IN A NUTSHELL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2409, 3 May 1900, Page 47

IN A NUTSHELL.

— Tahuna trots, May 25 and June 2. " —^.Hewitt, the jockey, has left Dan O'Brien's pervice. — Telemeter broke down in the first race at Timaru. ' - — D.J.C. Birthday meeting on the 24th and 26th May. — Proposal is now one of E. Hankins's team at Wingatui. —Mr Alfred Josephs cables that he has leeched London safely. — Aldershot was bought in at £12 after winning on the first day at South Canterbury. —H. Moore's lease of The Weaver has expired and the horse goes back to Mr D. „ O'Brien. — Merriwee deliberately ran away from the whalebone in the A.J.C. St. Leger, and finished under the judge's box. — Fonlsharn has Lancaster in easy work at Caulneld. The high-priced son of Hotchkiss has a very ugly-looking hock. — Owing to illness, Mr W. R. Wilson was not in Sydney to see the successes of La Carabine and Kinglike at the A.J.C.'meeting. — Alcestis, the four-year-old sister to Dewey, sustained a compound fracture of the shoulderbone, while racing in the A.J.C. Doncaster Handicap, and was accordingly destroyed. " ' — The Tasmanian horse, The Slumberer, "Has recently been sold and placed in R. Ellis' s hands. He is working with Plotter" at Mosgiel. * — The stallion Phoebus Apollo," by St. Simon, has been purchased in England for Mr T. -Morrin, and will be shipped to New Zealand at once. — Warrington keeps his pace, in spite of infirmities, and Mr Brown had to pay ,£25 to retain him after his win at South Canterbury on the first day. —An Australian writer says that Parapet, the winnei of the Doncaster Handicap, has th T ee strains of Sfockwell in her pedigree. So she had before she won. — Tho Tzonton — Chloe mare Miss Trenton, who has been racing in Queensland and the country rVis i ricts. has been retired to the stud in New South Wales. — Canterbury Times says th^t Scoullar, who* rode Military in the "Eighth Challenge Stakes, is connected with J. Tagaert's stable. He can go to the scale under 6.0. — St. Hippo has been leased by Mr S. Stevens, of Palmerston North, and the New Zealand Cup winner will be at the service of breeders, in that district next season. — H J. Gardiner was suspended by the . ccroniiftee oi the A.J.C. on tlie Saturday for riding during 'the Autumn meeting, he having left, the service of J. Allsopp without notice. — Piesident Kxuser's psahi! reference contains the words: " A horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength." Has he had a had time backing wrong 'tins? — Mares have a knack of winning the Sydney- Cup, more so than any of the other big „ handicaps of the year. During the 35 years' of -the race it has fallen to the weaker sex no less than nine times. —^Tbe breeding of Jenny Moore, who won at Rosehill and Hawlre?bury (New S^uth "Wales) was given in the racebooks as Lochiel from Athene, but si? is a 'full sister to Loch Leigh, beina by Lochiel from Lola. — In addition to the 14 telegraphed noniinatiqus tnat miscarried through the non-del i/cry of 'the^ messages ovcr-rightr tlie Tnlitma Club Jo?J Sir Scott's four nominations through late delivery of the letter (not fafotiEfh the post). — Owners have sprung up from everywhere but the extreme south with nominations for the Auckland Winter meeting, and. bar Record Reign, I do not recornise a single genuine beginner in the list of candidates for the Hurdle Eace. — Mr W_. R. Wilson has sold the St. Albar>s horse -Majestic, by Trenton from Bonnie Rosette (dam of Undecided, a good "cei-former in- -England), to Mr J. Osborne. of Kyneton (Victoria), where ho will be- used for stud purposes. — The winner of the A.J.C. Doncaster Handicap, Parapet, is the property of Mesgrs H., E., A., and V. White, fom brothers, named Henry, Ernest. Arthur, md Victor, cotisins to Mr H. C. White and the late Hon. James White. — The acceptances at Wellington brought about tho complete wreckage of the fine lists of nominations. Exactly 100 cried a go, and 70 paid up in tho six handicaps of the first day. My tjijs were published in the Daily Times of Tuesdry — Nitrous, the three-year-old , brother to Portsea, that ran second -in the Onkappringa Cup, got the stakes in the Southern Club's Cup on' ths"7th April through Trapper, who won. beilig disqualified because his jockey weighed in' 2lb short. — At a largely-attended meeting of the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club, it was agreed to amalgamate with- the Canteibury Tr'otting'Clnb. m accordance with the wish of the' Colonial Secretary and the New Zealand Tfdttitrg Association. — During the past 26 years the added money given by the A.J.C. amou-nts to over £376,000. In 1873 the total was £3749; in 1898-99 it was nearly £23,000. Tf the total stakes won by owners were totted up for the peiioi named, the total of money won would corns out at about £500.000. — - Says Sydney Mail: Old Paul Piy— ar.d his trainer — must have discovered the secret of- everlasting youth, as they both look younger every .time we see them. Paul Pry could always gallop fast, but it is questionable if the cast-ir-on Lochiel horse could ever go faster than now. — Several youngsters sired by the AucklandTared stallion Foulshot are to be taken from America to Germany for racing purposes. Since Foulshot has been stationed m America ho has been given a very fair chance lo distinguish himself at the stud, and his stock are well spoken of. — Commenting on the Doncaster Handicap), the- Sydney correspondent of the Melbouruc Sportsman writes: Sequence looked 9 certain winner afc the half-distance, but, with the quickness of thought, Parapet darted up on the rails, and snatched the big plum out of the favourite's mouth. -.. — M. Blanc has decided that Flying Fox's stud fee shall be 400gs. At that figure he will not be long in getting a return of the 37,500gs he gave for the English crack. Though the fee is a high one, it is considerably below that of St. Simon, for whose services this year no less than GOOgs a mare is demanded. — Sydney Referee says that the victory of Euro in the Onkaparinga Steeplechase was a blow to the ringmen, as they had all laid Bethnal with him in their double-event ledgers. Two members of Tatlersall's Club wop i>looo between them, while the owner of Bethnal coupled his horse with the winner of the Great Eastern for a nice stake. — Vane, own sister to. Flying Fox. is a giand filly, worth all the money as a prospective companion to the alieady select band of brood mares the Prince of Wales has collected at Sandringham. Ac to her ever gieatly distinguish ing hcrseL. on the turf that may be more than problematical, taking into consideration the somewhat doubtful appearance of one fGieleg, — Owing to the low stake money offered by the Sydney suburbia ch'bd, a meeting of traiaoi"ji and owners was to be held on April

23, when it was proposed to draw up a petition to the V.R.C., asking that it shall be compulsory for ail the suburban clubs to give away aai increased amount m stakes per clay. The petition will also probably advocate a reduction in the nurubei of meetings.

— On the first day of the Randwick yearling sales 77 lots fetched £5302. The best prices were got for the Hon. W. A. Long's yearlinga trorn Chipping Norton, 16 making 1891gs, or an average of about HSgs, whilst the top price of the day was given for o'lie of the collection — viz., 450gs. Tins was a commanding bay colt by Grand Flaneur from Dovecoie, by Trenton from Ringdove, by Dante from Stockdove (dam of The Australian Peer).

— The owner of a foal with only three legs sends Sydnej r Referee particulars of the freak. It belongs to Mr A. W. Keller, of Mackay, North Qtieensland, who says the foal is six months old, and can get up lots of speed. It is also strongly framed, eata well, and apparently isl as sound in constitution as if it ware perfectly formed. There is nothing to indicate any shoulder or leg on one missing side. The ioal can both canter and gallop.

— A point of interest was raised at the last meeting of the V.R C. Committee, when T. Parker, owner of the horse Trouble, appealed against the decision of the Maryborough and Carisbrook Amateur Turf Club declaring C. Cameron's Spoilt Girl wiirnei of the Half-mile Flutter. The appeal was based on the ground that Spoilt Girl won a race after th declaration of the weights, and should have carried a penalty. The appeal wa3 upheld.

— ' Coronach wni,es from Tasmania to the •Australasian: When in 1897, Mr Field purchased, the well-bred and well-perfornied Chesterman tc rn&te with the Calstock mares I think he once more struck oil. Anyway, to far as size and coi-formation go, the Chestermans take the cake from anj'thmg ever bred at Calstock, the far-famed St. Albans not excepted, while Nikola, the only Chesterman that has so far carried a racing-saddLe, is, '1 think, the best colt that has been bred m Tasmania for ninny years. «»

— As New South Wales trotters sometimes visit New Zealand, it ma 3* as well go on the records that at the Dubbu meeting last month, in the Macquarie Handicap Silvie Hue, 24sec behind, was made a firm favourite, but Shylock, ssec behind, soon trotted to the rront., and established such a lead that; it looked any odds on him. never being caught. The favourite, however, in spite of the fact that she bioke a- couple of times, trotted splendidly, and, Shylock tiring, she beat him on the post by a head.

— The committee of the Brisbane Jockey Club recently acted in an amusingly generous manner towards the bookmakers who were plying their vocation at a meeting which was anything but a success, two out of five races resulting in walks over. Ox ihe three races decided two were won by first favourites, and considering the whole of the circumstances with which the bookmakers had to contend " the committee decided to refund each, rmgrnan tho guinea which he had to pay before he could, bet " !

— For the Steeplechase at Eenalla there v,ece foui starters, Ifenophon being favourite at 6 to <i, La Belle 2 to 1, Limelight and Scout 10 to 3. They all jumped away to i fair start. The favourite fell, and appealed tc 101 lon his jockey, at the second fence. Scout ran off. La Belle came down, and her rider suffered, but no bones were broken. This left the old show jumper, Limelight, to finish ihe distance by himself. Great efforts were made to get Scout past the post to claim second me ney, but he had gone too far.

— The sui prise of the Rosehill Cup, writes " Martindale," was the starting of Sequence, which must ba-ve been quite a shock to many of the clever division, as the horse did nos come up in the regular train. The holder of the ticket which drew Sequence in Tattersail's sweep only completed arrangements with the owner late in tho morning. A special train had to be engaged to convey the horse up in time. Certainly on paper Sequence looked to have a great chance, but in the race the 0.5 and heavy going told its tale, and h? was beaten ou 1 ; of a place.

— I print the following to show that trauieis in New Zealand are not the only ones with grievances : There are six track? at Randwick, but during the wet weather the only two that were fit to risk a valuable horse upon at a fast \3ace prior ■Jo the A.J.C. meeting were closed. Old hands like James Wilson, jun., Harry Roynor, an,cl Tom Brown declare, says Sydney Mail, that 20 years ago, when they only had the old tan track and the racecourse, the going was always good, no matter if the weathei were wet or drj\ That was when the course was composed entirely of sand and manure.

— Says " Reginald " : The light-fleshed, little mares keep on scoring. This has been a great season for them, and La Carabine's Sydney Cup victory is further convincing evidence in tbeu favoui. Narrowly built all round, with a waist that one might span with the hand, La Carabine would scarcely tak-os-the eye as a hardy type of stayer. Yet that's just what she is. The further she has to ao the more La Carabine seems to like it, and Mr W. R. Wilson is to be congratulated on his judgment m making such a bargain. J?he Carbine mare has proved worth a good deal more than the 210gs she cost Mr Wilson.

— Fulfilling my promise of last week, I now a list of the winning horses begotten by G rand Flaneur • —Alexander, Aureus, Autonemea, Radilien, Bravo, Birinji, Blue and Gold, Cobham, Corciay, Chesham, Carronade, Danton, Dainty, Dcva, Dickens, Daredevil, Bsperance, EUie, Eidothea, First Flaneur, Frisco, Fauna, Fleur-de-lis, Gentility, Gingham, Hopscotch, Harbour Light, Hop Bitters, Indolence, Lord William, Memah, Marshal Ney, Merman, Maecenas, Parthian, Patrol, Patron, Penance, Patrona, Patroness, Ppsquin, Pi-iscilla, Premature, Rose Stella, Ruenalf, Reconstruction, Roburite, Straightfire, and The Sinner.

— For many ve?rs one of the best-known figures on English racecourses was "Chippy Norton," a bookmaker, whose proper name was J. Bull, and whose death was recently announced. When a "comparative novice at the game, says " Javelin." lie once attended a coursing meeting, and had baen paying out as first the red and then the white flag went up to denote the winner. Eventually a "no go " was signalled by means of a blue flag, and '* Chippy," .vho knew (at that time) nothing about the spoit of the leash, evoked a roar of laughter by exclaiming, " By Jingo, I thought it was about time the hare's number went up! "