TALK OF THE DAY. By MAZEPPA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2397, 8 February 1900, Page 39

TALK OF THE DAY. By MAZEPPA.

THE DUNEDIN CUP. This week I print the full list of the Dunedin Cup nominations, giving particulars of ago, breeding, eic. The Wellington trio, Boreas, Advance, and Tortullo, head the list. Boieas wo know as. one of the fastest and one of the unluckiest horses in the colony. i How he has improved with age ! In the season of 1896-97, when four years old, he first came out of the hack ranks, and, good as he had proved to be in his class, the handicapper and the public had then no idea of his value. An example may suffice to show this. In the Farewell Handicap at Wellington, five furlongs, he recci\ ed 251b from C4oldspur, and while the latter won comfortably Boreas did not get a &hop. He had to go to Nelson, wh«re he met nothing better than Seabreeze and Bloom«hury. before he won in open compony. To-day Boreas is one of the proved weighL-carricr.s of the colony, and makes any dislar.ee hi-; own up to a mile and a-half, and instead of having to pick his company, he

himself sets the standard of merit. The facß' about Boreas that shows his worth is that he began to show form after reaching an age when many of our flyers have passed their prime or raced themselves to death. He has stood work that would knock out half the thoroughbreds concerning whom we boast of figure rank. His mates, Advance and Tortulla, are both fast, but have not yet fully exposed their form — at least, that is the general opinion, and exactly what they may hereafter prove themselves to be nobody can say. They arc rather difficult horses to handicap. So is Fulmen, the trouble in his case being that everybody can handicap him on form, and still remain profoundly ignorant of wha& he is likely to do in a race. I venture to prophesy that he will get a weight that will make him seem to be well treated on hib bei6 form. At the same time, judged by his worst deeds, he may finish last. He is, in short, a hor=e that the public are getting full up of, and yet a sporting writer dare not wholly neglect him. Djin Djin won the Dunedin Cup last year, and now he has also the Wellington Cup to his credit. There is no doubt, therefore, that he must be regarded with respect if his chances are well calculated hy the handicapper. I think that he is a somewhat tender horse to train, and therefore would recommend that his condition be studied before he is backed. Jupiter, at first despised, has developed galloping and staying power, as proved^ in the Provincial Handicap, in the C.J.O. W inter Cup, and hi the OUgo Clip. Some sportsmen still affirm that Jupiter has been lucky wherever lie has won. I think this is o fallacy, the result of prejudice, and prejudice doesn't pay in horse-racing. Judging Jupiter fairly, he is a sturdy horse, and a weight carrier and a stayer. Remember that ho beat all the second-raters in the New Zealand Cup. St. Ouida, a year ago, would have been laughed at in this company, but she has improved very materially, and I don't think we have yet seen the best of her. She is bound to have a reasonable weight, and I would have the public bear in mind the lact that she outstayd Fuhnen in the mile and a-quarter raco at Gore, whatever that feat may be woijth. Backets would also do well to remember that as a two-year-old St. Ouida was counted good enough to take to Auckland for the Royal Slakes. Mr Stead lias Sant Ilario and Skobeloff to carry his colours if he wants the prize. Sant Ilario is one of the handsomest colts ever raised in New Zealand, and I think a lot of his. racing at CbrHtchurch last November, for. though beaten each time, he struggled, on under difficulties— the mark of a goodone. Skobeloff, though not in the same class, is pretty fast up to a mile, as he showed in the Jockey Club Handicap, which he ought to have won, and in the interval he may have gained strength enough to enable him to stay a mile and a-half in this company. Malatua, though not a horse that is likely to imm-ove very much ; has already made himself a name amongst tlie colony's handicap horse?. In his ease, he being a light-framed horse, rather on the leg, the question of weight is important, and I would like to see Mr Dowse' a calculation before backing Mr O'Brien's representative ; but if he gets a fair weight he will make the race interesting whatever else remains in it. Paladin is not as yet a proved slayer. He prefers shorter distances. Yet ho h,\i a lot of speed, and in a sen a c speed means slaying, and he has been genuinely backed lor mile and a-quarter races in good company, so I don't place much importance on the question of distance. The owner and the trainer are the best judges on that point. What is rather against Paladin is the fact that ho has been knocking about the colony of late, doing a lot of racing and travelling, and he may not be quite fresh unless he has a rest. Red Banner, in the same stable, has yet to prove herself a cup mare, but she is improving, and Red Ensign's stock come on with age. Huku we know as a useful second-rater in handicap company. He was reckoned good enough for the New Zealand Cup. Strathnairn commenced racing rather lote in life, and I fancy he has a fair race in him yet. As for Dundas, lie is a delicate hor^e, very speedy, but rather difficult to ride, and not. I think, a lover of heavy burden 0 . From these fragmentary observations it will be gathered by those who have not time to study for themselves that there is plenty pf material in the Dunedin Cup for a irood race, and I shall be disappointed if a fair field does not go to the po~t. The Dunedin Cup is still one of the colony's valuable prizes, and an owner can depend on getting a good stake out of the totalisator.