WELLINGTON.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume III, Issue 107, 11 August 1892, Page 6

WELLINGTON.

[by

WIRE].

Tuesday.

The Grand National Meeting and the are almost the only topics of Wellington sporting took away a shorts bound for among the pasJdeniy, the handiDonoghue, life owner/gf Samoa, and Messrs. F. Hill, Nat Nathan and E. Yuile, the bookmakers. Several Hawke’s Bay and country sportsmen, including Mr. G. P. Donnally/arrived in town overland yesterday evening, and go on to Lyttelton by the JTakapuna this afternoon. 7 There has been a good deal of double betting on the twqrprincipal events 6f the Grand National Meeting during the last few days. z Whalebone, Coinmotion, and Norton are now most/ frequently taken for the Steeplechase, ?with Kulnine, Captain Webb and Waterbury in the Hurdled. Ahua, who Was all the rage a weekago, has been mdt of favour the last few days, and Norton was withdrawn from the Hurdles he has been widely supporte/1 for the Steeple, and there is a'general opinion he will be the stable. horsy'an the day. The amateur who is likely to ride Ahua is Mr. Kimbell, of not Mr. Kinnell, of Wellington. My final selections for tme Steeplechase are Whalebone, MofedK, and Kaimanawa, in that order ; a/fid for the Hurdle Race Waterbury, fC apt ain Webb and Kulnine For the Winter Handicap I have been told that Samoa is good, but on public form I like Crackshot with all his weight. If the latter wins he will become a proI minent favourite for the New Zealand of this great event of the spring jgminds me that several little market transactions have been recorded during tht/past few days, Morion being the chief medium of investment. It was noticeable that at the time he was stated to be going to Australia certain individuals were solicitous to know his price for the N.Z. Gup. Towards the end of ■-this week his supporters must have secured about at prices varying from 100 to 4 to 100 to 6. One bookmaker told me he had laid 300 to j 8 in all. Awarua Rose, who went down to Christchurch on Friday, in the same boat ; ? as Retina, is being placed by Mr. Redwoojd.in E. Cutts’ hands to prepare for his spring engagements, and the Rama Rail lacolt has been supported for a few hundreds for the Cup at 100 to 3 and 4. He is very fleshy, and it will take all

Cutts can do to get him well on the day. If he succeeds Mr. Redwood may once more lead home a Cup winner, for that Awarua Rose is a good one when fit and well, lam sure; and his weight, 6.8, is a feather. A gentleman going through from Napier yesterday told me that North Atlantic was the most improved horse he had seen. Rosefeldt is also in the best of health, and coming on as well as her friends could desire. Merganser he has seen recently, and does not like, but Spinfeldt is a splendid looking colt, and has quite recovered from the accident which befel him as a yearling. T. H. Hill and Mr. Martin have severed their business connection. Martin was not satisfied with Retina’s running last season, and a few words the other day led to a rupture. Huxtable has taken Retina to Christchurch, and after the races she will be left there in charge of a good man and put to Chainshot or Artillery. Hill now has only Swordbelt and Kent left at Yelverton Lodge (which is the new name given to his training quarters at the Hutt), Mr. Watson’s Loup-la having been removed to A. Peters’ stable, where he will be the companion of Bide-a’-wee, the Wairarapa Steeplechase winner, who will want watching at the Rangitikei Hunt Club Meeting on the Ist September. Mr. “Cousins” has, I believe, abandoned his idea of forming a training and breeding establishment at the Taiti. He has lately purchased for removal the Agricultural and Pasroral sheds and other appurtenances on the Hutt course, and it is said to be his intention to use the material to build a racing stable and cottage on one of the Rand wick sections adjoining the Hutt course, and close to the stables of Tom Hill and Neil Miller.

The annual meeting of the Wellington Racing Club takes place at the end of the present month. Nothing has been made public yet as to the intentions of the Club with regard to instituting classic races, but it is to be hoped that the stewards will not let a false economy prevent them making some reform of the kind on their programmes, for at present it is certainly not creditable to them that they have not a single weight-for-age race in their repertoire. Although such races do not pay directly they serve a useful purpose, and perhaps pay indirectly by keeping good horses in the colony. At the annual meeting of the Manawatu R.C. on the 2nd ult., Mr. was elected handicapper, replacing Mr. preferred as knowing all the local horses, which Mr. Evett; residing so far away, could hardly be expected to do. Mr. Evett got reappointed handicapper to the Wanganui Club under somewhat curious circumstances, it is said. A majority of the stewards were in favour of another candidate, but at the last moment they found that they were bound by their agreement to give Mr. Evett three months’ notice. This they had not done, and there was nothing for it but to reelect him. Mr. Rees’ Totalisator Bill, as I anticipated, did not come on for its second reading last week, and it is doubtful when it will come on. The churches are working up the opposition to the machine. At the Taranaki-street Wesleyan Church on Sunday evening, the congregation were asked to Sign a petition for presentation to Parliament against it as an instrument that had helped to keep up racing studs at the expense of tradesmen and others, whose debtors often spent their money in gambling rather than in paying their just debts. Mr. W. Williams, of KaiWaiwai, near Featherston, has purchased the stallion Derringer by Musket—Rosalie, and the horse arrived at his new owner’s place on Saturday. As this telegram leaves I hear there is truth in the rumour that Couranto will not start in the Grand National Steeplechase.