IN A NUTSHELL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2661, 15 March 1905, Page 55

IN A NUTSHELL.

— Ghoorka cost llOgs as a yearling. — Nominations for the Southland meeting are due on Marcli 22—C. Jenkins rode four winners at tiie Shannon hack meeting. Handicaps for the Great Easter and Great Autumn are due on Ma-ich 24. 'ihe horses registered with the Australian Jockey Club under Rule 28a total nearly 600. A London cable states that Mr S H. 'Gollan's Seahorse (Nelson — Moonga) has been sold. The high jump at the Shoalhaven (N.S.W.) show was won by Demos, who cleared 6ft 2m. — The Riverton Racing Club will receive nominations for-,thcir annual meeting up tc April 4. — Up-to-Date is Booked to leave for Sydney in order to take part in the A.J.C. autumn meeting. — A son of Mr Justice Denniston drew first prize in one of Tattersall's sweeps on the Australian Cup. — Ailsa and Crichton have been nominated for the principal events to be decided at the A.R.C. Easter meeting. — The Irivercargill-owned pacer Twc-up has gone to Christchurch, where he is to be Trained by A. Pringle. — A complimentary ticket for the Waimate Racing Club's meeting is to hand, and acknowledged with thanks. — Owners are reminded that nominations close on March 25 for the South Canterbury Jockey Club's autumn meeting. — A complimentary ticket for the Greymouth Jockey Club's autumn meeting is to hand, and acknowledged with thanks. — A Melbourne cable states that at si sale of yearlings the Wallace — Halo and Wallace — Lilith colts brought 600gs and 520gs respectively. A large staff of workmen is now engaged on the Wellington Racing Club's new course at Trentham, and the work is being rapidly pushed ahea-d. — Seahorse, who cost Mr S. H. Gollan SOOOgs, -and has displayed disappointing form since he has been in England, has been sold to go to America. —It is reported that the 'chaser Eclair is doing well on the tracks, and is expected to be in good shape when the lepping business comes up for decision. — A recent effort in nomenclature is the cognomen of Hippo Roffla, which is carried by a horse which resulted from a union of St. Hippo and Girofla. — The two principal handicaps to be decided at the Taieri Amateur Turf Club's ! Easter meeting are endowed to the extent ■ of 50sovs and 40sovs respectively. —R. S. Sievier is again in the glare of i publicity. This time he is floating his newlyestablished sporting paper into a company, for which he seeks a capital of £50,000. — Dividend, the half-brother to the defunct Lord Cardigan, who has recently been gaining winning honours in Victoria, was one of the ■ early spring 'ancies for tiie last Melbourne Cup. — There appears to be a lack of good horsemen in Victoria at present, as all the best mounts at the recent autumn campaign were given to New South Welshmen from over the border. — . Gladsome has, according to some figures published in an exchange, won half the races in which she has carried silk, her record being 43 starts, 22 wins, and her earnings amount to £7391. — The "Special Commissioner" of the London Sportsman selects the French colt Jardy, who won the last Middle Park Plate, to win the Two Thousand Guineas, Derby and St. Leger this year. — Tiie time put up by Lori TJllin's Drugh'ein the Australian Cup is an Australian record for the distance, but i& close on a second slower than Seahorse's 3min 56 l-ssec, which the latter put up at Riccarton in 1899. — The well-known Auck'and trainer John Ra« has accepted an engagement as trainer to a syndicate of West Australian sportsmen, a,nd is to leave for his new home at the conclusion of the A.R.C. autumn meeting. — On the day that Gladsome won the Caulfield Futurity Stakes, another New Zealander in Canteen made a bold show in the St. Helier Stakes, w.f.a., in which he ran second to Dividend, who cut the 12 furlongs out in 2.38 J. — At the last Melbourne Cup meeting Dividend defeated Billingsgate, Kcopan, Dangai, and others whom he met in the Spring Handicap for three-year-olds, which was run over 10 furlongs, on the last day of the gathering, j — Eugene Leigh, the American trainer, is said to ba making "bales" of money in France. He charges £3 a week for each horse he trains, and 10 per cent, on winnings, and during the last year he was clearing about £1000 pelmonth. --Goldspur, the hero of a hundred battles (or perhaps more correctly skirmishes, as he is a sprinter), is once more in hand, and if he shows promise of standing up to his work he will be put into training after he has been hacked about for a few weeks. — Frederick Dunn, at one time Mr C. L. Macdonald's first jockeyxjmd identified with many of Wakeful' s races, was fined the other I day for- unpuliness in a railway carriage. In j consequence the V.R C. Committee have sus- j pended his riding license. I —As there has been a good deal of "ring- J ixig-in" going on in Tasmania recently, the i secretary of the Tasmanian Racing Club, j Hobart, is given power, if he has any doubt about a nomination, to compel the nominator to sign a declaration before a J.P. that all is "fair and above board." — The following is from the Melbourne Sporting Judge: — The reason a few of the best-known cross-country horsemen are not 3een so frequently riding in public as others about Melbourne is because they will not follow the practice of returning to the depositor the riding fee lodged at scale: — St. Simon, son of Galopin, is 24 years old, and hie subscription Hat at 500gs is full. Some of the Welbeck stud mares have aTso reached a good age. Mowerina is 29, and her daughter Modwena 22, and Semolina, another daughter, is 18. This is the age of i Memoir, while Satchel is 23 and Muirninno ' is 21. — The principal New Zealand racing clubs ■ rarely lose money over their meetings, but : the contrary is often the case in Australia. For instance, the V.A.T.C. lost £850 over their i autumn meeting. The amount of stakes given 1 away in two days by this club was £4425, and < of this £1115 was netted by Mr Sol. Green, the J owner of Gladsome. ' — The weights for the Liverpool Grand Na- i fcional were issued a few weeks' ago, and Lein- < ster was at the top of the list with 12.7. Moifaa 3 was third on the list with 11.12, or 19lb more < than he won with last year, and the general 1 opinion was that, Respite his impost, he •' svould again be hard to beat. Seahorse II J was let off with 10.7. c —An important piece of news from Ireland 3 is that Maior Eustace Loder now owns another f 3ister to Pretty Polly. Admiration (dam of , ' Pretty Polly) has foaled a filly by t S-allinule. Thus Major Loder is in the happy t position of having in his stud three fillies by Gallinule out of Admiration — Pretty Polly, \ i.dula, and the recently arrived youngster. j i — The Sydney Mail is agitating for an ex- t

I port duty on mares and a stallion tax. The ! imposition of the former would ensure the 1 best mares being kept m the country, while a stiff tax on btalhons would do away with the host of worse than useless brutes that are used throughout the country for the propagation of their kind. —In Austria and Hungary bookmakers are licensed by the respective jockey clubs, and when the Austrian police some time ago lent ear to the "faddists" and attempted a raid on some of the advertising pencil lers, they were politely but firmly requested to leave all such matters to the Austrian Jockey Club. This request was supported by the Minister of Justice. — It is proposed to start a new pouy club in Sydney, and the prospectus has been issuer!. The nominal capital is the sum of £15,000, in shares of £1 oach, and it is proposed to acquire 114 acres of land at North Botany. The racing track is to be one and a-quarter miles in circumference, and a trotting track is also to be laid down. The Ascot Racing Club is the name chosen for the new venture. — Querist. — (1) The first eight horses to finish in the last Melbourne Cup were Acrasia, Loid Cardigan, Blinker, Ossian, Patronus, Sylvan King, Emir, and Cato. (2) Dividend carried 6.9. (3) The placed horses in the Derby were Sylvanite, Lord Fitzroy, and Billingsgate. (fj Munderah started in the Cup, and subsequently won the Final Handicap, a mile and a-half, which brought the meeting to a conclusion. — Tod Sloan will again be seen in the saddle in America this year, having contracted to ride for Mr E. Corrigan, who is one of the leading lights in the race track war which was just commencing when the last mail left. Corrigan and others have determined to run meetings in opposition to those held under the rules of the Western Jockey Club. It is anticipated that the struggle will be a lively one, and that free admission will be the rule at the various tracks concerned. — The Court of Appeal in January dismissed the appeal of Mr Frank Underwood against the decision of the Torquay County Court judge holding that the Torquay Racecourse Company (Limited) were not responsible for plaintiff's horse, Celebration, winning a race in April last. Celebration was within fifteen yards of the post, -with a lead of a length, when the horse of a superintendent of police, standing by the rail, turned round and upset Celebration, thus preventing it from winning. The judgo held that there was no evidence to show the superintendent was the servant of the company, and the Court of Appeal upheld this decision. — The Welbeck Stud card for 100-1 shows that the Duke of Portland still breeds and races on a large scale. Altogether he has nine stallions — there were ten unti 1 Donovan died. At Welbeck are located St. Simon, Carbine, William the Third, Havoc, Battlefield, Erskine. nn-d Brabazon. At Newmarket Ayrshire and St. Serf are standing, and, until he died, Donovan wa=! at Worksop Manor. Tne brood mares liurabeT 27. Four of them went to Carbine last year. There are 16 foals (four by Carbine). 13 yearlings (two by Carbine), and 25 horses in training. T'hs Duke of Portland gets some thousand's a yea.r from stallions, and he does not confine his mares to his own sires. — Exceptionally interesting items come from the Royal Stud (says an English paper). Hi 3 Royal Highness the Prince of Wales's Luscious and Gold Paste, both bearing tribute to Persimmon, will be put to him again; thus the time may not be far distant when the colours of the Heir-Apparent will be seen on the turf in addition to those of his Majesty. — From the north comes news of the death of the. stallion Leolantis, who won the A.R.C. Guineas of 1890. This was his only win of note, and as a stud horse his fame chiefly rests on Romeo's prowess on the turf. Leolantis was a half-brother to St. Leger. Happy Land (dam of Hova), North Atlantic, and others of less note. — The ghost of an old Dunedin favourite in Canteen has boen appearing this week at His Majesty's Theatre, where amongst other pictures the Bio-Tableau produces the race for the last Melbourne Cup, won by Acrasia. Canteen is prominent at different stages of the picture, in which his colour makes him easily discernible amongst the field. Apropos rof Canteen, the writer was chatting with Mr 'A. Moss a couple of days back, and on the erstwhile owner of the Castor horse being asked if he intended buying any other horses, a reply was given that he was not likely to do so unless the D.J.C. got into a more sportsmanlike frame of mind, and allowed owners or their course to see their horses race. —An easy first .amongst present-day jockeys in Frailce stands out George Stern, who has br*en spending a short holiday visiting relations in England ; in fact (says an English 'writer), his record of last year is ample proof that he is well ablp to r;old his own in any eountiy. In 1904 Stern rede in 462 races in France, winning 138, his nearest rival being the smart middle-weight, Bellhouse, a Birmingham lad, whose mounts last season totalled 495, of which 91 were successful. Both Stern (who can go to scale at 8&t 2'b) and Bellhouse (7st 7lb) are under engagement to ride this year the horses trained at La Fouilleuse, Saint-Cloud, by Robert Denman for M. Eduiond Blanc. Stern, although an Englishman, was born at Chantilly, where he still lives with 'his mother, his father, who trained there and to whom. George -was apprenticed, having died sorrua time ago. — When Cordon Rouge won the principal event at the Johannesburg summer meeting the totalisator worked out at £103 10s to £1 ' for the winner and £19 9s for -a place. Fine odds this for the lucky few who backed the winner. I can vouch for the following interesting story in connection with this race (says a writer in an English paper) : A man on the course got a. tip in tiie form of a i number. He went to the totalisator and put ' £2 on. When he returned to his friends, he was asked which horse he had backed, anct pointed to a certain number on Ms card. ''We did not mean that- horse ; we meant the next number," was the reply. Off ran the , backer to the totalisptor to endeavour to cor- ' rect his mistake. He was arguing the point • with the man in charge of the machine when t Cordon Rouge romped in. For his £2 he got £207. Needless to say, he did not contiue his argument after the race. —An American sportsman, Mr Frank dark, has been giving some impressions o( racing in France and England. Like everyone else who has been to France. Mr Clark was loud in his praises of Edmond Blanc's breeding and training establishment. He believes it without a peer in the world, and is not 1 surprised that the gel of Flying Fox have been, so successful. "I saw yearlings there as big and w-ell defeloped as the majority of two-year-olds in this country are," he said. "Newmarket is the most wonderful place I ever saw," said Mr Clark. "I saw fully 1000 horses on the downs there at one time. It was really a great sight. When I first saw racing in England E was surprised at what we -would call the i climbing action of many horses. But I believe I found out the reason o£ it. Some of the galloping' grounds aro on long, steep inclines. The horee3 are galloped up these hills, and then walk down. That, I think, accounts for :h© peculiar action -which we call climbing." — The Australian cross-country rider Joskin tva«s killed by a fall off a pony on February 22. Joskin was riding a fractious pony, which no an© else woxild handle. The a-ninial began to

buck, and Joskin was dislodged. He fell on his head, sustained a terrible Iractuio of the base of the pkull, and c'^ed shortly afteiwards at the Adelaide Hospital. Ihe deceased was widely known as a daung cross-country ridei, and rode the winners of several iacos Among other e\ems he won the Great. Eastern Steeplechase thies times— on Vistula m 1532, 'ihe Actress in 18J4, and "Ronald in 1902; the A.R.C. Giand National Steeplechase loux times — Vistula in 1891 The actress in 1893, Hoppy Jack in ISOS, and the Duke in 1900. He was a bold horseman, aud met with numerous mishaps. Although 'known as Joskin, his real nn-m-e was John Louis Howell. H» adopted the name of Joskin through aJfection ior a- hor&e of that naone by Countryman from Camellia which he had charge oi and rode m the eighties. — Dr Spooner Hart, of Calcutta, Has a vaiuab.e shipment of blood stock on the steamer Gracchus, which was expected at Melbourne last week. The number includes some wellknown performers here, as well as English thoroughbreds. The list is as follows: — Stiathloy, a well-known Australian performer, who has been for many years m India, by Lrochiel from Marvelette , Goya, English horse, by Velasquez (sire of the J&aribyrnong Plate winner iiunllo) irom Grain acuxee ; Wee, bay English mare, by Wmkfieid from Lament ; The Tart, bay English mare, by Perigord from Cetoeno ; Level Lady, bay English iilly, by Oberon irom Moire d Amour; Ma-rgo, chestnut English mare, oy Hopbine from Mocn Daisy; Natalma, bay English mare, by Veracity from Ketta; Min.eiva, an Australian-bred mare, by Ivdeiai from Geoigma; SorceTy, a bay English mare; and Vanity Fair, an Australian- bred mare, by Pilgrim's Progress irom Madcap, who was shipped to India shortly after she ran thn-d to Lieutenant Bill and Flagship m the Cauliield Cup, and second to Ihe Victory m the Melbourne Cup of 1902. — Though very rare m Australian racing, a dead-heat between three horses for second place, as occurred m the Futurity Stakes, is not without parallel. When Diorned won the Newmarket Handicap in 1879, Tocal, Le Loup, and Bob Sawyer finished in a line behind the winner, and in ISB2, when Euclid annexed the Adelaide Cup, Commotion, Pollio, and Belladrum dead-heated for second honours. In connection with triple dead-heats for first place (.says an exchange), there have been a few remarkable incidents. At Moorefield (N.S.W.), about 16 months back, the racers Hjghflycr, Loch Lochie, and Barindi, in the Moorefield Handicap, all crossed the judge's line of vision at the precise moment, and a run off taking place the three horses again dead-heated, when a division of the stake was agreed to. At Maitland (N.S.W.), in August, 1896, three horses — Tom, Syndicate, and Yellow Jacket, ran a dead heat in a sixfurlong flutter. In the run off, Tom and Yellow Jacket passed the post locked together, and a third run was necessary to decide the possession of a £10 prize. — In commenting on the fact that so many owners have only nominated one horse each for this season's spring handicaps in England, a leading London writer says: — Just at present we are doubtless missing prominent owners whose colours, unhappily, will not be seen again. The late Sir Blundell Maple, for example, used to be apparently absolutely indifferent as to the extent of the forfeits he incurred. Probably no man at the present time has so many horses in training as he used to have at Falmouth House and Zetland Lodge, and he thought nothing of putting half a dozen in a single race. Then the late Colonel M'Calmont is also sadly missed, whilst there are others that might be mentioned. There is no doubt that money is unusually '"tight" all round just at present, and the great majority of owners this year have not engaged horses unless with the full intention of running them if the weights meet with their approval. All round, things are none too flourishing on tho turf just now, and we are in sad need of a few recruits of the right sort." — The American correspondent of the Sporting Chronicle sa3 r s: — People in other countries are more or less accustomed to noting eccentric happenings under the Stars and Stripes, but I think the following is most unique. A well-known but poor man in the South was brutally murdered by negroes, leaving his wife and family homeless and destitute. You all know what American charity is — open-handed, generous, and quick to reach its object. Someone advanced money to tide over pressing wants, and then asked the local turf paper to help in a -scheme to raise a fund to give a house and capital for a small business to the widow. The scheme was the issuing of ticket*, each bearing a number, at one dollar (4s) each, and every horseman in Kentucky was urged to take one or more chances. On a certain date corresponding numbers are to be drawn on in lottery form, and tliG four winning ticket holders will be entitled to send a mare, free of charge, to either Nasturtium (imp.), Woolsthorpe (imp.), Pirate of Penzance, or Bluep. CF. M'Mekin (the* owner of tne Oakwood Stud) has made an offer of £20 cash to the winner of service to his stallion, imp. Wool&thorpe,"'in case the winner should have no mare. Truly this seems to be a peculiar case of "a house not buiH. with hands" ; but the end in view is good, and the sum realised will certainly be large. — The old "craze" for the American rider is quietly subsiding. Jockeys such as Stern, Bellhouss, and others have proved that, although America may possess some real artists in the shape of riders, Britishers and even Frenchmen can holdl their own against them if owners will only second their trainers in their endeavours to "make" jockeys from cut the apprentices who ride for them at home. The 3ockey may be born and .not made, but what all want is the practice and the development of those qualities of arm, eye. and head which constitute a good rider. "Tommy" Lane, as good a jockey and as kind a man as ever drew on boot to buckle spur, told me (says the French correspondent of The Sportsman) many a time how much he owed to the suburban gatherings in the days of the old -Junters' races on the flat, "where a man was taught to keep his eyes skinned and get handy at the sharp turns which were proverbial on those racecourses, which Lord Savernake described as "twice round the frying pan and finish up the handle." Mr Harry Jennings bwraght out a series of excellent riders, but then he had 1 a free hand with his owners and could put up his mostllikely apprentices in turn. Assuredly had the same "tactics been purstied owners would not to-day be bothered! with the choice of riders and compelled to bid one against the other for the- services of riders who are ; paid princely salaries and barely condescend | to ride out. much less accept the orders and ndvico of the trainer. — There is many an interesting fact wrapped up in the proceedings at the ringside, and in undertaking some researches regarding Playaway I was repaid for my trouble, for I found (says "Phaeton") that there is a- little romance connected with the filly. In December, 1899, a bay marc, Concertina by name (covered by Carbine), was sent up for sale at Newmarket, apparently as a cull from the Welbeck Stud, owned by the Duke of Portland. The mare, however, evidently made a favourable impression when placed in the ring, and Mr W. Cooper had to bid 1550gs ere he silenced those who were opposing him for tlie lot. In due time Concertina Droduced

a filly foal as the result of her union with Carbine. It would, seem as though the future oi the ioai was not viewed ni v Invourable light, for she was eaily sent into the ring, and at lOogs Mr \V. Foy, the well-kno\".n -Xew South \Vales sportsman, who happened to be piesent at Newmarket on the day ohe v.-as submitted to auction, bought her. 'lhe nl!y thai sLood m the rui- to be sold a^ foal for lOogs was destined to make the trip of 16,000 miles across the ocean to Australia, and she is known to-day as Plpysway, ihe winner of the Newmarket Handicap, and one who is credited with being just about as fast a bit of stuff for her inches that lips ever stood on iron. Playawuy, it is interesting to note, is another illustration of happy results attending the union of the Musket and Galopin families, Concertina, her dam, being by St. Simon, while her sire is by Musket. - — Opinions differ a good deal amongst horse owners upon the question of large stables, which are constructed to contain a considerable number of horses, and small ones, which will only accornmoclpte a few. Perhaps, as in many other things, v middle course wr?l be advocated by most people, as the long stables are apt to become draughty, and th j others too stuffy when shut up; whilst it is obvious that if disease broke out it is likely to spread faster in a building which is occupied by a number of horses rather than in one which has only a fewtenants. Upon the respective merit? of stalls and loose-boxes there can scarcely be two opinions, provided that there is room enough to erect the latter, especially when it is remembered that a box can be utilised as a stall by the help of ba'es far more easily than the latter can bs transformed into a box. Somo owners, however, prefer an isolated bos to a. similar erectioi placed in the same building with others of a like nature or stalls, but ex° ceptins; in cases of sickness or in those of peculiarly disposittoned horse?, the latter will probably be found to be the better arrangement. Most horses are fond of company, and considering the long hours many of them are condemned to pass in their stables, it appears to be at least a bad policy to deprive them of the society of their kind. On the other hand, some animal's of a nervous disposition never seem to settle down amongst other horses, and as in such case they would surfer from want of proper rest, it is desirable that they should be kept apart.