Turf Topics.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VI, Issue 283, 26 December 1895, Page 8

Turf Topics.

[By

Reviewer.]

Bruin has been sold to go to Singapore. - Alf. Drake is promoting turf consultations in> Tasmania. The Caulfield Cup winner, Sanfoin, goes to thestud at Camberwell, Victoria. ■ ' I Nominations for the Foxton Hack Meeting close to-night (Saturday) at 9 p.m. Wallace is said to have grown nearly a coupleof inches since the V.R.C. Spring Meeting. The Sylvia Park breeders will not auction their yearlings this year, but they may be purchased privately. '■ To keep a racehorse in even moderate condition in England, with proper attendants, costs£32s a year. Trenton and Carnage were shipped to London in the Orizaba on the 21st inst. The horses were , insured for their full value during the voyage. The English trainer, Matthew Dawson, retires at the end of the year, when Walters, who was head lad under the veteran, will take charge of Lord Rosebery’s horses. They say that Oeculator is a moral for our Derby. So was Bluefire last year, but Stepfeldt beat her. You can gather from this that morals can go down, and that Osculator is not a cert, in my opinion. A batch of youngsters by the defunct Blairgowrie will be offered at Wellington Park on January 3rd, after Mr Morrin’s youngsters' have been sold Mrs W. Walters has five youngsters out of her well-bred mares, and Mr E. F. Roche has a couple of colts out of Cobweb and Abydos.

Fabulist, who won the Christmas Handicap last Thursday, and who will nearly land the Derby, only cost Mr Duncan £25. In conversation with him yesterday the owner said he bought Fabulist for a hack, but finding he had a bit of pace placed him in John Lennard’s hands to try and land a small handicap. Up to date he has taken two big stakes, the Auckland Guineas and Christ* mas Handicap.

News from South Australia tells of the death of Queen Consort, dam of Thunderer and Thunder Queen.

The Somnus mare Nightingale, located in Sydney, has been mated wifh Grandmaster, who is now 27 years old. At that age it is not likely that he will get another Paris or Highborn. It is noteworthy (says a Melbourne writer) how Sydney trainers keep their horses strung up month after month. The amount of racing the Sydney horses do as compared with the majority of Victorian racehorses is very remarkable. It is quite a common thing for a trainer to start his horse in two races in the one day, no matter what the weather or the course may be like. The report of the adminstration of stallion depots and breeding studs belonging to the State in France has befen published (writes the London correspondent of the Review). The importance of the facts shewn is considerable. The Director of the Haras does not speak hopefully of the future, for he shows that while the number of stallions has been raised from 2,500 to 3,000 the State has reduced the amount of money voted. The stallions placed at the disposal of breeders was 2,636 for the last year, and they have served over 140,000 mares, while 70,000 mares have been put to sires who had the Government certificate of soundness. The import of horses has also been in excess of the exports for last year.

The Eastern horsemen now all acknowledge that Henry of Navarre is the best handicap horse that has appeared on the Turf in recent years (says an American exchange), and applaud August Belmont’s determination to ship him to England' to meet the best of Britain’s racers. John Huggins will accompany Henry of Navarre to England and train him for all his races, and it is to be that he will land in front in the majority of his starts. He may not be an Iroquois, but he will certainly not disgrace American breeders, and it is just such international contests as this that foster the true sporting spirit and encourage racing in both countries.

Quiver is favourite for the A.J.C. Summer Cup at 10 to 1, Courallie first choice for the Carrington Stakes at a similar figure, and The Trier is ditto for Tattersall’s Cup. A simple and effective preventative for flies is the presence of sweet clover hung up in bunches in a stable. Flies have a special objection to the plant, and quickly make their escape from any place in which it is kept. Mr R. Gibson, who is in England, writes to Mr O. Gibson (says “ Terlinga ”), that he has made very satisfactory arrangements for Daimio’s career in England. The big horse is to go into the hands of the Messrs. Nightingall, at Epsom, and it is hoped that Nightingall, the best professional horseman of the day, will ride him in the Liverpool of 1897. Mr O. Gibson and Daimio will leave for England about next March, so that Daimio will have about ten months to become acclimatised. The crack ’chaser is still in Mr Frew’s stable, and is doing good, healthy work. The lad Cutts, who has always looked after 1 Daimio, wifi go to England with him. If possible, Daimio will be shipped by the. Orizaba, the steamer which took Carbine to his new home. E. Weever, the veteran English trainer, died last month. In his early days he was a crosscountry rider, and in this connection “ Rapier” tells the following capital story :• —•“ Constance told me about Teddy Weever being picked up for dead in a ’chase at Worcester, carried to an hotel,, and put to bed still unconscious; the medical man pronounced it a case of great danger, requiring careful watching, and left him with some bosom friend. As soon as they were alone, Teddy opened one eye, looked round the room, and said : ‘ Tom, are they getting up a subscription or a testimonial, or anything of that sort ?’ ‘ No! No one has thought of such a thing,’ replied Tom. ‘ Then,’ said the injured man, ‘ it’s no use stopping humbugging here in bed.’ So he arose, dressed, and went to dinner.”

Dan O’Brien’s invalid, Bob Ray, is doing very well, but the leg looks ugly and the gelding will be kept idle for anot her six months.

We have had the Chinese punter for some time, and now the Chinese owner has turned up in Queensland. A Bananaland exchange says : —“ At the Palmer River Races, North Queensland, held on the 13th November, an item in the programme was a Chows’ Race, once round, £3, catch-weights, which resulted as follows Ah Long’s Nigger (Ah Long), 1; AhSam’s Pussy (Ah Sam), 2 ; Ah Sack’s Paddy (Ah G), 3. It will be seen that the celestial gentleman who owned and rode the winner boasts a good Australian racing name, while the second’s family cognomen is the ‘ front’ name of one of the most popular owners on the Victorian turf. One can sympathise with the rider of the third horse, and imagine him vainly repeat ing his own name in appealing to his mount for an effort. Possibly the fact of the third horse being the only one of the three not ridden by its owner may suggest to the suspicious mind that Ah Sack was ‘ in the bag I ’ ”

The testimonial which an Arab gives with a horse he is selling is a curious as well as a lengthy affair. It begins with a long invocation to Allah, which gradually dwindles down to a prayer to Mohammed and his apostles. In it the infidel has a place, and a wish is expressed that he shall suffer all the torments of the Moslem Hades for his pig-headed unbelief. Then, after a few extracts from the Koran, relative to the Arab’s love for his horse—which, by the way, he exemplifies by hugging the equine friend one moment, and prodding him with a three-inch spear the next — it testifies : “ That the horse sold to the Ameer Blank, belonging to the most beloved, honoured, and respected nation of tbe English, is of pure blood of Koh el yan Agniz,” or whatever the breed may be. Finally a date is affixed, and then the signature —such as Abdul le Bulbul, Ameer —of tbe seller.