TALK OF THE DAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2509, 16 April 1902, Page 46

TALK OF THE DAY.

THE S.C.J.C. MEETING. The South Canterbury Jockey Club had a fairly successful meeting for the club's autumn fixture. From a financial point of view it would be considered a very successful meeting, as the totaliaator put through close on £300 more than the amount which was recorded at the club's Autumn meeting last year. On the first daj the weather was dull and threatening and the attendance small, but beautifully fine weather was on hand for the second day, and the attendance showed a large increase on the number present on the first day. On the first day Teriapm won the principal event on the card somewhat easily at the business end of the trip, but on the second clay ran badly in the S.C.J C. Handicap. In. the race yon by Terrapin, Lady Lillian was highly fancied for the event, but she was badly beaten a couple of furlongs from home. The mare's subsequent form ihowect that she was probably t-hort of a gallop or two in the Autumn Handicap, as she (trppured to he coining on with e^ery hue Calibre took all the bad luck of tho race on Ins back, a«, after drawing outside position at the start, he could not muster sufficient pace to get out of hin bad position. He raced on the outside of his field all the way, a.nd only got a bit of an opening when --ome of the beaten horsei retired in the -traight, when ho got third position at the finish. On the day Terrapin would have taken a lot of beating, as he was in a good position throughout, and he came away and won like a racehorse. Kotokoto ran well the first day. but through getting blocked at the fcfart in the principal event on the second day\s card he lo*t heveral lengths and was afterwards unable to make tin his lost' ground. In the 7'Mjiiig Handicap the resurrected Artillery -Adventure's hor^e, Telemeter, hopped off the mark and never gave his opponent* the ghost of a chance. His forelegs look \<iy bulgy, as his tendons are badly bowed. They aNo bear unmistakable evidence oi the tho firing-iron's u-e Apparently they are now quite callous, as lie walked touiu'ly enough and wa« a c gay a? a t»o } n aroid aft^r Ins rate. He had not done a gieat deal of work for the rucc, ami latterly his chief occupation has been followme =heep. One . c port present said that Tekinetei had been galloped along the road to find out if he would btand training Telemeter had only been nominated for the Flying, and thia was hi- only appearance at the meeting In the Great Easter, won by Goldthe pieseneo of Telemeter in the race i-topped Mr J. Loughlin from having a good bet over his horse when he won. Telemeter had preMou-ly beaten Goldspur at Oiimaru, and in a gallop at Ku carton be fore tho ICaste^ he again showed up better than Goldy. As a foiispqucmc Mr I/Oughlin was more inclined to ■-tand Telemeti r for the rac than hi> own hon-e It is histoiy now how Gold-pur won and dealt a bloiv fo many who confidently expected to witnc--tli" Rnbezahl gelding-, defeat Ckinburn made amend- for hi- defeat in thj Maiden by annexing the Welter, but thr> opposition in the latter lace wa-j not too strong. Magnificent tailed off from the fall of tl.e flag, and the C'anranald gelding had iio great cliffi< tilty in ucr ouiitiiig for lln» oi l or- in the mi c. The heio of thy -e r ond (lav wa* Calibre, tin compact little -« n of Light Aitillery and SiinniiiETdu] •. and nil pre-ent weie plea-ed to «cc Mr V. Ham-s at la^t score a fauly nwpoitant race with the hor-e. He won ( oiiifortably at the finish, rfnd now that h- hn- winning form he may make fuither reductions on the amount which he ha? co-,t up to date. Lady Lillian ran \ory piominently for seven furlongs, and looked all o\ e-r a ■hui'iuj wiiou tiie field ivai rae

I ing for the straight, but she died away in the last hundred yards. Coming events cast their shadow? before, and the probable results of many of the races ! on both days' cards were plainly indicated by the state of the betting market per medium of the "books" who were present. On more than one occasion there was pUnty of money in the market at straightout odds for horses whose form, if such a guide can be taken, pointed clearly to their defeat in the races in which they were about to take pprt, and for hoises that seemed to posess excellent winning chances, comparatively speaking, no money was on hand to support them by " weight of metal." Someone of Scottish descent ha< said that the bestlaid schemes gang crooked, or words to that effect, and this was the case at Timaru on at least one occasion. Advices received on the ground from S.P. merchants also showed that there was something rotten in the state of Wn=hdyke K\ nryono on the ground who ii in the habit of " goinar a-racing " knew '■something 1 ." but unluckily their Knowledge co-t them money, but the stewards, even tho^e on the " crow's nest," saw " no- i thing." and the " glorious uncertainties of the turf " which happened along at the meeting were allowed lo go unquestioned. The very heavy and " holding " nature of the track would probably ha\c furnished a plausible explanation of every questior that might ha\e been a^ked j