MY NOTE BOOK. By "SAUL."

Observer, Volume 2, Issue 33, 30 April 1881, Page 356

MY NOTE BOOK. By "SAUL."

"Is Saul also amongst the j>rophcts." — Darriwell lias been scratched for the Adelaide Cup. — Joe Gallagher hopes to win a race or two with Rawenata. He went South on Tuesday. — It is said that the owners of Barber won a good stake by his victory in the Hawkesbury Autumn Handicap. — The Melboxirne Sportsman has been enlarged. An agency should be established in this Colony, lor the paper contains a fund of information. — Messrs. J. J. Miller, Jones, and O'Brien announce that they have entered into partnership and opened a £25,000 book on the V.JR.C. Derby and Melbourne Cup. — The totalisator (outside the paddock) at Christchurch on the Great Autumn Handicap had 472 contributors, of whom 65 were on the winner, It paid £6 10s. a share. — The Sydney Tattersall's is in a flourishingcondition. It has the stun of £1800 on fixed deposit in the Bank of New South Wales. The members' subscriptions have doubled within the past two years. — It is rumoured that Wellington was to be offered for sale after theßandwiek Autumn Meeting had been decided, as the Indian rajah for whom the Messrs. Baldock purchased him has declined to go on with the bargain. — Competent judges declare that Darebin is one of the grandest two-year-olds ever foaled. In the capable hands of the clever and careful Messrs. Dakin lie will receive proper training, and will no doubt give a good account of himself in time. — Apropos of the Panmure affair and the disqualifications of Byer's Mazeppa, the Saturday Advertiser says : — " Without impugning the justice of the decision, it may be noted that it is generally the little fish that get jammed in the net." — The well-known racer Le Lonp has again changed hands. Mr. A. Snider has sold him to Mr. James Shand, of the Tf-ieri, for £400, for stud purposes. Mr. Shand intends locating him at his Taieri farm, so that this brilliant member of a real racing family will in all probability not be seen again on a racecourse. — The principal bookmakers in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney have resolved that unless the totalisator is banished from the South Australian racecourses, they will not only not visit any of its races, but will not book a bet on a race in that Colony. A round robin has been signed to this effect. — The local bookmakers have sworn never again to trust swells who " wear gloves on their boots." At Christmas one of these exquisites put them temporarily in a hole, and now a gentleman who disported himself gracefully in the paddock during the Easter Meeting has decamped, owing about £30. — Mr. Miller, who nominated the winner of the English Waterloo Cvp t Princess Daginar, is said to have made a good thing out of the bookmakers. In spite of the bitch's reputation she was considered so much off from sexual causes on the night of the draw that Mr. Miller was enabled to obtain the long- odds of 1000 to 20, which he accepted several times. —The Saturday Advertiser winds up a condemnatory article on the Natator affair as follows :— "Mr. Lance has infringed no written rule of racing; but it must be clear to every unprejudiced man who has looked at the whole circumstances of the case that he has been guilty of grave misconduct, and that his explanation is really no explanation at all."

— Drake, the bookmaker, received a hard knock over the Great Autumn Handicap at Christcliurch. Both here and in Napier he laid several persons 100 to 1 against 20 out of the 27 horses in the race, selecting seven to run for his hook. Lady Emma was not amongst these, so that he lost the wagers, which amounted in toto to several hundred pounds. The money was paid up promptly. — During the settling on the late races at Christchnrch several trehle events were booked over the Spring Meeting of the C.J.G.— Somnus for the Derby, in connection with principally Sir Modred for the Cup, and Betrayer, Idalia, Lure, Envy, Piseatorious, and Sir Modred for the Handicap. The odds obtainable were 500 to 5. Nothing appeared to go down but Somnus for the Derby. — The Christchurch Telegrcq)h says :—"Following the proscribed rules of journalistic etiquette, we abstain from making remarks relative to the charge of vagrancy preferred against Messrs. Hobbs and Goodwin in the matter of the totalisator, the case being nub judice. We only beg to remark that it has been calculated that there exist in New Zealand some sixty professional bookmakers. On the estimate that each one spends at the rate of £400, the public supply them with the modest little sum of £24,000 per annum I" — A great many residents of New Zealand will be glad to learn that the well-known proprietor of the Albion Hotel, Bourke-street, Melbourne, has been able to retire into private life. This gentleman d firing his long and honourable connection with the abovementioned hostelry owned and raced such well-known celebrities as Barwin by Boiardo, Shenandoah, Flour de Lis, the dam of Wollomai, the Melbourne Cup winner of 1875, Albion the sire of Dilke, and Ashantee, Storivbird, and others too lmnierous to mention. — The scratching of Grand Flaneur for the Sydney Cup, which it is now clear would have been a certainty for him, has led many people to the conclusion that Mr. W. A. Long and Mr. Branch (the owner of Progress) have been working together ever since the V.R.C. Spring Meeting. It was of course only Progress' opposition that made it possible to get any money on Flaneur for the Champion Stakes and other races he has won so easily, and a very nice little game must have been played if the bookmakers' colt was " stilt' " for those events. — Some sensation lias been caused in sporting circles by the announcement that Mr. Morrin (one of the stewards of the A.R.C.) recently received a blackguardly anonymous letter, accusing Mr. Percival (the popular secretary of the Club) with some dishonourable dealing as regards gate money, etc. The writing was disguised, but Mr. Percival, on seeing it, said he thought it resembled the handwriting of Captain H. B. Haiiclley, with whom (ns most people know) he hiis for some time past been on unfriendly towns. Captain Handley is of course much incensed at the accusation, and intends taking prompt steps to clear his character. He admits he is no friend of Mr. Percival, but says that if ho had anything to say against him he should speak out and not descend to the contemptible meanness of an anonymous letter. — A ■writer in the Libert;/ says: — "Messrs. Snider and Drake have come out in new characters. They appear as reformers determined to stop illegal practices. At present their efforts are said to be confined to ' putting down ' totalisators, which counsel have informed them arc lotteries. Of course their efforts are thoroughly disinterested, their aim being doubtless to chock gambling. I'm not a betting man, but I've heard friends of mine say that betting with certain bookmakers has something very much of the lottery in it. If you win you may get your money, but then asjain you mayn't. Mr. Snider, who has the credit of always paying his betting debts, doubtless will endorse tiiis opinion ; and of Mr. Drake's thorough concurrence in it there cannot be the slightest question. When they have successfully tilted against the totalisators they will probably turn their attention to gambling generally, and particularly to card and dice sharping, the prevalence of which among the bookmaking fraternity has caused Messrs. Snider and Drake intense pain." Apropos of the correspondence in the daily papers between Mr. Potter and Jimmy Poole, I fear there can be no question that the bookmakers did say they would give so much apiece to anyone who would assist in disqualifying Sportsman. The offers were, however, mere idle talk, and the funny thing is that Poole and Belcher should have taken the trouble to lie about such a matter. What really occurred was this : — The Sing were standing together after the Steeplechase, discussing their gains and losses and bemoaning- the fact that Sportsman happened to be the worst horse in the race for them, when someone came up and said there was a protest. "A protest, is there?" cried Poole; '"by Jove, I'd give anyone a fiver who'd prove Sportsman went the wrong side of the flag." " And I'd give a tenner !" said Belcher. " And I twenty I" said another, and so on. Now there was really nothing in this. It was not like going to a man and saying, " I'll give you £10 to swear so-and-so." The fact is Sportsman, as we have said, wns the horse the King had laid heaviest against, and they naturally jumped at tho idea of a protest. None of them, however, really made any attempt to collect evidence for Carina, and it seems rather hard that a few idle words should have been swollen from a molehill into a mountain. — One of the smaller bookmakers who rather fancies himself an a "bruiser," caught a tartar on Tuesday evening. A clay or two before the races this fellow and his mate got hold of a half tipsy " new chum " and by dint of drinks and " kid " managed to force on him two or three bets which there was not the remotest chance of his winning. The horses laid against were, in fact, " stiff tack," and when Mr. " New Chum " camo to himself he quickly realised this. On settling night the bookmakers bustled up their victim and demanded payment which was promptly refused. " I was drunk at the time," said " new chum," " and you forced the bets on me. I didn't want them and I shan't pay you." The bookmakers at once commenced to blackguard the youth and for several days followed him about using offensive language and bullying him generally. He stood it all very quietly till Tuesday evening when one of the bookmen came iip to him and said loudly and offensively, " Are you going to pay me that money." "No," was the response. " Very well then I shall hit you on the nose," said the bookmaker. No sooner had the words left his lips than he repented them. "New chum " " went " for him like a young lion, blackened both his eyes, " bashed " in his ribs, half broke his Hebraic proboscis, and generally reduced him to pulp. The angry youth then turned on the Eing-man's mate and after treating him to similar favours chased them both irp Queen-street whacking them whenever possible. The two " dawgs " have not been seen since. It is currently reported that they spend the clay in their bedrooms with brown paper dipped in vinegar on their heads and beefsteaks on their eyes.