Anticipations.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VII, Issue 327, 29 October 1896, Page 8

Anticipations.

THE V.BO. SPBIF ; ’ [By A.tThe great sp .{ng me/ Bating Club ornmen/ beautifully apj >ihted/ the Saltwater tracts all sorts part of Austral year the atten< former years. in Australia, ai been very grea in thousands ar those who spec ' fully at a fiver ' racing in both has been prett; clubs. In the alone there is i week, excepting this, one club h week at night The wonder is to support thes and the public Melbourne Cup straighter runni on Saturday whij most will be tli years since the r the first in 1860 Since then we hi led in as winners Grand Flaneur Henri, Nordenfe nought, The Adi One name will □. that of Carbine. He was beaten in 1888~by“ Ensign, but although I think Ensign was a great horse, his defeat of Musket’s greatest son was a fluke. We do not, however, see many flukes in the Ddrby. ” The three-year-old which carries Derby weighti'j.auccessfully over the mile and >a-half can be no waster, and the results of the V.R.C; Derby? generally tends to prove that the winner is the best horse of the year. It has been my privilegbtO see many Derbies decided, but very few of,them have worn such an open appearance as that to ‘be decided on Saturday. And yet a few weeks ago those who had seen Newhaven run at Randwick and made him a level-money favourite thought the blue ribbon of the Vic- . torian turf was all over bar shouting. However, since then they have had a rude shock. Their idol was beaten in the Caulfield Guineas, and the Flemington- touts have been shocked with his gallops since; Having seen Newhaven at Randwick recently, when he disposed of Hopscotch, I must stick to him notwithstanding his recent bad repute. I think his defeat at Caulfield will probably be found to be due to the over-confidence of his trainer. It did seem as if he had nothing to beat at Caulfield, and Hiekenbotham probably eased him too much in his work, a fault he would doubtless at once endeavour to rectify. The Newminster —Oceana colt will be confronted with a formidable lot of three-year-olds, the best being The Officer (who won the Caulfield Guineas), Coil (who as a two-year-old took turn about with Newhaven in finishing first), Tire, Resolute (the representative of the dangerous St. Albans’ stable, and a son of Trenton), Charge (the son of Carbine who won the A.J.C. Derby) and Sabretache, our New Zealand hope. Tire is a good little fellow, and it should not be forgotten that as a two-year-old he silenced that racehorse Delaware in the All Aged Stakes at Randwick, doing the mile in Imin 40£secs. The record is a splendid one for a two-year-old, but I do not think Tire is up to Derby weight, and prefer his chance for the Melbourne Cup. Sabretache is well liked by the Eandwiek touts, who think he has improved immensely since the A.J.C. Derby. His win here would be popular, but I cannot vote for him, although I fully expect to see him run well forward. His victory would raise Cuirassier’s stock in the market. Charge won the A.J.C. Derby like a racehorse, but latest news concerning him are not reassuring. Coil is a lazy colt, but he will not be far away from Newhaven when the whips are cracking. To sum up, the judge may place them thus—

NEWHAVEN 1 THE OFFICER 2 COIL 3 The Melbourne Stakes is the second event on the V.R.C. programme, and invariably a 10l of interest attaches to tbe result, as it assists to reveal the form of. many of the cracks in the Melbourne Cup. The field this year is not large, and I think that Hopscotch will find the distance, one mile and a quarter, much more to his liking than the mile and a half in the Caulfield Cup. Marusa, so far as we know here, still remains in, but in view of the fact that he was so recently under a cloud I cannot commend his chance. After looking over the list I am disposed to anticipate the judge’s verdict by placing them thus :— Hopscotch 1, The Skipper 2, Bloodshot 3. * The Maribyrnong Plate and other minor events on the first two days of the meeting are best left alone at this distance from the scene of action, and with that observation I approach the great 1 handicap, the Melbourne Cup, the acceptances for which appear in this issue. In former years some sort of a line has been afforded by the form displayed at the V.A.T.C. Meeting, but this year it has failed to shed much light on the prospects of those engaged in the two-mile race. Not one of the placed horses in the Caulfield Cup, for instance, is engaged in the Melbourne Cup, but • we are indebted to the Caulfield event for just a little ray of light, for, if there is anything in form, surely Hopscotch will not trouble the judge at the end of the journey. The brilliancy of the son of Grand Flaneur is undoubted, but when he

indeed for the Cup Tire is a splendid little fellow, and will get the distance, while Sabretache has a great chance of bringing the Cup to New Zealand. Ido not like too light a weight for a three-year-old, but young Cook, wbo has been engaged to ride the son of Cuirassier, is a sturdy little fellow, and may be able tohold him together. If so, and bearing in mind Sabretache’s third in the A.J.C. Derby and his reported improvement since, he should be in the contest right up to his neck. Resolute is well in at 6.12, and although he failed at Caulfield, he may do better at the second time of asking. His stable think that he is as good as Strathmore. Among the four-year-olds and upwards I like The Skipper, The Chevalier, Broken Hill (who, like Cremorne, has done nothing for a long time), and Duhallow, but I suppose, like other sporting writers, I must reduce my selection to three. I therefore elect to stand on the following : — THE OFFICER 1 THE SKIPPER 2 RESOLUTE ... ... 8