Sporting and Dramatic REVIEW AND LICENSED VICTUALLERS' GAZETTE WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD Thursday, March 12, 1903. Sporting Topics.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 679, 12 March 1903, Page 12

Sporting and Dramatic REVIEW AND LICENSED VICTUALLERS' GAZETTE WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD Thursday, March 12, 1903. Sporting Topics.

(By

“The Judge.”)

Those who may perchance have followed “ The Judge’s ” selections at the South Auckland Racing Club’s Meeting, on Saturday, can have had no reason to quarrel with the forecast, which was remarkably accurate. In eight tries seven winners were given right out, while in the Cup the placings for first, second, and third were exactly correct. Taking into consideration that the selections were written four days before the meeting, the feat will take a certain amount of beating.

Green and Gold keeps up her form, and has been fairly scooping the pool round the country meetings. At Hamilton, oh Saturday, the Soult —Rose and White filly still further added to her laurels by winning the Claudelands and Flying Handicaps. The fout-year-old was loaded with plenty of weight too.

The,re was a rather nasty accident in the Claudelands Handicap at Hamilton, on Saturday. A shower had made the track rather slippery, and coming into the straight Missi Lottie, who was running second behind Green and Gold, fell. Maid of Honour fell over Miss Lottie, and she in her turn brought down Miracle, McPherson, who fell first, had his collarbone broken, while Satman, on Maid of Honour, had his ribs rather crushed, but Barron, who had the mount on Miracle, escaped with a shaking. Not so the horse, who was so seriously injured that he had to be shot.

The defeat of the all-conquering Wakeful by Chantress in the All-Aged Stakes, on the concluding day of the Flemington meeting, must have given the backers of' the Trenton mare a great shock, for so confident were they of her ability to score that odds of 5 to 2 were laid on Mr Macdonald’s champion. That the latter cannot have been quite herself is evidenced from the fact that although the time taken, viz., Imin 43sec, was comparatively slow, Wakeful could not get within two lengths of the winner, and this, too, with only nine pounds difference in the weights. Wakeful’s more recent performances* rather remind one of the English champion mare Sceptte's doings. One day they are found equal to performance bordering on the marvellous, and the very next time are unable to show to advantage in a race for which they appear to be absolute certainties. The natural perversity of the sex, I suppose.

The defeat of Advance by .Machine Gun in the Jackson Stakes, at Wanganui, stamps the two-year-old son of Hotchkiss and Rubina as a particularly smart youngster. As the six furlongs were reeled off in Imin 14 3-ssec, the pace must have been pretty solid throughout, and the black champion was beaten by two lengths. Machine Gun is described as. a very fine stamp of a colt, possessing great substance and quality, but. is unfortunately troubled with an affection of the wind.

Tarcoola, winner of the Melbourne Gup in the early 96’s, is to be the principal stallion at* the breeding farm, established by J. J. Moore, at Fair Oaks, a fewmiles fron San Francisco. Moore recently purchased a number of high-class brood mares, which are to he mated with the Australian sire.

When the weights of the Wanganui Cup made their appearance, I was quite of the opinion that the scratching pen would be put through Advance’s name. It was, however, decided by his connections to let the black horse tackle the gigantic task set him, and such an idol is he with the public that he went out first favourite. With Mars carving out the distance in record time, too much was expected of the son of Vanguard, and he finished fifth. It seems more than a pity that so honest a horse was asked to carry such a welter weight as list 31b, for it was hardly fair to risk breaking down the champion. As most good judges expected Advance compounded at the distance, although he ran a good race till then. If the great black had won, what an, outburst of enthusiasm would have taken place, for truly the public like io see a good horse triumph against heavy odds.

What a hardy old battler is Mars, and what a lot of beating he -takes over a long journey. In the Auckland Cup he was iii front to within a few lengths from home, when the Yaldhurst horse Siege Gun just beat him, and hut for some bad riding by Hewitt, history would have repeated itself in the Wanganui Cup,, only with Orloff in the van in lieu of the Hotchkiss horse. Unfortunately for the Southern crack, however, he was brought too late, and old Mars is returned as the Cup. winner of 1893. The ’ performance, too, was a very meritorious one, for a New Zealand record was made for the distance, which gives pointed proof that the twelve-year-old son of Ingomar. and Lyre was not doing any loitering during the trip. Age appears to have improved Mr O’Rorke’s chestnut, for he must have run the race of his life, while his several falls when racing over the sticks do not appear to have done much harm. * * * ♦

; Lady Bevys (Sir Bevys—Rugely), Espaniola (Sheen —Madrida), and Lady Heart (Coracle-Bright Eyes) have been added to the Te Mahanga Stud. All these have foals at foot by-the imported , English horse Pilgrim’s Progress. Such beautifully. bred mares should he a welcome addition to Messrs Douglas Bros’, famous stud.

With the least bit more luck on his side J. Earnshaw 'would, for the second year in succession, have pulled off the Caulfield Fjiturity Stakes and Newmarket Handicap. After’ the Caulfield race Lewis, who rode Sir Leonard, was of opinion that Chantress should have beaten him, and the result of the Newmarket bears out the. correctness of his judgment, as, though they met on almost the same terms again, the filly finished several lengths ahead of Cooper’s representative. Chantress is the sixth tnrce -ve tr-r-ld. to win the Newmarket, the highest weight successfully carried by a horse of that age being'Bst 121 b by Cranbrook. As a two-vear-old Chantress was trained at Motto Farm, but towards the latter end of last year she 1 went into Earnshaw’s stable at Randwick, and the change evidently agreed with her, as she did well in her work from the commencement. Chantress’s dam, Chand Bee Bee, is an imported mare by Royal Hampton from Missv Baba.

The Coromandel Racing Club will hold a meeting on Saturday next. A programme of seven events has been arranged, and fairly good acceptances have been received. The chief item is the Coromandel Cup, over one mile and a-quarter, in which Jack Brown and Doctor look like fighting out the finish. As the same horses are engaged in several races, it is impossible to attempt to forecast results. No doubt a fair sprinkling of Aucklanders will make the trip down to the mining township.

Fulmen joined the great majority during the week. The son of Castor and Hilda was doing stud duty at Timaru, when he managed to break a legl and although an attempt was made to set the limb, it was found necessary to shoot the horse. Fulmen was bred at Wellington Park, when 'he cost 130 guineas as a yearling. His chief racing feat was accomplished when he ran a dead heat with Ideal for the New Zealand Cup. He also won the Otago Cup, the Dunedin J.C. Handicap, and the Timaru Cup. Only recently an offer of 500 guineas was refused for the son of Castor.

It seems a pity that the concluding day of the Otahuhu Trotting Club’s Summer Meeting should have been marred by several unfortunate incidents. To begin with, the starting was very poor indeed, and it will certainly behove the club to make an improvement in this department if public interest is to be maintained. The mistake in the Criterion Handicap dusclosed a want of firmness on the part of the officials who effected the despatch, while some of the other starts were very poor indeed. Then, again, the judging was bv no means as good as usual. It would ~ seem that the gintieman in the box was about the only one on the ground who thought that the result of the Welcome Stakes was a dead-heat between Orange and Blue and First Whisper, for the former appeared to win without pressure by a long neck. I am told that O’Connell, wh,o rode Orange and Blue, states that First Whisper’s nose was just level with his (O’Connell’s) boot. In the Criterion Trot the public considered that Bed of Stone had beaten Colenso, who broke and galloped in. The judge, however, gave the verdict for Colenso. It was, however, over the action of the stewards in the Criterion Handicap that the most dissatisfaction was shown. The race was won by Colenso, who had a runaway victory from Empress. On returning to scale the owner of Empress lodged a protest against the stake going to Colenso, on the grounds that the latter had beaten' the starter. On the- stewards meeting, the starter declared that Colenso had started some seconds before his time, and also Harold Abdallah and Bed of Stone. He added that he had cautioned the rider of Colenso, and that Empress had started at her proper time. The stewards decided not to deal with the protest, but to run the race over again after the decision of the last race. This caused general dissatisfaction, and the owners of Albert Victor, King George, Duke C., Harold Abdallah, and fhe Mooress decided not to start their horses again. Afterwards the stewards decided to return the money invested on the totalisator on each of these horses, less ten per cent. It seems difficult to understand the stewards’ action. If the three horses really did start before their time, and • this seems io be admitted, then the proper course to have pursued was to have I disqualified them, and awarded the race to Empress. Because the rider of Colenso disobeyed the starter, I fail altogether to see why Empress should be made to suffer. By their action the stewards delayed the racing till an impossibly late hour, and everyone returned home dissatisfied with the result. ” Give a dog a bad name and you may as well hang' him,’’is an old proverb, and there is no gainsaying the fact that trotting is not

altogether in favour just now. The committees of both trotting clubs have been working hard for a long time past to purify the sport, and it seems a great pity that such an amount of unpleasantness was caused on Saturday last. The stewards acted, no doubt, for the best as they considered, but it was unfortubate that the incident should have arisen. It will 'be well in future to leave no stone unturned to make matters go more smoothly, and thus help to place trotting on as high a level as such an interesting sport deserves.

The Autiuiin Meeting of the Hawke’s Bay Jockey Club takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday next. The chief item on the first day will be the Hawke’s Bay Cup, of 250 sovs, while on the second day the Hawke’s Bay Stakes, of 500 sovs. and the Burke Memorial Stakes,, of 175 sovs, will be decided. Advance and Achilles have dropped out of the Cup, as indeed was generally expected would be the case when allotted such imposts as lOst 31b and lOst 51b respectively, but despite the defection of the champions the race should prove full of interest.

The privileges in connection with the meeting of the Papakura R.C.,. which takes place on Saturday, the 21st inst., will be sold by auction by Messrs Gabriel Lewis and Co. to-morrow, Friday, at noon.

The finish for the Championship at the Rifle Association’s Meeting was wonderfully close. R. King, of the Opaki Rifle Club, proved the winner with a score of 459, and he takes, the Belt. His club mate, George Hyde, was second, with only two points less. If he had been successful this year he. would have won the Belt right out, so that it was hard luck to lose it by such a narrow margin. Shanks, of Gore, finished third right on the heels of Hyde. Winslade, of Wanganui, won the Carbine Cup for the highest aggregate in the A. and B. Matches.

The widening of the tan track at Ellerslie, which has been going on for some time now, is approaching completion. Trainers can have little reason to grumble at the provision made for their charges’ exercise at headquarters, for it is probably more complete in this respect than on any other course in the colonv.

There has been quite a controversy on the other side, as to winch horse really won the Newmarket Handicap, a large number of spectators being apparently quite satisfied that it was not Chantress but Independence. The big sprint handicap is run over a straight six furlongs, the course being a very wide one. A good idea of the finish can be gathered from one of the illustrations in this issue. Chantress can be seen on the rails apparently winning by herself, but Independence ran wide out, and can easily be distinguished close to the judge’s box. Although the angle make it impossible to tell which is really in front, it is clearly apparent that there may have been something in the contention.

The following are the new rules as to the return service, etc., which have been incorporated into the game by the English Lawn Tennis Association :—“ It is a good return (a) if a ball touch the net or post, provided that it passes over either and drops into the court,; (b) if a ball served or returned drop into the proper court and screw or be blown back over the net, and the player whose turn it is to strike reach over the net and play the ball, providing that neither he nor any part of his clothes or racket touch the net, and that the stroke be otherwise good ; (c) if a balk be returned outside the post either above or below the level of the top of the net, even though it touch the post, provided that it drop into the proper court ; (d) if a player’s racket pass over the net after he has returned the ball, provided the ball pass over the net before being played and be properly returned ; (e) if a player succeed in returning a ball served or in play which strikes a ball lying in tne court.”