IN A NUTSHELL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2541, 26 November 1902, Page 47

IN A NUTSHELL.

Mars is to be trained for the Auckland Cup. Achilles has a record of eight wins out of nine starts.

The Melbourne Cup was worth £1855 to the winner.

— Weights for the Auckland Cup are due on the 26th inst.

Mr T. Godfrey has purchased the Stepniak mare Petrovna.

Three odds-on chances failed at Flemington on Oaks day. The famous South Australian stud, Fulharn Park, is to be offered for sale this month. — Waiwhera, the winner of the last Winter Cup, has broken down and has been turned out by her owner. — Strata Florida was a very late foal, and was not fully three years old when he ran in the V.B.C. Derby. — Mr R. W. jpaterson gave the Wellington Club 24 nominations at the club's lecent meeting and won one race. — Weights are due for the Forbury Park meeting on December 3, and for the D.J.C. meeting on December 5. — E. M'Kewen received £50 for the -winning ride on St. George in the match for £200 a-side with Young Burlington. — ;Mr O'Dowd, who purchased the St. Leger colt Legion at 32gs at Mr J. B. Reid's sale, has since refused £100 for him. — Despite Siege Gun's poor display m the Ifew Zealand Cup, puaters are supporting the son of Frailty for "the Auckland Cup. — The Stepniak gelding Turgenieff, who wjis purchased at the Christchurch sales at 81gs, will in future be used as a lady's back. — A Melbourne sportsman who witnessed Cruciform win her race -I Wellington expressed the opinion that she wa^ the equal of anything in Australia.

— The three-year-old filiy by Gipsy Grand— Fanna, which was passed at Mr J. B. ReTd's sale, waa afterwards purchased privately by Mr J. Mason, Dunedin. — On the concluding 3ay of the Edinburgh meeting an English apprentice named Trigg achieved the remarkable performance of riding five consecutive winners.

— Tod Sloan recently stated that he had lost £30,000 at punting since being disqualified by the English Jockey Club, and that at present be wts practically penniless. — At the Arrow Jockey Club's meeting on December 6, £8 will be charged by the club for the privilege of betting, to be paid pro rata should more than one apply for the privilege. — The English Derby winner, St. Blaise, who ■was once sold at auction for £20,000, was purchased recently <«t New York by Mr J. B. Eaggin for 1000gs. St. Blaise is 23 years old. — Loyal, who -ttbs once highly fancied for the V.R.C. Derby and Cup, was recently placed Tinder the hammor ■with 500gs reserve on him, but the best bid was 375g5, at which figure he ■was passed.

— The mare Opportunity, who won fouT races on the goldfields circuit last season, and her owner, Mr F. J. Hore, have baen disqualified for life by the Tuapcka County Jockey Club for "ringing-in."

— One hears of men pursuing many •widely different occupations tackling the training of a racehorse. A double winner at the A.R.C. Spring meeting was put through the mill by a tailor.

■*- A Melbourne fielder who was present at the Wellington meeting lost over £500 on the two days. He laid £100 to 3 against General Symons when the colt won on the second day and paid £14 12s 6d.

— The Auckland Trotting Club will give away £1450 in stakes at the club's summer meeting, the principal events, the Auckland Trotting Cup and the Great Northern Handicap, being endowed with £200 each.

— Prior to the cabled win of Seahorse, he was sent out a hot favourite for a mile a&d five furlongs race at Hurst Park on October 4, but after getting badly left liad to be content -with third place at the finish.

— Wakeful has brought her winnings in Btaker up to £12,815. She is still a, long way behind Carbine, who won over ±'10,000 in one race. Wakeful has started 30 times, and Carbine started 43 times, and won £23.476.

—It seems probable, says London Truth, that the present year will be distinguished in the annals of -the Jockey Club from the circumstances that not a single new member has been elected. There have been candidates, but they have been blackballed, in spite of powerful backing.

—M. Hennessy, tbe French sportsman who lias been rather lucky m betting during h's sojourn in Australia, bought three -well-bred mares — Feud, Seclusion, pnd Portland Belle — at Messrs W. C. Yuille and Co 's sale. Seclusion and Feud will be served by Harmonist before being sent to France. — A Greek fishmonger and a. Chinese cook, rpsidents of Newcastle, drew first horse in one of Tattersall's sweeps on the Melbourne Cup. The second horse in the same svreep waa also drawn in Newcastle, a lad in the -employ of the Singer Manufacturing company being the lucky holder of the ticket. — After sporting' si {& unsuccessfully several times on the English turf, the St. Leger — Hazel filly, which was purchased at the Wellington Park yearling sales of 1900 at 103gs, won * mile and a-half event at w.f .a. at Ine Leicester meting ou October 9 from five otheis. At the 'same sale Mr_ W. Nicholl paid 410g» for a St. Leger — Hilua, who still retains her maiden status.

— Foul Tiding and indifferent horsemanship ■was apparently a strong feature of the Mplbourno Cup meeting, and the rough passage in the Melbourne Cup experienced by The Persian, Abundance, and one or two others of the ■svell-backed brigade brought from the lips of an eistwhile prominent turf writer in Sydney, who was .present, the pertinent query, " Do they ever give a favourite in a big race now in Victoria a fair show?"

— What a prize Mr Stead setured when he bought Cruciform as t yearling at Wellington Park for 325g5! The little daughter of St. Leger and Forme has won in stakes to date the large sum ef £5680, made jp as follows. — At two years old, .£1515; a* three years old, JE37GS ; at four yea*s old, £400 I hpard, says "Phaeion," it stated some few months back that Mr Stead was asked to put a price jpon Cruciform, and that the Canterbury sportsman quoted £1500.

— As might be expected, Abundance is being sought after foi England, and two offers have been made for him. Mr Phillips Ims set a fairly stiff price on the colt, md if either of the bidders for nim come up to the amount he will probably be sold. Ii a salt is mads the sum paid will be a record for ?. three-year-old in Australia, but in any case the offers are very substantial snore, aad something like compensation for the los 3of firs' money in the Melbourne Cup. — The money taken at tbe gates of the Paris racecourse on the occasion of the Prix dv Canvil Municipal amounted to over JCS6OOT as against the £5000 taken on the corresponding day 12 months ago. £108,520 •waa turned over at the "Mutuals," of which £33,160 was for the leading race. These figures for the "Mutuals" on the. day of the Prix dv Conseil Municipal constitute a record, although during the year of the Exhibition a larger sum was taken at fclie gates. —As a rule, the length of a horse is equal to three times the length of bit- head — that is, taking the leiieth as the distance between the

ears and tail. The "Druid" asserts that this holds good 999 times oufc of 1000, and states that in Bay Middleton the measure answered exactly. When Mr Herring was painting the famou3 bay after the Derby, Lord Jersey remarked on the length of his head, to which the celebrated painter replied, "Yes, my lord; if he hadn't had so long a head you would not have had so long a horss." The boy who rode Abundance in the Melbourne Cup had the appearance of "being half dazed by his sense of responsibility when he left the paddock on the Derby wimrer. Seemingly (says an Australian writer) he was too nervous to" know what was happening in tbe rrxe. An interviewer could get nothing from him save the information that he was "fairly don«." The boy waa not even alive to the fa*ct that Abundance" had been considerably buffeted and galloped on during the race. The colt lost a lot of ground through, the mishap, but the boy was blind to his misfortune.

— A prominent feature in connection with the late V.R.C. spring meeting was the fast lime made in all the leading event? — records being knocked into the proverbial hat. Duke of Grafton and Abtuidance lowered the Maribyrnong Plate and Derby records respectively to lmin IJsec and 2inin 36isec; Ibex defeated Wakeful in the Flying Stakes, running the seven mrlong3 in linin 26|sec, thus chipping a quarter of a second off the Australian lecord made by Trieste nt F'emmgton ia 1891. Patlonus's'iime for tbe Veteran Stakes, one mile and a-half. was 2mm 35sec, the son of Patron thus equalling the records put up by Survivor, Fairy Prince, and San Fran.