CAP C AND JACKET

Observer, Volume XVI, Issue 920, 29 August 1896, Page 20

CAP C AND JACKET

RACING FIXTURES. Nov. 9, 11 & 14-C. J.C. Spring. COURSING. Aug. 29— Auckland Coursing Club.

NEW ZEALAND CUP.

The first {payment ia connection with the New Zealand Gup did not result ia a very ! great weeding out. Those left in still total over haif-a-hundred, and it must be said ! that amongst them are a goodly number of well-bred, good-quality racehorses. I have not a doubt this year's Cup will be as great a race as last year's, but whether amongs* the three-year-olds there is another as good as Euroclydon, next November will reveal. The recent C.J.C. Meeting did not disclose any form bearing much on New Zealand Cup probabilities. Nor could a meeting of that kind, mostly made up of jumping contests, be expected to do so ; and we must perforce wait for the early spring running at the various centres for any pnblic line to guide our fancies. Of the New Zealand (Jup candidates, Quiltiri, Captive, and Lord Zetland were all that performed at liiccarton at the meeting just mentioned, Quiltiri running most prominently of the three. Bach of these three appeared in good health, Quiltiri looking especially well. He has since been backed for the Cup, though hardly I should think on the strength of the torm displayed. On looks, no oue, I fancy, would have Lord Zetland for a Cup, but Lady Zetland is similarly rather a meanlooking animal, and her quality in the past when well cannot be questioned. Southern men are very keen on Euroclydon's chance. From all reports Gorton's son is doing as well as any backer of his could wish, but it is apparent that his task next November will be a great one to win, a four-year-old, with 9st 51b. That he will see a very short price in the South, | and on the day, all going well, is very certain, and that is the farthest 1 shall go in recommending him Fabulist continues to hold hia position in the money market, a sign of alf being well with him, and I still Btand to him as being the best of the top ! division of the handicap. When last i writing on this subject, I qualified my j opiniou of Mr Gollan's lot, preferring to j wait till farther developments helped me ! to point to anyone in particular as being most in favour by the stable. The recent j commission in favour of The Possible ] removes all doubt .on this head. As it | happens, this is the one of the lot which I previously asserted preference for ; I must give him a place in my list of picked horses. Searchlight, whom I held well handicapped, and in my opinion the best of the mares engaged at the weights, has, since I wrote, been pretty extensively backed. I have spoken with some who have seen her and know something about her, and these are strongly in favour of her chance. Ido not like mares for a New Zealand Cup. Still, occasionally a good mare will, and often has, won a good race in the early spring, and I cannot help but think Mr Hunter's mare Searchlight will, if well, beat others of her sex. j Pompom, another of my early fancies, is also doing well. Ido not think there are big backers behind him, and therefore I do not expect, unless he shows good form at the opening Spring meeting to tind hia quotation a very short one. Some money has been laid against him, taken probably by outsiders. 1 like this one's chance exceedingly, and all going well, he will probably be one of my first selections. When writing before, I was not, of course, prepared tor the later sale of our most promising of the three-year olds, Bombshell, and his expatriation to Englaud. There are just a dozen three-year olds left in the race. With one or two exceptions all are performers as two-year-olds. The Hon. J. D. Ormond has three in Dauntless, Defiance, and Sabreur. Doubtless, on form, the handicapper was perfectly correct in estimating Dauntless as so much better than the others, but I should not be surprised to find Defiance, next November, to have grown into quite as promising a three-year-old. Daystar is known to Aucklanders, he being one of our few local candidates. With the rest of his stable mates he has been putting in good work at Ellerslie, but I don't know that he has shown anything yet, nor could hardly be expected to, thuß early, to captivate tnrf-watchers. Oma belongs to the Waikato sportsman, Mr Donald McKinnon. Oma is a Flintlock,

and except that he is well bred. I know nothing further about this one. His' owner, however, has an exceptionally good bet about his candidate, and if Oma is only true to the meaning of his Maori cognomen, he will have a great chance of landing that bet. Antares, another local thre<vyearold, is doing well also, and only that hv appeared at times a washy sort of customer in public last season, I would prefer him \p others. He should at any rate stay well, a\d I have no doubt, given good health, he v^U be a starter. Mr Stead is poorly represented in the Cup. Bellicent, who showed form k.st Autumn, is at a short price in the South ; whilst Mr Stead's other candidate— Epaulet, a three-year-old, although quoted at a similar price — 100's to 6 — is not, I think, so generally fancied. The last of my selections , Anita, is, as far as I know, in good health. All going well, she may also be looked on as a certain starter. With Fabulist, Anita, to say nothing of a couple of promising three-year olds, Auckland is likely to be well and strongly represented in this year's Cup, and present prospects point to a very good chance of our securing this year's Cup. A month has passed since I last expressed my views on the race, then shortly after the weights appeared. I find my opinion to be much the same as then, having still a strong predilection in favour of Fabulist and Anita of !the Aucklanders, Pompom and The Possible most taking my fancy of the Southerners.