SPORTING NOTES FORM AUSTRALIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2397, 8 February 1900, Page 41

SPORTING NOTES FORM AUSTRALIA.

By Eavexsworth. MELBOURNE, January 24. NETQIAEKET HANDICAP AND AUSTRA-

LIAN CUP

The weights lipve at last bren issued for lhe Newmarket Handicap and Australian Cup, and there is something of interest now for lacing people lo discuss. Mr F. F. Dakin has started tho JSewmaiket Handicap with Bobadil at 9.13, and Mr W. R. Wilson's colt is certainly not overburdened. The Chici and Coralie have 9.7 each, and the Liltei reads very well even with this heavy impost, rz she is undoubtedly a brilliant mare. Seahoise at 9.2 lips been given his full measure of weight, but if he comes over and btnps for the lace, he will no doubt have many admireis. Stand Off, one of tho Sydney representatives, will have backers at 9.0, and so will the West AustrrliPii Taiqum, on the same maik. Venecia 8.12 is in 3. H. Da\is'& stable — a stable which has yon a Newmarket with Foitvuuitus. Symmetry 8.11 may piove the best of the St. Albans lot. Sequence 8.9 and Caledonia S.B are a dangerous Sydney paii. Cairaia 8.5 ha-^ been given a rare cliancej and Veloce 8.3 has

always run well up the straight six furlongs course, over which the race is decided. Neva 8.1 has a good chance, and so has Foret 8.0. The latter is in Foulsham's stable, and is pretty warm goods. Silvermoor 7.6 is a great tip for the race. She beat Veloce in the Standish Handicap, and the pair came right away from the others at the end of the race. Silvermooi has only been raised 7lb for that win. There is nothing much I like below Silvermoor, unless it be Eileen More 6.11. She is a smart daughter of Strathmore. At present I think the jNewmarkel Handicap winner is contained in the following half dozen — viz., Stand Off, Symmetry, Foret, Carrara, Veloce, and Silvermoor, and will name FORET and CARRARA against the field. Mr Dakin has been unduly severe on Bobadil in the Australian Cud, in which the son of Bill of Portland has been allotted 9.10. He has only got 3lb less than in the Newmarket. Last year Mr Dakin gave him tl7lbt 17lb less, but then Bobadil won. and also took the Champion Stakes, and now the handicapper legards him as more of a stayer than a sprinter. The Chief at 9.0 would have a much better chance if all right. Wait-a-Bit, Merriwee, and Seahorse are on the same mark 8.10. The former seems a light of other days, and may, I think, be passed over. I don't knew how New Zea.landers will regard Seahorse's weight. It is, I think, a fair one, but he is bj no means leniently treated. He has the same weight as Merriwee, the Australian three-year-old champion. A meeting between the pair in. this race would be a great event, and would cause interest throughout Australa&ia. I am, I suppose, a little bit prejudiced in favot>r of Merriwee, having seen his great form in tho spring. Of course he may not come back to that form, but if he does I think he will win the Australian Cup, even if Seahorse is in, the field. Another three-year-old in Parthian 8.7 is also likely to take a prominent part in the race. At the end of the Spring meeting he was not far behind Merriwee, and he was certainly quite as good as Dewey. Vocalist 8.7 has a good reputation in Sydney, and my old friend Mora will, I suppose, "have a chance at 8.6. I like Tarquin at S.I, and The Bricte has a good show at 8.0. She won tho Bagot Handicap with 7.13 up. La Carabine reads well at 7.5, and so does Disfigured, on j the same mark. Lower down I like Carbinier I (Miller's) 6. 13 and Miss Carbine 6.7. The half dozen which will include the winner are, in my opinion (allowing for the absence of Seahorse) : Merriwee, Parthian, Mora, The Bride, Carbinier (Miller's), Miss Carbine; and the twe I like best are MEEEIWEE and PARTHIAN. If Seahorse comes over I would, of course, place him in the above list. — [Seahorse has gone over. — Ed. O. W.] Weights were also issued on Monday for the V.A.i.C. Oakleigh Plate and Purse, a divided handicap. The Plate is on a lighter scale than the Newmarket, but there is a strikingsimilarity between the two handicaps. I need not go into details, but will at Oiice express the opinion that tho Oakleigh Plate will be won by VELOCE or HA'JT BOY, and the Oakleigh Pr.rse by ENCENE or SPORT EOYAL. GEELONG RACES. At one time the Geelong Racing Club meeting, with its Champion Stakes of £1760, was a fix -me to look forward to, but the old club was io • some time in very low water. It is only during the last few years that n successnil effort has been made to revive it. At their meeting last Wednesday the Geelong Cup was woith £150, and "Tattersall ' promoted a sweep on it. All the san>?, the race wps o poor affair, only seven being attracted, and only one of these had any pretensions to good form. This was Lee Metford" the erratic Carbine colt, who has more than once shown form that approached first-class. At S.lO he was nicely handicapped, and remembernig that he sho-iyed some pppioach to foim at the V.R.C. Spring meeting, backer? made him favourite. He never snowed up in the race, and afterwards it was found that he had ricked his back, and he will 'not be able to race again for some time. Anotlier Carbine, in Model 7.3, took the race. This little filly is rather a favourite of mine, bvit she is not the most reliable animal in the world. Shs is, however, a good stayer, and, coining at ihe right end of the mile and a-half, v/on cleverly from Ascot (6.10), with Burrabari 6.8 in third place. Though the Carbines, on the whole, have been very disappointing, most of them improve and become moie reliable with nge, and this is the case with Model, who, as her name indicates, is a beautifully-shaped mare. Tne great feature of the Geelong meeting was not the Cup race, hut the close finishes in three of the other events, a dead heat being proclaimed in each. As a matter of fact, I suppose not one m 20 of the finishes given as dead heals are actually such, but it is hard for even an experienced judge to be scientifically correct. In the cotmtiy the decisions are sometimes surprising. I knew a judge once to give a race in which one horse finished three-quarters of a length in front of another o dead heal. He afterwards explained that when he could not see daylight between the horses he always gave it a dead heat! The first dead heat was in the Ladies' Bracelet, in which Konnmg 9.0 and Bay Rose 8.2 finished heads lip. The owners here divided, but when later on Bay Rose 7.6 ran a dead heat with Suige 7.3 in the" Geelong Handicap, one mile, the owner of the latter insisted upon a run off, and poor Bay Rose, being brought out to run a third race with the mercury almost bubbling over in the thermometer, she was badly beaten. She is anotlier oi the useful Sunrises, and so is Cockciow, who, with 10.5 up, beat Tangier 10.3 rfter a dead heat in the Hurdle Race. The other two events on tho programme, the Trial Stakes and Welter Handicap, were won in good style each time by Tramp, who is owned and trained by James Wilson, tho younger, trainer of Meiriwee. Tramp is by, imported Far Niente fiom Ennui, by Soinnus (imp.), and is engaged in the Newmarket ._ lie was' bred at xhe 'Robpitvillc stud, New South Wale*, and though five ye«us old, has only lately been put into '.raining. CaULFIELD RACES. Last Satuiday the meeting place loi lacing men was at Caulfield, and it va« refreshing to ge r back to " tho heath " after a long course of suburban fare. The principal event here was the Amuveisary Handicap, a peculiar featuie about which v.£>s that niosl oi the siarlers belonged to the erratic brigade. O--c of ths eiratic lot in Disfigured 9.0 was favourite, fehs kept up her reputation lor shiftiness by runnings wretched lace, and Caibinier 7.13, who was very little fpnered retained his name as an enatic customer by winning in quite brilliant style. He was ridden a different race lo what he was in the Bagot Handicap, being kept well in hand until the straight w.'.s entered, then flashing past the field and winning as he liked. 1 Ihink C<-rb:uier is becoming more honest than of yore, and as before indicated, this stems characteristic of the Carbines ps they get older. Surgo, the Geelonsj winner, carried a olb penalty into second place and Tabilk lan third. Tie Iptter has a bad name for shiftiness, but he. like Carbinier, seems to be settling down a bit. The Kookfiibb Tiial at Caulfield (T would like to know where they get their name«l wciii to Piogre^ion, who is a very promising tbive-year-old colt in I. Foulsham's f-t-ib'p Tha colt was bred in Tasmania by Mr J. Field, and is Ly Pilgi mi's Progress (.iinpoiled) lioiii Claudine, a full sister to the Melbourne Cup.

(pinner Sheet Anchor. The Hurdle Eace proved a good thing for Eedeemer 11.7, who, in the hands of the Flemington trainer, Adam Bkirving, has improved wonderfully. Skirving hag received an offer to go to England to tram and ride jumpers, but for domestic reasons he da likely to refuse it. The Manton geldmg Sinecurist 10.6 was favourite for Redeemers race, but he is still imperfect as a jumper, and this put him out of court. The Steeplechase at Caulfield saw another splendid exhibition, of jumping by that big rail, Whernside, who, with the crusher of 13.8 up, was unlucky in losing by a short head to Blucher 10.5. Nearly all the running was made by Whernside, and it was only in the last stride that Blucher caught him. The winner is owned by the Tasmanian sportsman, Mr S. M. i Wilson. This is a racing- name, Mr " Wilson " being identical with Mr Davies, one of the proprietors of the Hobart Mercury- The gelding is by Vision, and is tiained at Flemington by J. Cripps, who turned the winner out in his usual excellent style. The two-year-old race was known -as the Holiday Stakes, and The Idler 8.12, who is by Far Niente (imported), was made favourite. He showed a lot of promise early in the season and then met with an accident. He showed plenty of pace here, and looked hke winning at the distance, but auideniy stopped, and the race ended in a dead heat between Spoil Royal 8.7 and Verne 8.0, the latter a full sister to Bobadil. Sport Eoyal is by the Cup winner, Malvolio, and is likely to turn out good. He was not qtiite ready, and not exuected to win, the performance, I am afraid, not being altogether palatable. Eothv.-ell, a fine locking- Neck ersgat colt who has yet to win a race, finished well and I have hopes of this youngster turning out better later on. There ver? 17 starters for the Tooronga Handicap, which was the last event on the card. Backers took 5 to 1 each about Carrara 8.5 and Glen Albyn 7.9, and Carrara won, bvit it was a very lucky victoiy. Either Eugene 7.1 or Neva 8.7 should have won, but when they were fighting out the finish Eugene suddenly swerved out, taking Neva with him. and Carrara with a sharp run got up and won by a neck. G-len Albyn ram respectably. Carrara is in the Newmarket Handicap. He is by Metal (imported), and is trained by Willie Glasscock, who did so well with the jumper, Larrikin. A complaint against the loekey of Eugene for foul riding was not sustained. There was also a complaint against T. Pegriun, rider of Locksmith, for foul riding, it being alleged that he was responsible for the fall of Speculation at the home turn. The stewards adjourned this inquiry until Tuesday, when they unanimously ileoided that there was no foul riding. CANTEEBUEY PARK EACES. The meeting in Sydney on Saturday was at Canterbury Park. The leading event, the Canterbury Park Handicap, one mile and a-quarter, went to th.c New Zealand galloway Arquebus II (by Flintlock), who used to run at the pony meetings. He only had 6.8 to carry, but won in good style from Paris's close .relative, Sapir 8.7 and The Desert 6.7. Arquebus II was backed at 8 to 1 in a field of 16, the favourite being Fortune at sto 2. John, Bid 10.10, by Forest King, accounted for the Hurdle Race, and Stellarane, who ran third to him, afterwards came out and won the Shorts Handicap, carrying 9.0. A" turn, or two over the hurdles often, I have noticed, livens up a horse for ■work on the flat. Eyde (by Splendour) carried 9.5 to victoiy in the Stewards' Mile, the performance being an attractive one. Eyde is a stable companion of Stellarane, both being owned by that general amongst trainers, Bill Kelso. Merralie, the Park Stakes winner, was got by Melos, the Goldsbrough horse that won a Champion Eace 1 for Mr William Gannon. Gameboy 7.9, who is a mere pony, by Goodfel•low, accounted for the Plying Handicap in excellent style, and created a very good impression. He came into immediate request for the Sydney Turf Club Challenge Stakes, run at Enndwlck this week, and the result of which will reach you by cable. ODDS AND ENDS. Mr F. C. Goyder, who owned that good allround horse Sussex, winner of the V.R.C. Grand National Steeplechase of 1881, died at Katoomba, New South Wales (where he owned a large hotel) a few days ago. According to latest advices, the Viceroy's Cup in India was won by Cherry (by Lochiel), and not by Merloolas, while the report that the jockey Pugh was killed in the race has been contradicted. The man who sent this " information " ought to be thrashed. Mrs Pugh, who lives in Melbourne, wore widow's weeds for a week or two. The jockey H. H. Graham, who was disqualified in connection with the Eeflector case at Maribyrnong asked the V.E.C. committee last week for permission to ride work on the tracks. The application was refused. A fatal accident took place at Newmarket last Monday, when a jockey named Michael Gill - got a fall from a horse he was exercising, and subsequently died in the hospital from the effects of the fall. He was very little known as a rider. A loss of about £100 was made over the .V.A.T.C. meeting last Saturday. Just as I am closing this letter I hear that Seahorse is coming over. The question of the coriditions of jumpers' flat races has at last been settled. The associated suburban clubs have decided that at all meetings after March 1, only horses which have run at least in three hurdle races or steeplechapes will be eligible to start in junipers' flat races, and the lowest handicap weight will be 8.7. These events will be confined to jockeys who have ridden in at least three hurdle races or Steeplechases. The hurdle racer Podarces, who had won a few races around Melbourne was destroyed last week. He had been suffering from inflammatiou of the bowels. The disqualified jockey, Frank Fielder, has asked the A.J.C committee to open his case. Legal proceedings are still talked "about. G uardsman, a Sydney horse, has been sold to go to Tasmania. The Eandwick racecourse has been offered free of charge for the holding of a race meeting in aid of the Bushmen's Corps for South 'Africa, now being raised in New South Wales. Petei Newton, an old time boxer, is laid up in the Melbourne Hospital with paralysis of both legs.