Sporting Topics.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VII, Issue 328, 5 November 1896, Page 6

Sporting Topics.

[By

Reviewer.]

A resident of Clive (Napier) is reported to have drawn The Chevalier in TattersaH’s big sweep. Two residents of Wellington were fortunate to draw Sabretache and Charge in Tattersail’s big sweep. The Brush Hurdle race at Kensington (N.S.W.) on October 22 was won by the New Zealand pony Valencia. The winner of the £6,500 Caulfield Cup con? sultation was Mr H. Stevens, a publican at Armidale, New South Wales. Mr Stevens must have been born under a lucky star, as he won a previous consultation. The aptly-named So-and-So was knocked out of the Melbourne Cup on October 29. He is a non-performer, and perhaps Mr Chirnside had forgotten that he owned him when he allowed his name to appear among the acceptors. Twelve and a half per cent, is the totalisator charge around Brisbane, and if it is not reduced the Queensland Sportsman anticipates “the ‘.goose that lays the golden egg ’ will be killed, ami the whole business stigmatised as a downright robbery.” Among all our exchanges we fail to find any of the sporting writers tipping Cremorne for the Caulfield Cup, This failure elicits the following confession from the Queensland Sportsman “Had we been asked to pick out the dozen horses that had no chance whatever, Cremorne would have headed the list as the least likely of the lotto effect the almost inevitable surprise.”

Sydney Truth remarks : —“ Ernie Huxley must have had neither time to eat nor sleep during the last few days before the Caulfield Cup. That is, if the number of people he told Cremorne could not lose the Cup are telling the truth I” At this season of the year, when Tattersail’s sweeps are in full swing, the appearance of a telegraph boy with a cable is a prevailing hope. Just when cables were arriving the other day relative to the big sweep, a cablegram was slipped into the hands of a sweep investor who had been living on hope. That it was a message that he had drawn a horse he had no doubt, and as the Occidental was close by he stepped in just to let the boys know his good fortune, and to “ wet it.” “Have a drink, bojs, I have drawn a horse at last,” was his observation, and he proceeded to open the wire while a dozen sports crowded round to hear the name of the horse, and this is what they saw: —“Wife has had twins—boys—all well.” It was a message from a brother, and the happy uncle blessed those twins as he paid for the drinks. A well-known Wellington commercial-traveller who happened to be passing through Napier w hen the last races were held in that town, paid a visit to the course during the afternoon, and invested a pound on the “ tote.” After the race (the October Handicap), the disgusted commercial, was telling a friend that backing horses was a fool’s game, and was just about to tear up the ticket he held in his hand, when the friend catching sight of the number on the bit of pasteboard, said:—“Well, I don’t know what you have got to growl about. I see you are holding a ticket on ‘ Lotion,’ and he has just paid a £25 11s div.’ The delighted man of commerce took another look at the ticket. Yes, he’d struck the winner allright. He had asked for a ticket on another horse, and the “ tote” clerk had given him one on “Lotion” by mistake! Naturally, he had several “lotions” after that. — Spectator. “Asmodeus”’ tip in the Melbourne Leader for the Caulfield Cup was almost identical to that of « Atlas” in the Sporting Review. “ Asmodeus,” like “Atlas.” started with Le Var, and had the colt not been interfered with in the race it is probable he would have won. A southern paper referring to the late Wanganui meeting states “ no fault could be found with the finishes which, taken collectively, were the most exciting seen on the course for many a long day.” One would naturally think that this should be conclusive evidence of the excellence of Mr Evett’s handicapping, but strangely enough the journal from which the above quotation was taken remarks in almost the same sentence, “It is a matter of opinion whether Mr Evett’s handicapping was equitable or not.” Truly a handicapper’s lot is not a happy one. If exciting finishes may not be accepted as evidence of good handicapping then that reason should he set f rth in big letters in the petition which Mr Evett’s opponents are said to have got up against him. The performance of the South Australian horse, Broken Hill, in the Hotham Handicap, on the first day of the V.R.C. meeting, so displeased the stewards that they deemed it necessary to give the owner and trainer a caution. It will be seen by a notice elsewhere that, under certain conditions, the Sporting Review will supply applicants with telegraphic news concerning the results of races in New Zealand. Dreams have a charm for those who want to pee pinto the future of horse racing, and anything approaching a coincidence is also listened to with avidity by those who wash to anticipate the decision of the judge in any important event. At Cup time we hear more of dreams and coincidences than at any other season of the year. Just now we have heard it demonstrated that Black and Red cannot lose, for did not Mr Tobias last year lay a client £6O against Euroclydon. That client regretted the wager, and wished to change it. The obliging Tobias did so, and the wager was taken over by a respected publican who is in the habit of dispensing the best “three star” to the thirsting pencillers. Euroclydon won, and here comes the coincidence. Mr Tobias has this year laid £6O against Black and Red, his client regretted the wager, and the bet has been taken over by the same publican who profited over Euroclydon last year. To make the coincidence complete Black and Red will have to win, but his stock is going up.' A sporting friend draws attention to the fact that last year Euroclydon won a race at Oamaru just before the Cup. This year Lord Roslyn won the Oamaru race, and he is in the Cup. Other tales of a similar nature might be given, but the office boy is shouting “ dicken.” As Monday is a post and telegraph holiday, totalisator investments on the Canterbury meeting should be sent to arrive not later than Saturday.

Newhaven’s Derby will long be remembered because of his easy victory, notwithstanding the fact that the field was considered to have been the best that has saddled up for the Blue Ribbon of the Victorian Turf. The time, too, was remarkable, but it has been beaten three times, namely, by Carnage in 1893, Trident in 1886, and Martini Henry in 1883. Newhaven’s victory, however, was much more easily obtained than those of Carnage, Martini Henry, and Trident, and according to the report of the race it is evident that the brilliant son of Newminster could have broken the 2minutes 39 seconds. If Newhaven did not quite break the record he gave it, as well as the members of the Ring, a rough shake. His two-year-old form was such that he was a very hot winter favourite, and his name in doubles was coupled with anything that had the remotest chance in the Melbourne Cup. Thus, although the metallicians had reason to rejoice and make merry when Cremorne won the Caulfield Cup they experienced a sensation of a very different .sort when the cable flashed the intelligence that the favourite had won the V.R C. Derby of 1896. It was a shock to them, because the victory of The Officer and the defeat of Newhaven in the Caulfield Guineas had caused them to hope for better things. So far as the Auckland books are concerned, they took their defeat very well, and one of them was even jovial, and consoled those clients who had backed Newhaven with the observation that if the worst came he had his carpet bag ready for»the emergency. During Saturday afternoon there was a steady demand for Newhaven. Nothing else scarcely was asked for, and he advanced from 2 to 1 to 6 to 4. In the early portion of Newhaven’s two-year-old careerhe appeared several times unsuccessfully but he commenced his winning record at Caulfield in the spring, when he won the Nursery Handicap giving him nearly a stone weight. Then however he from Coil and Kobold, but at that time Coil was met Coil on even terms in the rich Maribyrnong Plate and beat him again, Kobold, as at Caulfield, filling the third place. Two months later Kobold, with one stone in his favour, beat Newhaven in the Norraanby Stakes, but at Geelong, in the Sires’ Produce Stakes, he had his revenge by giving Kobold 81bs and a beating. In February, at Caulfield, Newhaven’s victorious career was checked by Coil in the Oakleigh Plate, but at the V.R.C. Autumn Meeting he won the Ascot Vale Stakes with 9.7 up, from Kobold, 8.12, and Tire, 8.5. At the same meeting he ran second to Hova in the All-aged Stakes, and then at the Randwick meeting he was for a second time beaten by Coil at equal weights in the Champagne Stakes. Then he won the Easter Stakes, carrying 9.7 over six furlongs in Imin 16sec, Cydnus, 8.12, and Gozoczar, 8.4, being second and third. It was not Mr Jones’ intention to send Newhaven to Randwick this year.

He was in England, and cabled to Hickenbotham to that effect. This caused the trainer some onnoyance, and it was quite on the cards that Newhaven would have to find other quarters, but Mr Jones altered his mind, and to satisfy Walter Hickenbotham Newhaven was sent to Sydney. He was not engaged in the A. J.O. Derby, but the only two races in which he appeared, the Spring Stakes and Craven Plate, he won in brilliant style, among his victims being Hopscotch. He became a greater favourite than ever, until he was defeated in the Caulfield Guineas, and then he settled all questions as to his being the best horse of the year by winning the V.R.C. Derby. However, one thing should not be forgotten, and that is that Newhaven has sometimes disappointed his friends, his Caulfield Guineas performance to wit. The Referee (Sydney) and the Sportsman (Melbourne) supplied the following as their leading tips for the Melbourne Cup : — Referee : Marusa or Resolute 1, Newhaven 2, Hopscotch 3; Sportsman : The Skipper 1, The Chevalier 2, Sabretache 3. Some sporting journals, however, do not rely on the efforts of one tipster, and the result is that the selections given are perplexingly numerous. It comes out all right afterwards, however, as if one selection happens to get home it is quoted and fathered as “ our own.” At the last Avondale meeting Frank was an unsuccessful competitor in the Electric Handicap. After the race the idle gossip of some dissatisfied people reached the ears of Frank’s jockey, Fred. Davis, and he demanded an investigation by the Club. He was supported in that request by Mr Skipworth, and yesterday the matter came before the Avondale authorities, who after investigation found that there was not a shadow of suspicion to warrant any statement that Frank had not been ridden out or improperly used. Although the race for the Melbourne Cup still continues to interest the inhabitants of the whole of Australasia, there was this year a perceptible falling off, (so far as New Zealand at any rate is concerned, in the feverish interest which has been evinced in previous Cup races. The fact that there were over 70,000 people at Flemington on Cup day may be accepted as an evidence of returning prosperity to Australia. Last year, when the South Australian representative, Auraria won the attendance was not nearly so large. The news of the Cup on Tuesday came very promptly to hand and considerably before six o’clock it was known that Newhaven had won and achieved a victory that fairly eclipses the performance of any three-year-old in the history of the Melbourne Cup. No three-year-old had hitherto succeeded in carrying more than weight for age to victory in the great two mile handicap, and when the failure of so many brilliant three-year-olds, year after year with only weight-for-age and even under on their backs, is remembered it is not surprising that many thought the handi.

capper had acted almost harshly in asking the; Newminster colt to carry an additional seven pounds. Mr Dakin, however, was right and Newhaven has put up the record for a three-year-old in the Melbourne Cup. His time is only a quarter of a second slower than that of the mighty Carbine, but it must be remembered that he won easily and perhaps had he been pressed the time record would have been broken. Brilliant as Newhaven’s victory was Carbmes’s performance still stands out as the best. His time is a quarter of a second less than Newhaven’s and in addition it should be remembered he carried 141bs more than his weight-for-age. Le Var ran a good second to Mischief in the Hotham Handicap. What an unlucky colt this son of Lochiel is. At the Hawkesbury, A. J.C., . V.A.T.C., and the V.R.C. Spring meetings he has been very close to several good stakes, including the Caulfield Cup and Epsom Handicap. The' Hotham Handicap was cut out in 2min 38sec, so that Le Var ran pretty close up to his Caulfield Cup form. Tom Payten trains Le Var, and, so far as the first day of the V.R.C. is concerned, his recent bad luck stuck to him. He ran second with Paul Pry in the Coburg Stakes and third in the Derby with Coil. The time was when the Newmarket stable was very nearly invincible, but that was in the, days of the Hon. James White and his great horses, Abercorn, Chester, Cranbrook, Martini Henri, and others quite too numerous to mention. The Melbourne Sportsman says that it is not true that a jockeys’ ring exists in Victoria. The Melbourne Age, however, dees not appear to coincide in that opinion, and the Sportsman, strangely enough, in another part of the journal complains of the plunging backers suborning jockeys. Important improvements are being made on the Takapuna Course, and when next sporting men congregate there they will scarcely know it. (Jan. 29th and 30th have been selected as the dates for the Summer meeting. The Winter meeting will be held on May 22nd and 24th. Newhaven was a bad horse for the New Zealand ring, but Bloodshot would have pleased them immensely. Bloodshot’s.second was a great surprise here as Mr Stead’s expressed opinion that he could not stay had been pretty generally adopted.