SPORTING.

Poverty Bay Independent, Volume I, Issue 5, 4 April 1885, Page 5

SPORTING.

MONDAY’S RACES.

The Autumn Meeting in connection ' 'with the Poverty Bay Turf Club takes i place on Monday next, and, with fine ; ■weather and no counter-attractions, should , ‘be well patronised. The fields for the i principal events are poor, notwithstanding the fact that the nice little sum of, in added money is* offered. The 1 Auckland Autumn Meeting has deprived , ■us of two good ’uns —Maccaroni and: Emir Bey, and the game little speeler Deceiver, who showed his heels to the j 'company in such grand style at our last•; meeting, has, I hear, broken down, thus leaving the whole of the running to local horses. The first event set down for • 'decision is the Flying Handicap, for ■ which the following five have accepted : — Youth.. .. 8 10 Lizette .. 6 7 Herculaneum 712 Orphan .. 6 0 Cat .. ~7 2 ft is doubtful whether Youth will face the starter, and Lizette is not as fit as she might be ; I shall therefore look to the Cat to be first past the post. For the Ladies’ Bracelet there are five acceptors, viz.:— Youth.. ..11 0 The Moor .. 9 0 Bluejacket .. 9 10 Orphan .. 9 01 Steeldust .. 9 0 Blue Jacket, with sst lolb, looks about the best, with The Moor (gst) to upset the pot. The Hardies have suffered most, only five out of the eleven origiKnally in the race having accepted. Off these, Romeo (rost I21b) reads the best, with Steeldust 7lb) next. lam inclined to think that, bar accidents, the final struggle will be between these two, and for choice I shall take Romeo. We now come to the event of the day—the Autumn Handicap, for which the following five have accepted Youth.. ..87 Lizette .. 65 Herculaneum 7 7 Orphan .. 6 0 Cat .. .. 612 Youth and Herculaneum are, comparatively speaking, untried horses, and therefore little can be said either for or against (them. Lizette, as I said before, is not fit, and Orphan I have no faith in for such a race as this. We all know what a game bit of stuff the Cat is, and the gallant manner in which he stuck to the two Napier cracks —Deceiver and The Laird —in our last Turanga Stakes. He will not find the distance miles) a bit too much for him, and although he has to carry I2lbs more than he did in the race before mentioned, I look upon him as the pick of the bunch. Taking his performances right through, and considering the class of company he will meet on Monday, I think he is the safest investment, and if the pot boils over I fancy it will be Herculaneum that will do it. The other events on the programme are : Hack Hurdles (s mile), Hack Flat (1 mile), and Forced Handicap (1 mile and a distance). TIPSTER.

The great cricket match, Publicans v. Merchants, came off at Mr. E. Beresford’s fine grounds, Makaraka, on Tuesday, when the following gentlemen, representing the publicans, went in first : —E. P. Joyce, T. J. Dickson, J. R. Scott, H. Morse, F. Dufaur, C. O. Fischer, E. Beresford, W. Cooper, S. Stevenson, H. Clements, A. Weston, W. Bailey, Allan McDonald. The opposing team of merchants and brewers consisted of Messrs. Matthewson, W. Staples, A. Booth, G. Duncan, J. Dunlop, A. W. Croft, D. Crawford, W. Parnell, W. Judd, H. Cantle. A. Graham, W. F. Crawford, C. W. Ferris, and F. Shelton. The former team proved victorious by one run.