OWNERS' RIGHTS IN RFGARD TO TRIALS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2416, 28 June 1900, Page 39

OWNERS' RIGHTS IN RFGARD TO TRIALS.

- try horses in different ownerships in his stablft against each other without first obtaining tha permission of the different owners whose horsex are to be tried, and it is then XL- luty to communicate the result and the deta Is of tha trial, including the weight carried by i^ch horse taking part in it, to the owner or owners whose horses are engaged on his or th"<L demand. Mr Darling regrets that r.-iJi refit rd to the trial of a filly named Mandorla :ad other horses of Mr Rutherford, he took anustaken view of his position, and Mr Ruchcrforo, in accepting this statement from Mr Darling, desires to say that in defending this- action ha intended only to establish a principle which ha considered important in the interests of owners and trainers, and made no reflection on Mr Darling. lhat being agreed to, he hoped the learned judge would sanction the witn- , drawal of the record. Mr Walton, leading | counsel for the defendant said there had fever been any question as to the »25*. but the question arose as to what was the duty g^^S^^d^t^ establish a principle, The cage termillated on the terms . j |

THE V.R.C. NATIONALS. The public generally are interested in know* ing what; "Terlinga" has to say aboxit the weights for these races, so I clip some of his remark's : Wait-a-Bit, as might have been expected, is at the top of the tree in the Hurdle Race. The 12.5 opposite his name is 121b more th&n Wait-a-Bic's sire Molua carried when he won, and Malua al his best wart from a sLone to 211b better on the fiat than Wait-a-Bit. Still;' the Ballarat horse's flat' form is much better than that «f any othev horse engaged, and if Alec. Taylor con cif.k< a clever jumper of him he will • eed seating. Wait-a-Eii did net jump too v&U on Queen's Birthday, and seasoned hors-s like Welfare. Bethnal, "Valdis, and Redesiiev £>re to be pr-ef -erred on this rucovnt. I fancy Bethnal arcl "Reoos»iier are roi unlik'ly io prove the bs?t o£ the top-weights, although Welfare is not badly used oi 11.12. The Sydney hurdle race form has been very good la:e3y, and Mr Dakin hps kepL Bega and Claymore well up in the weight*. Argyle, the' besb hurdlerac ar cut this &sason, caa a from Sydney, and Welfare wa& another goi/d one. Beja &ncl Claymore may not be up to this for.xi, but 1 expect they will be found to he pretty goat!. Borderer is down to 10.10. but he bp.,s run badly for a lpng time, and is get-ting old. The Deemster is another fair performer from Sydney. Tarn told The Proiost hai become roguish., and cannot be inducad to t'. y, but he ran well last Saturday, and P. 13 is a nice weight. The Armourer was fourth last year, r-.nd meets Valdis on 151b better terms. Th?re can be no two opinions about Dignity being useful, and if lie w preferred to Redeemer on the day he ie sure to have a good fo I lowing. Trendls and Paradox both promise well, but perhaps the distance is a little too far fov their. Beivn Briimmel and Arcadia have nice, weights, and &o has Carbinier. Cranberry is sura to be backed if he goes on well. T'rat runaway win of his at Cauifield got Cranberry a re-

pi'tation, but it -is on the cards that there was not quite os much merit in the performance as appeared at the time. Rackstraw, Clipoton, and Rcspnaonl, on the same 'mark, are compaiatively beginners, and I cannot claim bo know much about any of them, Donald (owned hy Mr Hassall). The Sheu (a brother to New ■Warrior), and* The African, all Pt 9.0, strike tho eve as possibilities, [t is not a vcrv heavy handicap, and the 11. 1} division should have a show. We 1 fare, Bethnal, and Redeemer read nretty well, and lowe\* down The Provost and Dignity may proy to hnre good chances. "Floater, who will be 12 years old next foalint*, and "Vigil have 12.7 each in the Grand National Sieeplechn.so. Floater won the rac? with, this weight in 189F, and last spring "Visil won at Flemin^ton with 12.9. Doubtless Floater and Vigil have well oariied theiv weight, and ?o has Snapshot, who won over three mile 1 ? at Fleming fon with 11.9. Tremolo used to bo considered a vers poor stayer, but he improved in that respect, and ran well in a three-mile race. Bluchex and Havsocd met over this distance at Flemir>crton last March, arid Hayseed, in roeeipb of 71b. won by a neck. Now there is only 21b between them, ar.d both must be raspeetco, although I doubt if they are nearly as brilliant as the thr-ee horses at the head of tha handicap. Blucher and Hayseed are comparatively you lip; horses, however, and both may improve, whereas Floater and Snapshot may have seen their best day. Euro improved so much as the season advanced that he must not be lightly esteemed, although he could only get fourth with 10.4last 3roar. Snapshot gave him 81b and an eight-lengths beaiing in the spring, but at Onkaparinga, when there was a ptone between them, Euro v, on easily. Blue Peter is rather a tear-away horse to get this distance, but Leeway reads well enough at 11.5. This is the weight allotted to Chelsea, who \vas_ tho - favourite pick in doubles before the weightscame out. This very fine young horse is not a ole&ji-bred one, and may not stand screwing up, but if he does lie will crivo tha best of them trouble. Irish Stew and Pirate are in well enough : and Ouyen has 21b less than sho ran third with last year. The Messrs Miller should be very hard to beat, with Hayseed. Leeway, Ouyen, Hostile, and The African to choose from. Mysore seams to have gone to the bad — temporarily, at ?11 events, and I don't suppose Ba.bel or Flat Iron will see out the distance. Hayseed, Euro, Chel1 sea. Brokerage. Pirate, Blucher, and the best of Mr A. Miller's four look a likely lot to provide the winner.

Owners and trainers all over the colonies are interested in the case of Darling v. Rutherford, which came before the Lord Chief Jus- ! tice of England on the 7tb May. It was j an action brought by Mr S. Darling,- the wellknown Beekhampton trainer, to recover training fees from Mr Rutherford, M.P. Mr O. | Mathews, counsel for plaintiff, said it had i been agreed that the record should be with- I drawn, and that each party should ~pay-Jiis own costs, the money in court, amounting to"j £251-, to be paid out to the plaintiff. The action was brought by tho plaintiff upon a ' training account for the year 1898, and was really defended by Mr Rutherford upon an item in it, which was one for trial fees, as to which, the question was vaised as to the respective rights and duties of owners and twiners of racehorses. It had been agreed that the correct principle was embodied in the following statement: — "(1) No public trainer has tho right lo try a horse in his stable without the express or implied permission of tho I owner ; (2) ao public trainer has the right to