Sporting Topics.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XII, Issue 724, 21 January 1904, Page 7

Sporting Topics.

(By

“The Judge.”)

Th® Wellington Cup will b® run on Friday.

The disappointing Cyrenian colt Cyrue is now trained at the Hutt.

T. Wilson will ride Hinetaura and Gold Seal at the Takapuna Meeting.

Matuku’s dam Kotuku died last week, having got injured in a wire fence.

Gladsome is generally considered to be a “ good thing ” for the Wellington Cup.

The Hawke’s Bay Jockey Club cleared more than £3OO over the recent meeting.

There are one hundred and seventeen nominations for the Great Northern Foal Stakes of 1905-6.

Owners will do well to bear in mind that acceptances for all events to be run on the opening day of the Takapuna J.C. Summer Meeting and Steeplechase (second day) close on Friday next at 9 p.m.

The Hon. J. D. Ormond’® San Francisco —Roie yearling has been christened Golden Gate, after the famous entrance to the harbour of the big Californian sleaport.

Canteen is expected to run well in the Wellington Cup. His owner is very confident of victory, for the horse is exceptionally fit.

The privileges in connection with the approaching meeting of the Takapuna Jockey Club’s Summer and Winter Meeting. will be submitted to auction at the Haymarket to-morrow (Friday), at noon.

Entries for the Dunedin Jockey Club’s Meeting are very poor. Only sixteen, including several scrubbers, have been nominated for the Cup, which is worth £6OO.

The course at Takapuna is looking exceedingly well just now. Present indications point to a highly successful meeting next week.

The Australasian Amateur Athletic Championships to be decided in Melbourne on January 30and February 1, promise to provide exciting sport. The issue wiP rest between New South Wales, Victoria and New Zealand, and it is regarded as remarkably open. I fancy Victoria will win the banner.

The death is reported from Suva of the stallion Favona, formerly the property of the late Mr S. Coombe. The chestnut son of Regel and Friendship, who belonged to Mr Withero, had been running in a paddock with some mares, and one of the latter kicked him in the head causing his death. His foals are reported to be very promising.

The Flintlock gelding Fairy Bower, who used to race in pony events in Auckland, won the Governor’s Cup at the Summer Meeting of the Fiji Racing Club. Among those which finished behind him were the ex-Aucklanders Bacchus and Goetzer and the Sydney mare Bother.

The Autumn Meeting of the Thames Jockey Club will take place on Monday, March 7. Eight events will be decided, these being the Maiden Plate, six furlongs ; Hurdle Race, one and three-quar-ter miles ; Miners’ Union Handicap, one mila ; Pony Race, six furlongs ; Steeplechase, two and a-half miles ; Railway Handicap, seven furlongs ; Hack Race, six furlongs ; Final Handicap, four furlongs. The club has done very well in allotting prize-money and, as this fixture always proves a very pleasant one, I expect a good many metropolitan sports will patronise the good ship Wakatere and pay a fleeting visit to the mining township. Full particularei are advertised in this »sue, but it will be well to note that nominations must be made to Mr W. H. Potts, the secretary, on or before Friday, February 12, at 8 p.m. The handicaps will make their appearance a week lai er.

The following are the drawers of placed horses in Tattersall’s No. 2 Consultation on the Perth Cup, run at Perth Western Australia, 28th December 1908. 50,000 at 55., closed with a subscription of 20,000 tickets, drawn pro rata on the basis of a 25,000 Sweep .—lst, Cypher, J. B. Jones, P. 0., Paddington, N.S.W., £l2BO ; 2nd, Homeward Bound, Morris and Evans, care of F. H. Morris, Sunbury, Vic., £4BO ;Brd, Sport Royal, A. W. Cassidy, Waikato Hotel, Hamilton, New 'Zealand, £320. These amounts are net.

Handicaps for the Gisborne Meeting are due on the 25th inst.

There are one hundred and twelve nomination® for the A.R.C. Royal Stakes.

The ex-Auckland pony Sonica has been scratched for the Newmarket Handicap, chine for there will be plenty of room for

Major Holgate replaces Dr. Stuart Reid as a steward of the Auckland Racing Club

Betting on the Takapuna Cup is very dull, but will doubtless liven up a great deal after the Wellington Cup has been decided.

Papakura Races take place on February 18. Nrminations are due with Mr F. Yonge to-morrow, at 9 p.m.

Thai smashing good pony Buluwayo has been nominated for the Dunedin Cup, to be run over a mile and a-half.

Putty, who was much fancied for the Takapuna Cup, has been an absentee from the training track recently.

The annual meeting of the Foxton Racing Club takes place on Friday and Saturday.

The result of the Viceroy’s Cup is a big advertisement for Australian-bred horses. They could hardly do more than run first, aeoond and third.

Mr Ted Fox, of Putney (Eng.), who is making a tour of the colonies accompanied by two friends, is expected to arrive in Auckland by the next boat. He did a lot for Tom Sullivan, the sculler, in England, and is a keen enthusiast in all •porting matters.

Suivre is favourite for the A. J.C. Challenge Stakes, while Bridegroom is the popular pick for the Anniversary Handicap, the two big events of the Sydney Turf Club’s Anniversary Meeting, which commences on Saturday.

The illustrations of the recent meeting of the Whangarei Racing Club, which appear in this issue, are from photographs taken by Mr Cowdell, of Whangarei. Our frontispiece photos, are from the same artist.

The trotters which the last mail steamier brought from America for Mr Robertson were Jewel Heiress, by Heir at Law ; Vera Capel, by Birchwood ; Myrtle Dean, by Bow Dean; Abbey Bells, by Bow Bells ; and Bismarck, by Birchwood.

De La Rey is considered by many to have more than an outside chance in the Wellington Cup. His weight wont trouble him anyway.

It is better in the long run for a stallion’s reputation and his owner’s pocket that a horse should cover sixty mares at a moderate fee than a few at a price at which he cannot command public favour (writes “ Milroy ” in the Sydney “ Mail.”) In the former case, if the horse is worth keeping) as a stallion at all, it will need an unusual and most unlikely rim of bad luck for him in the course of a few seasons not to get something that will at least maintain his reputation, while with a lesser number of mares the odds are that he will go on without winners until whatever reputation he had will be either lost or forgotten. And there is another strong consideration. The horse that serves the greater number of mares will get better stock —foal for foal—than the one who covers the lesser number. This has been proved over and over again from one end of Australia to the other on stations where usually the stallion is out all the year round with his herd, and will get sound hardy foals up to sixty in the season. Inspiration, by Goldsbrough and Albemarle, by Chester, each siren over ninety ioals a year or two back. While this can be done, we have known a high-class horse in a crack stud, and restricted by exorbitant fees, to go through a yearly allowance of a dozen or so mares without getting anything worth a row of crooked pins. Musket, for instance, was a hard worked horse, as were colonial Sir Hercules, Lochiel, Goldsbrough, Grandmaster, Kelpie, Cheviot, Trenton, Trump Card, Bylong, Julian Avenal, Cossack, Gozo, Richmond, Gang Forward, and Robinson Crusoe, while many crack racers have been unmistakable stud failures because of being laid up in lavender and housed, so to speak, in glass cases. Practical stud masters knovr that stallions do better work with forty mares than with ten, and experience has taught them that the well used stallion lasts longer than the pampered beast, who has a dozen or less picked mares during the season,

Waiuku Races will take place on February 4th. Very fair entries have been received.

The well-known Aucklander Bacchus, and the Sydney mare Bother, were to run a match for £lOO aside at Suva on Saturday last. It was the outcome of the racing on New (Year’s Day, when Bother won a double, Bacchus finishing second.

Marshal Soult is in great heart just nqw. After putting up a splendid gallop over six furlongs, he cleared out with his boy the other morning at Ellerslie. ♦ * • •

At the Clifton (Q.) Jockey Club’s Meeting a jockey named Eugenie M’Grade was killed owing to his mount having fallen over the first obstacle in the Hurdle Race. M’Grade was a brother to flhe well-known horseman “Ted” M’Grade, who lost his life in the wreck of the Kielawarra some 20 years ago.

The Anniversary Regatta is going to be a very big affair this year. With the mammoth liner Delphic engaged for flagship there is no fear of any overcrowding. Thi full programme is advertised in this issue.

At the recent meeting of the W.A.T.C. (Perth) the bookmakers paid fees totalling £2700. For the four days, the paddock layers paid £74 10s each, and those in the outside enclosure £B7 15s each. * ♦ • •

The Takapuna Jockey Club committee Km effecting various improvements to the enclosure. The most noticeable one is the alteration to the totalisator. When this is finished there will be no more complaints of vexatious delay at the maahine for there will be plenty of room for the staff.

The French magistrates recently decided that any person, other than the official employed at the offices of the “Mutuals,” and actually invested with his functions, who shall take money and offer to act as agent, either paid or gratuitously, or its investment at the “Mutuals,” commits an offence under the Gambling Act. It has been ruled that anyone offering to oblige a friend by carrying his money to the race lottery becomes a bookmaker, and is liable to fine and imprisonment. « « * *

During the season just ended in England American jockeys have not made a very brilliant show. Maher and Martin, with 56 and 51 winning mounts respectively, have the best record. Owners do not seem to run after the Yankees quite so much as formerly (writes “Ranger” in the “Illustrated S. and D. News”), and one of those enterprising proprietors explained to me his theory as to their success. “It is not,” he said, “so much what a horse has on him as what he has in him that does the trick, and American trainers are reputed to be clever in that department. They keep pluck up, as alleged, both inside and out.” ♦ • • •

American turf statistics for the past season place the imported stallion Ben Strome, by Bend ’Or from Strathfleet, by Scottish Chief, at the head of the winning list with an aggregate of £2O, 559. Regarding Ben Strome the “Horseman” says :—“Any shred of reputation Ben Strome ever possessed as a racehorse rests on his own doings in private, for his public performances were wretched, as during the greater part of his career he was running in selling races, and though entered at the minimum price that English racing laws allow—£so—he was only once successful, even on such terms, out of a score or more essays. But before his first and only start as a two-year.old, when he was substantially backed for the most important colt race of the year, his then trainer, the celebrated John Porter, stated that he had tried the youngster good enough to win—an assertion that was borne out by his starting at 6 to 1 in a very high-class field of 15, including the mighty Donovan, who won. In this race Ben Strome showed some speed, finishing seventh, though running green, so hopes were entertained of his making a fair three-year-old ; but the btst he could do at that age was to take a paltry plate for “maidens” and another of similar description for “maidens at entrv,” so he was promptly weeded out of the Kingsclere stables, shortly afterwards (as narrated above) joining the ranks of low-class selling platers, so he might at any time have been purchased for less than half a single fee earned by a high-class English sire. Ihe main cause of Ben Strome’s inability to ever reproduce in public the form he showed when tried on the Hampshire downs was 1 soft and defective feet, which were not sufficiently serviceable tc carry his somewhat heavy frame. luckily, he does not appear to transmit this infirmity to his offspring, for an American dirt track, no matter how carefully handled, is incomparably more severe on horses’ feet that the turf courses and grass-clad training grounds of rmgland.

Quite a number of thoroughbreds went South on Saturday by the Te Anau. Among them were Uranus, by CastorpCissy ; the Phoebus Apollo—Armilia year* ling colt, the Seaton Delaval— Stepfeldt and the Cyrenian—Windmill colts ; the Cyrenian filly from Miss Delaval and the Seaton Delaval—Cantatrice filly, the Soult or Seaton Delaval —Problem colt, and the Cyrenian—Chiara colt bred by Mr Richard Allen. Tree Belle, La Valiere, and Castrolina and Ellerslie and foal were also shipped by the Union liner,

Shoeing a Chinese pony is a difficult undertaking, for he has never been under the farrier’s hands, and as the ponies brought down to the treaty ports are seldom less than 7 or 8 years old, the experience ,is a noveltv tlo which th® pony fiercely objects. 'No attempt is made to reconcile him to the operation by gentleness .; the pony is led' under a kind of oblong wooden arch about 6ft high, construced of four firmly planted posts, connected on top by cross-beams. Ropes passed under his belly and over the cross-beams keep him from throwing himself down, while each leg is securely lashed to one of the posts ; and thus rendered absolutely powerless, the work of Shoeing him is quickly carried through.

Writing on the subject of inconsistent running “ M.I\B. ” haavthe following in the “ Melbourne Sportsman “ For the ‘ universal croaker ’—that is, the man who finds fault with everything—few people have either time or sympathy. But there are occasions when one must needs speak plainly, even at the risk of being styled pessimistic. And the present is one of them. Not so much on account of the many Turf reforms that have been talked of during the year just past, as of those which have yet to come, before racing is placed on anything like a satisfactory basis. Not long ago we were given to understand that the infusion of new blood into the V.R.C. executive would effect all kinds of improvement in the conduct of racing generally ; but, so far, the only noticeable alteration has been an all-round retrenchment and crimpin? of expenditure on the part of the leading body, with a simultaneous order to the suburban clubs to practically ‘lash in, and make up the difference.’ The unwritten laws which permits ‘stiffs’ and ‘stumers’ on every hand remain unaltered : and while there come periodical bursts of zeal concerning such extraneous matters as the introduction of the totalisator, etc., little or nothing is done to guard the more vital interests of the sport. Small wonder that our recruitingground for the right class of owner is becoming more beautifully less ; nor is it surprising that the ‘honor and glory’ aspect of the business now only exists in the lingering imagination of a few moongazing sentimentalists. In these days of ‘ corners,’ ‘ combines,’ and general hurlyburly, there’s no time for such trifles. It’s a case of ‘ get-a-bit ’ all round, leaving less! than the fingers of one hand to denote the exceptions.”

Writing about Persimmon and his Derby win in a recent issue of the London “Sportsman,” “Vigilant” says “It did not seem to be quite certaid that Persimmon would ever get to Epsom at all. He was always an awkward horse to box, not that he ever did any tiring very much, but he would keep 'ficking out with one leg, and turning round and round. Never, however, had he gi\en half so much trouble as he did upon tins all-important occasion, and he seemed to have fully made up his mint! noi to leave Newmarket. After mere than an hour of futile effort, Marsh sail to his head lad, “ I’ve tri-4 everything I know to get a horse into a box, perhaps vou’ll have a turn at it.” The wiles and blandishments of that worthy proved no more successful than the endeavours of his chief had been, and the situation began to look really serious. ’ As the day wore on, the little crowd of sightseers who had been at the station when the horse arrived there gradually increased, until it looked as though half Newmarket had assembled there. At last almost in despair, Marsh called out, “I’ll give a sovereign apiece to those who help get him in.” This did the business. There was an immediate rush, and the colt was almost lifted off his legs and fairly swept into the horse box, when he immediately put his head into the manger and began to eat his corn, as though his behaviour all through had been of the most exemplary description. In the gratification of the moment Marsh was fully prepared to settle the claims for the promised reward on the most liberal scale, 'but on beginning to pay out the sovereigns, it was a little startling to find that atj legist seventy men had one and all played a leading part in the boxing of Persimmon, and Marsh had finally to explain that he did not feel justified in disbursing the whole amount of, the Derby stake money, particularly as the formality of winning, the race had yet to be gone through.

An English writer says that the late Sir J. B. Maple's breeding and racing stud must certainly have placed an enormous balance on the wrong side of the ledger, and without the big “feeder” he was fortunate enough to possess it would have tried the resources of most owners. That some of his mares may In the future make names for themselves is likely enough, but when one considers how few are heard of outside of the huge army now returned as at the stud, the chances against this certainly seem considerable.

The result of some interesting experiments which have been made,at the Utah Experimerrtal Station are reported in the “Breeders’-Gazette.” Among these is one which refetred to the watering ol horses—whether before or after feeding, the conclusion arrived at being that those watered before showed better appetite, and retained their weight better than the others. The food, however, appeared to be digested equally well in both cases, and, in the opinion of the station, it is advisable to water both before and after feeding. Experiments were also made in feeding horses upon cut hay or chaff and grain mixed, and the same feeds separately, but three exhaustive trials failed to show that any was gained by cutting the hay and mixing it with the grain.

In America during t,he past five years the Horse-breeders’ Protection Association has condemned 486 brood mares as unfit for use. The purpose of the Association is to prevent the lowering in the standard of thoroughbred horses. Records of all brood mares are kept by the Association, and when one fails to produce horses up to the standard she is condemned and purchased. These horses are then sold by- the Association into the cotton fields of the South to prevent any impure or weak strains becotmisg mixed with the thoroughbred strains. It has happened subsequent to their purchase by the Association, the progeny of a few of these mates have shown highclass form. However, these are exceptional cases, and the work done by the Association is, on the whole, of a beneficial nature.

During the last five years in England Bend Or mares have through their produce won £136, 845, whilst St. Simon’s daughters are czedited with £120,556. On the score of races won, St. Simon has the bare advantage of three, the figures being 245 and 242 respectively.

After all, St. Frusquin finished up at the head of the winning sirejs list in England last season, his total being £26,526, to Gallinule’s £26,478. Half of the amount credited to Gallinule has been won by that marvellous two-year-old Pretty Polly, whereas, St. Frusquin’s place is attributable to the allround excellence of his stock. Thus, Quintessence has been his best supporter, and She has only landed £5350 in stakes.

As regards the value of stakes won, G. Blackwell was the most successful trainer in England last season, his stable annexing £34,135. W. E. Elsey, however, won 57 races with 36 different horses, while W. Waugh won 58 races with 28 horses. F. W. Day scored 13 races with 11 horses, and R. Sievier 9 with 4.

The “Age” remarks that Tritantus after an eventful week, ended his career on Saturday. On the previous Saturday, at Mentone, Tritantus fell in the Hurdle Race, his rider, G. Wheeler, escaping with a broken collar-bone. While schooling at Flemington on Friday, Tritantus came to grief again, and once more there was a broken collar-bone, J. Chevalley this time being the victim. On Saturday, while taking part in the Hurdle Race at Maribyrnong, Tritantus fell again, and having broken his back, the poor brute was shot. * * * *

The following are the drawers of placed horses in Tattersail’s Consultation on the Summer Cup, run at Randwick, N.S.W., December 26th, 1903. 50,000 at 55., fully subscribed : —lst, Bridegroom, H.K., care of Ah Ham and Co., Collin's Street, Hobart, Tas., £4OOO ; 2nd, Long Tom, H. Cook, care of J. Wagner, William Street, North Botany, Sydney, N.S.W., £1250 ; 3rd, Fan Fare, W. F. Ross, Tobacconist, Empire Cigar Divan, Willis Street, Wellington, N.Z., £750. These amounts are net.

The following are the drawers of placed horses in Tattersail’s No. 1 Consultation on the Perth Cup, run at Perth, Western Australia, 28th December, 1903. 50 000 at 55., fully subscribed Ist, Cypher, Commercial Synd., care of S. Rowe, care of W; J. Anderson, Trentham, Vic., £4OOO ; 2nd, Homeward Bound, C. Ullberg, Aikens, 126, Palmer Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney, £1250 ; 3rd, Sport Royal, E. Jackson, P. 0., Leederville, W.A., £750. These amounts are net.