SPORTING TOPICS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, 6 August 1903, Page 5

SPORTING TOPICS.

Rowlock and Zither have been scratched for all engagements at th 6 Grand National Meeting.

A. Hall is to ride Scallywag in the big Steeplechase at Riccarton.

Pharos annexed a double at the Hawke’s Bay Hunt Club Meeting.

* * * * The Goodward Cup has been won by the St. Simon three-year-old Rabelais.

Mr J. Close has resigned his position as President of the Napier Park Racing Club.

Hipstone is reported to be going very well, and should win a race at the Christchurch meeting.

Mr H. H. Hayr, secretary of the Avondale Jockey Club, returned from Sydney on Friday by the mail steamer. He reports having had a very enjoyable trip.

Cruciform and Orloff arrived in Sydney yesterday by the Union liner Monowai. R. Mason went over in charge of Mr Stead’s pair.

Halberdier is said to be very backward in condition, and will now require to be given plenty of work. It is a far cry as yet to New Zealand Cup day, however.

S. Lindsay got a nasty fall when exercising a two-year-old at Ellerslie on Tuesday. One of his shoulders was rather badly hurt. *

My Canterbury correspondent selects Hurricane, Sultana, Awahuri, and Haydn to finish in that order in the Great Northern Steeplechase.

Mr Martin Taylor returned from Australia on Monday, and tells me that he had a most enjoyable trip. He saw some of the big coursing meetings round Sydney, and speaks in terms of warm praise of the manner in which the sport is conducted.

Haydn, who won the event last year with lost 91b in the saddle, looks, like starting a strong favourite for the Grand National Steeplechase. He hit a fence very hard on Tuesday morning, but pulled up all right.

The Caulfield Grand National Steeplechase will be run on Saturday. There are eighteen acceptors, including Colonel Chilinski, who won last year with 13st 21b in the saddle. ’■• ♦ • •

Some good snapshots appear in this ’issue taken during the week at Wellington Park. The famous stud is now being formed into a Company, and the shares are rapidly being taken up.

Hurricane and Sultana will be the most formidable of the Southern contingent at Riccarton in the big cross country event.

The Hon. E. Mitchelson, Messrs L. D. Nathan, R. H. Reid, W. McLaughlin, John Marchall, and Robert Duder were the successful candidates for the six vacancies on the Committee of the Auckland Racing Club. # ■ ■ ■ * * *

L. H. Hewitt returned from a trip to the States, by the Sonoma, on Monday. It is good news to hear that the injured leg is much bettet.

The great Australian mare, Wakeful, is doing good work at Caulfield, and is reported to look in excellent health.

Dr; Connolly, speaking at the annual meeting of the Queensland Turf Club, said that tne A.J.C. was spending £l5OO a year on stipendiary stewards, and he was told on good authority that it was a howling failure. Owners should not forget that nominations for the Avondale Cup, Steeplechase, Plumpton Handicap and Flying Stakes close oh Friday, August 14, at 9 p.m. General entry night is on Friday, September 4.

A copy of the official minutes of the Racing Conference is to hand from Mr Wanklyn, the secretary. A copy of the minutes of the Conference of the Affiliated Trotting Clubs has also reached me.

What a really “ good thing ” Marmont must have been for the V.R.C. Grand National Hurdle Race, in which he had only 9et 111 b to carry/ He has since won two ■©r three good races, and now with list 81b has pulled /ff the Caulfield Grand National Hurdle’ Race, of 1200sovs. The •ged-son or Wellington and Lady Gay must' have jpiled up a fairly big sum in i stake mongf for his owner, Mr J. N. Mc- \ Arthur, diyng the past couple of months. iP. Coegrofe has rioden Marmont in each gfc.. * ■ '

Mr D. Price, the owner of Ribbonwood, was a passenger by the Sonoma,- which arrived from San Francisco on Monday.

There were over one hundred and fifty members present at the Annual Meeting on Monday, of the Auckland Racing Club.

Mr McKinnon has resigned the secretaryship of the North Otago Jockey Club, and has been succeeded by Mr G. M. Proctorj the Club’s treasurer.

The Pakuranga Hunt Club will meet at St. John’s College on Saturday, and at the Creamery, Papatoetoe, on Wednesday next.

The Wellington Racing Club intend to move out of their present , offices shortly, _ more convenient rooms having- been taken at Lambton Quay.

First acceptances for the New Zealand Cup are due to-morrow evening. Rumour has it that more than one of the fancied horses will drop out.

Pampero is highly spoken of as a likely winner of the Winter Cup. The son of St. Clair is reported to be in first-class condition.

Freedom is the most fancied candidate for the Caulfield Grand National Steeplechase, Isis and Sir Harry being the most in request of the others.

There are seventy-nine St. Simon mares registered in the last volume of the Stud Book, and a very large proportion of them have produced winners.

The death is reported of St. Mirin, the most successful stallion ever sent to South America. It was wasting to ride this horse in the Cambridgeshire, of 1886, that accelerated the end of poor Fred Archer.

The definition of a “ hack ” for racingpurposes in New Zealand has been altered, and will an future mean a horse which, at the time of entry, has not won a race of the value of 80sovs. or races of, the collective value of 200sovs.

A good number of Auckland sportsmen ha ve gone South to attend the Christchurch Meeting. Among them are Messrs Gorrie. Armitage, Carrick, and Wylie, who went yesterday. Mark Ryan was a passenger by the same steamer.

Mr A. Moss, of Dunedin, the owner of Canteen, returned from the States on Monday. Mr Teddy, of Ohaupq, came by the same steamer, bringing with him ’ a couple of trotters.

The ten-stone division have won the Grand National Steeplechase during the last five years, the winners being Dummy, Blackberry, The Guard, Gobo, and Haydn. Is the latter to break the sequence this year ?

Final payments for the Grand National Steeplechase, Grand National Hurdle Race, and Winter Cup are due to-morrow evening. The Meeting commences on Tuesday, August 11, and will be continued on Thursday and Saturday.

En Garde, by St. Simon from Engagement, won the Sweepstakes, weight-lor-age, one mile, at the Newmarket Second Spring Meeting. Engagement is full sister to Martini-Henry, being by Musket from Sylvia.

The Carbine horse Pom Pom was sent sent out favourite at 3 to 1 for the Visitors’ Handicap, one and a-half mile, at Epsom (Eng.) last month, but, after making nearly , all the running, was beaten by a neck by Morganatic.

The Avondale Jockey Club’s programme for the season is to hand, and is very neatly got up. It contains, as usual, not only the full particulars of the races to decided this coming season, but also gives past records of all events decided by the Club.

There may be some slight excuse for the hand-to-mouth owner who runs a dead ’un when the market does not suit (says an exchange), but similar practice on the part of those owners who are in good circumstances and who are boomed as good sportsmen cannot be too severely condemned. Too often, unfortunately, such individuals are protected by their social position, and what they can do with impunity would mean certain disqualification to a man lower down in the scale.

Messrs Barnett and Grant issue a neat little booklet entitled “ Form at a Glance,” and the name is a very accurate one. Into its fifty-four pages is-i compressed an immense amount of information on turf matters { generally, while full particulars of the past running of every horse engaged in the New Zealand Cup are also given.

M. Leinart, the French sportsman who won the Grand Steeplechase de Paris with Veinard, has been a favourite of fortune for some years. His winnings in steeplechases and hurdle races last year totalled £23,800, and the previous year £24,500, while since 1897 he has won altogether about £lOO,OOO.

Wairiki still holds his position as first favourite for the New Zealand Cup, the best price obtainable about the son of Soult locally being 7 to 1. There has been little doing on the race, howevet, the been little doing on the race, however, the big Winter Meeting of the C.J.C. mono-

The Grand Prix de Paris is the most valuable race run in Europe. Last year it was worth £10,948 to the winner. France also leads with the richest steeplechase, the Grand Steeplechase de Paris, of 5000 sovs, and the best endowed hurdle event, the Grand Hurdle Race, at Auteil, of £2400., -

It is very pleasing to see Mr John Marshall's name as a successful candidate for the Auckland Racing Club Committee. There was no better known name in Australia than “ Honest John ” Tait, the father of the turf in New South Wales. The well-deserved soubriquet might be passed on to the popular and straightgoing owner of the “ all black ” colours.

The steamer Norfolk, with a large number of Australian horses on board for South Africa, ran into a heavy gale off Durban, within a few miles ol her destination., The horse boxes were dashed to pieces like cardboard, and the animals were very badly knocked about. Only one, however, a gelding by Port Admiral, was killed.

A. number of trotters arrived by the mail steamer from San Francisco on Monday. These were purchased by Messrs Price and Pettie during their visit to the States. The new arrivals include a four-year-old bay gelding by Direction from Albina ; a chestnut eight-year-old mare by Dictator Wilkes from Hawthorn ; a five-year-old brown mare by Charles Derby from Mantaka, and a five-year-old brown mare by the same sire ’ from Lottie. They will remain in quarantine till next Thursday.

Tile American Derby W run on June 20, anjd was won by The Picket in 2min 33sec, the fastest time by four-fifths of a second that the race has ever been run in, while the field of 19 is described as a record one for the event in quality as well as in number. The race was witnessed by 70,000 people, -which constituted another record. The Picket, who is by Falsetto from Voltario, had never before won a race, though he had been out 14 times, but on this occasion he simply roapped home. He started at io to i. and the biggest "winner over his victory was the bookmaking horse-owner, Joe Yeagar, who threw in for about ioo,ooodol.

Pilgrim’s Progress heads the list of winning stallions in Australia for the season, the descendants of the Isonomy horse having won £12,661 in stakes as the result of forty-nine races. Lochiel is a very close second, and his stock have won far and away the most races, no less than 158 A having fallen to their share, which brings up the total of the Prince Charlie horse to .£12,016. Bill of Portland is in third place, only just beating Grafton, and then follow The Admiral, Padlock, Malvoljo, Trenton, and Gozo, whose descendants have all won more than £5OOO. Lochiel, Beauchamp and Padlock are the only three whose progeny have won -more than, a hundred races during the season.

“There was something exceptionally tragic about the death of Record Reign 11. (writes the French correspondent to the “Field”) for he had made nearly the tour of the world, having been? bred in Australia (this is an, error, as the horse was bred by Mr Walters at Papakura), where he was purchased by the Rajah, in view of winning the Viceroy’s Cup ini India, and then sent over to France in order that he might win the Grand Steeplechase at Auteuil. Haphazard broke his leg at one water-jump, and Record Reign 11. at another. The sycees in attendance on the latter came out on to the course, where the poor horse stood as well as he could, and wept like children, when the van came to take him off to slaughter, begging that they might be allowed to try and save him. But the shoulder was so badly smashed that it would have been cruel to have prolonged his sufferings, and the only relief was that there is on, all French racecourses a van ready to take away any injured hoT&e,ja.iidput jt painlessly out of existence, without the cruel delay and bungling, which i are :8p often sickening the heart® of the onlookers on English 1

The Tykes have ever been famous for their inherent love of the thoroughbred (says “The Licensed Victuallers’ Gazette”). The North was the Marquis of , Rockingham’s especial battleground; and in 1759 his chestnut Whistle Jacket, J. Singleton being in the saddle, defeated Brutus in a 2,000 guineas match over four miles, at York. Another seven years’ cycle brings us to the death of Brutus’ jockey, Thomas Jackson, who was (as his tombstone remarks) “bred / up at Black Hambleton, and crowned ; with glory at Newmarket,” and the commencement of Singfeton’s triumphs'? on the six-year-old Bay Maltoa, for whom, in spite of Lord Rockingham’s ' offer to give 71b, no competitor could be / found either over the Flat or the Six ; Mile Course. Eclipse was then onfly an. obscure three-year-old in the hands 'of a City meat salesman, and Bay Maltolt had quite lost his form when this; king of the chestnuts came out for his two- 1 . seasons, 1.769-70. ,

Many of the giants of the English turt have been obliged to back their judgement by betting heavily on their own. horses, in order to meet the expenses of ; the stud. The great statesman, the 14th. Earl of Derby, was so brilliant in his- r - horsemanship that he managed out of 243 horses to produce 54 winners, and gain £94,000 in prizes, which cleared all training expenses for 21 years. On the other hand, the sth Earl of Jersey, the owner of Bay M ddleton, scored countless: triumphs, but at a loss in stable ex-, penses alone of £400,000. When Lord Falmouth sold his stud ini 1884 the horses fetched no,ooogs ; added to which he had won £300,000 in stakes, but his largest bet throughout his racing career was the sum of sixpence, lost to Mrs Scott, the. wife of his trainer. He paid up his loss in a sixpenny piece, new from the mint, and set in diamonds. During a turf career of so years, Lord Palmerston was seldom known to bet, taking his pleasure with horses, as a relief from politics.

A writer in that up-to-date publication,.- “ M. A.P.,” in describing that great stallion, Bend Or, says “He was the most beautifully-shaped horse I have ever seen, and of a golden chestnut colour, the blackish markings of his Birdcatcher bloqd#*being seen on the flanks. He was gentle and docile, and must attached to a small white cat who lived in his box. The cat was nicknamed ‘ Archer,’ after the famous jockey who rode Bend Or so often, and was fond of getting 'on the horse's back. Bend Or’s last resting place is close to the box where he lived, and is beside the grave of his great mate, ■ Lily Agnes,’ dam by Bend Or, of the horse of the century, Ormonde, who never knew deleat. Close by their graves is a little house which contains the perfect skeleton of Bend Or’s great ancestor, Touchstone. In the same little house can be seen the bones of the famous mare Beeswing (dam of Touchstone’s best son, Newminsier),; and also a memorial to Angelica, dam Orme. and. own sister to St. Simon.’ ■

Mr Gubbins struck a bonanza when -hey bought Morganette, who has already thrown two Derby winners in Galtee More.., and Ard- Patrick,.and these have been sub-;, sequently sold for £41,000. Springfield,’, her sire, was a great ,racehorse. As a...' three and he won fourteeii. races in as many starts, being, in fact/, only three times beaten during his career.? His stock have won a huge fortune in stakes. Writing of Springfield reminds me that he is the sire of Daisy Chain, ;, the dam of the Cambria Park stallibß/ Cyrenian. It is • not generally realjww‘,' what an aristocrat is the latter, but fact he is full of the very bluest blocd/? being, indeed, closely allied to the grtt-t--est racing families of the present day la England. Of his sire, S£. Simon, it i® unnecessary to say anything except that, the son of Galopin and St.' Angela is bably the greatest and most sUccesmaG stallion that tlhe world has ever seen. A tolerably large order this, but where 1® his superior ? Then, glance at Cyremato • : breeding on the dam’s side, and itg® ' what names occur in it. Springfield,; Albans, Stockwell, The. Baron, Newnarn- . ster, Touchstone, Orlando,, a boat. « other celebrities. It is Cyrejlian's, j relationship to this year’s Derby winneo| Rock Sand, that is of most intete®i£jj| the present juncturs,' MM* of breeding is'Very bria Park horse is Daisy Chain) by Rock Sand is by the Sanfoin out of the Roquebrune. Cyrenian lop himself, lor b® doubt but hi® 1