SPORTING NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 3533, 19 June 1874, Page 3

SPORTING NOTES.

(From the Nelson Colonist.) Tamburini, er “Old Tam,” as he is generally called, is turning out a mine of wealth to his present owner, Mr O’Brien, who purchased him of Bob Ray, after his defeats at the Canterbury Spring Meeting. Although Tam stood no chance against Mr Redwood’s clinkers at the great meetings at Christchurch and Dunedin, he has been carrying all before him at several country meetings in both Provinces, where the “great stable of the North” was not represented. Besides winning some handicaps in North Otago, he won the Cup at Timaru, giving a lump of weight to Templeton; and the Free Handicap, making heavy concessions to Malice (sister, to Lurline), Malabar, Madray, A ice Grey, and No Gentleman (late Reliance). But he sustained a defeat in the South Canterbury Handicap at the same meeting, being beaten by Malice, at a difference of over two stone in weight. At Ashburton, Tani won two handicaps, conceding 14lbs and 171bsto Templeton, and 2911*8 to Envy ; and at the Eliesmere meeting he carried off the Cup from the Revoke colt, with which Mr Webb had fondly hoped to win the last Canterbury Derby, conceding to him 71bs. If l am is not quite first-class, ha certainly ranks at the head of second-class race-horses bred in New Zealand. His dam, Opera, was by II Barbiere, out of a daughter of that celebrated turf matron Princess, and Tam possesses the staying quality of the Emilias blood, which he inherits from his grandrire. Towton, his sire, promises, we think, to show himself a better stud horse in his old days than in his younger ones, if we may judge from the rising yearlings and two-year-olds bred by Mr Redwood from him and the daughters snd .granddaughters of Sir Hercules. Mr H. Stafford, by disposing of Tamburini when a foal—the best he ever bred—shared the luck which befel Lord George Bentinck with Surplice. After striving for several fofi? yeafs to breed a Derby winner, his Lordship broke up his stud with, a foal in it that not only won the “blue ribbon,” but the Leger also. The prejudice entertained in the Colonies in favor of imported thoroughbred stallions in preference to Colonial bred ones, was not shared by the judges at a recent great horse show at Sydney, where Yattendon, a son of Sir Hercules, was awarded the prize, against Hawthorndeh, winner of the Doncaster Leger of 1872, and the imported Lord of Linne and Captivator. Yattendon is the sire of Mr Walters’s excellent little mare Yatterina, so well known in Nelson, and of Dagworth, the reputed best horse now on the Australian turf, and of several other celebrities. Mr Cox, the owner of Yatfcenden, recently refused 6,000 guineas for him Dagworth was sold the other day for 1,500 guineas. Mr Smith, who carried off the Gold Cup wjfh Speculation, was the largest winner at the late Rahdwick m-eting, his cheque having amounted to L 1,367 IQ*. The Governor, Sir Hercules Robinson, stood next on the list, his Excellency having drawn LI, 142 for stakes ; John Tait followed, with L 935 10a ; Mr De Mestre with L 627 ; and Mr J. L). Little with L 525. The remaining individual winners ranged from L 246 downwards to LI 17. The entries made by Messrs Redwood and Watt for the Melbourne Cup are Lurline, Papapa, and Wainui. The first named will xpn as a five-year-old, the second as a four-year-old, and the third as a three-year-old; the last two are brother and sister—dam Wainwa, sire Ravens worth. Whether one PT mpre of these animals will go to Melbourne will depend, on the weights awarded them for the Cup. If the hones are kept in New Zealand, the stable is bound to have anothe* good innings, and acting on the principle that a “bird in hand is worth two in the bush,” Messrs Redwood and Watt may resolve to make a “ certainty ” at home instead of risking defeat in Australia. Whatever they may do with the mare and the colt, to send the filly to Melbourne will be a great sacrifice, as the Derbys and Legers of the season—and she is engaged in them all—will, to all appearances, be a gift to her. She met nothing in the Champagne Stakes at Christchurch, in April, that could race a yard with her, and we look in vain through the list of three-year-olds engaged to meet Wainui, to find one that has the remotest chance, barring accidents, of beating her. But in racing, the “uncertainty” is as great as in “the law,” or, as we have heard It said, as success in farming in New Zealand, where high winds, rain, or drought, and scarcity of labor’ at harvest, ofttimes ppset the moaf; carefully made calculations of probable returns. The commencement of P r p§e n t raejng season jn England has afforded a remarkable series of surprise. Commencing with the Bristol Royal Steeplechase of 1000 sots., added to a sweepstake of 25 so vs., the winner turned up in an Irish hofse named Scots Grey, a noted slow horse but a safe jumper, who was at 23 to I in the betting: Then the Lincolnshire Handicap, the first flat race of any note of the season, was won by Tomahawk, a three-year-old, with, the odds of 18 to I against him at starting. Next followed the Chester Cup, won by Organist, the favorite failing to get a place ; but the greatest surprise of all was the race for the Two thousand Guineas, looked on as a certainty for the unbeaten Ecosaais, who figured only as third. The race was run by L?rd Falmouth’s Atlantic, by Thormanby ; Reverberation second. The defeat' of the splendid son of Blair Athol over the Rowley Mile, by horses which scarcely made their mark as two-year-olds, must have caused immense sensation at Ne wmarjee t. It was at one time'thought that M. Lefovre held nearly all the great three-year-old races of the year sale, so strong was his team ; but m the first trial his great pot boiled over.’ Lord Falmouth has* another son of Thorquello, who stood in the foremost rank of favor for the Derby • and now, with Atlantic for a second string, this highly popular sportsman stands a good chance of again carrying off the “ blue ribbon.” His Lordship races solely for sport, and was never known to make but one bet—a “ sixpence,” which he lost to the wife of his trainer, and paid it in a new coin richly set. We are sorry to state that Mr Redwood has just lost a yearling colt of great promise, named Three Pink, out of Tin Toi, by Towtoii. The colt a short time ago met with an accident in his paddock, and injured himself in his loins, and as recovery appeared to be hopeless Mr Redwood, with great' reluctance, decided on destroying him. He was regarded as the season’s pick foal,. and was thought very highly of. Since this accident occurred, the foal bred last year by Countess (daughter of Phoebe, by the Peer) met with nearly a similar accident, and this colb was to be treated simi.to Three Pint, The adage, that Misfortunes never come singly” is too often verified, hut we hope **■ misfortunes” to the . stable will not extend beyond the loss of these twoi promising animals. The London sporting papers of February last announce the death of Voltigeur— -the Derby and Leger winner of 1850, but better known to the present generation by his match with the Flying Dutchman— the

Derby and Leger winner of the preceding, year. Ihe close of the struggle in this great | match was splendidly painted by Herring, ! and there is not a town in the British domi-. nions, and scarcely a village, but where a’ colore I engraving of this picture may be found adorning the parlor of one or more’ taverns. Hero is fame. The names of Na I poleon and Wellington will scarcely reach! the ears of thousands who will feel a deep: interest in the mighty struggle pictured before them between The Dutchman and Volfigeur. The reason of this match was the ef the wonderful Dutchman by Yoltigeur for the Doncaster Cup, after the latter horse had won the Leger ; but the great son of Bay Middleton vindicated his superiority when he met the son of Velocipede at York, Voltigenr is regarded by the fanatical oppo°f the Blacklock blood as having failed at the stud, but he has been the sire of some rare good horses—Vedette. Sabreur, The Hanger, and numerous others might be cited though none of his stock ever won any of the great three-year-old races.