Turf Topics.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VI, Issue 269, 19 September 1895, Page 6

Turf Topics.

[By

Reviewer.]

Woodbine (Sword Dance —Woodnymph) has produced a colt to St. Leger. Maid of Athol (Maribyrnong —Paraguay), has produced a filly to Cuirassier. Thame (Sword Dance —Lady Mersey), has produced a colt to Dreadnought. Speculation, the dam of Monte Carlo, has a colt to Guncotton this season, and visits the same sire.

Legcra (dam of Pompom) and 'Leoness (dam of Westmere) will be mated with Lebel this season.

Mr W. Rathbone’s mares, Thyra (Cruiser — Dagtnar) and Taihoa (Malua—Norna), have been sent to visit Seaton Delaval, the Sylvia Park sire.. Apropos of Mantle’s dead-heat with St. Regel last Saturday and the accompanying div. of £139, I may remark that one of the American Jockey Club stewards recently delivered himself as follows on the subject of “ turn-ups ” in racing : — “ Whenever a great race is won by an outsider I often think that it is really a good thing for racing, for it helps to drive home to thinking people’s minds the uncertainty of the sport. So, also when a popular idol is beaten. His owner, his trainer, his rider, and all the best judges think he cannot lose ; yet he does lose, and now how is it accounted for ? Sometimes through an error in riding (Are you listening, Woodfield ?) ; sometimes because a horse may not be fit; but most often because he met a horse which in that race, and for the time being, was better than he was. It is a costly lesson, perhaps to the public,, to see a reigning favourite dethroned for a time, but if it serves to emphasise to the public the uncertainty of horse-racing the lesson may be a cheap one. The annual Show of the Auckland Kennel Club, which takes place on the 4th and sth of October,, promises to eclipse all its predecessors both in the number of entries and the quality of the dogs entered. The committee held its weekly meeting on Tuesday evening last, when the special prize list was made up and the prizes allotted to the various classes. To avoid anything in the shape of favouritism the prizes were balloted. Some of them are very handsome, and they are such as will rejoice the hearts of the lucky winners. The entries close on Saturday next at the Metropolitan Hotel, and as will be seen by advertisement the secretary will be in attendance on Friday between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. for the purpose of receiving entries.

Tim Swiveller goes to India at the end of the month.

Notes on the training gallops at Hastings will be found in another column.

The Pakuranga Hounds meet to-day at the end of the Lady’s Mile, Greenlane, at noon.

Owing to Bob Ray having [contracted lameness, the colt was scratched for all A.J.C. engagements after his Derby win. Five horses contesting at Ellerslie last Saturday were out of one mare (Satanella) viz., St. Clements, St. Ella, St. Paul, Linstock, and Pirate.

Ruenalf first had stringhalt, then he was lame unable to stand a preparation. Yet he ran a good horse in the A.J.C. Metropolitan Stakes.

The balance sheet of the Avondale Jockey Club, adopted at the annual meeting held last Friday, shows that the club has £273 4s 8d to the good on the year’s workings.

St. Paul’s 53sec run for the Welcome Stakes is the record for the opening two-year-old four-furlong flutter. In 1893 and 1894, when the race was called the September Stakes, Forme and Forma took 56sec and 57sec respectively.

Reference to the annual balance sheet of the Avondale Jockey Club appearing in another column shows that unpaid subscriptions and unpaid nominations figure up to £67 5s in the assets section of the sheet. That total is arrived at after 50 per cent has been written off both the items.

There was a soul-satisfied look about Secretary Percival last Saturday when the St. Leger—Satanella youngster (St. Paul) bred by him ran off with the Welcome Stakes. It was a highly-bred and highlybred field that St. Paul put down, and his victory was worthy of a full brother of that great sprinter, St. Clements.

The list of horses left in the A.R.C. Royal Stakes, 1895-96, after the second forfeit, will be found in another column.

The annual meeting of the Takapuna Jockey Club will be held at 2 p.m. next Monday. The business before the meeting will be the reception of the statement of accounts and the election of committee.

The book programme of the Hawkes Bay Jockey Club is to hand, and, as usual, contains the racing arrangements for the year, nominations for the H.B. J.C. classic events, and other useful information. The last Blair Athol at the stud is Child of the Mist, purchased at the last December sales at Newmarket for the low price of 620 gs by the Duke of Portland from Mr Marcus Daly, the American racing man. During six years, from 1889 to 1894, the progeny of St. Simon won stakes amounting to £218,526 10s. Up to the commencement of Goodwood week this year the St. Simons had won £19,244, the value of twenty races won. A widely-circulated rumour was abroad in London just prior to the race for the Goodwood Cup that H.R.H. the Prince of Wales had brought pressure to bear on Capt. Mached to withdraw Ravensbury from the race so that it might be made a certainty for H.R.H.’s Florizel 11. Several of the London newspapers credited this most unlikely yarn and gave publicity to it.

The American racehorse owner, Mr M. F. Dwyer, who was racing at Newmarket recently has returned to the U.S.A., and in conversation with Pressmen stated that he was forced into the selling race tactics which gave so much offence to English racing men. According to Mr Dwyer the English racing officials had exaggerated ideas of the merits of Banquet and Stonenell, and gave them such big weights in the handicaps that they had no possible chance to win. There was no recourse, {therefore, but [to [run them in the selling races.

One of the Welbeck Abbey thoroughbred sires, Havoc (by Thunderbolt out of Hubbub), stands for the Duke of Portland’s tenants at the peppercorn fee of one guinea. Mr J. O. Evett has been elected handicapper to the Avondale Jockey Club. Last season’s handicapper (Mr W. Knight) was only one vote behind Mr Evett when the appointment was considered last Friday. Our American friends affect yearling trials. One held last month at Lexington saw an equine baby reel off two furlongs in 23 sec, while several youngsters left three furlongs behind in 37 sec.

A promising three-year-old colt by Sir Modred from Faux Pas, called Sir Galahad, died at a Californian stud farm last month. Sir Galahad was bought for £5OO early in August and took sick while being conveyed to his new home. Owing to allegations having been made in the New York newspapers that cash betting was proceeding there in defiance of the law the officials of the various clubs issued orders that no money must pass hands, either in or out of envelopes, while races were in progress.

A punter who had been having a jagged time of it at Ellerslie last Saturday right up to the second last race went for a retriever in the Maiden Handicap and put £2O on St. Regel. When last noticed that punter was sadly receiving £l6 of the “ score ” he had bet and inquiring for jockey Woodfield’s address.

The laws against betting passed by the U.S.A. Legislators is calmly ignored right through the state of Ohio. A Cincinnati paper remarks : “ While betting on tracks is prohibited the law is virtually a dead letter all over the State. It seems to be popularly regarded as an infringement of personal rights as bearing on sport and recreation, and even at the capital of the State it is ignored and disregarded, classed as it is as amongst unreasonable modern blue law’s.”

The Duke of Portland is not exactly a genius at turf nomenclature. Three of his yearlings have been named Do, Don’t, and No Thank You.

The bearer of the last title is by Satiety out of Semolina. The reason for such a name as No Thank You in connection with the titles of sire and dam may be known to the Duke, but it’s not apparent to me. The holder of the expressive title “Do ” is by Donovan — Dodona, and “ Don’t ” is by Donovan from Tact.

Henry of Navarre, the famous four-year-old son of the Eolus horse, Knight of Ellerslie, changed hands in New York last month, Mr August Belmont, chairman of the Jockey Club, purchasing him from Mr Byron McLelland for something between £9,000 and £lO,OOO. Mr Belmont also purchased the Sir Modred horse, Dorian, for £5,000, so he must be pretty hopeful as to the future of racing in New York State. Or, it may be that Mr Belmont’s intention is to take both horses to England, seeing that he has made entries in the English Derby of 1897.

The London Racing Illustrated tells the following characteristic story of Matthew Dawson : “ Thormanby was a rare stayer, and one of the gamest of the game. A little comedy frequently played during the two-year old season of Mr Merry’s colt was that in which Mr Norman Buchanan and Matt were accustomed to take part. When Thormanby was running it was Mr Buchanan’s wont, either from perverseness or because he underestimated the youngster’s merits, to take a iloomy view of his prospects. ‘He is three lengths behind now — can’t get up I ’ would be his desponding reply to the trainer’s query as to how the horse was going. Pressed again as to his position, he would reluctantly admit, ‘ He’s got a little nearer,’ and next add, ‘ He’s got nearly there.’ That statement generally wound up the conversation, Matt clinching the business by exclaiming confidently, ‘ Then it’s all over 1 ’ He well knew the pluck of the horse, and that if once at his rival’s head, the odds were long against his being beaten.”

As will be seen from our advertising columns’ James Beckett can be consulted at Tattersall’s re coming events.

Weights for the First Hurdles and Flying Handicap in connection with the Hawkes Bay Spring Meeting, to be held on the 7th of next month, appear in another column. Mr R. G. Bauchope. bon. secretary of the Taranaki Jockey Club, forwards the programme of the hack meeting to be held under the auspices of his Club on December 26 and 27. A Lewes (Eng.) race-card which came under my notice recently has the long-winded title of “ The Southdown Club Open Long Welter Race ” attached to one of the events.

Mr Holgate’s Irish bred hunting sire, Paddy’s Land, was taken to Mangawai last week and will travel the season in the Northern districts.

The Melbourne turf writer “Nunquam Dorinio,” seldom minces matters, and generaUy calls a spade a spade, not an agricultural implement. Commenting on the faulty jumpers at present racing over fences in Australia, my contemporary lets out as follows : —“ The sad fate of Charlie Lewis, Tommy Corrigan, and numerous others should direct the attention of our pillars of the Turf to the fact that Steeplechasing (!) as at present conducted in Victoria is akin to Murder. The word

is written, and I am not going to alter it. It may not be Murder in the first degree ; but most decidedly it is in the second. If the unfortunate jockeys are not deliberately done to death, they are at least sent to their death.” The writer very properly argues that the jumps in ’chases I should he made sufficiently formidable to keep ■ hurdlers and fast horses possessing a minimum ;of leaping ability among their own class. “ Nunquam Dormio’s ” idea respecting height is that all ’chasing jumps should be 4ft 3in. And although at first sight such a standard appears & bit on the big side it is not out of the* way fjM true steeplechasing. Certainly no cross-coun»ryj jump should be under 4ft, especially on the fiafl Australian courses, where there is so much in J ducement to race over jumps. It is a very faifl argument to say that small obstacles in country runs are conducive to accidents and breeding of a class of jumping animals that as far removed from true steeplechasers as a mule is from a Derby horse. Carbine and his son from Novelette, Lerderberg, are thus alluded to by the editor of the London Licensed Victuallers' Gazette, who was a member of the Press Party invited to inspect Mr Donald Wallace’s old champion at the Welbeck Abbey stud : —“ Carbine strolled along like an old sheep, until in a playful moment he reared on his bind legs, and with his forelegs knocked off his attendant’s cap, for all the world like a boxing kan- J garoo. He was always somewhat infirm on bis ’ forelegs when in training, and on the way to the post used invariably to stop and dig his toes into the ground until it suited him to proceed. Cunningham rides him for three hours at exercise every morning, and presently, when Donovan and St. Simon had been shown, the faithful attendant reappeared, mounted on his old friend, first trotting and then cantering, just like a wellmannered hack. But at exercise he frequently bucks, sometimes for ten minutes ata time. The purchase of Carbine was most judicious, and he will be invaluable at Welbeck to tone down~th?~, high spirited St. Simon and Galopin mares.' His list at 200 gs is full for three seasons to come.” Referring to the Carbine—Novelette colt, Lerderberg, who, having been foaled on October 24th, 1893, ranks as a two-year old in England, for which reason he will not be raced until he is four years old, according to English rules, the w r riter quoted remarks, “Lerderberg is a golden nut, with the off hind foot white. His hocks appear to be a trifle weak at present, and he stands like a sheep, a peculiarity of his sire, while like him, too, he got on his hind legs and struck out in front when paraded in the paddock.”