CAP AND JACKET

Observer, Volume 1, Issue 1, 18 September 1880, Page 2

CAP AND JACKET

— The Kanio folks are going to have a firstclass race meeting this season. —The Pontiff started at ] 2 to 1 for the Metropolitan. — Efforts are "being made in New York to " suppress professional betting men." — Miss Fanny 1-Jayc;?, daughter of President Hayes, is the beat swimmer in Washington. Joseph Daws"ii, the fnmons Newmarket trainer, is dead. His decease took place on the 23rd ult. — Mr Robinson, of Archibald Clark & Sons, won Abbot's small sweep on the Sydney " Metropo. " It was only worth about £50. — Cambridge Univevsily beat Surrey by seven wickets. Score -.—Surrey, 115 and 124 ; Cambridge, 199 (Mr. A. G. Steel, 118) and 40 for three wickets. — W. Greville, long known as a jockey and the rider in the Melbourne Cup won by Haricot, and more recently as a trainer, has committed suicide.

— Wandering Nun won the Findon, and Iroquois the Lavant Stakes at Goodwood ; the French c.-lt Phoenix carried off the Lennox and Mask won the Drawing Room Stakes ea- ily.

— The Tasmanian Mail says that Captain Underwood has been appointed handicapper to the Tasmanian Jockey Club at Hobart Town. — - Mi*. T. Ivory, the Australian turfite, has had the ill-luck to injure his very promising colt Dover, whose chances for the Guineas and A.J.C. Derby were looked upon as veiy rosy. — The "Pontiff"" was pretty freely tipped in Auckland prior to the Metropolitan, but the tipster's prediction appears, in nearly all instances, to have been treated Avith contempt __ — Though there were one hundred and fifty tickets taken in Tonks Albion Sweep on the Great Metropolitan by Aucklanders, only five non-starters came up north. — Knottingley Avas put tip for auction on Friday, but there were no offers above £20, and the horse had, inconsequence, to be withdrawn. The price paid to the Stud Company was £75. — The Pontiff ran the Metropolitan course in a much shorter time than any of his predecessors, viz., 3min. 31secs. Secundus' time in 1879 was 3min. 36secs.; and Democrat, in 1878, 3min. 38secs. — The Pontiff's sire is the imported " The Drummer," who won the City and Suburban Handicap in 1569, besides running second for the Grand Prize of Paris, and third for the Derby won by Pretender. — At the sale af Her Majesty's yearlings at Hampton Court, on June 19, Muskets Progeny (two colts on a three fillies) realized £855. The highest price was paid for a colt out of Lands End for which Mr. Barber gave £350. — A Bill to legalise the use of the totalisator on rac -courses in Tasmania, ha-t been introduced into Parliament and will soon come under consideration. In the preamble it is pet forth as a Bill to remedy some of the evils arising from betting at races. — Sir Thomas Elder's well-known mare Peradventure, the dam of Aiblins, unfortunately dropped a chesnut filly foal to Gang Forward on Wednesday, the 28th nit., and thus became a year old, according to racing law, on the first of the present month. — The St. Leger is the oldest of all the great classic races It was instituted in 1776, f.»ur years before the Derby, and three before the Oaks. — It is scarcely likely the result of the Doncaster St Lcger will be cabled in time to permit of my giving details in this issue, but I shall have a good deal to say on the subject next week. — In its early days this race fell for a great number of times to the same owner. Lord A. Hamilton afterwards Duke of Hamilton, who won it no less than seven times, namely in 1786-7-8 right off the reel, 1794 and afterwards in 1808-9-14. — Though the St. Leger has been productive of some tremendous surprises (such as the victory of the 100 to 1 chance Caller Ou over the Derby winner Kettledrum in 1861), it is generally a favourites race. Since 18.62 first and second favourites have been successful fourteen times. — From the Australasian I take the following interesting items : J. Griffin, who lias Napper Tandy in charge, has erected some .boxes close to the Brighton station. The Queenslander is, I believe, doing well on the sands at Brighton, and his friends seem to be pretty sweet on his chance for the Melbourne Cup. — The United Service " Consultation " on the Melbourne Cup is all but full and will be drawn in about a week. Afterwards a Totalisator, on the same principle as last year's, is to opened. The Totalisator gives speculators a chance of backing the horse they fancy, and is in my opinion far preferable to the ordinary sweep. — A singular photograph was taken in Fleetstreet on the afternoon of the Derby day. At the moment when Bend Or's name as winner of the great race was placed in the Avindow of the Sporting Life office, Mr. Belton photographed the scene from a window of the premises. The street was at the time absolutely impassable, and the faces of the throng — anxious, curious, interested, doAvncast, and amazed— are for the ny st part very happily caught. — Lord Falmouth who, with Paladin, Farnese, Lady Golightly, and Ambassadress has run second for the July Stakes at Newmarket, this year was triumphant with the peculiarlynamed Bal Gal (a Cornish term for a female "picker " in a tin mine), who is by Adventurer out of Cantiniere. But for inheriting the malady of roaring from her dam it would, the critics say, be hard to find a fault with Bal Gal, so shapely a filly is she. — On the Auckland Summer Meeting Mr. Abbot intends to open an entirely neAV kind of consultation, which -will include the Avhole of the races run on the three days There are to be about three thousand tickets and tAvo hundred prizes, the major ones being for firsts, seconds, and thirds, and the minor ones for starters and non-starters. It is a capital idea and ought to Avork well. — The sales in England of thoroughbred yearlings have shown good prices The Duke of Westminster, through his trainer, Robert Peck, bought at the Newmarket sales a chesnut filly by Hermit, out of Stray Shot by Toxophilite, for £1400, and a bay colt by Sterling out of Siluria by Lord Clifden, for Avhich he paid £1500. Ten of Mr. Chaplin's yearlings sold for £3200, and eighteen from the Finstall and Bonehill studs brought £3395. — All sportsmen- rejoice that the Gaming and Lotteries Act fell through. It ay.is far too stringent a measure, and one that is really not required. In common Avith most people I should however like to see some legislation on the subject of sAveeps and totalisators. Probably the best plan would be to grant licenses to two or three men of known character. Whilst the Melbourne Cup and other big races exist there Avill be speculation on them, and any attempt to stamp it out must prove futile.

— The neAvly-formed Victoria Betting Club, Avhich Avas opened in Melbourne on Wednesday Aveek, is likely to prove too strong for Tattersail's. It seems the Committee of Tattersall's, without consulting their members, decided on leaving the old rooms at the Prince of Wales and going over to Jem Mace's. The leading bookmakers objected to this arrangement, and have succeeded in getting an exceedingly strong Club together at the old rooms, which have been repaired and put into first-class order since Tatt's went over the road. There are already 125 names enrolled on the members' list. — The English Jockey Club have hit on a capital idea, which I commend to the consideration of the Auckland Racing Club. It is a Stud Stakes and is arranged thus : Chvners of stallions subscribe 10 soys. each to a stake for each stallion named, and persons having inarms covered by the stallions entered can nominate the produce. A Avholesome allowance is made according to the fee charged for the service of the stallion. The owner of the Avinning stallion receives £100 and a grand advertisement, and the owner of the Avinning horse gets a handsome sum in stakes. — One result of the last English Derby will be a sensational libel suit, the plaintiff' b"ing a Avell known veterinary surgeon, and the defendants the proprietors of the Morning Post. It arises, I belie A re, from a statement in the journal named. Avhich Avas to the effect that the steel pills found to contain poison Avhich Avere sent t-> Robert Peck for Bend Or a feAv days before the race, came from this particular A-eterinary surgeon. Luckily Peck found out there was something Avrong by the smell of the pills, otherwise the backers of the Duke of Westminster's colt would have fared badly. — A trotting match for three miles came off' on the Christclmrch racecourse on Thursday week betAveen Mr. Sunderland's Avell-known mare Doctor's Maid and Mr. Hale's gelding, an animal Avho has recently come from Nelson Avith a big repvitation. The stakes were £50 a-side, and the match excited a most unusual amount of interest — so much so that there was an attendance of nearly five hundred people on the course. The mare at once went to the front, and gradually increasing her lead, ay.is, before they came to the t\irn past RedAvood's, leading by SO yards. This advantage she maintained to the last turn, Avhen Hale brought up the stranger, and improving his position very rapidly, made a fair race of it. The mare, however, Avas not to be denied, and Avon c\ rentually by 20 yards, with a bit in hand. — In the Umballa sAveep on this year's English Derby (which it appears is usually got up by the English officers in India), 22,962 tickets Avere taken at £1 each, the money being divided as under :— lst horse, £11, 153 ; 2nd horse, £5,576 ; 3rd horse, £2788 ; divided among starters (not 1, 2, and 3), £459 ; divided among horses drawn (not starters), £6SB ; expenses, £1,150 ; to the Umballa Race Fund, £1,148; total, £22,962. All the 249 horses Avere drawn for. The fortunate drawer of Bend Or Avas a poor clerk only getting his £4 a month, but as the SAveep Avas drawn a Aveek before the race he- had plenty of time to hedge, and sold his chance for £2,000 down, and £2,000 more in case of a Avin. Lord William Beresford and a confederacy Avere the purchasers, but did not bag the difference, £7,000, as they hedged themselves by Avire to Tattersall's. The second horse was drawn by an officer in Afghanistan, and the third by an officer in Hyderabad. Saul.