SPORTING NOTES.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 4146, 5 November 1884, Page 4

SPORTING NOTES.

'(By'''Caller Ou.") I have several items on the sheet, which I have been, waiting an opportunity of •writing about, but fortunately they will keep; while the public desire at the earliest moment to know something of the horses that bavo been distinguishing themselves, and so I will at once plunge on to the V.R:o.'meeting, of which we have-full-par-ticulars bf two days' racing. I need not say that I am not altogether satisfied with my own tips, but at the same time I prefer an outspoken tip,.even if wrong, to a halfhearted one, -where, half the horses in the race are favorably mentioned, andfrom which the public can draw their own conclusions. ' I selected' five horses for the three races, ignored betting considerations altogether, and was successful in the Derby, with/ my solitary representative, a rank outsider. The Maribyrnong Plate was instituted in 1871 by the late Mr Petty, who gave 500 Boys. to the stake for some time, which was afterwards continued by the'V.RC _ The first winner was Argus Scandal,- the sire of Plunger ; King of the Ring, running in Hie samelnterest, being second. King of the Rin"' is the sire' of First King and Rufus. Next year three fillies filled the places, Dagniar being first. In fact the ' race has been chiefly remarkable for two things, the winner of the stake has seldom done anythin"- afterwards, aud ; it has .bcou of tenor ■wonby fillies than colts. Of the fourteen races the fillies have won eight, colts five, and one resulted in a dead heat between a colt and a filly. While Victoria has been very successful in the two-year-old races run late in tho year, the Plate has been a gift to the owners of the neighboring colonies. The first five Plates wero won by Victoria, seven since then have gono to New South AVales, the one run on Saturday last to South Australia, while tho dead" heat was a divide .between South Australia and Victoria. The hist winner 1 was well backed, is well bred, arid apparently won the race from end to end, and -nearly as easily- as lolantbe did last year. .-In 1877 one stable furnished the three placed horses, and the non-backed one Vulcan won. To start him he was whipped, whipped he was all the way, and won the race by a head. The race has repeatedly been a great surprise. Tho V.R.C; Derby was instituted in 18G0, nndsince then;there have been 2G races run, as there were two Derbies in 1869. A Derby -was run for in November, 1.5G.7, and another on New, Year's : Day, ISCB,' : -thc result of both races being the same, Fireworks first ; and We it may' be mentioned that Fireworks is the only winner who.-has. ever sired a Derby winner, arid be claims two Lapidist and Robin Hood, the latter being a half brother to Martini Henry. Weeks ago I pointed out that favorites very seldom •won the V.R.C. Derby, and strange as it may seem, .in a weight forage contest, the public have had.far worse balances against theirif orthi'sracethanthe greathandicap race of the year—the Melbourne Cup has shown. I could never; understand, why . the-public rushed.Bargo ~in ,the manner they did. as Derby was but> poor, line-to go hy- That the shortness of the ;price was not due"to the stable backing "the horse is self evident, and I am glad to, sec that some the .would -bo, clever• division were takeri'in. "The , 'gentleman whp owned ,the,. Broker, 'and ,".who when hebpuld-T-nbt 'get. on at, his , own price scratched.'!.the, colt,, has scarcely'begun his turf .caijeer' ; " in 'a prosperous'manner, and: I am quite sure, his' reverses,will not;result in much,' sympathy . from,'. ;the public •■ Ho backed Colstoun for tons'of money down to four to one, and took, level money that lie was placed. A private'course was procured on ..which.-.to train his horS.es, but' atriateur traitungistands but. a,poor show in these days,.," and this therieh amateur hasfound out' by now. By the way it is worth mentioning that a special train was engaged to take the horse'to Caulfield. After defeat, there-he turned ' his fattention to BargO forUheDorby, and'literally plunged on the colt at 5 to 4, but as I pointed out previously the ring never tired of laying hun, and reading his training notes it is quite 1 evident that the"horse was light, and in - ; his;' gallops was' restricted to short distances/ Rrifus, the'winner, was trained by Mr Rcdfearn at Williamstown, and belongs to a"''straight goer;,'.' who is' a leading bookmaker. D&vid, who secured second place, has been-a real good, consistent, but unfortunate horse, who ought to dcvolopinto a first-class four-year-old ; at present he is on the small scale. Bargo's third somewhat surprised mo, as I never expected he would oven gain.a situation, -imd a week before the race I offered to tako three to one : he was not placed from a local bookmaker but who declined to lay fortunately for mo! The tirho is much the same as that made by Darebiri-and Navigator; and : has only been beaten by last year's winner, while it is faster than,any English or A.J.C. Derby. I c'arinot'sec that Rufus is;nominated for any other event.at the'meeting. What a wonderful horso Malua has proved. As a three-year-old ho was very moderate. As a.four-year-old he was. said to be a non-stayer, but later events proved that he had simply fallen into very clever handsl In January .1881 he could only get third to' Fryingpah in tho Bookmaker's Purse, 1 mile, when in receipt of twentyfour pounds, bivt at the March meeting of the won'the Newmarket Handicap in' the 'fastest time on record, just beating L© Grand who was conceding him, a year and three pounds. That that was no fluke a fortriigfit later was proved when he won the Oakleigh Handicap with 9st 7tb, and in May he won the Adelaide Cilp, one mile arid five furlongs with 9st on his back.' At tlm A,J.C? meeting in September he won the Spring Stakes, : Off Color being second; In the Craven Plate he ran second, to Sir Modrod, Off Color -being'third;- and Bargo unplaced:: [In tho Randwick Plate : he ran second to Off Color, all theso events being weight for" age. r ' 'In spite of these performances he. was completely overlooked by tipsters arid' touts, and I confess after Saturday's running I would not have taken any odds about him, because on paper he was"riot in it with Plunger. In the Mel-' borirrie Stakes he beat the latter by a neck at weight for ago, both carrying tho same -weight, while in the .Gup... he met his antagonist- at 12lbs disadvantage. . Iris owner, a Victorian squatter, who was once the beau ideal of a sportsman, rode him himself ih : the- Caulfield' Cup, - but' did not iri the 'Melbourne Cup. It ninst certainly-bo-considered hard lines for Mr Pearson to' own' the second and third horses-in such'a race: Had the race been won by . either, the win would have been very popular, as Mr Pearson never: makes any secret of "if, ] when he has a good thing. , Ho backed Plausible for £50,000, but the .public did not follow. the monoy. Commotion who was-second, last year was third, "a feat which has not been accom.plished since Dagwortb ran second in 1873, after being third.dn 1872. The weight carried by 'Malua is, with the. exception of 1862 when Archer won the second .Cup,with lOst 2lbs the greatest thathas been carried to victory. Archer who won the .first two Cups is,the only horse thathas ever accomplished the.feat, and probably it,may need: another quarter, of a century before he-is. rivalled in that respect. Malua was trained, at Brighton nine miles from Melbonrne—by " Ike M--Foulshninv while Commotion and Plausible-were trained- by Mr F. F. Dakin at Flemington. ■'''•", : -~ J,, " Vigilant" in:the Post-credits Plunger with winning tho A.J.C. Plate, three miles' as a three-year-old in Sinin 208ecH.; There never wus:a plate run in anything like -that time The same writer gave Commotion sis the best place investment, but,- though ho selected ten horses . to. beat the. fief d, the other "fourteen found the, winner'in Malua.' ;