TURF TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2565, 13 May 1903, Page 48

TURF TOPICS.

The 'breeding of blood stock in Viotoria seems to have no attractions for our rich men just now. The 'break-up of St. Albana is, of course, the greatest blow the industry, in Victoria ever received, but since then other studs have come under Mr Archie Yuille's hammer, and the best of oui mares and horses have gone out of the State. Th© stud statistics published this week show The Admiral and Pilgrim's Progress in a very prominent place among the winning sires. The Admiral is dead, end now (-says the Australasian) Pilgrim's Progress has been> sold to New Zealand. _, Verily, the path ia being well cleared for Wallace, who was a great bargain to air J. V. Smith at 750gs. The only mistake Mr Smith made waa iv nob buying a few of the St. Albans mares after he got Wallace. Emmie, with Baiii' at foot, was sold at that eale for I2sgs, and La Tosca, with F.J.A. at foot, was picked up for 280gs. In New South Wales and Kewj Zealand there 19 quite a boom in breeding. Most of the mares sold at St. Allans went to Ne<w South Wales or New Zealand, and within the last two or three years The Officer, Finland, and Merriwee have gone to Macriknd as sires. Judging 'by the prices yearlings bring there the thing is not 'being /overdone. There is so much money to ba won in stakes, thanks to the totalisator, that men can race in New Zealand without! going to anything like the expense racing used to cost when stakes were- small and horses had to be backed. The American jockey Laster Reiff, wh. was ruled off by the English Jockey Clubv and consequently cannot ride at any of the reputable courses in other carts of the world, is very solid financially, according to his father-in-law, Dr Rowoll. Discussing the situation recently in New York. the> doctor said : "Financially Lester will nob •ha vi to worry jhough he never should throw a leg over a horee again ; he is more than, well-to-do. He is worth upwards of 150,000d01, and by judicious investments ho is adding to his income all the time. Someiimes I jokingly tell him that he is overworking himself cutting coupons. I know! that his steel stocks a] one yielded him the handsome return of 4000dol last year. So you see that while he naturally would like to be in pood standing on the turf, he is far, very far, from the door of want or of necessity." The younger Reiff— Johnnie — is battling hard for a renewal of his license by the French Jockey Club, and has obtained a letter from the American Ambassador recommending that a revision of his scntenco bj made. Failing a renewal of his license, Reiff intends suing the committee of the Jockey Cluib individually for depriving him of his means of 'livelihood and. ruining hia professional career, without being able to prove dishonesty. The Indian Planters' Gazette, in referring to the fact that J. Lynch, who trained for Mr B. Allen in India, was surprised at the neat get-up of the jockeys in that country, says : — The colonial article, when he arrives here, however excellent a horseman he may be, certainly takes no paint to 'look the part,' and yet we are informed that these aro the crac-k representatives of their profession. A lecturing tour on the blessings of nicely-cut breeches- and properly-puit-on. boots would be a very good thing for the colonies. At present the colonial artist's idea of the part is breeches that fit nowhere, with buttons nearer tho back of his knees than anywhere else ; boots that cer'ainly reach no higher than three inches above 1113 ankle bone, if as much; his cap he prefers to tie on, leaving his ears out, and his jacket as often as not does not continue in partnership with his breeches until the roc* is over. The blessings of a neatlytied hunting stook or any other of the minutiae he is blissfully ignorant of. However, by the time that India has done with him, he, as a rule, get"? converted into the charm of breocheg that grip you round the knee like a porous piaster, and boots that fit to match,' and do not give the wearer the appearance of being out on a shrimping expedition. Spura also, a knightly appendago that,, when badly put on. set the teeth, on edge, are usually worn by the colonial trailing over hi« heel, and murderous weapons they as a rule are. When he has been in despised India h« finds out that the proper place is well up above the heel, and set on square with a longish s.trap under the hwtop and a short "un on top. We are doubtless a backward and benighted lot in many ways, but we do make an effort in some directions, and this is one of them. The handicapper's lot is not a happy one ; but when hia work is impugned — when Bluebottle cr some other horse is declared to be a "blot on the handicap"— he finds comfort iv the fact that, the tricks of Fate usually convo to his salvation. Here are a few instances of this sort of thing, culled from English sources: — Mina was regarded as a certainty for the Lincolnshire Handicap of 1893. She wa3 backed down to 4- to 1, and. tho handicapwev was sakl to have been indulging in a Homeric nod when ho gave her 7.2. But a simultaneous squeeze of the knee* and a cut of the whip :ausrd resentment on her part, and instead of shooting: forward, as her rider expected, she jumped in the nir, and ; lost her place. It was the jockey that saved the "Jubilee" handicapper in 1E96, when he made a mistake with Eilcock to about the extent of 2st, and a "flabhergastiner" start— the field got away in sections— iilenced criticism ot the treatment of Ninicueh in the Cambridgeshire of 1898. On the that he had lost his form through added years, Admiral Rous in 1869 threw John Dnvis into the* Ces«,rewitoh wifc'.i 6.12. According to his trial he could have won with Bst, and when the trainer, in a moment of pique, declined to let Butler ride, Fordham pleaded io be> allowed to get up at 7.12. The plan was impossible — "for the Admiral's take" — and S. Mordan was engaged. Instead of obeying his order 3. which were to let the horee stride along, Mordan pulled and e?.wed him. about. Tlie ui:-!icfc was that John Davis "got into th© wars," was beaten by Cherie, and was afterwards sdd for 19ga. In 1874jockayship rescued Admiral Rous from the quandary ho fell into over the Truth gelding for the Cesarcwi'teh. Tihis was one of the higarcut "plants" if Mr Fred Swindell, who professed his readiness to sell for £200, and sent a message to the handicapper that if kn> put 6'-t on him he "could scratch the beast." The priding received 5.12, and Swindell backed him— at prices ranging from 40 to Ito 5 U I— to win £100,000. To try and do tho weight Archer wasted terribly, and, "weak p.s a rr.t," on the day scaled 6.1. The jockey w.is far more beaten than: the hor-,0, who, lacking adequate assistance, succumbed by a head t« Aventuriere. A feature of tin? season's racing in Aus» tralJD (says a writer) has been the succcsG whicl b?.s attended the mares in biff hand?

caps in Melbourne and Sydney, 11 of the 17 -principal [handicap-; having fallen to them. Air Motor opened the ball at P-uia-wick by winning tha Epsoir> Handiesn 'icm the crack miler, Sequence, and Queen of Shoter followed with the Metropolitan Handicap. While Wakeful w?.g showing the sterner sex a clean pair of heels in the Victorian weight-for-agc events, the horses were keeping matters even by winning the Melbourne Cup. Caulfield Cup, and Tcorak Handicp.p. In two of these Vanity Fair had a big tay in the finish, -and in the third Air Motor 'made a great effort -\rh en she gavo Kinglock 111b and ran him to a head. At the midsummer meetings the mares wove still in evidence. Pendant nnd Aurantia won the Garrington Stakes and Srimmer Cup at j Riui-.lwick. while in Victoria Fishery annexed ! the Standkh Handicap Annctate the \ Hopetoun Cup and Ba^ct Handicap, and later -on, at Randwick, Roj3 Petal won tho ChaKenge Stakes. Iv tho autumn Pendant oaptured the Oakleizh Plate and Chantress the Newmarket Handicap, after a close cor.- j test with two more of "her -own psx, Inde- j pendence and Wairiri. Then, to finish up with, Rose Petal secured the- Doncaster Handicap.

! Brandt, 8.6, 3. Also started : Ayrdale, Covenant Maid, Gladisla, and Calotype. "Won by a length. Time, lmin 33cc. Dividends, £3 and £1 Bs. Selling Hardicap. of ilsovs. Four furlongs. —Chain Gur.rd, 7.3, 1; Cruwder, 5.3. 2: Reflex, 9.2, 3. Also started: Stoat. Comminder, and Miss George. Won by half a length. Time. 52sec. Dividend, £15 16=. Welter Handicap, of 40sovs. Six furlongs.— Lady Brandt, 9.4, 1; Cora Linn. 10.13. 2: Antigene. 9.5, S. A .so started: Ayr-dale, Ixia. and Calotype. Won by half a lcrgth. Time. Lmin 17 2-ssec. Dividend, £10 B=. Snveyrlon Trot, of Snsovs. One mile.— Proud Child, * 12sec, 1; Robert Ercmett, 15sec. 2; R-eality. Bsec, 3. Time, 2min 4230 c. Dividends, £7 4s"and £J 12s.