Sporting Topics.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 691, 4 June 1903, Page 12

Sporting Topics.

(By “ The Judge.”)

Mr Alison’s riding of SwagsmaM in the Ladies’ Bracelet shows that he is an artist, in the pigskin, and certainly in the very front rank of our amateur horsemen. He got away well at the start, kept the Ben Godfrey gelding in a nice position throughout, and made his run at the right place, winning easily. I do no* thirik Mr Alison has had many mounts in the past, but that he will have plenty in the future, if he cares to accept them, is a certainty.

It is somewhat hard to explain Mr Deeble’s handling of Sudden. The chestnut jumped well all through, and occupied a good position in the opening rounds. He then fell back apparently hopelessly beaten, but came at the finish with an astonishingly fast run, and. in another twenty yards would have beaten .Cannongate, who only beat him by half-a-length. With such a lot of steam left in the son of Rufus, it looked as though if he had been brought on the scene earlier he would have troubled the winner. Sudden must have gained fifty yards on Cannongate from the last hurdle home, a brilliant run indeed to make at the end of such a thing journey.

There is no doubt whatever that Mr E. J. Wait experienced a piece of very hard luck in losing the Cornwall Handicap through the disqualification of Float. If only the daughter of Captain Webb had run straight from the distance she must have won by several lengths, but when her rider drew his whip she swerved from it right across the course. When Durable challenged her she repeated the performance. and this constituted the cross which lost her the race, after the judge had placed her first. The stewardstook a correct view of the case beyond question, for Durable was very badly blocked, although I do not think Mr George’s mare could have won in any case." That the cross was unintentional, but was caused by Float, running away from the whip, seemed equally apparent.

Messrs \athan have disposed of Northumberland -to Mr M. J. i rahan, and the disappointing son of Seaton Delaval and Campania is now on his way to Sydney on the Union liner Waikare. When Northumberland won the Nursery Handicap, at the A.R.C. Spring Meeting of 1901, there were .many who thought that the chestnut colt might have developed into a champion, but this was far from proving the case, although his owners gave fiim every chance. Northumberland will, in all probability, be taken to India, where he may possibly pay his way.

Although Awahuri remained favourite lor the Great Northern Steeplechase up to the start, a better price was forthcoming about him than it was thought would have been the case. A strong doubt was expressed as to how the Kaiwhaka gelding would act in the extremely heavy going, the result being that many stood off who would otherwise have given the brown their support. It must be freely admitted that Awahuri’s display was disappointing in the -extreme, as he never once was prominent, acting, indeed, asi a whipper-in for the greater part of the journey. At the same time, I was not particularly impressed with the judgment shown by Cameron in keeping the horse bo far out of his ground, and then asking him to join this, field when climbing the hill for the third time. The almost inevitable result was that he blundered badly at the first post and rails at the top, and came to grief at the second Even if he\ had not fallen, I hardly think Mr Donnelly’s gelding would have troubled the winner.

Cannongate ran a good honest horse, and it appeared to me that Mr Jolhn Marshall had only the continuously wet weather and the consequent heavy going, to thank for not having been able to lead in the winner of the big cross-country event. The fifteen pounds the son of Cannon was conceding Haydn told its tale in the finishing run home in the mud. A victory for the “all black ” jacket would have been very popular.

The victory of Haydn was by no means unexpected, as he was known to like heavy going, aend he went to the post second favourite. The son of Sou’-wester has never run a better race, and Fergus rode him in a very capable manner, always maintaining a good position without bustling the horse. Haydn seemed to fairly revel in the mud, and when Cannongate made his final challenge was . able to promptly answer it, and win without pressure.

. The Musket blood has been well represented in England lately. Dundas' a four-year-old colt by Trenton, was, successful in the Dudley Hurdle Race at Wolverhampton, ’on April 14. On the same- day a three-year-old Trenton colt, named Trenchant, won the Meldon Selling Welter Handicap Plate at the Newcastle and High Gosforth Park Meeting, and on'the following day Mr D. Baird’s colt Mosqueton, by Carbine from Musa, 'by Mar tag on, was the winner of the Fitzwilliam Stakes,' a good -class two-year-old race at the Newmarket Craven Meeting.

A cable received the other day states that the clever American jockey,, Tod Sloan, is again in trouble. This time the Yankee crack has come into collision with the French .Jockey Club, and the result will about bring his career to a close. The warning off of all French race tracks means that he will not he able to go back to either England or America. He cannot goto India or Australia, as the ,; leading clubs act together in respect to such cases, and I should think the door would be shut against him in South Africa. Sloan was a man who could ask / any price he liked for his services, and get it ; yet his • career ends in being warned off. The moral is pretty obvious, and might well be taken to heart by some of our own riders. X ♦ * * -r The principal racing clubs of West Australia do rather well financially, and Kalgoorlie is one of them (says the Referee). A profit of £4618 was made dur- • ing the last year, aad the prize-money given amounted to £6085. A complete scheme to water the course cost a lot of money, and accounted chiefly for the expenditure being £1752 for improvements. More are contemplated! including the installation of an electric timing scheme, so that races starting at the different points may be timed by that method. The management at Kalgoorlie has been Of a very progressive order.

A singular fiasco was associated with the Great Metropolitan Stakes, on April 21 (says the London “ Sportsman ”), which * necessitated its being run twice. The first time Wavelet’s Pride won in a ‘canter from Liquidator, Prince Florizel being third and Florinda fourth, but an objection followed, of which the appended is the official account : “ After the race’ C.. Trigg, the ' rider of Parody, claimed the race on the ground that the horses that finished in front of him went tne wrong course. This was not disputed, and, as the judge had not placed Parody, the stewards /decided that the race should be run over again after the Ranstead Plate.—(Signed) Leonard Brassey, Arthur James, Leopold de Rothschild (for Lord Durham). The second

time only five of .the original field of nine—Short Circuit, Grand Deacon, Florinda, Parody, and Wavelet’s Pride—went to the post, and odds of 5 to 2 were betted on Wavelet’s Pride. He won again, but had a narrow escape of defeat, as Hardy eased him prematurely, and it was only by a neck that he passed the post fifst in front of Parody, on whom Trigg took full advantage of Hardy’s laxity. .

The apprentice allowance is making a lot of difference in England to the prospects of budding jockeys. As soon as a boy shows any ability he is in demand, for the allowance an owner can claim is always a consideration. Apprentices ought to get some opportunities without being called upon to meet the best jockeys on even terms, and this view has been persistently advocated by several prominent sportsmen. So much so, ‘that they have got it endorsed and adopted. The 51b allowance in handicaps and selling races causes a demand for capable apprentices, who naturally will be preferred to a poor class of riders who get no allowance for want of ability.. Under the new order of things the lower grade of the rank and file of jockeydom would seem to be likely to get limited chances of employment.

New premises have been secured for Melbourne Tattersail’s Club situated in Royal Lanfe, Bourke-street, and are nearly ready for occupation. Says the “ Age ” :—The rooms are large and lofty, and no expense is being spared in getting them up in the latest and most comfortable style. A spacious club and ante-rooms are provided on the ground floor, with leather lounges, electric lights, telephones in all the metropolitan courses, and ah the appurtenances of a first-class sporting club. The billiard and card rooms are situated on the first floor, where the furnishing and decorations are being carried out on a sumptuous scale. Since its reconstruction a little over twelve months ago, the popularity of the club has increased surprisingly, and it now has the largest membership of any club in the metropolis.

Reaf-Admiral Kaminyura and about "o officers of the Japanese warship at present at Melbourne were taken in drags to the Flemington Racecourse, where they were welcomed by several members of the committee and Mr H. Byron Moore, the secretary. After inspecting the course the visitors expressed themselves delighted at what they had seen.. There seems to be a little uncertainty in the minds of a good many people I have met as to ,the identity of the new importation, Torchon, which has been confounded with ■ the Goodwood Handicap winner. It. is. a case of similarity of .names. The latter horse is a black gelding by the recently defunct St. Swithin from Black Rose, and is named Trochon, whereas the recent arrival, Torchon, is a grey mare by Abermarle from Real Lace, the name being, of course, suggested by that of the dam. • ~ The ancient idea of a day’s sport was, to say the least of it, peculiar. A programme which contained the items in the following advertisement must have furnished spectators with, at any rate, sufficient excitement, though the entertainment cannot have been considered edifying “Ai the bear garden at Hockley-in-the-Hole, near Clerkenwell Green. These are to give notice to all gentlemen, gamesters, and others that on this present Monday, being April 27, 1702, a great match. is to be fought by a bald-faced dog of Middlesex against a . fallow dog of Cowcross for a guinea each dog. Five let-goes out of hand. Which goes furthest and fairest in wins all. Being a general day of sport by all the old gamesters, and a great mad bull to be turned loose in the same place, with fireworks all over him, and two or three cats tied to his tail, and dogs after them. Also other variety of bullbaiting and bear-baiting. Beginning at two of.the clock.”

Pony racing was not favourably regarded in the time of King George .IL, inasmuch as in the thirteenth year of his reign an Act was passed “ for the suppression of pony-racing or of small and weak horses.” By this Act it was forbidden to run any race for a less prize than £5O, an»d each horse, if five vears- old, must carry lost, if six, list, and if seven, I2st. This law was intended, it is said, to have a twofold good effect, to wit, the discouragement of dissipation among the lower classes, and of the small and weak breeds of horses. Judging by the weights they had no room for squibs in those days.

When the J ockey Club moved in obedience to public opinion, and appointed three stipendiary stewards to stamp out the many existing evils connected with racing in the metropolitan area, their action was commended by the better class of race-goer and we all expected the much-needed reform to follow quickly upon the appointment (writes Milroy in the Sydney Mail). When the three stewards took office, the first few meetings under their control were marked by the absence of doubtful running and foul riding, but as time wore on old practitioners tried the effects of a mild “ dead ’un ” or two on the new stewards and finding that no notice was taken they gradually became bolder airl their initiative was followed by others until quite the old order of things has been restored. Every race day regulars who know the ropes and inner workings of the turf see glaring “ shunts ” take place under the official nose, but nothing has been done except to inquire into a few cases of inconsistent running. If a horse is pulled in a race the stewards ought to be able to see it as well as outsiders, and there should be no waiting. The time to take action is when the deed is done. The offender should be carpeted on the spot and the stewards should not depend so much upon the evidence they hear from those interested as upon their own eyesight. They, in my opinion, should be the sole judges. They were appointed as experts, and if they cannot tell a “ stumer ” from a “ trier ” they have no business there. It is idle to say that these stewards have not had splendid opportunities of showing their worth and any knowledge of the game they possess. At every suburban meeting of late there has been suspicious running enough in all conscience to provide work for them, and even at the last big Randwick meeting there were three cases of shunting”

that were plain to even amateurs, and were the talk of the course and the sporting rendezvous, but the stewards made no sign. ■ The riders of these horses would not have had time to catch their second wind at some of the despised pony courses before the stewards would have had them in. Strange to say, the running at Moorefield on Saturday was freer from doubtful practices than usual, but in the last race there 6 was a performance that would have hardly passed a body of amateur stewards with even a superficial knowledge of the great game. The offender was a fair performer, was in excellent condition, but had no quotation in the betting. Before half the journey was through such comments as, “ look at so-and-so ” could have been heard by anybody with ears to hear, and to put it mildly, the peculiar tactics of his jockey could have been seen by anybody with even ordinary eyesight.

As was very fully anticipated would be the case, the English Derby has fallen to Sir James Miller’s! brown colt Rock Sand by Sainfoin from Roquebrune. The French colt Vinicius occupied second . place, with Flotsam third, which was exactly as it was expected they would finish, judging by the betting. The cable states that the. King’s horse Mead led till Tattenham corrjer was reached, but when heads were turned for home .Rock Sand shot past, and holding his own with ease, won by two lengths from Mons. Edmond Blanc’s representative. The wirJner,- who started a six to four on favourite, ran the mile and a-half in 2min 43sec. Rock Sand and Flotsam are both trained by Blackwell, for whose stable the crack Americgn jockey, “Danny” Maher, is retained to ride, and it is understood that the owners of the two colts- —Sir James Miller and Sir Daniel Cooper—-agreed that if both horses were fit on the day they should decide which Maher should ride by the toss of a coin. Rock Sand is of Stockwell descent, and his dam is by the great St. Simon from one of the famous Alcestis line. As the annexed pedigree shows, the colt is full of Stockwell blood, and his great contemporary Touchstone, but if it were extended further a greater amount of Touchstone would be shown, as Springfield’s sire, St. Albans, was out of Bribery, by The Libel, a son of Touchstone's sister Pasquinade, aifld his (Springfield’s) maternal grandsire, Marsvas, was by Orlando, by Touchstone. Wenlock, sire of Sainfoin’s dam, was a grandson of Touchstone, and his dam was by Rataplan, a brother to Stockwell and half-brother to King Tom, the sire of -St. Simon’s dam. <l9l St. Albans br biooKWBLL (3). ~ Sor nsfield V * riai ®’ by Mawyas (12), by Or-P-3 - lando (13), by ToucHßioxa (14j. - jr 4= Wenlock (11) by Lord Clifden (21, — Sanda. by Nbwminbtn* (8). p Sandal, by 8tookw»ll (3). M ® (11) iGalopin (3) by Vedette (19). s g St. Simon. (St. Angela, by King I'om (3). S 2 i Hermit (5), by JfMwimrsTßß (8), g< "St. by Touchstone (14). 3 Marguerite. Devotion by Btookwb&i. C3>— • Al-estis, by Touchstone (14), Vinicius, who occupied second place, was bred in France, and is a bay colt by Masque from Wandora. He was just about

the best of his year last season in France, although there was very little to choose between him and Mireille or Reine Margot, two mares belonging to Mons. Caillault.

Mr M. Barnett, of the well-known firm of Barnett and Giant, is now on a visit to Auckland, having come up to attend the Grand National Meeting at Ellerslie. Mr Barnett, who is accompanied by his wife, will go up to Rotorua before leaving for the South again.

The crack horseman L. H. Hewitt left for America by the mail steamer on Friday. He has not gotover the effect of his accident some time ago, being still obliged to use crutches. If his leg permits of it Hewitt will accept a few mounts in the land oi Stars and Stripes. Messrs D. J. Price, and D. Pettie, of trotting fame, went by the same steamer. /

Mr Douglas has bestowed the names of Valois on his Stepniak-—Hugenot filly, and Morseque on his Stepniak—Moreze filly.

The Adelaide Cup winner, Sojourner, was offered to the Sultan of Johore for 3000 guineas, but His Highness declined to give such an exorbitant figure. t

A shipment of [seventeen South Ameri-can-bred horses recently arrived in South Africa. Bonnie Dundee and Newn —first and second in the Johannesburg Autumn Handicap last month—were bred in; the Argentine.

Quick shot, a six-year-old son of Carbine and the St. Simon mare, Santa Felice, won the Stand Selling Plate on the 'concluding day of the Leicester spring meet- . ing, for which he started fourth in demand, and wop by a neck from Cottontail, Khiva, and five others.

Mr R. Gooseman, the well-known Hastings trainer, has a full sister to Evening Wonder in work, and her effort® over the obstacles are sufficiently good to warrant the hope that she will be as successful as her brother when her time ’comes to .sport silk.

Cruciform and Orloff have been nominated for the Epsom and Metropolitan Handicaps, the two big events of the Australian Jockey (Tub’s Spring Meeting. -.As the 'champion mare’s name does not appear among the list of entries for the New Zealand Cup, it would appear that there is a chance of her crossing the water, providing the Sydney handicapper does not load up the daughter of St. Leger with too much weight.

Mr Stead has nominated four colts for next yqar’s Australian Jockey Club Derby, these being Sarcanet (Hotchkiss- —ArmiliaV, Malakoff (Stepniak—Sortie), Ru’ia (Stepniak—Madder), and Golden Night (Wallace —Aura). New Zealand sportsmen will be glad to see the powerful Yaldhurst stable throwing down/the gauntlet w the Australian cracks in the Sydney classic event.

/It is worthy of note, says an English exchange, that the classic winners of StSimon number exactly the same as those of Stocfcwell, viz., seventeen. The latter had three. Derby winners to a brace of the Saint’s ; one Oaks winner to live ot the other ; six St. Leger winners to fet’r of--the still living sire ; and seven on ti e record of the '' Thousands ” to six of "St. Simon’s.

At the Napier Magistrate’s Court during the week, before Mr Turnbull, S.M., Alexander E. Eagleton and Henry F. Fraser were arraigned on two charges of “tote ”, betting and. two of keeping, and assisting, a gaming house. ’ Mr Lusk appeared for the accu'sed, who pleaded guilty to the charges of " tote ” betting. Inspector Macdonell stated that informations had been laid against each accused for the keeping of a gaming house, but with His IVdrship’s permission these would be withdrawn. He (the inspector) had communicated with the Commissioner of Police on the matter, and the latter thought the interests of justice would be served < if the accused werd dealt with on the charges of “ tote ” betting. Mr Lusk briefly address ed the Court, and asked for leniency on behalf of the accused. His Worship fined Eagleton £5 and costs <>n each of the two charges of “ tote ” betting, and Fraser was fined £1 and costs on each information. Mr Turnbull added that the police had shown very great leniency in withdrawing the major charges, and he hoped the case would prove a warning to all concerned that they -.must. not break the law of the country. t