MY NOTE BOOK,

Observer, Volume 3, Issue 64, 3 December 1881, Page 180

MY NOTE BOOK,

By "Sattl."

"Is Saul ah<o amongst' the prophets,

— A.cccptn noes arc due this (Friday) evening for the Auckland Cup mid Steeplechase. — Stanley has gone into the hands of Mr 0. C. McGee, to prepare for the Christmas meeting. — Darcbiu has been scratched for the Champion Stakes. — Sweetmeat broke down in Hie "Royal Park Stakes, mid has been scratched for all engagements. —Mr Snider laid 1000 to 120 each Matakau and Dauphin for the Dunedin Cup on Saturday week. —The total amount which passed through the totalisator in the three days of the Christchurch Metropolitan Meeting was close upon £10,000. —Roddy Molvor had si nasty fall in I ho V.R.C. Steeplechase when riding Gazelle, but is recovering slowly. ■ — -The downstairs room at the Occidental was inaugurated on Monday evening as Tattersall's Club, and a large amount of champagne consumed. — Betting on the (Victorian) Champion Stakes is 4 to 1 on" the tield, Wellington, Wheatear and Progress being most fancied. — Mr Ruynes informs me that Vortex is being trained by Tommy Hodson for the Auckland Cup, and not by Byers. — Mr James Auckland lias placed the •wellknown cross-country horse, Hard Times, in the hands of Donald Taylor. — 1 regret to learn that, the genial and popular sportsman, Mr William Marks, has been seriously ill from the effects of a paralytic stroke. Sorrow was expressed at his absence at the Pakuranga meeting. — The North Shore Jockey Club have issued a very good programme, with the exception of the Hurdle Kace, the money for which, I think, ought to be increased. The entries close on December Gth. - -"Readving-up" totalistitor tickets was the order of the day at the C.J.C. meeting. One " smarty 'I sneceded, and had Hobbs mid Goodwin for £1\ odd.— Liberty. , „ —The first intelligence respecting the result of the Melbourne Cup reached the South Australian Register at 3.30 p.m., local time— ten minutes before the race started. How's that for Puck"s girdle? — Jimmy Poole returned from Sulney by the Hero, and signalised his rent, re into New Zealand betting circles by winning over £100 at the Pakuranga meeting. —The disqualification of Mignonet.t c was very rough on Jimmy Poole, who, through persevermgly laying Mignonette and backing Greyhound, had won over £'50 on the race. —It was arranged that the band should play "God Bless the Prince of Wales" if Awahou won the Hunt Club Cup, but— he didn't, and the musicians struck up " He's a fraud." Whether this delicate compliment w.as meant for the horse or the rider no one seemed to know. ... —Betting on the Christmas meeting duving the week has been pretty brisk. The horses principally fancied for the Cup are Grip, Foul Play, Peeress Colt, and Maori, and for the Steeplechase, Matmi, Kiug Don, The Agent, and Clarence. , —Mr Mowbray's feelings -when he saw A.wahou win the Consolation so easily must have been the reverse of enviable. Ho had not intended to start him, but the boy who trained him having lost money in backing him, he consented, and will hand the 10 so vs. over to him. Books, says tlic Sportsman, have already been opened upon next year's Melbourne Derby and Cup, 1000 to 30 having been accepted by some " fond folk " about the two Segenhoes, and Segenhoe and Navigator being always taken for the first at 1000 to 10 with any other selection.

—Mr Drake has been fined £5 and costs by a Melbourne "beak" for assaulting Mr Frank Pierpoint, a well-known turf commissioner. "It is," says the SjwUnwm cruelly, "only risrht to mention tbafcDrake : is not a member of the Victorian Tattersalls." Poor Drakey ! ---Tlie Oup wagering at Tattersall's on Monday evening revealed sundry rather interesting facts— viz., that Grip's present price is 4 to 1 (ottered), and that the Southern "books? will only lay 2 to 1 with a start. Considering Foul Play is quoted at fives and Libeller at sevens, the Ring ought to be "getting round" beautifully. — The programme of the Tnrnnaki Jockey Club's anniversary meeting, on 30th and 31st March, 18S2, is before me, and does not differ materially from preceding ones. The chief events are the Taranaki Jockey Club Hnndictip of 300 soys., and the Autumn Handicap of 150 sots. There is also a Steeplechase ot 80 soys, a Hurdle Race of 50 soys., and a Two-year-okl Stake of 50 soys. -According to "Beacon" the. Grip party landed £5600 in wagers over the C.J.C. Handicap nwl Cup, ii nd £1444 in stakes— in all upwards off£7ooo. This is a very good haul in these days of the: totalisator, which machine has so paralysed betting that . ."bejokmakers can now only make comparatively small'bpjjks. Mr "Weston laid £500 against Grip straight out for.eiich race; Mr Roper did the same; and Mr Harris, in addition to this, got struck for the Derby nud Handicap double, Handicap and Cup double, and Derby, Handicap, sind Cup treble. Grip's victories, singularly enough, did not benefit either bookmakers or public; scarcely any of the former made money, while only two or three of the public bad bucked the blsick horse, the stable bnving taken ail the money about him down to a short price. — Mr Alfred Josephs, a Victorian bookmaker, laid JtHWi to Jfco sigainst Durebin and Zulu while he was at the last Kami wick meeting. The', backer, wheu he found he had a " leg in," telegraphed to Josephs to hedge part of the money. The telegram arrived after the Cup had been won, and Josephs telegraphed, that the cheque for £1000 would be forwarded by postv „ The winner made the bookmaker a present of a diamond, ring. Although the sporting papers ring with the praises of Mr Josephs' integrity, as he might have, -laid a bogus wager, the ring will hardly feel complimented at the left-handed imputation which is conveyed in these fulsome enconiums. As a matter of fact, hedging wagers are always witnessed by a third party, and, to the credit of the ring be it said, there is not one of its recognised members who would jeopardise his reputation and his connection by writing a false wager ; still, the tiling might have been done, but Mr:Josephs',suece.ss as a bookmaker would have been greatly impaired. He has done what any honest man should do. * ; —Some four yours and four months ago when the well-known bookmaker, Jimmy Poole, was so ill that he was not expected to live, Paddy Dorau, in order to cheer him, declared that lie would live another five years. Jimmy Poole bet him a fiver that he would not. When Poole returned from Sydney the other day he offered to pay Doran £'■> and cry quits, and the offer wits accepted. — I. hear that Messrs Tye and Huekland offered Mr Mowbray ,tlo if only he would put a rider (to be proposed by them) upon Awahou for the Hunt Cup instead of Angerstein. When this was refused the two gentlemen tried first to buy the horse straight out, and then to lease him for the day ; but Mr Mowbray would listen to neither proposal. In this, of course, he was • quite right, but it is strange that such a clever man should have been so misled as to suppose that a man of Augerstein's calibre would have strength to drive, v. horse like Awahon at racing pace over four miles of country. Whj, "Whewell (who is a much stronger ninn. than the captain) was quite knocked over after winning the Consultation, which is a comparatively short race* Captain Angerstein may be a very pretty rider to hounds ! in a small way, but I am sceptical as to' his having won races in England, unless indeed they . were — donkey sweepstakes. ■ ; ..'•.. "./ ; ;V< ,;.,'/ . — The following correspondence, which I e'ull from the Auntrnlmtinii of November sth, should have the effect of putting an end to Mr Miller's popularity as a getter up of sweeps. A more barefaced " dinkeydoodlednui" I never read of : — " To the Editor of the Aml?aInsinn ; Sir, — The following in one of the means practised by Mr Miller for fbe purpose of intimidating the lucky drawers of favourite horses in his consultations, with a view to induce them to dispose of part or the whole of their interest, A short time back a young woman residing in this town took a ticket in Miller's No. 1 consultation on the Melbourne Cup, and was fortunate enough to draw Sweetmeat. On October 18 she I received the following telegram from Miller and O'Brien: — "If owner of horse drawn in No. 1 can buy hulf interest, will run for place ; if not, will scratch ; reply.' The young woman, not being well up in racing matters, consulted her friends, some of whom advised her not to sell at all, whilst others, fearing the owner would scratch the horse, persuaded her to ask JE3O for n. half share, which she did, with the following result : Telegram No. 2 from Miller and O'Brien — ' Have sold your half interest in Sweetmeat for £30; will forward cheque.' By the next mail came the following, letter : ' Sir,— Mr Ivory has agreed to accept half your share in Sweetmeat in No. 1, and we now enclose you a cheque for amount, less our commission of 5 per cent. Kindly acknowledge same on receipt— £3o, less 30s commission, ±28 10s. — Yours truly. Miller & O'Brien.' In the interest of the public, I trust you will find room for the ! insertion of this letter in your valuable columns, for besides giving Mr Ivory the opportunity of denying the statement of Mr Miller and partner, it may be the means of bringing to light the fact that similar "tactics" have been tried on other equally fortunate drawers of favourite horses.— Yours, &c. Justice.— Meuiudie, Oct. 28. [Having in our possession the prigit nal telegrams, and the letter referred to in the above communication, we feel bound to make it public. Mr Ivory will no doubt also feel called upon to explain the use made of his name by Messrs Miller and O'Brien. — Si*. E)>, yliisfrofuxifln."]'*