NOTES.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIV, Issue 829, 25 January 1906, Page 7

NOTES.

(By

“The Judge.”)

The double-event machine at Takapuna will be worked on the Zealandia Handicap and Takapuna Cup. * * * ♦ The V.R.C. Derby winner F.J.A. has been sold for £B5O to go to India. * * * * Machine Gun was shipped to Sydney from Wellington on Saturday by the turbine steamer Maheno. * ■» -KThe Flintlock gelding Linklock one of his legs on Monday while schooling over the hurdles at Hastings. ♦ ♦ * • The sum of £2970 was distributed in stakes at the Wellington meeting, the chief winning owners being Mr. D. Ross £s2t>, Mr. W. Gragg £345, Sir George Clifford £320, Mr. G. G. Stead £325, Mr. J. Brett £l9O, Mr. W 7 . E .Bidwill £l5O, Mr. A. L. D. Fraser £l4O, Mr. G. P. Payne £l2O, Mr. R. T. Turnbull £l2O, and Mr. T. H. Lowry £lOO. Lady Wayward only made one appearance at the Wellington meeting, that being in the Poneke Hack Handicap, which, however, she won from end to end. w w * * Menschikoff has been sold to an Australian buyer for 500 guineas. At the Wellington Park sale Mr. Reid got the stallion dirt cheap for 320 guineas, so has not been long getting a substantial rise on the deal. * * * * The ex-New Zealander Canteen is to do a season at the stud at Rupertswood. * * * * The inaugural meetin gon the new course at Trentham proved a big success, being a record in every way for the Wellington Racing Club. * * * * Achilles ran a great race in the Wellington Cup, and it was hard luck to be beaten by such a lightlyweighted outsider as Ropa. * * * * Mr. Harcourt, president of the Wellington Racing Club, stated at the luncheon party given by the club, that the land for the new course cost £lO,OOO, the building £15,000, and the railway accommodation £2OOO. * * * * Ropa’s time of 2min 33sec for the Wellington Cup was the fastest in the history of the race, and is indeed a record for the colony. The best time previously in the race was recorded by Advance in 1903, but the black champion carried 10.4 as against Ropa’s 6.11. * * # * After all that was said of them, the automatic totalisators were not working at Trentham. The old machines were used, and put through the sum of £48,185 in the two days. This is an increase of £15,583 on last Cup meeting, and must be deemed eminently satisfactory by the club.

The outside totalisatpr at Takapuna will be a ten-shilling one. * * $ * The Pakuranga Hunt Club are calling for applications for the position of huntsman. * * * « There are but fifteen entries for the Dunedin Cup, so that the field will probably be small. * * * » The oddly-named Bourrasque, who won the Foxton Cup on Monday, is a five-year-old gelding by Sou’-wester from Lady Isabel, and belongs to Mr. L. Pascal. * * T * The Rotorua meeting will take place at the end of February at the time when the bowling tournament is proceeding. It should be a gay week for the “ geyser town” residents. * * * * Achilles was a very warm favourite for the W.R.C. Handicap, but he could only get fourth in a field of five. The Lethe gelding Letherin won fairly easily. ♦ ♦ » * Mr. Duncan Grant is the owner of the New Zealand-bred Sloult —Lady Emmeline yearling colt' knocked down to Mr. A. Yuille at the Glenora sale. ♦ * * ♦ Mr. A. E. Whyte, the secretary of come in for war mpraise for his good work at the Trentham inangural meeting. He was simply übiquitous, and worked all through like a Trojan to make things go. » * * * Geologist was looked upon in Auckland in the light of “ a moral” for the Trentham Hack Hurdles, and the dividend paid proved a very pleasant surprise. The son of Pounamu and Seraph is seemingly back to his best form. * * * * A little friction took place between the bookmakers and the secretary, Mr. Geo. Vercoe (of the Ohaupo Racing Club), and for a time the bookmakers were on strike. The amount asked for in the first instance was £BO, or £3 10s per man ,and the layers of the odds offered £5O. After a little meeting the secretary decided the point and accepted £55, and peace was once more restored to the sporting camp.

The Waihi Jockey Club propose to undertake extensive alterations to the course. It is to be ploughed and put down in grass, while a grandstand and saddling paddock will be made. In the meantime the coming meeting will be held on the Paeroa course.

The New Zealand steeplechaser Moifaa, 12.2, ran third to Questionable and Killerby in the Elwell Handicapd Steeplechase at Sandown Park (Eng.) last month.

Ropa has been a great disappointment, fifteen successive defeats following his win in the Great Northern Guineas. Now, however, the son of St. Leger and Brown Alice is making amends, and he seems to have struck form again. Here and there one meets with a man who fancied the gelding for the Cup, but even the after-game tale-pitchers are few and far between. A dividend of £29 18s was no doubt very consoling to his supporters, but the most remarkable feature about the performance is that he should win in such fast time — 2min 33sec is a record for the colony.

Frank Ross has not had the best of luck lately. After journeying to Whangarei and not winning a race, bad luck still dogged his footsteps at the Ohaupo meeting. One of the horse boxes in which he had Fieramosca ran off the line and nearly toppled over, with the result that the horse was slightly injured and could not start at the meeting. To make matters worse Gwenaid, while competing in the Flying Handicap at Ohaupo, broke down rather badly. As the little mare was well supported it was bad luck for the painstaking Frank.

Kola Nip, who was well supported by the stable in the Glengariff Handicap, had the bad luck to break one of his plates and twist two of the others. The son of Soult was lucky that he did not sustain an injury from the twisted plates. The jockey, Sparkes, who was asked how the horse finished, said that he could not account for the horse stopping so quickly, and but for the accident thinks he could just about have won the stake.

The Soult —Rose and White colt and the Soult—Lady Emmeline colt were shipped to Sydney on Monday by the Manuka. They went over under care of the Victorian trainer, Ike Foulsham. * * * * Owners should on no account overlook the fact that nominations for the autumn meeting of the Wanganui Jockey Club close with - Mr. Moffatt to-morrow. Such a capital bill of fare as that provided by the club is sure to mean a big entry list. * * * « The Manawatu Racing Club intends going in for a ‘ classic” race at the next summer meeting. The stake will be £5OO, and the race for two and three-year-olds and upwards, with penaltie sand allowances. S| ! * T * The Rotorua meeting takes place on February 28 and March 1, when tne sum of £375 will be given in prizes. Mr. O’Connor is to act as starter. * < • « The Cyrenian colt Hiro has been sold to a Wellington buyer, and was shipped South on Saturday. He is a very fair colt, who should repay his new owner if properly placed.

The Whangarei people are talking of holding an autumn meeting. It would not be a bad move by any means. * » » « J. T. (‘‘Tod”) Sloan, the once famous American jockey, whose license was refused by the English Jockey Club in 1901, is now appearing at Kammerstein’s Victoria Theatre of Varieties, New York, in “ an entirely new and original monologue, referring to episodes in his racing career.” * * * * One of the best of the half dozen candidates for the English Derby of the current year is Colonel Kirkwood’s colt, the White Knight, who will be trained by R. Sherwood, at Newmarket, for the classic race. The White Knight is by Desmond —son of St. Simon and L’Abesse d’Jouarre — from Pella, by Buckshot from Pamella, by King John, During last season he took part in half a dozen races, five of which he won, among them being the Curragh Grand Prize. * * * * The French breeder and sportsman, M. Edmond Blanc, will not be represented in the English Derby of the current year, his four nominations having been withdrawn. There are still nine French candidates for the classic event and six American, but it is doubtful if any of the latter will cross the Atlantic to take part in the contest for the blue ribbon of the English turf. The total number of candidates still holding the classic engagement is 159, of whom 30 are winners (in England and Ireland) of 60 races. # ir # w At the Newmarket (Eng.) sales last month the twelve-year-old mare Requebrune (dam of Rock Sand, and in foal to Sainfoin) was sold for 4500 guineas, and goes to Belgium. Other high-priced brood mares at the same sale were: —Grand Prix (St. Simon — Selection), 10 years, 3000 guineas; La Sagesse (Wisdom —St. Mary), 14 years, 2500 guineas; Dainty (Galopin —Poklad’s dam), 11 years, 2000 guineas; and Flor Fina (Florizel ll.— Chef d’Or), 5 years, 1300 guineas. * * * * At Epsom (Eng.) last month a match was decided between Mrs. Aggio’s (wife of a well-known sporting vet.) grey mare, 6yrs, 16 hands, and Mr. W. Wyatt’s (of Kelgate) grey gelding, 14 hands (owners up), over one mile on the flat, for £lOO aside. Mrs. Aggio rode at 11.0, and Mr. Wyatt at 9.6, the lady winning by eight lengths, pulling up, in a little over 4min| Mr. Wyatt’s cob, who was a winner in Ireland and at Mowbray, started at 2 to 1 on. • * • • In England last month the Melbourne Cup winner Clean Sweep was sold to Mr. A. Stoneham for stud purposes. * * « * In Russia, from 1902 to 1905, Galtee More’s progeny won £48,784. In all, 132 of them raced during that period. ♦ * * * The A.J.C. Derby winner cranberry, who is now known as Stoccado, was sold at auction in England last month for 160 guineas. He is now nine years old. The amount of stake-money run for at Great Britain and Ireland during the recently-closed flat-racing season was £524,479 13s.

The Te Aroha Hack Race meeting takes place on Monday next, and it promises to be an enjoyable meeting which would have attracted a number of Auckland sportsmen but for the Takapuna meeting. Those who visit the township under the big mountain are sure of a good time. * * * * It is reported that Isaac Foulsham will have the training of the yearling brother to Wairiki. If so, the highpriced youngster could not be in better hands. *-* * * The Gisborne Racing Club’s meeting will eventuate on February 8 and 9. Acceptances for the various events must be made by the 30th inst. * * * -xMr. Edmund Goodbehere will take nominations for the First Feilding Stakes up to next Thursday, February 1, at 8.30 p.m. It is for two-year-olds and upwards, weight-for-age, with penalties and allowances, and is endowed to the extent of £ 500. The Wellington Cup winner Ropa was purchased at the Wellington Park yearling sale of 1902 by the Westralian sportsman, Mr. Darlot, for 200 guineas, in whose nomination he won a couple of two-year-old races. Then Mr. Friedlander purchased him and won the G.N. Guineas. Ultimately he went to Wellington, Mr. Ross giving 305 guineas for the son of St. Leger, but it was a long time before any of this was returned. The German Budget estimates at £60,000 the share it will claim for the tax on the totalisator during the present year. As this amount is equivalent to that which was received in 1905, and one-half the sum brought in by the tax is to go to the different racing societies, it may be surmised that, with the law against all kinds of betting recently passed in the Reichstag, the Government hopes to double its receipts. * * V The Caulfield handicapper is evidently determined not to take any liberties with. Machine Gun, for in the Oakleigh Plate the New Zealander has been given the welter impost of 11.1. * . * * * Senor I. Correas, the Argentine breeder, who paid 30,000 guineas for Diamond Jubilee, purchased some cheap lots at the Newmarket December sales to accompany the son of St. Simon to South America. * ■» * * Though the opponents of the totalisator assert that the restrictions of wagering to the machines is killing the turf in France, Frenchmen were among the largest purchasers of blood stock at the December sales. M. Brugman, the Belgian sportsman who gave 4500 guineas for Roquebrune (dam of Rock Sand), refused to sell that mare at an advance of 2000 guineas. Delaunay, who was sold to go to France for 7000 guineas, is to serve a limited number of mares at a fee of £l2O this season, and Diamond Jubilee, for whom the Argentine sportsman, Signor Ignacio Correas, paid 30,000 guineas, will do stud duty at Sandringham during the current season on account' and at the risk cf his new owner. • • • Hei-iot, the dam of Multifid, was raised at Widden by Mr. Dan O’Brien, who took her to New Zealand when a two-year-old. Heriot is by Grafton from Graffin (12), a mare by Carbine from Loyal Peeress, who was purchased at the break up of the late Mr. D. S. Wallace’s stud by Mr. O’Brien, while her dam (Loyal Peeress) was secured at the same sale for Havilah by the late Mr. H. C. White. • « « • Although the French rules of racing prohibit the application of artificial stimulants to horses, it is said to be generally known in France that many stables entirely, disregard this regulation. The stewards at Auteuil have been the first to openly check a baneful practice prejudicial to future generations of the racehorse. On November 26 last an embargo was laid on Beliane, who had run in the colours of M. Aubry in the Grand Prix de I’Elevage, and the horse was sent to the Veterinary College at Alford for examination. ,M. Aubry thereupon announced his intention of selling all his horses whatever might be the result of the inquiry. .* • • The total amount paid for blood stock at the Newmarket (Eng.) sales i last month was 109,668 guineas.

MR. J. B. HARCOURT. We publish herewith a picture of Mr. J. B. Harcourt, president of the Wellington Racing Club. Mr. Harcourt was a steward of the W.R.C. for about 11 years, and when about three years ago Mr. John Duncan — the then president —left on a trip to England Mr. Harcourt was elected to fill the position. On his return Mr. Duncan was again elected president, but could not accept the position. Since that time Mr. Harcourt has been president of the club. As a successful business man ’he readily recognised that if the Wellington Racing Club was to grow, it became necessary to look for a better position than that occupied ty the 1 CT.r?c ?.t the Hutt, and it has to be recorded that Mr. Harcourt was one of the leading spirits in securing the present course at Trentham. When the idea of a new course was first mooted, 15 gentlemen interested in racing guaranteed £2OOO each, and on this guarantee £25,000 was raised. Later on it became evident that more money was needed, and then 20 other gentlemen guaranteed £6OO each, and on this a further £lO,OOO was raised. The result of tnis is evident in the splendid course owned as a private property by the W.R.C. to-day. It is not only as 4 president of the Wellington Racing Club that Mr. Harcourt has proved a success, for it must be remembered that for many years he has been head of the business of Harcourt and Co., of Lambton Quay, Wellington (probably the leading land and estate agency of the Empire City). The W.R.C. is to be congratulated on having such a successful man at its head, and it is to be hoped that he will live to see the day when the Trentham course will be voted one of the best in New Zealand, if not in Australasia. TE MAHANGA STUD . Following their usual custom, the Messrs. W. J. and A. F. Douglas are sending up a batch of their yearlings next month for sale at Hastings. I chose an ideal day for my visit of inspection of the babies, and consequently was able to view them in the open, which gave me the double opportunity, for the youngsters were able to show themselves up to advantage, and I was bettei’ situated to examine them than had been the case if a review of them had taken place under cover. D. O’Meara, who controls the bloodstock department at Te Mahanga, soon had me in the enclosure in which the filly mob were enjoying their fling. The first to settle down for consideration was Mongonui’s black daughter by San Fran. A small, neat, wiry parcel, with nice-turned legs, good joints, and truly lined out frame, this filly is sure to come to hand early, for there is a lithesome about her that suggests early development. On breeding lines there is nothing amiss with this young lady, for Musket, Goldsbrough, Angler, and Gozo strains are to be found in her pedigree. A quiet, well-conducted damsel, Waikaha’s pledge to San Fran was the next to follow, and here was found a stretchy, lengthy filly of good stature, being built as if to measurement, forcible quarters and legs of the San Fran type (limbs that carried her dad convincingly to the front in his battles on the running path), and which should also help her along the road to victory. Waikaha is one of the Torpedo—Cascade clan, and her association with Gozo’s son has produced a rare good sort of youngster, who on make, shape and heady should be able to gallop fast and well. Nature has been kind in the disposal of her favours to Waiau’s bay daughter by San Fran, for she is a comely, sweet tot to gaze upon. This young lady stands up well, covers a deal of ground, and has good knees, hocks, and understandings, with a beautiful intelligent head. Waiau, her dam, amongst others threw that hummer Culcita, whose size was against his successfully lasting the ordeal out for long, but there is no fear of this half-sister of his being in the same trouble, for she looks as if she was built to wear. A f “U'eter of the English-bred mare Lady Berys, by Torpedo, and therefore a relative of Lord Roseberry’s, has much to commend her, for she is a well-knit, compact parcel, and though possessing several of the characteristics of her sire, has hone of that heaviness that is apparent in some of his progeny. A rarelegged sample is this juvenile, and

full of quality, and one who, on breeding lines, should attract attention, for it must be allowed that if she was never made use of on the racing path, the strong infusion of good blood that she possesses would be the right material for a brood matron. The bay half-sister to Mahutonga by San Fran stands out by herself amongst her comrades, for she has both size and quality, with much better bone than her full sister Kurawaka, and in fact takes more after her illustrious half-brother than her sister does. A young lady who will take some pulling to pieces is Maude’s sweet, lithesome, well-conducted daughter, for there is not a line out of place from the tip of her ear to the end of her heel. Her spring, action, and lengthy sweep when moving shows clearly that she will be able to move herself with dash and determination when the period arrives for her to carry silk, and her beautifully-formed head and brilliant eyes demonstrate that courage will be one of the long suits from which she will play when the flags are flying from the grandA half-sister in blood to Beronia. who lately has been making her presence felt, was the next item. This is a chestnut filly by Advance out of Ngaio. A solid juvenile, with heaps of freedom, intelligent head, shoulders of a nice design, with quarters

remarkable for theii’ apparent powers of propulsion, legs like whalebone and catgut, with good feet, this young lady should be able to step out. Naturally such an event should be expected from her, fox- was not hexsire a champion? while hex- dam’s sister, Tortulla, must have been made of the best, otherwise she could not have so often silenced the opposition, and, as time has proved, like begets like. Favourable resxxlts may therefore be expected from the subject of this paragraph. (To be concluded next week).