Sporting and Dramatic REVIEW AND LICENSED VICTUALLERS' GAZETTE WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Thursday, November 20, 1902.. Sporting Topics

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 663, 20 November 1902, Page 12

Sporting and Dramatic REVIEW AND LICENSED VICTUALLERS' GAZETTE WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Thursday, November 20, 1902.. Sporting Topics

(By

“The Judge.”)

: l— ———-—-—. Dundonald,|a son of Carbine, won the. Doveridge Stakes ' at the November Meeting at Derbv, England. * * ” . • V- -7 ; That grand mare I.a Carabine, easily champion of her day in Australia, has ■gone to the stud, having been sent on a . visit to the l-'.ridespord horse RanfUrlv. •:* * ■», The erstwnile famous American jockey, Tod Sloan, is reported to be in a bad way and very hard up. It was not so long ago that the “ croucher ” had ' the very best apartments at the Hotel Cecil, while his automobile was the finest in Paris, which "is saying much. Sloan, however, developed “ swelled head ” in a very malignant form, show- ■ ing a partiality for knocking waiters : about with champagne bottles, and was subsequently suspended by the. English i Jockey Club. Desuite every effort he j has been unable to get the ban lifted, .• / t 1 and it now looks as though lie will be obliged to make a living by riding at , < some of the smaller American tracks. ■

Major George's old favourite, Seahorse, with 7st 61b. was sent out at 6 to 5 on for the .October Plate, one mile live furlongs, at Hurst Park, on October 5, but whipping round when the barrier, went up, he lost so much ground that he was unable to get closer than third in a field of six.

At the sale of the late Mr H. Mace's trotting stock in Christchurch fortyseven lots realised £2,440 10s. Mr Barber, of Melbourne, paid the top price of. the said, giving 640 guineas for Almony, while Mr Tye, another buyer from the City of the Yarra, secured a half-brother to the trotter for 4UO guineas. . '

Our Canterbury correspondent, who witnessed the recent big meeting at Riccarton, and saw most of the horses perform who are entered for the Wellington Meeting. wires the following selections for the first day's racing at the Empire Citv;— Wellington Handicap : Halberdier, Fleka, .Cannio Child. November Handicap : Waiwhera, Menu’ra. Shorts Handicap r St. Denis, Ayrdale, Optimist. Nursery Handicap : Starshoot, Armigera. Wainui Handicap : Ringlet, Ayrdale. Flying Handicap : Red Gauntlet, St. Denis, West Guard. * #

Miss Stribley and Miss Ethel Abbott were very keenly matched in the competition for/the Ladies’ Championship at the show.. Both are fearless horsewomen, and there was really nothing to choose between them. . A slight blunder on the part of Miss Abbott’s mount in the final round gave the victory to her opponent. The .riding of the various lady/.competitors was of a very high order o.f merit, and met with many hearty’ rounds of applause. X- * w

The jumping competition is alwavs the mThe jumuing competition is always the most popular event at the Agricultural \ Show, and it was very spiritedly congested on Saturday. The last four to be left in out of the fourteen competi- , tors were Dandy Dick, Te Aka, La Grippe and Victor. Five feet three .. .inches found out two of these,, and Dandy. .Dick and Victor were left in to fight out the battle.' The, latter could not manage five feet eight, and as Mr Schnackenberg’s horse easily cleared this he was awarded the prize.

That must 'have been a duel worth going ia long way to see when Achilles tackled Mr Stead’s great mare Cruciform in the Jubilee Cup on the last day of the C.J.C. Spring Meeting. Betting was very brisk, anti the St. Leger mare' had a few more admirers than the colt. The latter jumped off in the lead, and although Hewitt brought Cruciform with a great rush at the finish she could never > quite reach Mr Monk’s chestnut, whb won by a clear length in the (very respectable time of Imin 42sec.

; According to the Russian sporting Press, the Americans are gradually growing in . favour with owners in the land of. the / Czar. The American rider. Hamilton, a coloured jockey, proved himself in grand foriu at the recent race meeting at Warsaw;, for be was in the (-addle seven times and rode five winners. being once-third and on another , occasion, unplaced. The English ,or Franco-English jockey who wan- '' dered out Across the frontier, to live a life -’ which could hardly be called luxurious, is on the point of being crowded out by his American cousin, not only in France, but also in Russia. In one of the loading events in Warsaw twelve out of the thirteen jockeys, were Americans, and the exw/'cepfioh was a solitary Englishman. The Americans can command unheard-of re-

tainers, and Mitchell, who is riding out there , for the stable of Mr Bloch, draws a season’s salary of £2500. Russia Used to •be regarded as''the last? place a trainer or jockey would /ever select for a field of operations. Times have changed.

. A curious incident occurred in the running of the Fendalton Handicap,, which was the’*. concluding event of the /•“big spring meeting at Christchurch. For some reason or other only half the barrier rose .at the start, and accordingly four horses were left at the post, these / being Tortulla, Siege Gun, Fakir and Punamu. The Cup winner, Halberdier,, won by r a head from Glenelg - after a’ splendid finish. The race, however, had V to be run over again, only five facing . the barrier. Curiously enough the horses / to fight out the finish were the onlv two who had taken part in the first spin, Cameo scoring by a long neck //from Fleka. In acting as 'they did the stewards explained- that as the horses were in charge of the starter no one ; else had'authority until he despatched the field; and Mr Piper had declared it ’.to be no start., As regards the totalip sator investments the stewards decided .’/that thev had no power to order a re*fuHd to backers of horses which were .’ withdrawn. Furthermore, as it appears all the horses were scratched without authority, the owners rendered themselves liable ,to a fine.. Altogether it was a somewhat unfortunate ringing down of the curtain on an otherwise very successful meeting.

Master Arnold Allen, who hails from Waingaroi showed great cleverness in the competition for amateur boy riders at the show,/which event he won. He was on ,a very neat-looking pony, and rode extremely well. Coming from the place he does Allen is certain to develop into an able exponent of the fascinating game of polo. .

It is a strange thing how often the second in the Melbourne Stakes wins the Melbourne Cup. Since 1889 Sheet Anchor, Dunlop-, Mentor, Patron, The Grafter, and The Victory were all second in the Stakes just before winning the Melbourne Cup. Other Cup winners since then, such as Arsenal, Bravo, Auraria, Newhaven, Gaulus, Merriwee,. Clean Sweep, and Revenue did not run in the Melbourne Stakes. So the second in Melbourne would seem to be worth following.

The well-known Sydney writer “'Umpire,” who went over to Flemington to see the Cup run for. gives his impressions of the big race as follows . —“ Now that it is all over I fancy Abundance or Elagship should have won. It was not want of pace that kept Flagship in the ruck, as we have seen by his record breaking performance on Saturday, and no doubt -he was very badly handled. A thorough stayer should have been kept in a fair position when he had it. In ti e straight, where there was plenty of room. Flagship was coming along at a great rate, as though to show what, he might have done. Judging by the way Barden got Flagship along in the V.R.C.. Handicap it looked as though the Cup had been thrown away, and 1 shall always think that, with more expert handling, cither Flagship or Abundance should have won tuo Cup.

The Wellington Racing Club’s Spring Meeting will take place on Friday and Saturday next, November 21 and 22. The big event on the opening day is the Wellington Handicap, for which some of the best horses in New Zealand are entered. The acceptances closed too late last night to admit of appear ing. in this issue, so that it is ii.

sible to make any ’ sort Of forecast as to 1 probable result’s. ’ Mr Chadwick has set Achilles a pretty severe task in the big handicap with ,9st 51b to carry, but Medallion’s son is . such a brilliant three-year-old that he may be found equal to the task set him. Cannie Chief is another with good winning prospects, so has Okoari, who should be very dangerous. In the Nursery Handicap Starshoot is given pride of plate with Bst 121 b, a rather big rise for the son of Hotchkiss and Crescent. Still the colt is a good one, and it takes a lot of weight to stop one ‘of the better class youngsters when meeting a moderate field over four furlongs. Given a start I would prefer. ,to trust Enna, who won the- Sapling Stakes at Riccarton in such hollow fashion. However, as many of the horses are entered for' several events, it is impossible to estimate their chances without a list of acceptances.

The old order changeth as regards training horses, as .well as with everything else, andthis was especially noticeable with the preparation of tjle various Cup candidates this, season. The ancient . style of long, sweating work went out of fashion a generation ago, and nowadays the length of the gallops are steadily being decreased A few years back horses used to be repeatedly sent against the watch for the full two miles, and numbers of them used to give, way owing to the stress of work. This season the longest gallop witnessed at Flemington was one by Sojourner, in nearly record l time, over a mile and three- ' quarters, and nothing else was sent at its top for more than a mile and a-half. which was the farthest distance covered by The Victory, while Abundance never was extended for more than one round of the sand —eleven furlongs. Yet it may safely be affirmed that a better-trained lot of horses than those here have never before gone to the post for ai big race, (ind hardly any of them laboured even under a suspicion of unsoundness. A. deal of rubbish has lately been written by irresponsible and unpractical persons regarding the deterioration of the Australian thoroughbred at the present time ; but dozens of the horses now in training could be picked out that for size, bone and quality would compare with any of the cracks of years ago. while, if the time test be any. criterion at a’ll, animals like Duke of Grafton, Abundance, and The Victory would simply have distanced the old-timers.

Eleven yachts competed in the opening event of the Prince Alfred Yacht Club, Sydney, of which no less then seven were built in Auckland. The finish was one of the most exciting ever seen in Port Jackson. resulting in a dead heat between Mr Brock haff’s ,32-rater Fleetwing and the Logan builf Culwulla. /belonging to Mr Marks. Most of the onlookers thought the Aucklander had won by half-a-length. The Bailey boat Bona only failed to give the two leaders their time allowance by 25sec. Of the first six yachts to finish five hailed from the Waitemata. /' ; // .’ / . ■///'< ' . ' ‘ ' ' //./ /' .../ ■. /■:,,// .. ■■/■ / '■■ ■': 1 - ■ ■/" ■ / : // ■,/.■■/. / ' ' 1 / ■■ //,./ //:-."/ 1 ./ ' ■ ."/■./■ , •>.,// .

It is a somewhat curious fact that only two horses in the New Zealand Cup carried penalties, and these two, Halberdier and Welbeck, finished first and second.

Mr Chinnery’s 40-footer Bona won the race for Ail Yachts at the Balmain Regatta in Sydney. She was built by MiChas. Bailey, of this city.

Carbine’s stock keep on winning in thel Old Country. Car bur ton romped home at Leicester in a field of six, while Caro won the Tweney-fourth'.Great Foal Stakes, of IQOOsovs, at Newmarket.

Nominations for the several events to be decided at’ the Waipa Racing Club's Meeting arc due next Wednesday, Novenjbe 26. Mr J. H. Lyons, of Te Awamutu, is hon. secretary.

Wc hear a lot concerning the df/terioration of our racehorses, but is hard to see where it comes in, considering that at all distances races are run much faster nowadays than they were twenty-five years ago- The recent V.R.C. Meeting saw two new time records put up for Australia, Ibex with 9st cutting out seven furlongs in Imin 26'fsec, while Flagship, with ,Bst 101 b, cut out a mile and three-quarters in 3min. 1 .jSec. , , - ■

Mr Zimmerman's bay horse Gilnockie, a son of Gipsy King from Hagar, won the Waverley-Waitotara Cup last week,” leading from start to finish of the mile and ahalf race, which -was run in 2niin 47sec, and also annexed the Momohaki Stakes two races later. At the same meeting The Workman mare Kudu won the Prince of Wales Handicap. Isn’t it about time the title Of this latter race was altered?

The owners of the Melbourne Cup winner. The Victory, were originally Melrourne men-, who afterwards moved to Adelaide, and after being most successful in mining operations there, made their home in England. Like Mr W. T. Jones, they still keep a few horses in Australia. That they have not forgotten this place they proved by cabling out that £2OO of the money won by The \ictOry is to be handed over to various charities.

Writing of the winner of the A.J.('.and V.R.C. Derbies, “ Terlinga ” .has the following : —“ Abundance is by an imported horse from an imported mare, but he is free from Galopin blood, both sire and .dam being grandchildren of Sterling (grandson of the great Birdcatcher), a horse, noted for- transmitting tardiness and stamina to his stock. Abundance is a bighearted,' genuine racehorse, who never knows when he is beaten, and although he lacks, the brilliant dash of some-of his rivals he makes up for it by the .possession of pluck and determination. Mi- R. Phillips, the owner of Abundance, has had ups and down's, much as the owner of Sceptre has. /but he has ahvays been a staunch admirer of a good horse, and his ambition to get a Derby winner caused him to give Mr James Wilson 1000 guineas for Abundance last autumn Mr Wilson bred. Abundance, and woult. probably have; kept him. but, like many racing men of the old school, he is very superstitious. In years gone by horses he has refused good money for have always gone wrong, and so he let' Abundance go when Mr Phillips made him a good offer for tie colt.

It was painfully apparent during the V.R.C. Meeting that there were far too many indifferent jockeys in tbit ranks (says “ The Referee ”), of <he older ones are much too timid, and devoid of judgment. and the younger lot are .certainly below the standard. Fairly competent riders are the exception, and, after picking out a few, the rank and file are poor enough to disgust the owner of- horses. Aftpr going io the expense and trouble of getting, a horse lit. and trying it to be- good enough, it must be absolutely distressing to a trainer or owner to .find a race being lost through the clumsy incompetency of. a rider. But this has been a common, experience at' Flemington, a state of affairs that needs attention. The conditions of the two-year-old events, or of some of them, might well be altered in the di nation of raising the weights sufficiently to allow of stronger and more experienced jockeys being put up. Small boys cannot, handle awkward or green two-year-olds, who need holding together, ,

The recent V.R.C. Meeting was remark-able-for the nu'mber of records that w r ere lowered. Duke of Grafton opened business in that line, by chipping three-quarters of a second off the best records for that race: Abundance knocked a similar trifle off the record put up by Hautvillers last year, in the Derby ; Ibex, when he beat the champion Wakeful, over seven furlongs, set aside Trieste’s performance over, the same distance by reducing the time by a-quarter of a second ; Patronils beat all previous records at Flemington by accounting for the mile and a-half in two minutes thirty-five seconds, and equals the record put up at Randwick by Survivor, Fairy Prince, and San Fran ; and Flagship, in the V.R.C. Hand ; ’aiu clipped half a second 'off the time registered by Khahi in the same race 1 RS t j : f ’ ' ■ ■ ■ ' ■ ■

General entries for the Summer Meeting /, of the Thames Jockey Club close with the secretary. Mi- W. 11. Potts, to-morrow ”/ (Friday), at 8 p.m. , ' i *• # k The browui fillj r by St. Leger from . Hazel, bought by Mr Nicholl at the i. Wellington Park sale tw-’o years back, won a race at Leicester, England, last month. *• -A- ' X'' ,- •’ -i •j‘ The privileges in connection with the approaching spring meeting of the Takapuna Jockey Club will be sold byMessrs Alfred Buckland and Sons at the Haymarket to-morrow (Friday), at noon. * * * * • In reply to “ Wager.” Mobheriey used to train St. Ona. She won the Takapuna; Jockey Club Handicap, beating St. Ursula, Auld Reekie, and Doctor. '1 he latter : won the Cup at the meeting in question. St. Ona is now in Fiji, and was running at the Birthday Meeting at Suva this month. -j(- w-.’ Nominations for all events of the Northern Wairoa Racing Club’s Summer Meeting will close to-day (Thursday) with Mr G. Smith, the secretary, at Daigaville, at . 9 p.m. Weights for the first day’s racing, will be declared about next Thursday. The Flintlock pony Fairy Fower, which: was sent to Fiji some time since, won a double at the Birthday Meeting with Bst 71bs, the ex-Auckiander won the King Edward Handicap, and with seven pounds / /; more in the saddle scored a victory in )?' / the Queen's Bracelet. Another Aucklander • in Goetzer filled second place on each occasion. ' r •' In the early part of ' the year an In--dian bookmaker laid Record .Reign’s 'j. owner 50,000 rs. to .7,600 rs. against, . that horse for the Viceroy’s Cup. . As//-./i the ex-Aucklantier's form at the recent Poona meeting makes him look a thing for the Cii'p, the book- .// maker concerned must feel .particularly uncomfortable just at present. * . o* 5, . . *• f ' 7? ’■ . ■ Although after the Melbourne Cup many people knew that The Victory / was almost sure to win, R, Bradfield , (writes “ Pilot ”), who trains the horse, was of opinion that he was scarcely / forward enough. Chatting with the' : /; V.R.C. handicapper an,hour before the race, he said : “I want another fortnight ; but if they don’t make it too fast he may have a chance.”

Particulars of the Sylvia Park yearlings to ibo submitted for sale by . auction on December 31 will be found in our advertising columns. There are five colts and three fillies by that highly successful sire,. Seaton Delaval, while other stallions whose stock will be offered are Cuirassier,. Wallace. Explosion, and Simmer. I hope before long to be able to have ' a look over- tne Stud Farm, with ,a view to giving readers some account'. of this very promising batch of youngsters.

I hear that the weil-known Auckland metallician, Mr Cleland, laid over £2200 against. Halberdier for the New Zealand Cup, but owing to having fortunately missed laying the winning .double, tie came out with a profit of about £2OO on the two books N.Z. Cup and Stewards Handicap. Among other wagers which ho laid against Halberdier were ones of 400 to 10. 566 to 17. 125 to 5. 500 to 25, 150 to 15. 200 to 24 and 200 to 32. Most of the money was won by people on. the West Coast, where the horse wastrained. That he was doing some \t , sterling work on the track, must have leaked out, as the Coasters were very solid in their support of the Cuirassier gelding.

Truly horses are uncertain cattle ,tpdeal with, and cannot- be relied on to run twice alike. Take for instance- some of the Yaidhurst string at the recent meeting in the City of the Plains. Tn the Cup Siege Gun ran like a duffer. but ! tw-o days later romped, home in the Metropolitan., ■ Then, again, there was Orlofi', who was never in the hunt in the Stewards’ Handi- j cap. but on the second day won the Derby in the fastest time, on record. King Log,, too, was beaten easily the first day, but on the third) day won with his mfrutti open. 1 There were many other instances of thesame kind of thing at-the. recent meeting, and followers of form are still engaged, trying tp piece together the several conundrums set them. z • . ■ *, •, . '' Ihusa London writer concerning the Melbourne Cup winner of .1896 :—“New,- 1haven 11. now stands only a /trifle under , . 16.1. and at all | oints takes a very great deal of beating. • Indeed, you could not find one with more perfect logs,and feet: and having inherited a full ' n) east! re of the .’lockwell substance and bone, he presents a. capital antidote to blood which tends to the making of mere' racing njachiries with spindle shanks and little power. Newhaven 11. has a specially good forehand-, with / ./ great, depth of girth and heart room. I / ■do not think lhat he was quite at his ’ best in this country, but he did enough for - , faine even here, while in Austrph’a hr •• ~ / an undeniable smn Ji-’- ” I 'I 4 /•: r.iAu-.' / />■• ’-v ; .r?/' .'• -TV J. t J> ■ .. ■ (f/ : ’ii/. 1 4: ,

Acceptances for the first day of the Takapuna Spring Meeting close with the secretary, Mr R. Wynyard, to-mortow Friday), November 21.* * For once in a way those star pertor-m--ers, Lochiel, GozO, and r I reDton, are not at ’the head of the winning- sires in the reckoning; tor the current season ( writes “ Milroy ”). For the first time Pilgrim's Progress holds the proud position at the head of the list, and he has won it by the tors. After the performance of '1 he Viewers. After the performance of The Vic-' tory and Flagship the early death of their sire, Ihe Admiral, is a loss all breeders deplore, and no doubt the fillies of such a i beautifully bred horse will now become most valuable for breeders. Grafton is going on as well as he began in spite of his’ detractors, and is third on the list, Dearly £lOOO above his late stud mate Lochiel. whose death is a serious loss to thd country 'and his owner. Lochiel has been very successful siring little winners, but seldom has a season passed without him having a good earner such as Le \ ar, Paul Pry, Strathroy, and Cremona. This season he has Kinglock and Great Scot doing well for him, while Bedeemed and Lord Clieve have each won the defunct. son of Prince Charlie two useful races. Trenton has only two winners left, Wakeful and Omrah. All but £lO5 of the expatri? ated son of Musket’s score of £2848 was twon by his peerless daughter Wakeful. There was considerable excitement in Sydney on Friday, October 21st (says the “ Australasian when it was known that the police had raided the premises occupied by Mr J. Dalveen, in Pitt-street, and the Excelsior Club, Market-street, where betting is alleged to have been carried on, and arrested 68 persons who were found on the premises. As soon as the police made

their appearance' at Dalveen’s there was a wild rush for. the doors, and a number of men made their escape. Those on the premises, 58 in all, were taken into custody. ' Ten persons were arrested in the Excelsior Cldb. Charges were entered at the police stations _ against. 66 of the prisoners 'of having been found in a common betting-house, and against the other two of assisting to conduct the business of a common bet-ting-house. All were released on bail.