TURF TATTLE.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume I, Issue 15, 8 November 1890, Page 5

TURF TATTLE.

[By

Nordenfeldt.]

The racing at Flemington has this year been more interesting than it ever was before. Of course Carbine is the idol of the hour, and well does he deserve the honour. One could not very well sufficiently bepraise the mighty horse capable of recording such a stupendous performance. People who had been racing for years were lost in astonishment when their morning paper informed them that Carbine, notwithstanding his crushing impost, had not only got home easily in the Melbourne Cup, but had actually broken the Australasian time record.

Before his miraculous performance, all other events of the meeting are quite cast in the shade, but nevertheless, some of them call for special mention. The Derby, as was generally anticipated, fell an easy prey to The Admiral, who was well ridden by Hales. The race does not appear to have been a fast one by any means, but this would only tend to show that the field behind him was a poor one, rather than to detract from the merits of the winner’s performance. The colt’s subsequent running in the Melbourne Cup, in which he finished fifth, proved him to be about the best of his age that have been seen out this season. The Maiden Plate fell to The Serf, a four-year-old son of St. Albans in Mr. J. Wilson’s stable. My readers will remember him as the animal I selected to win the Caulfield Cup, for which race he was heavily backed at the post. The Melbourne Stakes was, of course, a foregone

conclusion for Carbine, and Gresford had again to put up with second place. This colt will yet prove to Mr. Jones that he made no mistake in plumping down a thousand guineas for him. The Maribyrnong Plate brought out twenty starters, and Yarran, a beautiful colt by Epigram out of Nellie, easily appropriated the rich stake. The Musket blood was again in evidence here, as the second and third horses were both descended from the defunct son of Toxophilite. Corvette was one of the Kirkham bred yearlings purchased by Mr. J. B. Clarke, and is by Martini-Henryout of Volley’s dam. Lady Vivian. She, who was purchased by Mr. W. R. Wilson at the last Sylvia Park sale, and is by Nordenfeldt out of Steppe, the dam of Russley, Lady Norah, Too Soon and Tartar.

What a national calamity it was when old Musket died 1 Besides the sensational Carbine, another of his sons, Teksum, scored a couple of events on the same day. With Bst. 51b. on his back, he took the Railway Handicap from a field of twenty-seven, running the six furlongs in im. isfs. Later in the afternoon he put up a penalty of ylbs., which brought his weight up to Bst. nib., and won the Yan Yean Stakes, one mile, from sixteen runners, in the exceptionally fast time of im. 4ifs. Again did descendants of the great Musket fill the places in the Nursery Handicap, won by Sophiaetta. Pie Crust, by Martini-Henry—Rusk, (dam of Rudolph) was second, and Steadfast, by Nordenfeldt —Nelly Moore, (dam of Lochiel and Corunna) third.

The in and out running of Mr. G. G. Stead’s colt Medallion calls for more than passing comment. Such a glaring reversal of form in so short a time should have been inquired into. After Medallion’s inglorious display in the Hawkes’ Bay Guineas, in which he finished absolutely last, Mr. Stead was good enough to inform the public through the Canterbziry Times that he was “disappointed but not surprised,” as a gallop which the colt had shown him previous to leaving Christchurch had convinced him that his previously-formed opinion was correct, viz., that the colt had lost his two-year-old form. Yet he allowed his horse to be taken to Hawkes Bay to make such an exhibition. The colt then returns to Christchurch and is scratched for the New Zealand Cup, for which he had been heavily supported by the public, but comes out subsequently and wins the Derby easily. Now, until some further explanation is made, I, for one, shall refuse to believe that Mr. Stead was either “ disappointed or surprised ” at the colt’s running at Hawkes Bay. It is a thousand pities that such a fine colt as Medallion should be messed about in this way. If a genuine sportsman such as Mr. Donald Wallace owned the horse, he would satisfy himself before running him that he was well, but if he had become convinced that he had no show in a race he would have scratched him, and given his reasons, instead of allowing the public from one end of the colony to the other to lose their money on him. Unfortunately, Mr. Stead is not, and never has been, one of this sort, which is much to be regretted by all true lovers of sport in New Zealand.