IN A NUTSHELL,

Otago Witness, Issue 2634, 7 September 1904, Page 51

IN A NUTSHELL,

— G-ladcorne is jioy/ favourite for the Caulfield Cup. — The Greymcuth Jockey Clu* has increased its New Year's stakes to £1200. — Grand Rapids is being solidly supported fo - the A.J.C. Epsom Handicap. — Nominations for the Kurow Jockey Club's amiual meeting clo3e on September 17. — Melodeon is reported to be progressing favourably in his N.Z. Cup preparation. —Mr P. Cadogan, a well-known Irish bookmaker, who died recently, left over £100,000. — The annual meeting of the Southland Kacing Club will be held on Friday, September 9. —Mr G-. G-. Stead has left for Aiistralia to witness the racing at the A.J.C. spiing meeting. — Mr Brinkman has been appointee} handfcai per for the Ashburton Trotting C.ub's nexfc ii ectmg. — A private offer of 3000 guineas was recently refused m England for a yearling sister to Volodyovski. • — Dr Fullerton, who is •well known in sporting circles, has been elected president of the Southland Racing Chib. — Sychcm and Benrnore figure amongst tthe nominations for the hpek races to be declared at the Wanganui meeting. — Hoseal, whom it was reported had broken down, figures amongst the nominations for the Wanganui meeting. — The Lochiol colt Oxydonor, who figures amongst the acceptors for the Timeru meeting, has had his name changed to Crichton. •—l The Southland Racing Club made a profit of £600 over the two meetings held last season, at which a total of £1155 in prize-money was distributed. 1 — The Flying Fox colt G-ouverant, who was amongst this -year's Derby field, recently won a stake of ;1000sovs in a race for three-year-olda and upwards »t w.f.a. — Tattersa.ll's establishment in Collins street, Hobaxt, had a narrov/ escape from 65e- . struction by fir© recently. The promises next door wer<s completely gutted. — It is proposed "to hold a hack race meeting at Temuka on December 16. The sura of £15 is mentioned as total stake-money, and hearty support is already promised. - Wbat adds so much to racing zest Is the peculiar fact That 7Mgs which seem io run the best Are those which run unbacked. — The spring meeting of the Asrlibuxton Trotting Club will take place on Ot/tobsr 13. The sum of £185 will bs offered in stakes, th« prize money foe the I/agm'hor Handicap being £&. — Five New Zealand Cup cacdidates ta Crblivkm 11, Secret Society, "Blaekstone, Bean SpAton, and Hose Shield figure amongst the acceptors for the first duy of the Timaxu meeting- — Mi J. Jeffs has lodged an appeal against the recent decision- of the Canterbury Jockey Club by which the mare was disqualified from receiving the stakes attached lo the Criterion Handicap. — The New Zealand Cup candidates, Besta Seaton, General Average, Halbsrdier, Convoy, Full Cry, Black Reynard, Regulation, and Ghoorka figure amongst the nominations for the Wanganui spring meeting. — There is. a horse racing up north who rejoicea in "the name of Hac-in-the-Moon ; butitisio-a certain extent an excusable effort, as the dam of the horse with the Ihyphonttred .name is a mare nemed liuna. — The following is .recomanentfed for splints : Clip the hair from the enlargement and'zufr it every. 10 days with a. small quaxttity of biniodiSe of mercury, 1 drachm; iodide of IDofcaesum,, I drachm; lard loz. — Owing to a typographical error in -the "Answers to Correspondents" column last weelc wu answer to ■&> query read "Trinio-lite did -win. a. •Grand JSTaitional," whereas it should havo, aead that he ""did not win," etc. —As a proof of the manner in -which sport has caught on in Paais it may be said, /foal in 1388 the total amount distributed among owners wae £8200, while the prize money for 1904 has been put down, at £65,440. — A Sydney cable states that Cruciform, assisted by Nightfall, ran » mile arid a-quarter in 2min 16sec Grand Rapids covered seven furlongs in Imin 34se£ "!Saloys put in a brilliant mQe, compassed in Imin 45see. — .Mr Oxenhaan, who recently returned front London, says "there was as much "wEgering- on a selling race in England as there was on » bi<j event In Australia^ an<3 there were backers who would pat JEIO,OOO on>a horse they fancieS." —At Cleveland last month Mr Billings rode Chadtie Mac a, mile under saddle- (trotting) ia Qmi-n lojsec, thus clipping a. •auaxier of a second off Great Eastern's performance, which has stood as the record bees Sept-ember 22, lt*77. — Single "Event, and Monte both met with, fatal accidents at the Amberlsy meeting. The former was a half-brother (by Apremont) to Double "Event, General Symons, and Count of Koimar, but "was a rank Sailure as a. racehorse. A cable received by Mr .E. Lyons from Mr A. Moss states that Canteen lias been greatly ".admiTed since his arrival -a.fr Randwick, -and. tha-i tho local—papers say the son -ci Castor is the handsomest horse ever seen on tha track.. — Gladsome has now won races t>n all the ■principal courses in Australasia, And holds* bit of * record in that respect, as some of her victories were gained at . Wirsgatui, Riccarton, Wellington, Auckland, Randwick, and Flemington. — The weed "punter" was originally applied to O'lie who pla-yed against the banker or dealer, as in ba.ocaiat and faro, but it is now applied to backers of horses. The wor-65 is very old. and is to be found in Pope, Fielding, and Thackeray. —Mr R. S. Servier is stated to have said to a. reporter: '"As to my future, I cannot at present race— -that may come,— but in the meantime during the next fortnight I shall be* st&arting a weekly sporting paper, which I shall edit myself." — A, record sale of horses was recently held at JKupunda, where 1300 horses were yarded and .sold without reserve. They all belongedt"> Ma: B. Kidman, a well-known stock dealer, •who had them driven down from his <Jueensland stations. — A Sydney message states that Grand Rapids has been backed for the A.J.C. Epsom Handicap, of one mile, at 12 to 1. For this event Chere Arnie and Famous are equal favourites at 6to 1. Gladsome is favourite for the Caulfield Cup (V.A.T.C4 at 100 to 8. — A Sydney cable states that a feature of the Epsom Handicap betting was _a demonstration against Grand Rapids, which, for some reason or other, was knocked back to 100 to 3, though there" was a recovery later to 100 to 5. The hostility disturbed earlier backers. — A Dunedin syndicate recently cabled -to Melbouriie for some meney about Canteen in tho Melbourne Cup, but deeliised to do business at the 10's to 1 which was quoted. The cable must have bean sent to some three-ball merchant who works a. close rnsirket. — There is a hor&c named Anniversary included in the nominations for the "Wanganui meeting, and as the Nordenfeldt — Sister Agnea mare bred by Mpjor George figures in the Stud Book under that name, the WaEganui

horse's owner should be asked to make a - change. —In 1887 the Willianistown Racing Club ■waa £12,000 in debt; the deficit in 1893 had I>een reduced to £7000, and now the club, Mr H. P. Sutton(the secretary) state 3, is £1542 in credit, or, roughly speaking, nearly £830 more -than last year. Sinct the club has been in existence' £23,369 has been expended in im-l.TCveanen-ts. — At a asde held at the Cobham Stud (Engl£n3j a Trenton yearling colt made 100 guineas ; m three-yearnoid mare by Trenton, and covered lay Collar, mads 300 guineas ; a filly by Trenton ■went at 50 guineas, a two-year-old by Abercorn •old at 30gs, and Arizona H, a five-year-aid eoh of- Sir Merebred, made 90 guineas. The lastnamed has won several hurdle races in Eng- • land. — There are owners and owners, but the - -writer has just heard of a champion in his ■way, -^rho -was asked by his traiuer-cum-groom ~ a£ the latter should give the crack of the stable at "teH,'"* as the horse evidently wanted bright--,«ning up_a b"it. The owner, who has plenty of money but a paucity of knov/ledge concerning horseflesh^ said, "Certainly, my man; but ~~ don't ask too many people." — The ex-SycJaey "owner Mr R. Wootton was the second Twggest -winner in stakes in South Africa last season-. Mr H, Kours& was on top •«>ritfc'£9l6o, aid the" Sydaeyite'next -with £5390. •&« xesurt-of-29 and 32 races respectively. .The lurL.-would appear to be' making- rapid-progress , in' South' Africa. '■ While in' lß99-1900 902 races ■were i-un, there were- no fe-wer'thant 2301 last -«eascn,- the respective values being £29,425 and £319,811. — Onej of the most -promising horses seen cut" this seaso-a^as for-as it-has-gone is- Blinker, * three-year-old son of -Pilgrim's Progress and the First King mare Jtomindor. Blinkers-last performance was to win the August Handicap, one mile and'echalf, at the Y.R.C. August meeting, -with 7.8" in" the saddle, and easily ■defeat nine, others in 2min 39isec, Be is «weed by Mr J. Wilson, and is engaged in the Melbourne and Caulfield .Cups. — Gladsome gained en additional host 01 admirers by the splendid style in which she •vrou the Three and Four-year-old Handicap, of •even furlongs, at the V.R.C. August meeting. . She had t&e Steadier of 10.5," and was sent out itfecurite at S to 4 IhTa,- field of 11. ,At the Icme turn the" daughter of Mies Gladys looked liopelcssly out of the -race, and had to have the -whip drawn' on her, but at the distance she ■was up -with the leader, and finally won ha>nderacely in Imin SSfsec. ~At a recent Kalgoorlie (W.A.) meeting £53,009 was put through -the machine* and the - aanottnt invested on the- Kalgoorlie Cup- was - £ZQOO, and ibis amount is considered to Vs a xeccrd* hy an Australian writer, but £7850 -was , invested in "the last New Zealand Cup, and the same . race tb.9 previous year carried £7961, ■vtfach is probably, an Australasian record. The xtcbsd amount for an individual horse is £2158, earned by Achilles, and the next best is the .£2IOB carried by Eurbclydon. ""-"-_ finmral'meetig of the Wellington Racing Club wa? heid on -August -31. "The resolaiion passed at a recent special meeting, authorising Jtfce, stewards - to ' spend -in the jmrchise of- land and ' the ' erection of build-^ ings far a, new. course at Trentham 'was -con-. Jujned.: '.Officers -..-were ..^electea as follows.: — ' Mr J.- 8.- " Harcourt" (re-elected) ; -rkerpxesidents," Messrs ~W." H. S.I Moorehouse "and R. ■■ T." Turifbull -(re-elected)'; stewards— 1 Bpn^T % K. Macdonald, Messrs J. Wilkins,J. W.' Abbott, H. El..E 1 .. Johnston-, K.7M.. M'Lean, D.-J.-:Nathan J !W.'H. TurnbnlL J.-Aimes. ; -— An^interesting race -was -witnessed at" Roseiyi pn August 20 inrth* .Spring Stakes, w.f.a., ■vniii uJlo-rranccs, one mile end a, furlong. -The 3»ce attracted a-'field- of 12, and Koopan , was m»3e favourite at 2's, Lord Cardigan starting wt^'s^Pir Leonard at 7's, and Abundance and Jim Dorset -sS-ejit out a point longer. Jim 3>orset-.6.12 -con" by a head from Abundance S.£ and LozS Cardigan 9.0 -was a similar distance away third. Time, 2min OJsec. The -wicEarV sire (Courage)" is a soa" of Trenton,. ■who -was' one «f a sTnpment of horses to India«horat a year agoj and his dam -was got by Cheviot, ;,a 'son, oF Adventurer. —From America - comes -word "of the death •P'th'« three-year-old Highball, who, a couple" ©Tmonths ago, -won the .rich American Derby. i%Viien running in" a race at one of', the Kew "Sort tracks last month, he suddenly dropped - fcack near the .finish, and ou being" pulled up, ■was found to Have broken his off - foreleg in 4wo places. .Later he was chloroformed and" ehot, "but tins chances are that if he had not teen insured for £5000 anattempt -would have i>eeii -made to, save him for stiid purposes. Be was by Ben Strome from Sfrychina, and ■w*b^jindoubieQly the best -two-year- old in- . America last season, ' . . -' — A TBTiter in ,an Australian exchange say 3 it 5s (krobtftil Whether horse-racing is the moat popular Australian sport after all. - Sixty •Sbbosaad pesple_ -watched the finish of the liig boat' race in Sydney recently (of course, they aidnftpay); international cricket always «fawa coosbteat crowds; "at one Rugby foottaH iafitch in' Sy<lney".iecently 35i000 people •tTesSfed; and- something like 30,000 -watched .*hfe last italf-clczen' .miles, of the , Warrnain- . iwHSfolbourne cycle road race." He, however, ©verldofcs"- the fact that 'attendances itum.- , luring .jHHn^whaie-ietseeeiL eighty -and**' hun«rta thousand hare 'looked .at x Melbourne Cap; on more than on* occasion. - J i —"Eie /Australian- irainer- jockey, J. E. ! ZBrewer, -who ias 'beea located in. England *o_r * -gemox ad, -in a letter to a. Melbourne-friend,-says ne" started teaming xrith. 23 horses" iofr-MizE. H/.fiemmiagi but got rid of the ■worst »ght, and, urith. the others, has had considerable success. At the time -of -writing,- he nsi won 12 races this season,- beeifies- being 21 times second or third. Though some o£ the -winners were well backed, and j Srewer "had made money, he hopes to return 4cr Australia "next year and 'settle on a farm. 2Eb - establishment at Kewmarket is very «xpEiisive, -these fccisg 50 loose4>oxes, and the lent is £1030 a year. He says there is no place like Australia. - — ISr Bidbi. Mitchell, one of the oldest and most Tespected of old-time Australian riders ami trainers, died on August IS. As far l»ck .as 1859 he rode Browniock to victory in lie T-S.C. Leger. Later he went to the ISasSi and -was well-known as a.' horseman in China "ana India. Returning to Australia, efter many years in the East, he finally settled Sown .at Plemington, where he was for many years licensee of the Racecourse Solel. Be trained many winners in his ■dam*;, ana -was extremely successful with, ponies, -then Tecognised -on V.R.C. courses. At «ne tame he acted as private trainer to Mr ITnos. Chirnsifie, and he rode Alice Hawthorn xn iej: iamous match -with Veno. — TJheiSya&ey betting shops pay on "walk «sers,. .send they wore xecently -hit to a pretty ' •time by_ some of the clever division in that ! sgt_of -the world snapping up all the money _»fctaanaWe abo^ one pf the least-fiamcied horses • an a xace and scratching oJil the others in "oroco: rk> give .tkeir. "selection" a -walk over, j in connection with the matter, an exchange ' xemfinrks faat aa-.effoirMo rescind tihe rule will ! and' rightly— be an«t with a good ceal of opposition, but this should' not be so, as the principal low of betting is that a bettor must hajv.e a rihance of -winning as cwell as a chance >of losing. In a walk over (particularly ' one wMch is the result of collusion), tihe fielder lias no .chance of winning, and therefore should not be -brought in a. loser. A fairer rule is that •all; bets on races which result in walk overs thvoid be declared nuH and. voitj, " J

1 — There is z well-known bookmaker in Sydney- whom we shall call "Puddin' " Stone. This isn't his name, but it will answer (says the Melbourne Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News). One day, " Puddin'," who weighs anything between 20 and 30 stone, was fielding at 'an tip-country meeting, and had clerking for him a Yiddisher of pronounced i type. "Puddin' " had a mare engaged in I one of the events which he considered good enough to have a plunge on, and his clerk also had a flutter on the supposed "certainty. About a furlong from home the mare and another horse cleared out from the field, and were fighting out a great finish. "Puddin' at this stage, recognising a probability of defeat, was energetically "riding" his champion j along at the top of his voic?. "Go on, you beauty, go on! go on!" he yelicd. Then turning to his clerk excitedly, he added — "I wish tto goodness I was on the old Snare. I'd ; shift her along a bit." The clerk glanced at I his employer's elephantine proportions a mo- | inent ere he replied, in tones of despair : "Do -" you! Lor' bloo' me, I wish you were on the ; other tod." j — A Melbourne commercial traveller tells an '• exchange of a little experience he had in tho . backrblocks of Australia not very long ago. "I had gone to the railway terminus, -and -was continuing my. round in a trap, and one evening- put up at a little roadside hotel. When I entered the .hotel, 1 was amazed to • see a man spread out on the dining room table, with two- others standing over him, digf ging- at his legs -with. pen-knives. The man on the table was groaning "dolorously and shedding bitter ...tears;- he was also bleeding like the \ proverbial porker. /Good heavens!' I cried, 'what, are you at? „ You'll kill tihe man.' "Uh, heVall right, mister,' said one of .the operators'cheerfully:- 'we're on'-y diggin' a bit o' shot out of him.' , I looked closer, and saw that this was really what they were at. They jabbed the tips of their knives into the poor wretch, and jerked out pellets of shot. 'How did it happen?' I asked. 'Dead easy,' an- ' swered the second operator; 'an' he ain't got no one to blame hub himself.' 'Was it an accident,- then?' 'No, not exactly- a haccident.- Yoxi see, Jim here bet me a tjuid 1 couldn't hit him. if 1 gave him a start of thirty yards. Well, Jim was wrong, that's all.' This, I think' is a fairly striking illustration of the extremes to which the betting proclivities of Australians will go." — According to reports given by the latest Sydney papers to hand, there was a fair amount _of speculation at Tattersall's Club during the settling of accounts over the Rosehill meeting. Several hundreds were written against Famous for the Epsora Handicap -at 100's.to 7, after ■ -which he shortened a point. After J61500 had .-been written against Contest at 100' s to 10, he was backed for between JioQOO and £6000 down- to 100's to 12. Close on £2000 was booked about "The Palmist at 100's to 4 and 5, and a single wager of JE3OO to 550 about Chere Ainie -was snapped up. The friends of Grand Rapids took what money waa offering at 100's to 7 and 7J. For the- Metropolitan Stakes, _ Fritz-Grafton was backed down to 100's t<i r 9, .about JE7OOO being taken, and at 100's {0 s : J7 and 8 Long Tom. was supported to win about £5000. -^Tartan was~backed"-?or. £3000 to £4000 at., 100 to- 9.' . In .doubles '-.Chere • Amie and - Tartan, Chere Amie and Nothos, and Chere Amie "anff -Long" Tom were -each -backed for '-.Several "thousands at 1000 to" 5.- The prices " "on .offer" "at the "finish were:" — Epsom Handicap -r-5 to .1 'agst --Chere , Amie, 8 to. 1 agst Contest/ 12 to 1' each agst' Famous and Grandi '■ Rapids, 14 tefl- agst Jlaloya, 16 to 1 each '"agst Jim -Dorset -and Port Jackson, 2-0 to 1 each agst Cakewalk,"- The Palmist, Martian, and" Danny Mann, 25 to 100 to 1 agst others. For the Metropolitan — 100 to 9 each agst FritzGraf ton, Long Tom, Zenda, and Tartan, 100 to 8 agst 'Tfothos', and 100 to 7 agst Patronage. —In referring to the death of the English sportsman Mr w. M. Redfern, in -his eightyfourth year, the Sporting and Dramatic news - cannot help reflecting upon the great changes "that have come over the turf and all connected with it since the days when Mr Redfern's I pretty blue and white striped jacket, with a : scarlet cap, were first seen upon a racecourse, j It was as long ago as 1851 that Mr Redfern '. first owned horses, and races were still run ,in heats. Somewhere about 1860 racing in j heats" became " a thing of the past, and it is j evident that "nowadays, with the vast increase [ in the number of race meetings and of race- | horses in training, such a system of racing i would be . impossible. . Then, came the aboli- [ tion. of four-furlong races, which up to now i have since remained in abeyance, though racj ing . over this distance has been again made { legal for two-year-olds. When Mr Redfern 5 begau racing, the minimum weight a horse 1" was_ allowed to carry was only 4st. This i rule was altered and the weight raised to sst 71b, which in its turn was raised to the present minimum of 6st. The Derby and the . St. Leger were then the two great races of the ' year, and little did racegoers dream that within ■ some twenty years from then new racecourses \ -would spring into existence in. all directions, '. with mammoth., prizes of £10,000, and upwards ! 'to bs- coxnpeted for; jnor did breeders of those 1 days ever .imagine that such sums as 25,000, ! 30,000, and. 37^000 guineas, would, ever be paid Lfor a single., horse, or that 21 yearlings .would I realise_a- total of 39,410 guineas in 1903.