ANNUAL WINTER SHOW HORSE FAIR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2520, 2 July 1902, Page 29

ANNUAL WINTER SHOW HORSE FAIR.

Messrs Wright, Stephenson, and Co. report as follows : — We held our twelfth annual winter show horse sale on 27th ult., when, as is customary on the first day, only horses of the Clydesdale breed were offered. The attendance left nothing to bo desired, buyers from every part of Otago and Southland and from several districts in Canterbury being present in great force. Many of these were in search, of highclass mares and fillies, and had come a considerable distance in the expectation of filling their requirements at this sale, but in, this they were disappointed, for our leading breeders aro loth to part with their best, and in consequence we offered few, if any, up to show ring standard, and fn the mare and filly classes no prices out of the ordinary were paid. To Mr John. Nimmo, of The Grange, belongs the credit o£ obtaining the highest price for a- two-and-a-half-year-old filly by Lord Lyon (Charters's) out ofBlossom, by What's Wanted, £53 being the prica at which the horse was secured by Mr Watson Shennan, of Conical Hills; the next highestpriced marc was an eight-year-old belonging to Mr Cha3 Clarke, of Allanton, sold at £52 10s to Mr Jas. Moffat, of Waikaka; then Mrs K. B. Ferguson's (Waitati) rising three-year-old filly. Clydebank, bought by Mr John Coutts, of Janefield at £51 ; next Mr John M'Leod's (Gimmcrburn) aged brood mare, stinted to Bar None, the buyer being Mr Eobt. Glctver, of -G ore, ami the price in this case was also £51. Other medium fillies and aged mares sold at from £33 to £47. In the gelding class, however, there, was a great display, probably the beat, taken alt over, wo have had at any of the winter sales, and certainly the largest display of cart horses we have Been in Dunedin. Young horses especially^were in great request, and sold well, but, unfortunately, there was a preponderance of tho entries on the aged side, and when these were submitted there was a- very perceptible lull iix the sale, and bids were difficult to extract, excepting where buyers' ideas of values were conformed to. Two exceptionally fine draught geldings, the on* a five-year-old and tho other a year older, both from Mr Thomas Ryder, were sold at £67 and £54 each respectively. Following these came Mr John Fitzpatrick's five-year-old roan gelding at £55, and after him, in ordeu of price, were Mr Wm. Waddell's (Waikaka) six-year-old horae Gladstone at £50. Some eight or nine colts, rising three years old, just broken to lead, from Mr Samuel Young, of West Tai»ri, and others, were sold under good competition at prices ranging from £35 t»> £43. Aged horses, as we have already indicated, were saleable only at reduced rates, but a grea^. many of them changed hands, especially to* wards the close of the day, when buyers found that the supply of younger horses was exhausted. About 40 of this class found new owners at prices ranging from £18 to £34. Taken all through, the sale was a great success, and •a far as numbers are concerned it constitutes

our record at this now well-established and popular annual fixture. On Wednesday we reteume the sale at 9.30, and, as will be seen from the advertisement in this issue, we shall then offer 60 light harness and saddle horses, and *ome 80 odd draughts, which latter, owing to \he lateness of the hour, were not put up at {Tuesday's auction.