SPORTING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11106, 17 June 1914, Page 5

SPORTING.

*" 4. FACING ANDTROTTIMC. Notes bkargus.FIXTURES. 'June 1.7 and 18—Hawke's Buy J.C. Juno 2*l and 25—Napier Park R.C. Autumn. July 2 and 4—Gisborne B.C. Winter. July 15 and 18—Wellington R. C. Win- ■ ter. „ 'August 11, 13 and 15—C.J.C. Grand National.' There will bo plenty of time, af' 6l tlie close of tho winter fixtures, lor owners to make their arrangements lor the spring campaign. Even at tin.-, early stage, however, it is evident that some Now Zealand sportsmen contemplate nil invasion of Australia in the spring. There are many gootl arguments in favour of such a piogramme. Tho expense is no groac stumbling block, little more, in tact, •than would be entailed in sending u (team to a.distant, fixture in tho dominion, while the journey is one that presents no special obstacles. As tor the tomcats, they are ninny. rhoro are, of course, some righ prises to be won, though competition for them is naturally very keen. But, oven should ' the Netv Zealand horse,s provo unequal to the task of capturing any _of the big stakes in Sydney, tho trip may still bo justified by subsequent results. ■Trainers frequently experience clifliculty in New Zealand in getting their charges ready for early spriijg engagements, owing to the scarcity of good galloping ground during the winter niontlis, whereas this trouble docs not present itself in Sydney to any appreciable extent. It has been demonstrated more than oneo thai ii trip to Sydney in tho spring is a good way of getting horses ready for racing on their return to New Zealand. It. J. Mason has provided several illustrations under this heading. It not necessary, in fact, to go further back than the present season. He had Dherubini in regular work at Randwick for a few months, and though ho failed to win a race in the Commonwealth, his owner doubtless ielt amply compensated when he captured tho New Zealand Derby and Canterbury Cup on his return to Riccarton, after tho spring meeting of the Australian Jockey Club. Earlier still, Mason had other experiences of the benefits accruing from an Australian campaign, as a preliminary to the November carnival at Riccartoai, Vice Admiral providing an instance which was very similar to that of Cherubim. Under tho circumstances, it is not at all surprising to Mason taking a team to Sydney nt the beginning of each winter. A "Jcsire to escape tho rigors of our own clinaato probably has something to do with his annual flight, Tint his policy 'mi been amply justified in the past by results. By the way. there has bean a rovival of the rumour that R. J. Mason intends to settle down permanently at Randwick, with some of Mr G. D. Greenwood's horses, leaving his son, I'. V. Mason, to look after the New Zealand portion of the team. T espect, however, that wc will find the lull strength of the stable available at Riccarton in November. I have an idea., too, that there are one or two useful .voting horses in this . team, nnd I am sure the success of Mr Greenwood's colours in a big race nt Rdwlwick would bp popular, It is probable that another Canterbury stable will l>e represented at the spring meeting of the Australian Jockey Club. Mr, Harvev Patterson has Fabrikoff engaged in the Derby and as he has nominated a yearling for, the Breeders' Plate and Gimcrack Stakes, it looks as :f the trip was a likely contingency. J understand that Mr W. G. Stead nlso contemplates sending Ringform across to Sydney for the Derby; in Fact, in a recent' conversation, T. Quinlivan informed me that the edit was a certain visitor to Randwick. I further gathered that Quinlivan has high' hopes of the "son of Boniform— Ringdove turning out a good one. I cannot see, however, that his prospects are any better than those ol ■Pariform, not so good on form. There is a .chanco that Pariform may make the trip to Sydney, accompanied by J'.xppct, but I should say this is far from certain. Another colt that has been mentioned as a likely visitor to Sydney is Balboa. In considering the Derby prospects, however, it is worth remembering that the New Zealand tivo-vear-olds were not a high class lot, For this reason owners may feel that the time is not opportune for throwing down thp gauntlet to tho three-year-olds of tho Commonwealth, even with such a rich prize in view as is provided by the Australian Jockey Club for its Derby contest.

Emulations for the principal events oil tht> T Canterbury Jockey Club's 'rrnnd National programme are due on Friday: In the meantime, it does not look as if there would be anything of jpecial note about the lists in tbp big lumping -events, but I exnect they-will le strong enough numerically. . At Mr H. M. Campbell's meeting at Petane on Friday night Sir T. H. Moynihan asked Mr Campbell what his views were in connection with the totnlisator and the bookmaker. Mr' Campbell replied that ho had already nsked the Minister of Justice whether he would make it impossible for a .bookmaker to exist in New Zealand, and hoped to see this dotie. In regard to the totalisator he would like to see the end of all gambling, but so long as ths British ■ race remained constituted as it was gambling would take place, and the totalisator was by far the best means of doing it, especially as it insisted upon, cash bei.ng put dotrn in advance and was absolutely, fair. A striking feature of the entries received this month for the loading spring handicaps in Australia was the liipport accorded by Sydney owners to ■he Toorak Handicap anil Caulfieid Cup. This support wojild not be surprising if the Victoria Amateur Turf Ulub had more favourable racing dates. It must-, however, commence racing so as to close the spring meeting a fortnight before the opening of the Melbourne Cup carnival, which sill open this year 011 October 31. This moans making a start with the Caulfield fixturo on October 10, the closing day of the Australian Jockey Club's springy meetirtg. Thus, two of the most important meetings early in tho season overlap, and it is an arrangement' by which both must suffer in some degree, though there is no evidence at present of great harm resulting to either.

The French jockey, G. Stern, had the mount on Torchlight in the One Thousand Guineas Stakes, in which she ran third to Princess Dorrie and Glorvinn, and he received a severe roasting in more than one quarter for his alleged indifferent riding. Torchlight, .who was an even money favourite, took the lead several furlongs from ■homo, and in the final furlong it jeemed that Stern had only to sit still and ivin comfortably, but that rider was accused of having gone all abroad j.wheii Princess Dorrie and the blinkor(Pd_ Glorvma, who claims full relationfhip to Cragauour, challenged her. Stern was further criticised for not Torchlight right out. He dropped his hands several strides from the post, and lost second place by a neck. According to the " Sportsman," " Torchlight ivonld probably bnvo won witli, some en<te had she not been messed about in the early stages of the race, and then brought to the front .1 I furlong too snon," a remarkably ccmI fident expression of opinion, which nro-