IN A NUTSHELL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2857, 16 December 1908, Page 55

IN A NUTSHELL.

— Acceptances for the Alexandra J.C meeting are due on the 17th. — Jfominaticns for the Wellington Cup meeting are due oi Fnd*y of this week — Master Alix, once cue of our best sprinters, is travelling d^-wn in the handicaps. —In an aiiempt to beat his record. Dan Palch recently paced In 1.57J at Lexington Kentucky. — Volodia fe'l when running m the £ lying Handicap on the first day of tht C R.C meeting. — Acceptances are due on the 18th for the first day ef the Dunedin Jockey Club's summer meeting. — Santit*, the winner of the Maiden Plate at the C.R.C. meeting on Saturday last, is a sister to Sea King. —No horse is ever cured of shying by punishment ; the dread of punishment will only increase his timidity. —An Auckland telegram states that Ma,iora was scratched for the Robinson Handicap at 9 a.m. on Saturday. — A complimentary ticket for the South- | land Racing Club's suinroer meeting is to hand, «nd acknowledged with thanks. — Entries for the Gore Racing Club's summer meeting "to be held on January 20 and 21 are due on Saturday, January 9. — The King has aamed his colt foal, Clyl ene — Nadejda, Dorando. after the Italian who so nearly won the Marathon race. — Record nominations have been received for the Gore Trotting Club's annual meeting, which takes place :>n Boxing Day. — Grand Slam and Caspian were fa.ncied for their races on the first day of the C.R.C. meeting, but failed to get the money home. — A London message advises that Lady De Bathe (Mrs Langtry) intends selling "her breeding stud, but will retain her racehorse*. — Harvest is reported to have- pulled up very lame after taking part in the Dominion I Handicap at the Christchurch Racing Club's I meeting. ' — The Gore Racing Club have issued a I well-en d-c wed programme for their spring ! meeting, which is well worthy of consideration by owners. i — With si light boy up and a flj'ing start, ' Armlet cut out four iui longs on the inner grass track on Saturday morning at Ellers- ■ lie in 45 2-ssec.

— After the Christchurch Racing Club summer meeting 1 . H Donovan will leave for Auckland to ride Sunglow and Armlet in their engagements. — Acceptances for tLe iirsi day of the jD.J.C summer meetm^ a'" 1 nominations for tlie Trial Stakes and Farewell Handicap are due at th.a eime time

—F. l>avis's team for Auckland consists of Downfall. Bobrikot?. Chanteupc, and Mernwee. Aborigine is to Vs up at the same time in charge of Davi=

— The South'and Re ing Club have received a very good l'=t of nominations for ihe tunimc-r meeting, vhich is tr> be held on the "2nd and lth of the Xer? Ypa r

— The Wynclham Jockey Club have received excellent pomina'ioji* for ih^ir annual jr*eting, and the numerical -trength of the list is considerably above the average. —It is reported frtm the north that the bookmakers pooled their business on tho second day of the Woodville meet.ng, and licenses were takean out by four metalliciaas only. — The nominations received for the Waikouaiti mooting are unusually strong in numbers, and if their numerical strength is any criterion, the club snould experience a record meeting. —In Melbourne recently Mr G Payne disposed' of his two-year-old colt by St Ambrose, from Marlin. for 250gs. This was the price he gave for the youngster as a yearling in November, 1907.

— The Vanclea\e mare Vitella. who was amongst the unsucee«ful competitors at the recent Tahuna T'ark meeting; w-n the principal event en the day of the Ashburton meeting and trettrrl 433 — Stormont. in the Hurdle*, to be run at Wing^'.ui on Boxing Day. ha° been handicapped to meet Strongho'd on 181b better terms than when the latter won tha Suburban Hurdle" at the Xe-.v Zealand Ctip meeting. —At a sale of horses in A=hburton la«t week a foui -year-old mare by Formceftn — Little Wonder was rnichase'l by Mr D. Thomas for £15. and a three-year-old Ke'dine of the same breeding by >tr M. Fr.ed anded for £12.

— The stallion Benzonip.n (by Velasq'iez — Gas), who was purchased recently in England for transport to New Zealand, formed one of the catalogue submitted at Xewmarket la^t month He was knocked down for 300g«.

— The iockey who pilots the winner of the Auckland Cup, wjl receive a souvenir in the shape of a go!<l-mounted whip, preseu't«d by the Royal Pictures Syndicate. whose company opens in the northern city on Boxing Night j). J. Price :s expected baoK ironi Melbourne within the lvxt few days. King Cole, with v.-horn he recently won a race at Richmond', has arrived in Christchurch. and will probably b© given a run at the Plumpton Park meeting. — The progiamme issued by the Gore Racing Club lisls attached to it the most liber-ally-endowed eve:ats ever decided on the course The Gore Cup carries llCKovs m prize n- r.-ey. and on the second day the chief c.-citt i= v.orth 100sov= — The well-known trainer "W. M'Dcr&ld who va- mi cliaige 6t the Hon. G;o. M'Lcr.i.'.- team for seme time h. a a winning turn on Satin lay with Ail Gun« and Valditnax bot'-i of w'.-foin 'oe'ong to Mr Percy Herman who is M'Donald'* chief patron. — There is a possi'j.l.ty that the Tuapeka

meeting may suffer through being in such close proximity tc the Southland meeting on the ca-'.endar. Horses engaged at the latter place hay« not much time to get to Lawrence, as Invercargill finishes on the 4th and Lawrence commences on the 6th.

— Starting second favourite in a race at a recent Rosebsry Pazk meeting, the New Zealand -bred Lady Zoin defeated 1 a field ofsix others over five and a-quarter furlongs, which she ran in 1.85. At the same meeting another Maorilander in Merry Delaval won the Rosebery Handicap, of 70sovs, one mile.

— Otterden, who was purchased by Mr W. Brown, of New South Wales, at the Stsad dispersal sale, has dropped a filly which claims sistership to Boniform. Mr Brown is in hick's way, as there is no doubt that Boniform was a crack racer , whose turf career, if brief, was one of exceptional brilliancy.

— Although the Australian papers mentioned that Pink 'Un had been turned out for a lengthy spell, it was not stated that he had gone wrong. It appears, however, that the Strowan hor&e broke down baddy in the C. B. Fisher Plate, and had to be fixed end relegated to the paddocks at Bacchus Marsh.

—In Western Australia), the veteran Combat, by Carnage from Maid of Honour, has changed hands at the low figure of Ilg3. Combat was brad by the late Mr W. R. Wilson, and the gelding was foaled in 1886. He is a half-brother to Freedom end Captive, a couple of one-time well-known performers in this country. — There are four trotting events on the GR C. summer meeting to be lecided on January 20. 21. The N«w Year Trot Handicap is "worlh eOsova, and is for a 5.30 class; the Electric Trot is worth 50sovs, and is a 245 clas3 ; the Progressive Trot is worth 55sovs. 4 10 class ; and the Telegraph Trot is a 45?.0v siake. without a limit.

— The trotting horse Peacock, by King George — Echo, aras sold at auction at Ashburton on the morning of the second day of the A.T.C. meeting. Mr F. Macdonald 1 purchasing him for 60gs. In the afternoon he won the M'Lean Handicap, his new owner thus receiving a return of £40 of the amount expended the first time tlie horse carried his colours.

— A copy of the Westland Racing Club's summer meeting is to hand. Tihe chief events are each endowed with GOaovs prize money, and a notable feature of the programme is that two out of the four trotting races are reserved for trotters only. Most of the ether clubs side-step the racers £or trotters only because they may not provo a financial success.

— The brilliant exploits of Bobrikoff on the New Zealand turf this spring w«re evidently a strong incentive to his owner, Mr T. H. Lowry, to go in quest of his dam Gossip, who (says Phaeton) formed! one of the collection in Mr J. F. Buchanan's stud at Little River, for the Wallace mare and her filly foal by Martin were recently secured by the Hawke's Bay sportsman. — Tikitese, who won the principal event at the C.R.C. meeting, was bred by her owner, Mr H. A. Knight, and her recent success should give Finland a further boost with breeders.! Tikitere. it will be remembered, won ori the second day of the South Canterbury meeting. Flame, the dam of Tikitere, was got by Phaeton from Catherine Wheel, and consequently is a sister to Treadmill.

— The Formosan filly Boutade continued in winning vein at Christchnrch on Saturday, wheri she beft Caspian over four furlongs, and giving the latter 41b. At Timaru Caspian, ovpt five furlongs, beat Boutade a short head when in reoeipt of 7lb from the latter. Now there is 51b between them in the Dunedin Handicap, to be dtecid-ed at Wingatui on Boxing Day. Boutade retains her f.orm, very well, as she ran second at Ashburton in September last. — The \Vellington Racing Club have struck a note generosity in connection with the programme issued for their Cup meeting-. Tlie list of events include the Fitzherbert Handicap, of SOOsovs, for two-year-olds that have never won n race of the value of 200sovs Oi: upwards at the time of starting, and the Consolation Handicap, of 250sovp for horses that ha\ c not won a race at tha meeting. In the event of a horse entered for either of these races, the entry fees are refunded.

— A letter from the general committee of •tha American fleet reception, conveying the thanks of the Commonwealth Government to the V.X C. ComTnitteT for entertaining th* visitors at Plennnflfton was read at a recent meeting of the V R.C Committee. A sum cf £1540 was cleared in ad mi as on fess on the occasion of the review at Flemicgton, ar.d tho V.R.C. Committes have decided to hand this over to the authorities of ihe United Service Home at Drysdale (Victoria;

—Mr H. L. James, eer.ietary of tlw Tahuna Park Trotting Club, has purcha=ed a unique sort of a watch. It is a racing chronograph, and in splitting the time at any distance, cr post, one hand makes an inkopot on the dial The watch, if used in checking the start of a race, would furnish almost ind.s-putab'© evidence as to whether a horse got away before its correct time It could alco be- used to time horses as they pass the post in their order behind the winner, and will no doubt be utilised in both ways at future meetings.

— A new starting machine was used for the fhst time *t the Christchurch Racing Club's meeting on Saturday. It is the invention of Mr H. Reynolds, the club's starter. In principle it d-ffers materially from any other starting machine that has been =een in N«w Zealand. A strand of e'a^tic is stretched across the course, and on being released it flies to the outside, in place of up in front of the horses' face«. as in the ca«e of other ma<:hine.s The new invention came in for close scrutiny, and the general opinion of all who saw it was that it wa., a nr«t-class machine.

— The Fiiat October meeting at Xetvmarket (Kng.) was honoured by an army of rough*., chiefly from. Birmingham, who " worked "' in organiFed gangs. Thanks to the Mgilance of the railway police, sevti*' were caught and gaoled lleferrn q to th>--invasion and tho Jockey Cub, an E',gh-h w-nter says — "The great increase in the attendance at Xewmarket on the Ce°arewitch day, we hear came from the north The Jocke/ Club exi-e^t managers of country meetiin.gs to .see tha.t order js dbtcned, otherwise their hcanse is withdrawn Many comp'aints were made of the conduct of the crowd on Jie Cesarewitch day "'

—On the second day of the A«hburton Trotting Club's meeting Mr H. F Njcoil's har=e Durbar wab a competitor m the principal c ent, the A^hbuiton County Handicap It was announced that he would attempt io br«ak Rbbonwo'd's Australasian recrrfl for two milps, lmin 3o 4-s»ec, but he did not act well in the second mile, his time for thr full distance being 4min 4.3 2-s="ec v.hich is a a'oc» wiv behind his o.vn best rerfortnaneo. Imm 36 cc. accomphsred in the X:w Z-enlanJ C'u.3 Handicap, whkh he woii at the Xev> Zealand ifetropolnan TrotXng Clj'j'^ ii eet.i _; la-st niontli Rain had fallen o.e: night, s-.n^f the track was not in the Le-t of oi Icr for record-mak-iig.

— Van;r=e. a brother to Fhir.g Fox. who won the Tyro Thousand Guineas, Derby, and St Lfioer anct vas afterwards for £39.375 to go to France, took the Z\onStayers' Plate, a small race, at Lingfield

last month. He is now a three-year-old 1 , and according to the following from an English papeT, Vamose has made no headway since his two-year-old days: — "Little did we imagine when we saw the brother of Flying Fox run a dead heat with Sir Daniel Cooper's Lssbia for the Imperial Plate at Kempton that in 12 months' time lie would be figtiring in a race of this sort." The second boree was Fallen Angel, and this name might b3 more appropriately applied' to* Vamose," who, is owned by the Duke of "Westminster. j " — The All-end ale Stock Farm this season , "have been lucky in getting so many colt fcals from their highly-bred imported American mares, the -following" having:'-, produced ' colts.— Edna Patch, by. Dan-"Pafch, 1.55 i; , Jewell's Heiress 2.19, by H«ir-*t li*w 2.5£; ', Myrtle Dean 2.24, *by Bo* Dean 2.30, a son ! of Bow Bella 2.19J; Blonde Gratian, by ' Grattan 2.13; Countess of Todd, by Todd [ 2.14J ; Beatrice Master, by Quartermaster i 2.21 J. The?e six mares have cotts by Abbey | .Bells; while Elsie Downs, by Boodle 2.12^ I and Bessie M'Kinney, by M'Kinnty 2.11J, ■ have colt foals by the great three-year-old trotter Bon Voyage 2.12 J. In a. few years j (says a Melbourne writer) Australia will be | able to boast of possessing some of the finest | bred trotting stallions in the world.

— The Van Cleves (says Rothschild) did not come to their speed too early, but once there they came to stay, and were pu'dting up their best times when the ordinary run of horses were retired from the racing track. There is Friiz, the greatest horse ever bred in Australasia. Vaunv, who won a mile and a-half race in Melbourne the other day in 3min 28Jsec, equal to 2min 19sec to the mile, and was foaled back in 1898; and Valour who at the Fame meeting won in 2min 17e«c, also an old horse. Then Euchre, for lrng considered the best two-miler in New Zealand, who is now being driven about the streets of Sydney by Mr Bobert Beckett And now Durbar, who is considered, bar Ribbonwood, the best pacer that Australasia, has seen. The Van Cleves are certainly stayers in years as well as in races. — An English -writer states there is ground for anticipating an early rearrangement of the Kind's racing affairs, which may involve the gh -iig up of Egerton House, the most princely training establishment, perhap3, which has ever existed. In that case Marsh would be instaJled elsewhere as private trainer to his Majesty. Richard Marsh has been at Egerton House for many years, and it was from there he sent out Persimmon to win the Derby for his Royal employer (then Prince of "Wales) and Diamond JubiPee to sweep the board of the classic races in 1906. Certain other owners have been privileged by the King to tram at Egerton House, among them being the late Duke of Devonshire (who, however, some- ye«r» before hi« death sent his horses to West Goodwin to be trained privately, and later became a patron of the Beckhampton stable), and Lord Wolverton, Mr Arthur James, and Mr J. W. Larnaeh. owner of the- sensational 100 to 1 Derby winner. Jeddflh. whose stable companion. Dieudonne, started favourite, but failed to siay the distance. It is said that Marsh may remove to Gra-fton House with the King's horses, but when the mail left England nothing definite was known.

—In a short l«tter to the London Sportsman, a correspondent hits upon a. new idea. Owners and trainers might, with profit to tiiem=elves and comfort to their horses, cut tbis le-fcter out. and paste it in their colltective hats: — We are always hearing that horses "do not run their races out," "swerve all over the course," etc.. etc. and such horses earn the unenviable character of "rogues." Are they always to blame? Any^* one who has ridden in a racing saddle knows that it is unwi.se to place his .finger between the saddle and a horee's withers — i.c , if he has any further use for his finger, and yet a thin woollen mat is all that protects the hor&e from a sharp saddle-tree. Xo wonder he often curls up when the pinch comes. Why is it, if these pigmy saddles are not to blame, that so many horses are marked for life with white hairs acioss their withers? It is comruonly known that many horses — like old Houndaditch. for instance — were infinite I.}'1 .}' better under heavy weights than under light. May it not be that they preferred to do their racin« in reasonable comfort, and objected to do so in unnecessary pain ? How would it be to try the experiment with one or two confirmed "rogues"'; put up a fov/ nounds extra and give them a comfort ah'e saddle 9 I. for one. do not think the exDenment would fail —An electrical device by means* of which identification number* may be tattooed uoou the gum* of army ho.-?eb is lwing experimented with at Woolwich ?nd .other military depots i>i Enerland Tf it proves ?ati«factcry the system is destined to replace entirely that at present in vogue by which referen-ce numbers are burred into [he horses hoof" Unless renewed every s-ix months, such a reference number disappears completely, owing to the? natural growth of the horse's hoof, uhich bnn?p the number lower and lower until in the orocess of shoeing it 13 filed away. It is claimed that by the system which is being tried a number become? absolutely indelible, and could only be removed by such a barbarous act as cutting away a portion of the horse's gum. The operation which the horse has to undergo is briefly this: -Its upper Up is drawn back and » portion of the gum above the incisor teeth i" deadened to pain by an injection of cocaine Then a meoal pencil' attached to an electrical battery is employed. In the pencil is a resorvoir filled with indelible ink. At its pointed end is a. tiny hollow needle which under electrical impetus shoots in and cut with tremendous rapidity, making tiny puncturps in the horse's sron. a { the rate of many thouoancls a minute, and depositing a minute drop of ink in eaoh. A number contaimn? fi-e numerals ran be "written" by an expert in a few seconds