THE DUNEDIN RACES.

Evening Star, Issue 4065, 7 March 1876, Page 3

THE DUNEDIN RACES.

To the Editor. Sie,—My attention Las been called to a letter which appears in your Saturday's issue signed Disgusted,” and I should feel much obliged if you could find room in your columns for a few remarks in reply theretoln the first place “Disgusted" says, not that I am misinformed, but that I tell an untruth, when I say that King Phillip ran second to Scan Mag at the Victoria meeting or 1874. Now, before making this assertion, he should We ascertained that I was wrong. If he refers to the ‘ Australasian’ containing the account of that meeting, he will find that King Philip, an outsider whose name was never mentioned, ran second to Scan AW for the Maiden Plate, beating Menindie and several other good horses by six or seven lengths in «min, 45sec., and being beaten by half a length. Cap. tain Hutchinson, struck with the performance, immediately purchased him, and three; days afterwards shipped him for Otago, where he landed a few days before our spring meeting in wretched condition, having been very ill on the way over. In spite of this he won .the Maiden Plate ■without an effort, and at the March meeting, while m poor as a crow and rough as a badger, he beat Hercules, who was in tip top condition (as witness his run in the very easily, causing several good judges to remark that he was the best horse in New Zealand. He then, though still in bad condition, won a weight for age race at the Canterautumn meeting, in good company. His running was poor at Christchurch in. the spring, but.ha was not in condition, and some people won’t hesitate to say besides that both he and Kory 0 More were “ got at," though I don’t think myself there is any truth in this. 1 certainly made two mistakes, both through gross carelessness, and I am glad that I have been attacked, as it will ™«Vq me more cMefulVin the future. : 1 was wrong in stating that Tattler had not won a race, as hehad w . ou ; beating PungawereweVe, who was out of condition, and Cocksure and two or three others. Who are not by any means first class. And I was wrong in, statmg that Templeton had been fired. How I made the mistake was that I was told so. and when.l saw him he was in the shed under the Grand Stand, where the light, particularly clese to the ground, is bad, and I was more intent)* in looking at his condition than at, his legs, find now I come to Cloth orGold. I maintain this horse is a better one than Tattler ip his running. He was in great favor for the Derby, and. I believe his stable Yf w but he waS ofit of all form. JrosT; to his stable companion the Goldfields Handicap, pud. won the + P ” Be :, He than’ran at T&aru.and was n * stable companion Tommy Dodd in tb* Scuta Canterbury Handicap and Timaru Cup. and r .^' p^eut Baid he could have won he bad b t Tommy was dec]ared to wm. And lastly about my bad arguments. I a httle about King Philip, and have, X think, Flowed him to be a goodish horse. Os unexceptionabte, his sire was Ljoraderi, a Splendid performer, and a son of imported vy-ialiawk, a son of Epirus, whose blood through " .ing Alfred has been so successful in Australia, and Calliope, a near relation of the celebrated Yattendon, and his dam Eady Darling, a daughter of Kelpie, the famous, W?atherbit horse, who got that magnificent performer and stallion Fireworks, who in his first season got Lapidist and Goldsbrougb and in his third the Sylvia colt Robin Hood. Her dam was by Premier, whose name is a household word m the Australian Colonies, and grand-dam by Rory 0 More out of an imported mare. Here is a horse, therefore, bred to stay and go fast; whose performances under difficulties have been, I may say, good; moreover, a big horse, receiving a stone and a,-half from Koraxi, a little horse, and whose running, considering that all the old horses have been notoriously wrong this season, and that the three-year-olds have apparently no pretensions to be considered even, second-rate, has been nothing - out of the way. Thp same remarks apply, almost precisely to Daniel. Now let us look at Templeton. He is a son of Traducer, out of a splendid mare, a winner of the Canterbury Cup, then ! i s^! uce miles, wljen three years ?w is kn°wa to suit him so well teat it has been said that a race there is equal to 71h to him. As a three-year-old he ran, if I romeraP, er * third for the Derby, the fastest ever run up to that time in the Australasian colonies, before him 1 52* 1 g Casta . wa y aud Papapa, probably the two best colts ever pired m New Zealand;, Papapa being considered by many better than Lurlme.and ho certainly ran wonderfully Ho lost nearly fifty yards at the start for the Canterbury Cup, at the finish he a length of Lurhne, and would have beaten her if the race had been a little further; j 6 spited °® the course and wa!s nover wonderful mare who beiia um» Mr Redwood s property. The unlucky Castaw ay “Z° n f d T^ fuU T ?°°? P erformer > -JO that Templeton s entitles him to resp oct., ,25®' 'S® Bam ? a£ > a three-year-old. ho v rift 6St 121b, and not a wonderfully lisrht wei : a Jr irCe ' y ! ar '° ld 010 cS! ran ‘ |JJr W^ U „ e3 i™Lu a J a T lin .? VM6, and was y beaten a length, by Lurhne. The third da v , if [ the saiie meeting he won the Forburv «« a 1 flying Handicaps one after the other. 7 a

four-yeor-old he won several races nnder good weights, but at Dunedin his performances were excellent. He won the Cup under top weight os he liked, and might have distanced the crowd almost. He was pulled out immediately afterwards and won the Publicans’ Handicap. Next day, with top weight, he was left at the post in the D.J.C. Handicap, but went after his horses, caught them,’and had them almost beaten at a mile; he appeared to have been able to have distanced them if he had beenasked, and Korari is asked to give this horse nearly a stone. True he is wrong, but it was, not known until the handicap was out. As to favorites, what was .favorite lost year P A tank impostor, called Ngaro. Two years ago an ugly brute or Capt. Hutchison’s was favorite for the Maiden Plate at an Off meeting, and he was distanced by nearly every horse in the race, A more that bos never been seen on a racecourse is. it appears, favorite now, so that this is no test. A celebrated sporting writer once said that to be a favorite a horse must either be very well in or very badly in, the latter for choice.' ‘•Disgusted" evidently forgets that favorites ore continually being manufactured by book-makers as they are a fortune to these gentlemen. I hope I have shown that if I don’t know anything about racing and sporting notes, “ Disgusted,” who would criticise me, knows still less.— I am, &c., Meemn. Dunedin, March 7.