TALK OF THE DAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2983, 17 May 1911, Page 62

TALK OF THE DAY.

By Sentinel.

.THE DUNEDIN WINTER MEETING. Although the Dunedin Jockey Club's winter meeting will lose a very useful auxiliary in the shape of the winter show, still the splendid entries received should make it a strong sporting attraction that will very probably enable th© gathering to prove highly successful, even if deprived of outside assistance. In recent years the steeplechase events have proved one of the most attractive features of the gathering, and on the present occasion owners have made a liberal nomination that should result in good fields going to the post. One can obtain such a splendid view of the Wingatui steeplechase course that it is bound to become very popular with racegoers ; and another great factor which helps to build up the attractiveness of the sport "between flags" is due to its being somewhat novel at our local fixtures. The hurdle events have also filled remarkably well, and contain a mixture of veterans and novices over fences, and the racing will be doublv interesting on that account. The time-honoured Birthday Handicap has attracted a good field, without, however, drawing anything of a particularly high class. A 3Gosovs stake might easily be expected to draw a. few of the better class of horses in training at Riccarton, but on this occasion thJe Canterbury horse-owners have not made a particularly liberal entry. It is, of course, how the tail end of the season, arid owners are to spell horses that have put up a fairly busy year. For this reason the financial temptation to keep the homes in commission for a few weeks longer has to be fairly strong. _ Taken all round, however, the nomination list contains more than ample material to furnish a very successful meeting. Handicaps for the first day appear on May 26, and owners will have to be fairly

prompt with acceptances, as the latter are due on May 27. WINNING SIRES. Maltster keeps right in the forefront as a sire of winners, and heads the list of winning stallions published by the Australasian for the ihird quarter of the season ending April 30. The son of Bill of Portland has not only got high-class sttock capable of winning the well-endowed events of the turf, but he also gets plenty of winners of the rank and file order, who help to prove his general quality as a sire. Some horses hold a prominent place in the winning sires' list through the instrumentality of perhaps only on© or two good performers; but the sire to please the racing men is the one which gets nothing but gallopers. " They can all gallop," is tho highest praise that can be bestowed an any horse's stock, and this appears to be the case with Maltster, who, it is understood, will stand next year at a 200-gninea fee. Maltster sired 54 winners, who captured 1 125 races, worth £23,831. Wallace comes next with 31 winners of 54- races, worth i'16,209. It is pleasing to note that a colonial-bred horse in Wallace is capable of holding- his own with the fashion-ably-bred importations, whose influence on the Australasian stock is net altogether an unmixed blessing. They sire speed, but stamina is by ,no means their forte. Graften maintains his reputation as a prolific sire of winners by having 73 of 161£ races, worth £12,089. Flavus and Bobadil are the only other-horses to-get winners of-over lO.OOOsovs, although Persimmon (thanks to Comedy King's win of £9920), St. Alwynne, Ayr Laddie, Positano, and Sir William are well up on the list. San Francisco's stock wton £4212. Clanranald has £3074 to his credit, with the assistance of Broadsword. Soult has 10 winners of 2170sovs, and towards the end of a lengthy list comes Lochiel, a great racehorse and sire of his day, with a contribution of 310sovs to keep his memory greetn. THE OAMARU MEETING. The North Otago Jockey Club's meeting, which will take place next week, will furnish the penultimate chance that local sportsmen will have to either fatten their fortunes or retrieve previous misfortunes, as it and the D.J.C winter meeting will terminate the racing season, as far as the South Island is concerned. Penates heads the list in the Oamaru Cup, and the lack of merit in (his recent form finds the son of Ruenalf more favourably handicapped than has been the case with him for eomie time past. In the Great Easter Handicap Penates had to allow Sharpshooter _ 131 b, My Lawyer 191 b, and Chief Lochiel 181 b, whereas in the Oarharu Cup he gives Sharpshooter lib, My Lawyer and Chief Lochiel 41b each. Chief Lochiel finished third in the Great Easter and Sharpshooter' and My Lawyer, although outside the places, finished in front of Penates. My Lawyer was in receipt of 151 b from Penates in the Yaldhurst Welter, in which the former ran a fast-finishing third to Countermine and Mumura. My Lawyer was giving the winner 111 b, and now i meets her on 41b better terms. man ran fairly well for over a mile in the j Great Autumn., but he has developed a penchant for breaking blood vessels. He meets Chief Lochiel on 101 b better terms than when. they last met, and, bar accidents, should give a good account of himself. St. Aid an has been off the scene for some time, and in the past .he has been such a top-heavy horse that it requires a race or two to bring him to racing shape. Waiju should run well under 8.1. In the Dunedin Cup he was handicapped to give Cronstadt lib and Chief Locheil 31b, and now meets the latter on 111 b better terms. The southern! horse has to allow Cronstadt 121 b, and the son of Madder would be the pick of the light weights if he would run up to his best form. Hie hajs, however, developed a tendency to hang at the post, and this fault in several races has completely extinguished hi? chance. Another southerner in Sombrero is such an improving sort that he can be relied on to keep things busy if sent to the post. Acceptances are due on Thursday of this week, when entries also close for the Trial Plate and The Shorts.

THE LIVERPOOL NATIONAL. Latest files from England' contain the full details of the Liverpool Grand National Steeplechase, which was won by Mr F. Bibby'is b g Glenside, a son of St. Eris arid Kilwiranet, oft. whom Mr J. Anthony secured ia lucky ride owing to F. Mason meeting with an accident. . In commenting on the race the Sportsman says:—"The race can only be described as a fiasco of the first magnitude. The going was in perfect onder, the fences were no bigger than f'wihave been before, and, as a matter of fact, many who imake an annual inspection of the course thought they had been cut down. Yet, though there were 26 runners, only a single horse completed the course without a fall, and three others got round after having been once down. The simplest way of describing- the race is to refer to the falls. Trianon 111 came down at the fii-st fence, Lord Rivers at the second, Foolhardy at the third, Fetlar's Pride fell at Becher's Brook, Oarsey brought down Roman Candle, Bridge IV and Sch warmer were interfered with by a loose horee, and fell at the fence beyond Valentine's Brook. Lutteiir 111, who had a. loose horse in front of him, slipped into the ditch near the canal, and Rory O'More ran into him, both their chances being thus disposed of. Jenkinson fell at one of the racecourse fences, and the only horses to pass the stand at the end of two and a-quarter miles were Caubeen, Precentor IT, Rathnally, Glenside, Mount Prospect's Fortune, and Shady Girl, with the remounted Foolhardy a long way behind. Precentor II fell at the second fence in the country, and at the fence after Becher's Caubecn slipped and Rathnally ran into him, and Chad wick lost his seat. Mount Prospect's Fortune came down at the next fence, and Shady Girl at Valentine's. Then Glenside was all alone, though Rathnally and Shady Girl were remounted and went on in pursuit. The leader was dead beat a long way from home, and the others were quickly overhauling him; but he just managed to stand up to the end, passing the. post 20 lengths in front of Rathnally, who was a far .fresher horse, and who would probably have won by a hundred yards had he not been interfered with. Foolhardy was the only other horse to finish, and he passed 100 yards behind Shady Girl, thus finishing the most curious race for the Grand National which has ever taken place. Glenside's victory was entirely due to his escaping at the water jumps, as he could hardly raise a canter as he passed the poat. Glenside, it was conjectured, would have been a strong favourite but for having been coughing,

and on the day his throat was showing ieffects of recent*blistering. As it was, ho started at long odds, eo many of his carl.'/ backers could never get out of their money. It is probable that a more tired horse has never finished in a National. His tongue was hanging out of hi<3 mouth in the last quarter of a mile, and had there been anything within hail of him he- must have been beaten. He must have been as game as a bull terrier to cover four and a-half miles and jump such country when he should have been' in the hospital. It was a happy circumstance that, in spite of the general failing, the only jockey who was hurt was Drisooll (who had one of his ears cut), whilst not a single horse sustained any injury. THE ASHBURTON MEETING. The Ashburton County Racing Clubs autumn meeting proved a success from both a sporting and financial point of view. Tlia fields throughout were of good numerical strength, *nd close and interesting finishes were of common occurrence. In? totalisator returns ran out to £11,508 IDs, or £6183 above last year s figures when the bookmaker* were egally entitled to wield their pencils. The Ashburton Cup attracted a field of five, and backers proved rather wide of the mark, rs Routine the rank outsider of the field scored from Canterbury, who ranked as third choice, whilst Chief "Lochiel. who finished third, was second favourite. Cronstadt was made favourite, but he put himself out of count by hanging at the post The winner, Routine, was bred by the Hon. J D. Oimond, but never carried his colours, llie Autumn Handicap furnished the principal event on the second day, and Sea King, with his winning honours of the previous dav to boost nim up with punters, was made favourite. Here, again, backers were wide of the mark, as the winner turned up in The Cornet, who has recently been displaying- winning form on the West Coast. Both Kilts and Routine, who filled tne places, were amongst the outside division. The chief sprint tvente attracted fairly good fields, and in the Grove Farm Handicap a. long-overdue win fell to the lot of feea Kino- who displayed something of bis old brilliancy. Sea Kir.g's win was expected as he was sent out favourite; but on the second dav Miss Svlvia downed a favourite in Kohinoor, who was followed home by the resurrected Silkweb, who was sent out second favourite. MUSKET'S BREEDER, The Earl of Glasgow is a character in the sporting history of England who will live (in print) for ever. Almost every historical work, or the reminiscences ot sportsmen, contain some references to his lordship, who should be interesting to New Zealander®, from the fact of his having bred Musket, the horse that made the name of New Zealand (and Auckland in particular) ring far and wide as a great home of the thoroughbred. Mr J. Fairfax Blakebovough, in a contribution to a recent number of the Snorting Times, refers to the eccentric earl in the following terms: He was one of the* foremost of a prominent school of sportsmen who lived at a period when hero worship was not so easily earner! or retained. Born in 1792, a sailor (like Admiral Rous) during: the first part of his career, he afterwards identified himself so with sport, that it is his connection with the. turf, the wacers, and the wild dome" of the time, which are remembered of him and written large in the of such history as he helped to make. One biographer described him as touchy, headstrong, crochetv. and full of but. he had a warm nlaoe in the heart of his contemporaries. His wayward and uncertain temper and his_ to ugh tongue were condoned by the intrinsic worth of the man, who was an embodiment of honesty .and honour, albeit in about the grimmest shape those- admirable qrmlitie« could w>ll have show.i themselves. I well remember the late Lord a great loven- of hors°s, when he used to visit Newmarket and had reports given him by his trainer of anv horses belonging to him that were too old or unable to be trained. "Tell Mr Barrow, the veterinary surgeon, to have such and such a horse buried." His lordship would never allow one of his old horses to be sold, and the mandate was strictly carried out. His lordship once sold an old horse, and one day saw it drawing a sand cart. He gave orders to buy it back at once, and had it destroyed, and never again did he sell any of his old horses. The Earl of "Glasgow used occaand hurrying the port boy on with cocked and burying the post bov on with corked nistol he arrived at Middleham, had his horses galloned, and gave instructions for. a number of them to be shot if they did not gallop satisfactorily. THE SMALL PUNTER. Mention of totalieators reminds me (says " Sir Bgdivere") that I saw a paragraph last week to the effect that the Egtmont Racing Club had decided to do without a 10-shilling _ machine at its approaching meeting. It is not singular i<n this respect, but the wisdom cf its decision is none the less questionable. Totalisator arrangements have been so deplorable at the majority of race meetings held since January 1, that ona gets rather tired of harping on the same old tune. The subject is one of such paramount importance, however, that even at the risk of having to plead guilty of repetition, I cannot desist again referring thereto. Clubs really do not appear to recognise their obligations to the miblic—or, rather, to that section of the public which comprises the punter of moderate means. They seem to fail tc see that in one respect to them as the man who can afford to that matter —bettor is equally as important to them as the man who can afford to invest in " ponies." A,nd yet it is so. When the fate of the totalisator, and with it the whole sport of racing, again baa to be decided, the small man's vote is of the same value as that of his wealthy neighbour. In the circumstances one can only be astounded that in their greed for revenue clubs should be so blinded to the true interest of the Turf as to ignore the just claims of a large section of the community. Inability to get his " 10 bob" on must cause the moderate bettor, whose ranks, be it remembered, include as good sportsmen as we have in the country, to revile the totalisator "monopoly," as it has been termed, and wish for a return of the days -when he couldl_ get his few shillings on with a bookmaker in comfort. I have had evidence of this at meeting after meeting. Men who, to my personal knowledge, would be the last to desire the abolition of racing, have been so incensed at the grasping tactics pursued by certain clubs that they have openly stated their intention of supporting the Turf's enemies in Parliament. Possibly in their calmer moments they will

refrain from doing so, but the feeling indicated is one that clubs should never have allowed to rise.