AUSTRALIAN AND FOREIGN SPORTING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5761, 4 January 1897, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN AND FOREIGN SPORTING.

Those who have seen the covered yard at Mr Dan Cooper's stiid farm must (says the London Sportsman) have been struck with the style of the roofing, which is of boards set about three-eighths of an inch apart, admitting at once light, and air, and yet excluding wet. This last statement is difficult to credit, but it is correct. The roof is pitched at a rather steep angle, and the rain runs down the boards without dropping inside. The principle is an Australian one, and I have been much interested in inquiring into its various details, as for cattle sheds and hovels on stud farms it seems to me to surpass all others.

Mr Pierre Lorillard, the American racing man has, (says the New York Sjnnt of the Times) completed the dirt track at his training-grounds near Newmarket, upon which he will use the American system of time trials, as well as the English horse against horse trials, and in addition save the danger of - breakdowns in the early spring, when the English turf is extremely hard as a rule. The course is threequarters of a mile in length, and is now in perfect condition and in daily use. • Mr Lorillard's * experiment will bo followed with great interest both here (America) and in England, and in our opinion the advantage of a dirt covrse for actual trials will be demonstrated to the English racing pttblic, and bookmakers, too, before another season 'has passed. Last season's results must have satisfied the English bookmakers that there is some merit in the American and Australian system of trying against the watch. From all accounts Mr Wishard had a very jolly season in England. He never failed to get a good price when he had something nice for a short distance handicap, and whe,n the season was over the Englishmen gave him very satisfactory prices for his horses. Mr Wishard has returned to America to get together another team. "

I was rather amused (writes "The Special Commissioner" of the London Sportsman) by the argument of a writer in the Australasian who was quoted in The Sportsman of Nov. 6. He tries to suggest that the old handicap gelding, Paris 111., is up to the best Australasian form because no old one out there except Wallace would 1 beat him over a mile and a half this year. Theargument- is ingenious but unconvincing to those of us who happen to know that the old horses running in Australia just now are singularly moderate for thafr country, and it would be just as sensible to claim for Paris 111. that he is up to our best weight-for-age form because he could, likely enough, beat Sir yisto. That ha is not within measurable distance of animals like Carbine, Carnage, Wallace, Quiver, Aurarja,, . and Newhaven is well known to anyone who has studied Australasian racing. He actually was defeated by Highborn, and that, too, when he was in receipt of slb, whereas Carbine gave Highborn 531 b and a beating in the Melbourne Cup. In regard to Newhaven Mr Gollan points out that his Melbourne Cup, though slightly slower than Carbine's, is really an improvement on that record, for, says he, "a machine start adds about a second to the time. Under the re 4 ; flao~ regime the field were started some distance, generally some score yards at least, behind the post, and the clock was started as the horses came abreast of the starting., po3t— a flying start. Now the machine and clock go off together,, with the field standing still, say, five yards , behind the post."

A writer in the London Beferee concludes his.remarks on the subject of Newhaven's victory in the Melbourne Cup and Mr W. T. Jones,' intention to run the colt in England .as follows : — These Colonials, whether home-made or bred in Australia, are nearly all of them sound judges of form, prejudiced a bit, perhaps., in favour of their own horses,, which is a sound and commendable trait, but well up in art and science, chapter and verse, of the business. Over here we study the book pretty well — by "we" I mean the populace who go racing— but they pay closer attention to it than we do. Perhaps they find the task easier because fefrer horses are running on their courses. Anyway, take th"e"m~*"inatf to for man,- they are , a lot in front of us as experts in horseflesh — possibly this is so on account of the amount of riding-done. Should the latest Melbourne Cup winner score in one or two of our great races he will command a phenomenal fee as a stallion. Time after time I have been assured by sportsmen who know the ropes on each side of the line that their best could not be handicapped out of Cesarewitch or other great longdistance races. Now we shall see how the two compare. Of course, theirs is a tall order, but, as a rule, these friends do not talk idly, and you can always say with safety for a Colonial, that he will back his opinion. By the time Newhaven is to be put on the retired list some of the Duke of Portland's Australian sires or those of Cobham's get maybe winning races. In that case such a customer as" Newhaven will be earning each year more than he could win if he farmed the great races in the Antipodes. One thing is certain, viz., that when he comes he will not take chances the other Colonial gees did, viz., what luck may befall in the Bay of Biscay. That awkward geographical feature, which, as " Pendragon " truly said, could have been christened only by a humorist, seeing that the devil a bit of a bay is there about the vast expanse of open water, will be dodged. Newhaven or any other horse consigned on Mr Jones' account to England will be landed at Marseilles and carried by train across France.

In writing about Vesuvian there was (says the London Sporting Times) something about his dam, Fuse, that we had an idea deserved attention, but we could not for the time call it to mind. We recollect it now. She owes Lord Alington and Sir Fred Johnstone a small fortune, and in giving them Vesuvian she has done something to recompense them for the disaster that attended the stable in the Eclipse Stakes of 1891, for which we have always held her responsible. In the spring of her three-year-old career, when she looked like winning th 9 Oaks, she was stricken with a most mysterious illness, and it was thought for a time that she would not live. It came, we believe, with an extraordinary swelling of the hind quarters, and she missed all her spring engagements. Though very backward, she was pulled out for the Eclipse Stakes, for which she actually made the running for Common, who was one of the finest staying three-year-olds we have seen for years. The pace, as will be readily understood, was miserable in the extreme, and yet Surefoot, who was not on his best behaviour, was a long way last little more than half a mile from home. Here the field crawled, and, coming round the bottom turn, Surefoot put on a spurt, and was first in an instant. Common was not equal to this, and though he would probably have won by several lengths had they gone on to the top of the hill, not only did Surefoot beat him by half a length, but he was a neck behind Gouverneur, and only just in front of his very moderate stable-companion, Orion. Had Fuse not been in the race to "assist "him, and he had forced the pace for himself, as he did in the Two Thousand, there would have been nothing near him, and thus she may be said on this occasion to have cost the "old firm "£11,075 10s, which was the value of the stakes. With Velasquez, Galtee More, and Vesuvian in the Derby, there is now something to bet for, and the public are also sure to fasten on to Oriole, if only because he is own brother to Ormonde. He is a big backward colt that under the circumstances ran well over a mile of ground. He is just the sort of horse for John Porter to do wonders with, as in the case of Common and St Blaise ; and Vesuvian, it must be remarked, has been trained rather with a view to next year than for the Dewhurst Plate. At present, however, he is a long way the best two-year-old at Kingsclere.