NOTES.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XV, Issue 881, 24 January 1907, Page 6

NOTES.

(By “The Judge.”)

The first race at Takapuna on Saturday vv JI be started at 12.45 P- m - The Gore R.C. put the sum of through the totalisator at the recent meeting, an advance of £250 on the corresponding fixture last year. The annual race meeting of the Papakura R.C. will take place on February 9. Capital entries have been received for it. * * * After winning the Summer Handicap at Whangarei, Methuma returned the nice dividend of 9 S > subsequently survived a protest on the score of ownership. Uenuku has been given 7.8 in the Summer Handicap at Gisborne. If really well Rae’s horse should be * * * * Narcotic, who won the Nelson Cup, is an aged brown gelding by Lethe — Morehu. Nominations for the various events to be decided at the Autumn Meeting of the Taranaki Jockey Club close with Mr Mussell Fleetwood to-morrdw week, February 1. • “Give a dog a bad name and you may as well hang him,” is an o'.d saying, but there is a horse in Otago who is proving the fallacy of this as far as equines are concerned. This :s the absurdly-named Scrap Iron Jack, a six-year-old son of Mauser and Kaka, who won the Gore Cup las: week. * X- -X * Nominations for the Wanganui J.C. Autumn Meeting are due with Mr. W. Hall, secretary, to-morrow. The events and money required are as follows: —Wanganui Cup, Isov; Wanganui Stakes Handicap, Isov; Flying Handicap, Isov; Stewards’ Handicap, Isov; Juvenile Handicap, Isov; Westmere Hurdle Race, Isov; Fordell Hurdle Race, Isov; Tayforth Handicap Hack Hurdles, Isov: Okoia Handicap Hack Hurdles, Isov; Wiritoa Hack Flat Handicap, Isov; Matarawa Hack Flat Handicap, Isov; Petre Welter Handicap, Isov; Autumn Handicap, Isov; Harrison Welter Handicap, Isov; Farewell Handicap, Isov.. Munjeet registered a very taking performance in the Telegraph Handicap at Trentham on Tuesday. The daughter of Stepniak carried 9.4, and cut out the six furlongs in Im. 155., winning from end to end. No one will begrudge Mr. Stead his change of luck. San Francisco had two winners to represent him at the Wellington Meeting on Tuesday. Elevation just got home after a desperate finish in the Nursery Handicap, while Golden Gate won the Electric Handicap. * * * * The sum of £25,255 was pit through the totalisator on the open ing day at Trentham. This is a record for the club, and bnat the first day l c st year by £1423. * * * * The "ollowing handicaps have been -declared by Mr. H. J. Fielder for the £5O Sheifield Handicap, to be run at Alexandra Park, Epsom, on +he evenings of Tuesday and Wednesday, January 29 and 30: —T. Urquhart 4yds, H. L. Abbott syds, H. V. Buchanan syds, A. Douglas 5% yds, L. Mac Kenna (Otago) 6yds, J. Ferguson (Otagi) 6yds, R. Hill (Nelson), 7yds), F. Gladding 7% yds, A. Morris (Gisborne) Syds, C. H. Ross (Hastings), Byds, M. Ward (New Plymouth) Byds, J. J. Taylor yds, S. Barnes B%yds, C. Raynes 8% yds, F. M. Eyre 9yds, C. Wakham 9yds, F. Watson (Picton) 9yds, V. Little 10yds, H. J. Wilson 10yds, J. Edwards 11yds, P. P. Myles 11yds, G. Johnstone (Nelson) 11yds, G. Hirst C. Humphries 11% yds, F. Clark 12yds, L. Norman (Wellington) 12yds, J. R. Simpson 12yds, R. Sprague 12yds, J. Gallagher 12yds, P. Miller 12% yds, V. Cornaga 12%yds, R. J. Joyce 13yds, N. Glover 13yds, F. Glover 13yds, N. Horscroft 13yds, G. Hunt 13yds, C. Jackson (Whangarei) 13yds, L. Rowe 13yds, G. Davidson 13yds, L. Lowe 13yds, A. Pearson 14yds, R. Laing 15yds, T. Tate. Captain Taylor, who is organising the events, tells me that the electric lighting of the ground is particularly good, and with fine weather be anticipates a good attendance./ The sport promises to be very exciting, many of the best runners in the colony being engaged.

The Manawa'u- Meeting commences on Saturday- next. Handicaps for the Poverty Bay Meeting are due on February 8. The Wellington R.C. Summer Meeting will be continued to-day and concluded on Saturday. » < * * The death is reported of the brood mare Ba.birnie (St. Leger—Coalscuttle), as the result of an accident. X .V A « Desp e the most awful luck in the matter of weather, the Whangarei Club is reported to have made a profit over the rec<. nt meetng. . « ♦ » There is a second forfeit for the A.R.C. Champagne Stakes and G.N. Oaks due on February I. ~ •» * w The A.R.C. Committee gave the appeal in the Hierarch case short shrift and the finding of the stewards was endorsed. Whatever the intention of the owners may have been there was not a shadow of doubt that the horse was deliberately pulled, in fact a more glaring case has rarely if ever been seen at headquarters. The stewards no doubt acted on the evidence of their own eyesight, and the verdict arrived at gave general satisfaction. Under the circumstances it looks as though the projected appeal to the Racing Conference s ill-advised. • * * * What probably proved one of the most remarkable and successful half-mile track ever made by a pacer in America must be credited to the seven-year-old bay stallion Hallock M. (2.09 J son of Hal B. (2.043), and out of Maud Muller (2.25), by Alsandro, a son of Atlantic (2.21), says a New York paper. In 1905 Hallock M. made sixteen starts, winning nine races, and being second in nearly all of the other races, taking a record of 2.091 over a half-mile track. Last year he contested in no less than 24 races, winning no less than 19, and taking second money in the other five, proving himself to be one of the fastest and gamest pacers ever seen on the turf, as all of his races were over the half-mile tracks, and usual yup against free-for-allers. He reduced his record to his winnings exceeding • • • • Since the test case in Cape Colony which resulted in the Totalisator being declared illegal, the clubs deduct 2| per cent, commission from all sums passing through the bookmakers’ books, and this, together with a stiff license fee, is enabHng all the clubs to pay their way. It is furthermore stated that the bookmakers, perhaps because of the lesson taught by their banishment, have, since their reinstatement, been laying more liberal prices than used to be the case. « « • * The American horse Roseben, who was one of the past year’s sensations in his own country, is undoubtedly a great sprinter. Recently at Aqueduct (New York), on a heavy track, and in rain, he carried 10.6 to the front in a seven-fur-long race run in imin. 27 2-ssec. *** ’ * Cinders, a five-year-old daughter of Florizel 11. and that once-brilliant Sydney galloway Cinderellen, distinguished herself at Birmingham (Eng.) last month, by winning a two miles steeplechase with 12.2. Cinders was favourite at 11 to 10 against in a field of ten. * * * « The stakes won in the course of the flat-race season in Great Britain and Ireland recently concluded amounted to l6s, this sum being about £16,000 more than the record for 1905. The amount won in stakes during the last twenty-five years is nearly twelve millions. * * * * English paper says that Col. Hall Walker (owner of the crack colt, Polar Star) has made such a study of the science of racing and breeding that it will be interesting to watch the endeavour he is now making to breed a grey horse that shall be of the highest stamp. Strathconan and Chanticleer were the best greys of modern times in England—if, indeed, they can be cal'ed modern—and it is about eighty years since the Derby was won by a horse of that colour. The death is reported from Melbourne of the old Victorian racing identity, Mr. Edward Twomey, at the age of 73. Mr. Twomey was a patron of the elder James Wilson’s stables, and won several important races in the early days, the principal of which the Sydney Cup, 1871, was secured by h’s King Alfred mare Mermaid. An apprentice, named Gilbert, in Marsh’s Egerton stables. Newmarket, was killed by one of His Majesty’s horses, Maid of Norway, in exercise, a few weeks ago.

Montigo, who won-.-the Foxton Cup on Tuesday by a neck from Nova, is a five-year-old son of Strowan and Immenscikoff. He hails from Napier. X- -x- * * The aged gelding Rookby won the Herrington Welter at the Foxton meeting. The son of Brookby‘seems to be paying his way in the South. * * * * The Auckland-built yacht Rawhiti has won the final race for La Carabine Cup. * * * * A four-year-old mare by Phoebus Apollo—Lady Wellingon has gone into P. Conway’s stable. * * * * Hippowai and Cuiragno are both in work again at Ellerslie, and are looking all the better for their holiday. * * * * It is said that the pony Lady Nannie will shortly be shipped across to Australia. * * * * A lot of money was invested by Aucklanders on Zimmerman for the Wellington Cup, and the fact of him not being placed came as a genuine surprise. * * * * . Canterbury has defeated Wellington in the cricket match by five wickets, with scores of 176 and 110 for five wickets, to 131 and 154. # * * The council of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association have selected the following as the New Zealand representatives at the Australasian championship swimming meeting, to be held in Christchurch next month: —100yds, B. C. Freyberg (We 1 - lington), Tyler (Auckland), McCarthy (Hawke’s Bay); emergency, Mueller (Wanganui); 220yds, Freyberg, C. D. Campbell, Mueller (Wanganui), emergency, Tyler; 440yds, Freyberg, MacMillan (Otago), Campbell, emergency C. L. Bull (Canterbury); 880yds, Freyberg, Bull, MacMillan, emergency Rich (Canterbury); 1760yds, Frevbeg, Rich, MacMillan, emergency Bull: 220yds breast stroke, MacMillan, and the first and second men in the Canterbury trials. New York papers claim that Mr J. R. Keene tops the list of the world’s owners in regard to winnings in stakes during his long career as an owner in both hemispheres. With twenty-four of his best racehorses he has, it is stated, won i,087,036d01., the animals responsible for this total being: Domino, 203,300d01. ; Sysonby, 188,043; Delhi, 119,287; Foxhal, 63,125; Commando, 58,883; Hornpipe, 45,620; Chacornac, 41,191; Disguise 11., 39,686; and Cap and Bells IL, 32,650. Others included in making up the to'al, with from 29,000 dol. down to ig.ooodol. apiece, are Voter, Wild Mint, St. Leonards. El Te’egrafo, Hurst Park, Conroy, Tommy Atkins, Lancaster (? Lancashire), Kuroki, Petruchio, Toddy, Chorister, Court Dress, Peter Pan, and Pope Joan. It is estimated that minor races won by other horses would increase the total by another ioo,ooodol. This would make Mr Keene’s grand total 1,187,036 dol., a nice sum enough, but sti'l a long way behind the aggregate w’nnings of the late Duke of _ Westminster, who won in stakes (not counting place money) no less than which in American money comes to > .477.747d01. * '.»■—« * The third reading of the Street Betting Bill was carried without division in the British House of Commons on December 10. The object of the Bill is the suppression of the bookmaker who plies his business in the streets, and provides that any person betting or agreeing to bet or paying or receiving or settling bets shall for a first offence be liable on conviction tg a fine not exceeding /J’io; for a second offence, to a fine not exceeding /?2O; and in the case of a third or subsequent offence, or in any case where it is proved that the person while committing ihe offence had any betting transaction with a person under the age of 16 years, be liab e on conviction or indictment to a fine not exceeding £5O, or to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding six months without the option of a fine, or on conviction under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts to a fine not exceding or to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding three months without the option of a fine. Any constable may take into custody without warrant any person acting in contravention of the Act, but the racecourse is excluded from the provisions of the Act. < « * - The Carbine mare Ravensplume, who was foaled in 1894, and ran several good races in Sydney, was sold fcr 165 .guineas at Newmarket (England) last month. On the same afternoon Ravensplume’s yearling filly by Raeburn ■''handed hands at the low figure of 25 guineas.

Taking time by the forelock, C.. Coleman sent Sweet Alice to Ohaupo on Monday week last. Both the mare and the boy have been weatherbound up there ever since. • * • • Mr. Harry Hayr’s little oil launch Waitiri braved the elements and arrived safely at Whangarei. Old seagoing people were quite surprised to hear that she had got through safely, as there was a nasty sea running on the coast. The tote people had better weather coming down. « * « « Mr. Ben Armitage may be congratulated on the success of his sale that took place on Saturday last. Although he had been offered bigger prices for several lots prior to the sale, both Lady Nannie and Necktie had won races since the offers were made. The First Love colt was also a profitable speculation, as he only cost Mr. Armitage 10 guineas. Necktie was another cheap purchase. Old racegoers at the ringside considered the twoponies the bargains of the sale. The Auckland-bred Sonica, now known as Signorina, who so greatly distinguished herself both in the pony and open classes in India last year, completely broke down shortly before the latest files to hand left Calcutta. Either next month or in March she will be shipped to England for stud purposes. The International Pony Plate of 4000 rs, seven furlongs, run at Calcutta last month, was won by the Aucklandbred mare Lady Avon, 8.12> with Matalgia, 9.7, second, and Minimus, 9.10, third. The winner started at 6 to 4 on. John Gainsford, who left Auckland for Sydney the other day, has had a more varied experience and has ridden more good horses than many men. Chatting over the past with “ Martindale,” of the “ Town and Country Journal,” he reminded me (says that writer) of a fact that had escaped my memory—that he was the one to ride Progress in a race. His bodily weight at that time was sst 21b. I shall never forget the mud-besplat-tered figure he was when he got off Gudarz when he finished third to The Assyrian and Stockwell in the memorable Melbourne Cup of 1882. Gainsford rode Gudarz at 7st 71b, and it may be worthy of mention that his mount was the second leg of that great double laid by Messrs. Miller, Jones, and O’Brien —50,000 to 500 — Navigator for the V.R.C. Derby (which he won) and Gudarz the Cup. Melos, The Australian Peer, Sweet William, and other good ones were piloted by Gainsford, also that good mare Jessine, but so far as his Australian mounts were concerned, straight-legged Bungebah was the best up to his distance. I don’t think the chestnut champion ever had any other rider on his back. But for an all-round good one, the best that he ever saw or rode, Gainsford says Whakari was undoubtedly the champion. Had it been possible to have got him really well, he says there is no knowing what he could have done. There is no doubt but what he was a wonderful good horse. He looked a champion, and the few opportunities that the Flemington touts had of seeing him convinced them that he was. Gainsford has gone into the hotel line at Morpeth, N.S.W. * * ♦ « “ Ashplant,” a writer for the London “ Sportsman,” has been to some pains to compile as far as possible an accurate list of the races and amounts won by Irish horses during the flat racing season (1906) in England. In this list he has taken care to include only those winners actually foaled in Ireland. The proportion of Irish-bred horses running in England during the season, to put it at the highest, was only one as compared with seven English horses; yet, this year, Irish-bred animals carried off two out of seven of the total stakes run for, and this in the face of the Indisputable fact that an enormous proportion of the best -blood mares and stallions are in England. As a rule, when an Irishman finds himself with a proved good mare, he is tempted to sell to some •nglish or foreign breeder. As to sires, Gallinule has, of course, proved a host in himself, but what would have been the result if -such horses as Persimmon, Ladas, Carbine, Ayrshire, Love Wisely, Isinglass, and the like, stood over there ? As it is, several .sires located in Ireland have done wonders in addition to Gallinule, notably his son, Wildfowler. Including his winners in Ireland this horse’s stock have won over £12,000 in stakes this season. On reference to the list of winning sires, 18 in number, whose stock have won over £BOOO in stakes, “Ashplant” found no fewer than seven of -them —Galli-

■nule, Dinna Forget, Wildfowler, Desmond, Laveno, Winkfield, and Count Bchomberg —stood in Ireland. With the material Irish breeders have to their hand their successes are simply marvellous. Here is what they have done in England: Number of Irish winners on the flat in England in 1906, 170; number of races won 333; amount of stakes won, £124,848. The principal contributors to the above list were the crack two-year-olds of the season, Polar Star, Galvani, and Siieve Gallion. Polar Star, who was unbeaten during the season, and won 12 races, is, unfortunately, not engaged in the three-year-old classic races, but the other two are, and their chances of winning the Derby at the present moment appear to be second to none. Among the older division that helped the Irish total so well are Pretty Polly, Bachelor’s Button, Lally, Black Arrow, Dinneford, Llangibby, Velocity, and The White Knight. Strangely, “ Ashplant” omits to mention among the sires Pioneer, sire of Polar Star, a half-brother to Gallinule, who, like that horse, was quite despised by English breeders.