THE SPORTSMAN.

Saturday Advertiser, Issue 29, 29 January 1876, Page 7

THE SPORTSMAN.

“ Oh, here they come, the mare has pluck, Ha! now the aark ’iin leuves the ruck, By George, this is a slice of luck— He'll win as sure as fate. ; i f Keep hack, keep hack', and clear the way, The chesnuthas it! No, the grey, The race is won and lost, hurrah, ■ / They’re teaming up the straight.” —Old Song,

RACING FIXTURES.—IB76. Jan. 28, 29 —Matalianui (Otago) J. C. Meeting 29. —Papakura (Auckland) Annual Meeting. ' ■ ; ' V Feb. 1, 2—Hawke’s Bay J. C. Meeting. 16, 17 —Marlborough J. C. Meeting. 18 —Timaru (Canterbury) J. C. Meeting. 25—Waimea (Nelson) Steeplechases.

March 2, 3—N. 0. J. Club (Oamaru) Meeting, 17 —Oxford (Canterbury) J. C. Meeting.

23, 24, 25 —Dunedin Jockey Club Annual Meeting. April. 17. Rangiora (Canterbury) District Meeting. 17, 18—Canterbury J. C. Autumn Meeting. May 24—New Zealand Grand National Steeple- ■ chases, to be held at Christchurch.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. P.M. (Invercargill).—Korari is by Towton, out of Harakiki. He has won .£7OO this season, in added money alone.

A Subscriber (Dunedin). —Guy Fawkes (Bst 121 b) ran third to Elfin King and Tamburini in the Christchurch Metropolitan: In that race, Templeton carried 9st, Rory o‘More 7st 121 b, King Philip Bst 71b (including slb overweight). 2. In the Christchurch Plate, Korari, the winner, carried 7st 91b (including 71b penalty) ; Fishhook, second, fist 131 b; Daniel O’Rourke, third, Bst 21b (including 141 b penalty).

Enquirer (Palmerston). —The time for the Tapanui Jockey Club Handicap, two miles, was 3 min. 50sec., but Atlas was a poor second.

Mr Knox has sold all, his racing stock with the exception of the broken-down Medicus. I believe be got scarcely £3O for Kathleen, and only £SO for Empress ; and altogether he has been very unfortunate this season, every horse in bis stable having gone crooked.

The programme for the North Otago Turf Club meeting at Oamaru, to be held on March 2nd and 3rd, will appear shortly, and it is expected to furnish some fair stakes, as £4OO is to be given away in added money. The long-looked-for day has at last arrived, and the acceptances for the Dunedin Cup are out. A goodly number of people mustered at tho Empire Hotel on Friday evening in a feverish state of anxiety, to hear how many “ stiff-uns ” they had backed, or how many acceptors they had spotted. After waiting for what some people seemed to think a week, the mystic names were posted up, and a rush was instantly made to con them over. And then arose such a Babel of noise, as some of your cunning backers of ten long months ago (at long odds, my boy !), who had been chuckling at the good thing they had, looked in vain for the names of their fancies, and the conviction at length forced itself on their minds that they were scratched. And, as a contrast, how exhilarating it was to watch the bookmakers counting up the amount of “dead money” they had laid, and gloating over the delicious total. And yet they even were not all satisfiel. “ Bust me,” said one, “ Ngaro not accepted, and I’ve only laid a hundred about her ; Kauri scratched, and I could have laid him at 100 to 8, but was saving him.” And then, when everybody bad recovered from the first shock, did the metallicians open a cross fire of odds against those horses that had cried “ content,” but without effect —not a wager was taken up. From the list appended it will be seen that Castaway and Tambourini, the top weights, are defaulters ; then the fiery H ercules, who was clean out of it with his Bst 61b ; the trio of the gentler sex, Malvina, Ngaro, and Sonnambula; Richmond, son of the great Maribynong; Ranolf, the nasty-tempered, and Kauri, the best (?) of Redwood’s string of youngsters last year; the crippled Pertobe, and the game old Empress ; Castilian, and the ordinary Kathleen ; Bomerang, who seems to have no other purpose than to be entered and scratched for the Cup every year; and the three broken-down ones The Cloud, Medicus, and young Captain Scott. There has not been much activity in the betting market since ; but the outsiders are coming to a shorter price, and a run has been made upon one of these —Blair Athol. All the money to be got about this colt was snapped up in a day or two. The following are the acceptances :

The Papakura annual meeting will be held on the same 29th inst. The following are the entries for the Papakura Handicap, jof 100 sovs., two,miles v Belle of the Isles The Belle \.J Perfume ' ’V!' Kingfisher Pakuranga Isaak Walton Tui i.n,r(! U Medea

The Tuapeka meeting, on Thursday and Friday last, showed no falling off in popularity and success as compared with previous years, and the weather was beautifully fine. Mr D. Corsan’s four-year-old Nelly King made her debut, and won the Maiden plate easily, although she tried hard to bolt off the course. Mr Combes brought out his Cup horse Right Bower for the Lawrence Handicap, but might as well have left him at home. He was actually nowhere, the race being won by old Fenian; Day Dream (a Tasmanian importation) second; Kurifvao r third. Lydia, well known in hack races on our course, beat Fenian in the District Handicap, and the Flying Handicap was won by Tatfrail. Empress ran away with the lead in this race, but then broke a blood vessel and retired. On the second day, Fenian pulled off the Members’ Handicap, and Kuriwao the J. C. Handicap. There was a fine finish between him, Taffrail, and Day Dream. The Novel Race Mr Knox won with Maniototo, and Mr Fraser landed the Consolation with Mystery. Nimrod.

st. lb. st. lb. Templeton . 9 2 Amohia 6 12 Guv Fawkes . . 8 lif Pungawerewere 6 10 Daniel O’Kourke 8 2 Folletanne 6 8 Korari . 8 If The Chief 6 7 King Philip . . 8 0 Blair Athol . 6 7 Tadnior ... . 8 0 Gamecock 6 6 Kory O’More . . 7 8 Merry Monarch 6 6 Fishhook ... . 7 5 Sir William . 6 5 Atlas .. 7 4 Seauntreus . 6 0 Tattler .. 7 3 ISTabouchlish . 6 0 Kight Power . . 7 3 Seabird 5 12 Cocksure . 7 2 Freestone 5 7 Cloth of Gold . .. 7 0 Merrimac filly .. . 5 7 Fanny Fisher colt 7 0 f And 51b penalty