OTAGO.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIV, Issue 842, 26 April 1906, Page 8

OTAGO.

Dunedin, April 25.

Mr. T. Kett’s Birkenhead —Merganser colt joins J. Ruttledge’s stables shortly, and the same gentleman is also sending up Stormont to be schooled for lepping honours by our premier cross country horseman, H. Carr, who has been identified with Pipi’s unlucky ventures in the Riccarton Nationals. Mr. J. Loughlin purchased the Gipsy Grand mare Bagpipes last week at 56 guineas, and has since sold her at an advance of a tenner to a Timaru buyer. Savoury has been purchased by Mr. D. J .Price, and will race in his interests in the Thompson Handicap. The Yaldhurst stable has in its time sent out some of the greatest equine warriors that have ever carried silk in the racing arenas of the southern hemisphere, but nevertheless when it has come to a duel between a bearer of the yellow and black banner and something sporting another ensign, the honours of the tourney have not always been borne by the knight in the yellow mantle. Last week Achilles stopped Porcelain from winning his spurs, and accentuated the Yaldhurst colt’s defeat in the Jackson Stakes. He also beat Cruciform when they met in the Jubilee Cup of 1902, when the Yaldhurst representative started favourite and was defeated by two lengths. Treadmill beat Orloff in the challenge of 1903, and Blazer beat Royal Artillery when they fought out their memorable duel in the Electric Plate. Stronghold beat Noctuiform in the Middle Park Plate and paid £5 19s in a field of three. Stronghold also beat Golden Lily in the Champagne Stakes when the latter started a solid favourite. Treadmill beat Machine Gun in the same race when the latter started a hot favourite, and confirmed his win by beating Orloff in the Challenge Stakes in a most decisive manner. The Lord Rosslyn colt Notus was to have been the Hon. Geo. McLean s representative in the Great Autumn, but as a result of an accident in the Sockburn Handicap he was unable to go to the post owing to being lame. Since Huascar made his debut in

the spring, he has improved a good deal, and presented a far more taking appearance than when he saddled up for the Welcome Stakes. At the home turn in the Champagne Stakes he must have been fully half a dozen lengths away from Kirriemuir, who was in the lead, and he had to put in a great run to gain second place, as he did not get the clearest of runs in the race. Kirriemuir was stopping badly at the finish, and had not the Yaldhurst representative been so far out of his ground he must have won. Perhaps it is lucky he did not, as he could have been protested against for wrongful entry, as the book and calendar both return him as a brown colt, whereas he is a beautiful lemon-col-oured chestnut. The rule distinctly states that the name, age, colour, and description of a horse has to be handed in with the nomination, and as the same mistake occurred when the colt ran in the Welcome Stakes, some of the win, tie, or wrangle owners would have strengthened their protest by making a wilful representation. However, this is only a wee storm in a teacup. A most, remarkable feature of the C.J.C. Autumn Meeting was the lack of success which attended the bearers 01 Mr. Stead’s colours. In the past the reverse has frequently been the case,and grumblings of the Riccarton meetings being spoilt through Yaldhurst benefits were not uncommon. Last week the fickle public were talking about “ Stead’s bad luck,” and m condoling with the Canterbury sportsman no doubt put in a word for themselves, as the great B.P. are strong followers of the Yaldhurst lepresentative, so that it was probably a case of a fellow feeling making wondrous kind. It would indeed be strange if the form of the Yaldhurst horses represented an almost unbroken line of success, and perhaps last week’s disasters will merely form a punctuation in the successes which will follow when the lucky star of the stable has been burnished up again. When racing at Riccarton last week Lady Landon did not look so well as when she gained classic honours for her owner’s colours in the D.J.C. Champagne Stakes. It appears that the filly went off after her arrival at Riccarton, and consequently did not race as well as what was suggested by the book. The lameness displayed by Master Alix was caused through the gelding getting cast in his box, and it is anticipated that a spell will soon put him right again.

Mr. Buckley had another piece of ill-luck, as Convoy’s race in the Great Autumn sent him wrong again.

A rising two-year-old brother to Cross Battery was purchased by Mr. F. H. Pyne during the currency of the Riccarton autumn meeting. The colt is a well-grown and promising-looking sort, which looks like developing into one above the ordinary.

The present owner of Welbeck holds a fairly high opinion as to the vaiue of his horse, and recently put a price of 1000 guineas on the son of Perkin Warbeck 11. Some few weeks ago Welbeck could have been purchased at something in the neighbourhood of a hundred, and last week the writer recommended a prospective buyer to inquire about the horse, with the result stated above.