SPORTPG NOTES FROM AUSTRALIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2647, 7 December 1904, Page 52

SPORTPG NOTES FROM AUSTRALIA.

|" . MELBOURNE, November 23. ;;. S?he Victoria Amateur Turf Club held their 'November meeting at Caulfield on Saturday, ■..jwrßen there was another meagre .attendance, Scots Grey gelding 1 Blue Rock 9.13, who ||«t*rtea-. at B's, .waited on the 3 to favourite, Ma Mie Rosette 9.3, until half 3<'.*,furlong from the post, and then secured the g-jK'isouka Hurdle Race, of two miles and 64yds, JK an. Smin 54Jaec; York 9.5 being thirc, and five g^ctaers making up the field. §?h- They made a hot-pot of the New ZealandKbred' Grenadier 8.8 for the Stanmore Two-year-f Tpld Handicap, of five furlongs; but he finished gS«st in a field, of eight, the Hwut Brion— '-SNecklet filly Decollette 7.6 winning somewhat J '«*sily from* Vibrate 9.2, in Imin -2Jsec; Maro ■ >*Antony 8.5 being third. Vibrate would have L anode a closer thing of it but for being somel what slow on his legs «t the start. If Hegio (Medallion—Welcom* Queenie) carriedl y 10.10 to victory in the Rosstown Plate, of six J; ■ ifurlongs, traversed in Imin 16sec. Athamoora- ' 7.11 was second and D&nd-alla 8.13 third; and yl.y l. its the others consisted of Corroboree 9.0, Baden *Powell 8.9, Grey Seaton 7,5, -^and Chiss 7.2J the :_ "was a highly meritorious one. sgQsegio's starting price was 4 to 1, Athamoora Ifbeing favourite at 2's. *| Athamoora (Pilgrim's Progress—Athata) is ?.Wned by Mr Herbert Power, and being saddled jfjjp again in the last event —the* RosstOwn * •Purse, seven furlongs —she won with 7.11 in ~-1.311, Durbar '8.5 lieing second and Dandaila J.lB once more third. :(• .Quite a funereal aspect -n-as lent to the «ur- - foundings owing to two jumpers—Cynio in the --H lurdle, Race and Wyesby in the Steeplechase— ' j iustaining such injuries that they had to be ' • lastroyed. When Avalon (Strathmore—Chintz) j 1.10 drifted back from 4's to 12's in the Armi.lale Handicap, of 11 furlongs, the wary puniiers immediately concluded that Charley * -J/enny's gelding was "dead," too; but they »rcved to be unmua in their

surmises, as he took command half a mile from home, andl won comfortably from Newmarket 6.10 by a length and a-half, Australia 9.1 being the closest of half a dozen others. Time, 2min 24|sec. On the Sydney side, the Australian Jockey Club held their November meeting at Randwick, where Teddy Keys's Victory (by Invader — Babette), with 7.12, ran away with the Stockbridge Handicap, of six furlongs, from a fair field in fast time — to wit, lmm 14sec, Lady Brockleigh 9.5 finishing second, two lengths and a-half behind the winner. Philibeg (Lochiel — Farthingale) 8.9 won the Trial Handicap, of a mile and a-quarter, in 2min 12sec; and another Lochie (Sweetness, from Siiverhair) annexed the Tyro Stakes, of four furlongs, in 50sec. There were only five starters for the mile and three-furlongs event, the Salisbury Stakes, Raeburn 8.7 and Fansna w © 6.7 dividing favouriteship at 7 to 4. They finished eight lengths in advance of Fireclay 9.5, Speculum 7.12, Bono 6.7, and Dumont 8.12: but only " half a nead separating the pair, Raeburn, who is by Simmer from Carbelfe, having that advantage. Time, 2min 24Jsec. A few years back some of the "know-alls" of the Fiemington training track were wont to aver that "What with the drugs he gave them •and the way he made his two-year-olds stand up to their graft," no youngster was worth a rap after Tom Payten onoe discarded it. Well, Warpaint and Paul Pry pretty well "kyboshed" that flapdoodle, and on Saturday the nine-year-old Marie Corelli (Carbine — Vendetta)gave the lie direct to the assertion by landing 9.10 Naunero uno (as they say in 'Spain), at the terminationof the Welter Handicap, of » mile, at Randwick. * MISCELLANEA. Boisterous weather during the concluding days of the Victorian Rifle Association's annual jnatches completely -upset the calculations of some of the supposed certainties for big money during the meeting. J. C. Trigg, of the Gee•long Rifle Club, secured th« King's prize (£4O arid a gold medal' value £10) with a grand total of "309; G. Howitt(of South Australia) being second with 305; J. H. Williams (of Bendigo) third with a similar score; and J. T. Lake (of St. Arnaud), fourth with 304. Private H. Warne, who.put in such marvellous work in the first stages of the King's (104 out of 105), failed to finish amongst the first 40. Some of your New Zealand identities of today, who hailed from Victoria in the sixties — suoh as John Gregory Harris and Dan O'Brien — will doubtless remember Thomas P. Power— an old Cariton boy, who, as secretary, brought their football club up to the high standard it attained in the early seventies. I have seen some good caligraphists in my time, but I think T. P. P. was absolutely the finest writer ever I oame across. By profession he was a. saddlers' ironmonger, building a large establishment in Little Bourke street behind Kirk's Bazaar,. where he turned out "fixings" equalled by few and excelled by none. He was always very proud of a certificate he obtained for a display- of saddlery he sent to the Dune*din ExJiibition some years back, whilst his fame in the same direction stretched to England, in the Colonial Institute. He followed! the turf (as hi recreation at first) for many years past, acting an honorary- steward at suburban meetings— principally ,at Ep^som — and Twd he d«voted his energies to handicapping, . would have been an unqualified success, as he was ft keen observer and fc shrewd. jt£dge of form. He passed away last Sunday (through cancer in the stomach) at his residence, "Bristol,"* Middle Brighton, the sixueth year of his age ;• andr-i£~ there ever was a -thoroughly demonstrative object lesson. throughout,, broad - Australia „sra to the utter futility of even the keenest inteUect, aided by extraordinary business - tact, commercial acumen, and whips of "boodle," attempting to hold its own whilst .backing horses, my old Scotch college ehura, Thomas Peter Power, 1 xoibst assuredly supplied it.