Sporting Topics.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VII, Issue 347, 18 March 1897, Page 5

Sporting Topics.

Skirmisher has become the property of H. Lunn.

Tire is reported to have considerably improved on his spring form. Corollo, the dam of Gold Medallist, will visit Gipsy Grand next season. The Castor —-Sunrise colt is being put through his early facings by Sandy Barron. The racehorse Atlas is doing well, and will probably be heard of at the A.J.C. Meeting. Canopus has been in the hands of John Rae lately, and presents an improving appearance. Galway, the Victorian ’chaser, has been purchased by Mr S. H. Gollan to go to England. Valiant struck himself while running in the Champion Race, and had to be placed in the hands of a veterinary surgeon. Scotland has gone to the happy hunting fields. While schooling at. 'Ellerslie last week he burst a blood vessel and bled to death.

When “ Sandy” Barron saw the weight of Samoa in the Hnrdle Race at Avondale no one could persuade him to smile, and the stalwart owner of Admiral Hawke, when he saw his adjustments, was not in a humorous vein.

Of 22 English yearlings sold in 1895 for over £45,000, or an average of over £2OOO each, 18 of them failed to win a shilling last season, and the other four just managed to annex '£looo between them.

Fishmonger, by Isaak Walton —Accident, who has been turned out for several months, has been put into work again at Ellerslie. He is looking hale and hearty, and is in the capable hands of Frank McManemin.

At a sale of bood stock in Melbourne, Carlton, winner of the Newmarket, was passed in at 350 guineas. Others passed in were : Beverley at 165 guineas, Flintlock 270 guineas, Warpaint 240 guineas, and Ascot Vale 495 guineas. ©’Triggers and Homespun also failed to find purchasers.

Trenton was the most successful sire at the V.R.C. Autumn Meeting, Aurum, Cinderellen, and Majestic between them putting five wins to his credit. Next on the list comes Newminster, with a score of three, and he is followed by Abercorn, Creswick, and Robinson Crusoe, with two each, while the following sires were represented by a winner apiece : —Malua, Carlyon, Eiridspord, Boolka, Padlock, Braemar, Neckersgat, Commotion, Wizard, and Martini-Henry.

Some infatuated admirers of Aurum in Victoria are reported to have already taken 20 to 1 about him for the double, the next V.R.C. Derby and Cup. That he will win the next Derby if he stops in Australia appears to be pretty well assured, but the handicapper is sure to be very severe upon him for the next Melbourne Cup.. Some think that he will be asked to carry more than Newhaven did, and in that case it would be well to remember that we do not produce horses as good as Newhaven every year. Besides, we should not forget that Mr Wilson is going to England, and the thirst for Australian blood there may lead to a tempting offer being made for his purchase.

Sweeps are carried on in Johannesburg without the slightest interference. They are publicly advertised, and the promoters appear to be doing an immense business.

Samoa, by Lord of the Isles out of Louie (a Hawke’s Bay Cup winner), arrived from Gisborne by the Waibora on Sunday. He will probably remain in the Auckland district for some time.

A Clareville sportsman has been lucky enough to draw two prizes in one of Tattersall’s sweeps with two successive numbers. “ It’s better to be born lucky than rich.” The Tasmanian Mail arrives at the opinion that Takapuna is a small place, and thinks it wonderful that the sum of £20,198 should have passed through the machine at a three days’ meeting. For the information of our contemporary we may mention that Takapuna is situated closer to the heart of the population of the city of Auckland than is Ellerslie, which is the trysting place of the Auckland club. The drawers of placed horses in Tattersall’s 5s consultation on the Newmarket Handicap were as under:—First, Carlton, Miss M. Belshaw, P. 0., Kogarah, N.S.W., £4,500. Second, Wait a-Bit, A. J. Hannigan and Co., care of R. Grierson, Town Hall, Redfern, £1350. Third, Coil, L. Grenside, Mail office, Waipawa, New Zealand, £9OO. Hanigan, the drawer of the second prize, is the crack batsman of the Redfern electorate team, and he is very popular in the district.

The chief winning owner at the Wanganui Meeting was Mr W. Rathbone, with £400; then followed the Hon. J. D. Ormond, £215 ; Messrs. J. P. Belcher, £lB5 ; D. McKinnon, £130; W. Davies, £95 ; E. Whakaatu and H. Alexander, £B5 ; J. H. Prosser, £7O ; J. R. McDonald, £6O; H. Peters, £4O ; T. H. Lowry and E. Kelly, £3O; W. J. Crozier, T. Morrin, and G. A. Nicholson, £25 ; J. O’Driscoll, S. Morrow, and T. S. Bristol, £l5 ; A. Smith, E. Penman, and A. Morse, £10; total, £1,610.

The New Zealand pony Fidget made her first appearance in New South Wales on March 4. She ran in the United Stakes, five furlongs, and finished third to Sunshine and Euclid She carried 9.0, while her victors, both old performers, carried 6.7 and 6.9 respectively. The Kensington handicapper has evidently a big opinion of New Zealanders, and if he was not quite so severe on horses from this side he might have more of them to handle.

Nominations of yearlings for the Two-year-old Stakes to be run at Wanganui in March, 1898, are due on Monday, April 5. On that day the nominations for the Wanganui Guineas of 1898 also close. Both events are well worth the attention and patronage of owners. The Two-year-old Stakes is a sweepstake of 10 sovs, with 150 sovs added, six furlongs, and the added money in the Guineas, which has been substituted for the Derby, is 200 sovs. An exchange remarks :—Tai te Tau has Ned Kelly and several other horses in active training in Masterton. The Opaki course presents an animated appearance every morning. Mr H. Nees’ Minnie is in the pink of condition. Mr A. W. Cave’s team is doing good work. Sea Serpent is reported to be in capital form. Taite Tau’s racers, No Wonder and Lady Gorton, are te be offered for sale by Messrs J. Mowlem and Co. at their special horse sale on March 18th. Mr Freeman Jackson, the popular secretary for the Wanganui Jockey Club, is in the field with the programme of the Steeplechase meeting to be held on Queen’s Birthday and the day following. Six events are set down for decision on each day, quite enough for the winter months, and the added money is £990. The principal event is the Wanganui Steeplechase of 300 sovs, about three miles; the nomination is 2 sovs and the acceptance 5 sovs. On the second day 100 sovs will be given to the Grandstand Steeplechase, distance two miles and a half. Full particulars as to the various events and the time of nomination, etc., ■ are given in our advertising columns. “Fetlock” supplies the following to the Hawke 1 s Bay Herald : —“ While at Te Mahanga I renewed my acquaintance with some of the matrons on the station, but several were sought for in vain. Old Uira had finished her career, after foaling a neat black filly to Torpedo. As this youngster still survives, and is the last of the race of those that founded the Te Mahanga stud, it is more than likely that her name will not be included in the next year’s sale list. The filly has found a true patron in Mr W. Hoggard, who takes half a bucket of.fresh cow’s milk night and morning into her loose box, and should the same not be forthcoming the filly shows the displeasure which she feels by turning her back on her best friend. Old Uira has produced Whaitiri, Hiko, Kapua, Kopeki, and many other good ones. Whaitiri stands out prominently as one of the fastest mares for her inches that ever dressed for a race in the colony. Hiko has proved hie worth as a sire, while Kapua could win both flat and hurdle races under heavy penalties. Another old-timer, Phoenix, has passed out. While being a good performer herself, she never threw anything to reach racecourse fame. It is many years ago since the writer of this saw her win at the Hawke’s Bay Jockey Club’s meetings, held on the present Borough Council domain property at Meanee. So great was her dislike to the business that she was raced in blinkers. The greatest loss sustained, however, was in the death of Rosefeldt, a wung mare that should have proved the gem of the stud. Mr Hoggard secured a bargain last year when Brooklet’s and The Brook’s sister fell to his bid of 105 sovs. She is still located at Te Mahanga, but will be sent down to receive her first lessons prior to sporting silk. She resembles Brooklet rather than The Brook, both in colour and build. Brooklet is now running among the matrons, and it is questionable whether she will ever sport silk again, as she has been mated with Quilt. Rivulet missed last year. The Quilt—Nymph yearling was sold as a foal last season to Mr W. R. Wilson, of Victoria. The price paid was 100 guineas. The brood mares were all enjoying ease in long grass, with some twenty colts and fillies by their side. They

were all in fine condition, and bid promise for big prices next year. Among the brood mares I noticed Araoureux, yis f a, Lady Maxwell,.JEgyptilla, Nymph, Jeuzail, Brooklet, Whaitiri, Waingongora, Kopeki, and many others.”

Claude, the steeplechaser whose leg was experimented on by means of the X Rays, has been turned out for a spell.

Gipsy Grand will do duty at the Elderslie Stud next season, he having been leased for stud purposes to Mr J. F. Reid. Carnage’s first English foal was a chestnut filly out of Bluet te. According to Colonial slang, the mare’s name (“ Blew-it”) is not a good one. According to a good judge who was at Wanganui, Fabulist presented a very weary appearance, and looked more as if a good rest would do him good than a waking-up in a race. Fabulist is either not of much account, or else his attendants do not understand his constitution and fail to get him cherry ripe. The St. Leger —Antelope yearling half-brother to Brown Mantle is to be called Blue Jacket. Mr W. R. Wilson, when visiting Auckland, formed a good opinion of this colt, and had it not been for his sudden return to Australia it is probable he would have purchased him. Hukatere has not quite recovered from the affection of the throat from which he whs suffering at the Takapuna meeting. Nevertheless, he looks fairlv well.

It was generally thought in Auckland last week that St. Paul would be taken to Napier, but he was brought back to Ellerslie on Wednesday evening Mr George Wright left for Napier on Friday to look after the interests of Day star.

The one-time owner of Bluefire ai d Bloodshot stated, when being toasted at Dunedin, “ that the Press had done much in placing the sport in the position it bad attained in New Zealand.” Mr Stead can speak from experience.

The following are the names bestowed by Sir George Clifford on his youngsters: —Ch f by Stonyhurst—Alsace, Francesca; ch c by Stony - hurst — Toredo, Tangle wood ; br f by Stonyhurst —Blackcloud, Raindrop; b c by Stonyhurst— Weather Eye, Crow’s Nest ; b f by Perkin Warbeck 11. —Blvthside, Fireside.

1 he delay in the publication of the weights for the first day of the Avondale Races were caused by the rough and extended passage by the steamer bringing back our handicapper. The turbulent wave gave Mr Evett all he could do to maintain his own equilibrium, without bothering about adjusting weights for turbulent Auckland horseowners.

The horse market in Calcutta is glutted stagnant (says the Planters Gazette). It is a sign of the bad times when shippers are seriously discussing the advisability of taking their horses back to Australia, or of shipping them on to the Cape to save a total loss. A species of sauve qai pent has set in since Government has ceased buying, and with such a large number of horses still unsold and no market to get them off, the prospects of the majority of the shippers look gloomy in the extreme.

Sporting men will agree with “ Silverspur ” in the Mail that the inauguration of a St. Leger Stakes in 1899 is an excellent idea, and it is to be hoped that the enterprise of the Wellington Racing Club will meet with its due reward. A classic race is not only a great feature in itself, but it attracts the best cattle in the colony, who will in all likelihood take part in other events at the meeting. The prize of 500 sovs for the St. Leger is an attractive purse, and should entice a large number of nominations. The late Mr Davis, the biggest bookmaker of his time in England, probably laid the biggest bet ever recorded when he wagered £lOO,OOO to £lOOO against three horses owned by a Mr Clark and entered in the Derby of 1856. There is also a bet recorded of £99,000 and £30.000, the big amount being laid by Lord Glasgow and the smaller by Lord George Bertinck, who lost. In 1885 a young lordling bet £3OOO to £3O that St. Simon, a very celebrated racehorse, would win a race in which but one other animal was to start. St. Simon was so hot a favourite that 100 to 1 was laid on his chance; such odds, of course, being very unusual, and meaning that there was no betting being done. That lord, however, actually bqt his £3,000 against a bookmaker’s £3O as coolly as if he had been accepting and not laying the tremendous odds. St. Simon won in a canter.

Since he won the Newmarket Handicap with Carlton, as well as about £4OOO in cash and a portion of the sweep money, the newspapers who once familiarly called him Tommy now respectfully refer to him as Mr Hales. Thus the Sportsman : —“ Although Mr Hales, on Cranbrook, beat the time of his own horse, Carlton, by a quarter of a second, I reckon that the last Newmarket record is really the best. In ’BB the Newmarket Handicap was started by flag; Saturday the horses were despatched from behind the barrier, which certainly would mean a difference of, say, half a second.”

The glorious uncertainty of the turf was well exemplified at the polo sports on Saturday, when several hot favourites were badly beaten. The most noticeable failure was that of First Whisper in the Polo Cup. The mare had done a trial with Chance It, and the latter was of no use to First Whisper in the gallop. The result was that the Chance It people put their dollars on First Whisper, whose party supported their own, and so great was the support accorded to the mare that bookmakers asked for 2 to 1 on, and Chance It was a neglected outsider. The mare completely failed, much to the disgust of her supporters, and Chance It, to the delight of the fielders, romped home. One punter in the depth of his misery spoke in a melancholy strain. He said it was better to chance it than back the first whisper. Frank Macmanemin, who had charge of Chance It. whs probably more surprised than anyone else with the result.

Excellent entries were received by Mr Percival for the Easter Handicap, the Autumn Handicap, and the Easter Steeplechase, and if Mr Evett is only happy in his ad justments, we should have three tip top races at the autumn gathering. The entries appear elsewhere. We shall see the handicaps for the Steeplechase and Easter Handicap on April 1. Although the name did not appear in the cabled list of horses entered for the Sydney Gold Cup. Nestor, it appears, was entered after all. He has been handicapped at 8.4, and as he is a-ked to give weight to such three-year-olds as Resolute and Charge, to say nothing of such performers as Fadladeen, Sam, Rackaroek, Tom, and a host of others, it is not likely that he will go over the water this time.

Regan, an accomplished and well-known Australian jockey, arrived in Auckland on Monday last. Regan has accepted an engagement to ride Mr Douglas’ horses. The programme prepared for the winter meeting of the Takapuna Jockey Club, to be held on May 22 and 24, appears in our advertising columns The added money for the seven events amounts to £825. The leading item on the first day is the Birthday Handicap of 100 sovs, one and a quarter miles, and on the second day the richest stake is the Steeplechase of 125 sovs, three and a half miles. Nominations are due on Friday, April 23, and weights for the first day are promised for May 7. The obliging secretary of the club, Mr Wynyard, has recently been suffering from a severe cold, but he is in harness again, and that means a big entry for the winter re-union. The Sydney Peferee remarks with reference to Gold Medallist: —“ It is generally admitted that the Medallion colt is one of the best of his age ever seen in his otvn colony, and it is a pity that he and the Victorian colt, Aurum, cannot meet just now when both are in such great trim. Bloodshot was one of the biggest disappointments at the V.R.C. Autumn meeting. The touts gave glowing accounts of the New Zealander before the meeting, and after his failure in the Champion .Stakes it was said that he had injured himself internally. That may be perfectly true, but if Bloodshot was as good as the touts mad« him out to be the stable did not appear to think so, otherwise why did they back his stable companion, Warpaint, in preference to him in the Essendon Stakes.

Carbine was the sire selected by the judges in the London Sportsman's competition as the most fitting mate in England for Thais, and only six competitors dropped upon the Musket horse, among them being the Marchioness of Londonderry. The following is the result of the poll among the horses most favoured : —lsinglass 39, Orme 27, Carnage 19, Melton 18, Ayrshire 15, Trenton 15, Kendal 11, Sir Hugo 10, Royal Hampton 10, Common 10, Best Man 7. Donovan 7, and with 6 or less votes —Bend Or, Blue-green, Sheen, Baliol, Love Wisely, Ravensbury, Hazelhatch, Friar Rush, Rusticus, Glenwood, Petronel, Ragimunde, Wiseman, Satiety, Ladas, Goldfinch, Bona Vista, Cbainshot, Sorcerer, Freemason,

Amphion, Mousquetaire, Hagioscope, Sempronius, Martagon, Morion, Chittabob, Surefoot, Tyrant, Breadknife, Crowberry, and Minting. On the turf many wonderful secrets are revealed which help to show how a horse has either won or lost a race. The latest secret is that Ted Power won the Newmarket Handicap because he had quite recently learned to ride a bike. He, it is alleged—profiting by his experiences in the face of a head-wind on the bike — crouched down monkey-like, and minimising the effect of the wind, which, by the way, wasn’t blowing on Saturday, (time, Imin 14jsec) won the Newmarket Handicap, mainly as a result of his Boreas-dodging bicycling business. I (“T.T.,” in the Melbourne Sportsman) didn’t notice Power crouch down on either Carlton or Warpaint. Perhaps the breeze (which wasn’t breezing) veered round during the afternoon ; but, judged by the times of the two races—lmin 14|sec the first, and 2min 42sec the second (good at w.f.a.) — one would imagine that the “ balmy” breeze would be behind rather than in front of the horses. Surely the humorous man of the morning must, as usual, have been joking when he penned that par. If he had said that Power had won the Newmarket Handicap because he could play a hundred up at billiards in less than one hour, or as a result of his prowess as a pigeon shot, he might have been nearer the mark. Jockeys now, of course, will discard riding work on the Flemington and Caulfield tracks, and perform and perfect themselves with the cycling stoop on their machines of a morning. The handicaps for the Doncaster Handicap and the Sydney Gold Cup were issued on Monday, and appear elsewhere.. In the mile race a commencement is made with Hopscotch, whose good deeds up to a mile entitle him to every respect, but the flying chestnut will need to be at his best to beat such a field with 9.13 on his back. Cremorne, who has been ruralising at Tabletop station since the Caulfield Cup meeting, has been asked to carry 9.9, and he, too, will have to be up to his best form to have a chance. Among other top weights who have been absent from the training track for some time are Atlas, Delaware, and Mahee, and all of them have been fairly treated. Atlas is asked to carry 9.9, but weight should not make much difference to such a big horse. He is reported to be very well just now, and good judges prophecied that he would greatly improve with age. The two-year-old Aurum has been burthened with 8.6, and should be an absentee. Indeed, the field is sure to be very materially reduced when the acceptances are deelared. In the Sydney Gold Cup True Blue is in the pride of place, and is asked to concede Newhaven 21bs. Mr Thompson evidently thinks that Newhaven is a 51b better horse than Carbine, but it seems natural for some people to think that the idol of the hour is the best bit of horseflesh ever bred. If he is any good the New Zealand representative Sabretache should have something to say in the race with 7.0 on his back.