OUR CHRISTCHURCH LETTER

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume II, Issue 68, 12 November 1891, Page 4

OUR CHRISTCHURCH LETTER

(from our own correspondent.)

[By

Wire.]

> Christchurch, Nov. 11. The first day of the C. J.C. Metropolitan Meeting culminated disastrously for a major number of backers, and I know of very few who came off the ground in pocket. The first race was generally considered a good thing for Freeman or Couranto, and both these horses were backed by their stables. Norton must also have carried some good money put on by the connections of Lunn’s stable, I suppose invested on the principle that nothing is certain in racing; yet Norton’s win makes him out to be a better horse than it ever was considered at Riccarton, and he may be a cheap one now, though I think both Couranto and Freeman will knock the stuffing out of him when next they meet. The Cup most certainly produced a - great surprise. Few people fancied British Lion, though he was fit enough, and his time shows that the field must have been overrated. I have never seen the horse go two miles on the training track, though he has done a lot of mile and a half work. It appears to me that he is a horse that will improve with age ; but I think Mr. O’Brien made a mistake in taking Freedom out of the Cup. He would have gone very near winning that event, as he is a proved stayer, and Flinders is but an overgrown three-year old that will fill out greatly in the future, and also improve in staying capability. The Maiden Plate was won easily by Morpheus, who has, I believe, improved a lot of late ; still Morpheus’ victory augurs very little for the quality of the field. Fairchild must be a duffer on his running in that event to have been beaten by Morpheus; yet Fairchild has done good trials for Cutts on various occasions at Riccarton.

One of the greatest surprises on the first day’s racing was Dandenong’s victory in the Shorts. He is trained at the Talburt Hotel, Yaldhurst, and I understand that Mason has had a good deal to do with his preparation. He ran in an assumed name, and was bought by A. Mason afterwards. Mason is an artful fellow, but he is a real good trainer, and I suppose all trainers must be somewhat in that line. They are very close, anyhow, and that is where outsiders find them out in regard to genuineness. It is not to be expected that a trainer will tell the strength of his stable, but

at the same time he cannot be uncivil to a man he has known intimately for years, and should half a dozen of these intimate friends come up it is a moral certainty that he stalls the lot off. Florrie’s running in the Stewards Stakes was a great disappointment to many backers, but that is explained by the bad start; she was quite twelve lengths behind Clanraald when the field was started.