TURF TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2509, 16 April 1902, Page 49

TURF TOPICS.

The first horses imported into Amenca wcie taken over by Columbus on Ins second voyage in 1493. Thirty years latoi 42 hoises were landed in Florida, but they all died soon after their arrival. De Soto, who made an expedition to the New World in 1540-41, left a number of fine Spanish horses behind him when obliged to quit the country after bib conque-t of Louisiana, and this stork is thought to have formed the foundation of the wild horse of tho south-western State. In 1604 a French immigrant brought to Acadia a number of animals, from which the modern Canadian pony is thought to be descended. Hor-e- from Flanders were imported into Nevr York in 1625. At a re< ©nt race meeting in Lyons (France) a horse which had gone to the start jumped away without the flag having been dropped, and ran the course without being pulled up. The owner refused to let his horse again go to the post, and the public, arguing that it was impossible to lose if they could not win. clamoured for the return of their investments at the " mutuels." The stewards summoned the starter, who declared that the horse had been under his orders, and. notwithstanding the moral pressure brought to bear, the stewards declined to accede to the demands of the disappointed gamblers. It was decided to sue the stewards before the courts for the return of money entrusted for gambling purposes, and wrongfully withheld under the firßt rule of botting. The tribunal, accepting the Betting Act, legalising the mutuel betting, and considering that the Rules of Racing invested the starter with full powers as to the question of any horse having been under his orders, non-suited the plaintiffs, and compelled them to pay cofcts. King Edward does not intend to follow the example of c ome of his illustrious predecessors in maintaining the breeding of thoroughbreds at Hampton Court. The stables at that Palace will be reserved for the breeding of horses for tho Royal carriages. The late Queen Victoria for many years bred thoroughbreds at Hampton Court Palace, and although she never entered them for racing (they were sold invariably as yearlings), many of her horses subsequently made brilliant performers on the turf, and won for their respective owners large fuhis of money. Among them may be mentioned Springiield. Briar Root, Memoir, Sainfoin, and La Fleche. The latter wao purchased by Baron Hirtch, realising the highest price e-\er paid for a yearling up to the time, 5500 guineas, and among her achievements she carried off the Oaks, the St. Leger. and the Cambridgeshire, carrying B.«t 101b. Her late Majesty thus took a prominent part in the racing world, although she was never connected directly with the sport. Queen Victoria's ptud was sold in 1894. The merits of Carbine as a sire (says an English student of breeding) are now generally recognised, and I am convinced he will be of great use if used properly. I desire to place oji record ni}' opinion of what fl rains of the blood will suit him best. Mares of tho Galopin blood, which has been extensively recommended as the "correct cross." are not tlte correct thing at all. I have many reasons that explain to me why the Galopin blood nn Musket a*> kindred blood is, and should be, successful, but I have yet to loam why the reverse cross should be so. It is my purpose to show how best we ran utilise the very valuable blood contained in Carbine. He is of English parentage, althoug-h Australian bred, and I darcsav accidentally produced. Had his «ire and' dam remained in England they probbly would have neier met, and consequently we should have had no Carbine, but they gravitated by the force of circum stances towards each other in their new home. The Musket line of Touchstone is the hardiest of the strain, and we recognise, or should, that in-breeding to Touchstone from English parents is a sure way to produce excitability in the offspring. This nervousness is one of the factors that causes them to show erratic form. For mares of this temperament Carbine is just the sire to use. I have noticed in many cases good results follow from the union of a mare whose sire oame from the same line as the horse to whom she i< put doef.. Carbine himself io an instance ol this. Mv advice, therefore, to breeders is to continue this method when breeding from him. Mares by Friar's Balsam appear to me. if other things are equal, to be composed of just the material to suit him on blood. Anyone having a subscription to Carbine and possessing a Friar's Balsam mare should most decidedly use her to fill the subscription in preference to all other?, no matter how bred. The agitation which sprang up some months back for a keener oversight in the matter of racing colours, in order to attain a wider range of distinction, has not resulted in much. In two cases at the A.R.C. Autumn meeting the colours worn by the jockeys riding in the same race were of so similar a character as to make the matter of identification of the respective horses while the race was being run a matter of much difficulty. For instance, the jacket worn by the jockey steering Despatch was "orange bod}', red sleeves": while Blue j Paul's steersman was chid in '" yellow body, maroon sleeve»." Then again, Military and Defender, who were each out in the St. j George's Handicap, carried " rose and black stripes." This- is a case which certainly rail- for alteration. The owner of Defender, it may be stated, had to pay somewhat dearly for running his horse in colours similar to those worn by Military's jockey, as there can be no question that he finished third ; while the position, which carried 35sovs ploee money, was given to Military, the judsre no doubt getting confounded in. the similarity of the colours worn by the respective jockeys of the two horses named.

A man named David Keys, residing at Musselbursrh, was found lying in Castle street shortly before midnight on the Bth with bin leg fractured below the knee, and a bicycle he had been riding lying by his side. An elderly man named S. Crisby, who was engaged timber loading on the wharf on the Bth inst., met with a rather serious accident through the hor<=e attached to a dray which was being laden with timber starting unexpectedly, and causing 6ome poles and boards, to slip and fall upon Crisby. He was removed at once to the Hospital and attended by Dr Brown, when it was found that two of the injured man's ribs had been broken, and that he had also sustained several severe cuts about the head. At a late hour last night the 6uf£erer was Dro gicsaion; ag jfvou^ably flQftul^ J?e aflßflptud.