north. Abe Moss, our other big bookmaker, had a similar tale to tell. " I laid tho double £600," he said, " most of it to Wellington men when I was up there a week previously. If the Hurdles had been run first, Defianoe's win would have meant that I would have, to pay out whatever won the Steeplechase. Every horse in tha Steeplechase was coupled with Defiance for sums ranging from £250 to £550. and in Blackberry^ case they got me for £600. By the length of my arm, or whatever it waa that Defiance beat Ilex by, I miraed making £1000." Further inquiries lead me to tha belief that the betting in Dunedin apart from the two books mentioned was moatly in a small way, and wa may put down the total, amount for which th» Dunedin ring was struck over the double at £1600.