SPORTING.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 94, 18 September 1874, Page 2

SPORTING.

We extract the following correspondence relative to the C.J.C. Handicap from the Otago Guardian: — AN INQUIRY. To the Editor of the Otago Guardian. Sir, —I see by your issue of the 10th instant the weights declared for the forthcoming Canterbury Jockey Club Handicap. I also see an Otago horse, Pertobe, lately im ported from Melbourne, figuring with an impost of 9st 21b. Surely he must be a flyer. As I have searched the Australian files back for a lengthened period and failed to see his name mentioned or placed in the betting, or any notice of his having ever having won a a race, and as I generally have a " fiver " on the event, and do not like to be done, perhaps yon, or one of your many readers, could inform me of his past performances. It really seems to me that they are determined in Canterbury to keep all the money they have in their own province. I am, &c, FAIR PLAY. PERTOBE AND PUS PERFORMANCES. To the Editor of the Otago Guardian. Sir, —My attention having been directed to a letter signed " Fair Play," which appeared in this morning's issue, in which the writer alludes to the weight imposed upon Mr Pritchard's nomination for the Christchurch Jockey Club Handicap, and asks for some information regarding Pcrtobe's performances, I am pleased to be able to supply your correspondent with the information he requires, and in doing so must express my opinion that the horse has done nothing to warrant such a steadier as 9st 21b being imposed upon him. Pertobe is a son of the grand old racing sire Panic, out of Hester Grazebrook. He scored his first and only win when a two-year-old, by winning a District Purse, value £3O, at Warrnambool ; he started for the Victorian Derby, and finished sixth ; in the Railway Stakes he passed the judge last but one, carrying 7st 31b ; brought up the rear in the Hamilton St Leger ; was handicapped to carry 6st 71b in the Hotham Handicap, but did not start: ran ninth, with (Ist 91b, in the V.R.O. Handicap ; was allotted Gst 81b for the Melbourne Cup, 1873, but was scratched ; ran second to Wollamai in the Four-year-old Handicap, this being his best performance, although the winner (Wollamai) is only considered a third-rate horse. He has never started since, having been purchased by Mr Pritchard and brought to Dunedin. He suffered very considerably during the voyage, and has been recruiting his health in a grass paddock. Now, sir, after looking carefully over his past performances, I fail to see how the Christchurch handicapper could in justice impose such a penalty as 9st 21b. He must either bo entirely ignorant of the merits of the horses, and too careless to find out, or else, as "Fair Play" infers, intends to let him have no possible chance of paying for his oats out of his Christchurch winnings. I am, &c, PAUL JONES. Dunedin,- September 14, 1874. SPORTING NOTES. A correspondent of the Nelson Colonist makes the following reference to the forthcoming Canterbury and Wellington meetings :

The Canterbury Jockey Club was first in the field for the Metropolitan Meeting, on the 10th, 11th, and 13th November. This is substantially the same as last year, but the various races are differently arranged. The Derby and Cup have changed places, and the former is now to be run on the first day of the Meeting, and the Cup on the second. We learn from Christchurch that active work has commenced in local stables, and Mr Redwood, not to be behind, has sent down some of his young ones to be put into work. The absence from New Zealand of Lurline, Papapa. and Calumny, will give other stables a chance, which they would not have had a ghost of had these horses been kept here. It is not desirable, in the interest of sport, that one stable should monopolise all the good things. With all weight-for-age races of the season literally at their mercy, it was a bold step of Messrs Redwood and Watt to throw up a certainty for a non-certainty, and ship their horses off to Australia to meet opponents " worthy of their steel."

As to the Canterbury Cup it is premature to speak of the probable winner. We may be pretty sure, however, that " Old Tam/' will be entered, and several of the Canterbury four-year-olds. Of these the most formidable should be Castaway, brother to Lurline—the only opponent Papapa had last year in the Derby to make him gallop. Traitor, a son of Deception, and Traducer, who got third place in the above race, is regarded by a party in Canterbury as the "coming horse." He is certainly well-bred, and of good staying stock, and if the race is not taken by a three-year-old, Traitor is not unlikely to prove the winner. The Derby has forty-one nominations; but the Canterbury three-year-olds of the year, ri3 a lot, are not of much account. It is tolerably safe to predict that the /nee will go to a Marlborough or Nelson bred animal, and Sonnambula, a raking filly, sister to Tarnbsirini, is regarded by some persons with great affection. Then Hercules, a brother of Monarch, who ran so successfully in Nelson last year, is spoken well of. 1 In has been stationed at Riccarton for some months past, receiving rudimentary lessons, and is said to promise well. Mr Redwood's stables will probably be represented by Wainui and Toi-toi—the former a full sister to Papapa, and the latter a half-sister to Kalcapo—the two colts who did their owner such good service last season, Wr.iaui won the two-year-old 3takes

at the Gnristchurch autumn meeting, when she exhibited veiy superior form to her opponents, and won as she pleased. The filly, we hear, has wintered well, and is now a magnificent animal, and were she in England, fit to go for the One Thousand Guineas or the Oaks. An offer to purchase her at a long figure lately reached Mr Redwood from the South, with an intimation that if the price offered was not sufficient he was to name the price at which he would part with her. The reply was : —" She's not for sale at any price," which, of course, put a stop to ail further negotiation. If the filly continues to do well up to the races, she may repeat the victories achieved by Manuka in 18G9, and win the Derby, the Cup, and the Christchurch Stakes. Mr Redwood has, however, so many strings, that we expect he will not find it necessary to trust to one. Toi is probably not more inferior to her sister in blood than was Kakapo to Papapa, and he has several promising youngsters in addition. Wellington has come out with a programme for a meeting on the 3rd and 4th December. Besides the Derby, with its eighteen subscribers, there is the Cup (handicap) of 200 sovs, with a sweep of 10 sovs added ; another Handicap of 100 sovs, with an added sweep of 5 sovs ; a Maiden (weight for age) of 100 sovs ; a Provincial Plate of 100 sovs ; and several races for lesser stakes, including two hurdle races. This is undoubtedly the best programme ever issued in Wellington, and should ensure a successful meeting. VALUE OF RACEHORSES IN ENGLAND. We extract the following from the Sj)ortsman :—The aggregate value of the six horses that ran for the Gold Cup yesterday was upwards of £50,000. The valuation is not our own, but that of an eminent trainer, who has had the largest and most valuable stud of racehorses under his control that was ever known, and who said that he would be glad to give this sum for them. Outrageous as this estimate appears, it will at once be seen that it is within the limit of their value when we inform our readers that a bid of £12,000 was made and declined for Cremorne after his defeat in the Goodwood Cup last year, when it was evident that his turf career was at an end ; and as a matter of fact the gentleman who made the offer wanted the horse for stud purposes. Mr Savile, in declining this offer, said that £20,000 would not buy the horse ; which reminds one of a late Lord Westminster, who, being asked by an American to put a price on Touchstone, replied, "The United States of America." It was thought that when the Stud Company gave 12,500 gs for Blair Athol they had been guilty of somewhat reckless extravagance, but there can now be no question that he was very cheap at this figure, which was equivalent to only about three years' purchase. The services of the highest class sires are worth from three to five thousand pounds per annum, and this is often forgotten in estimating the value of a horse. When horses like Blair Athol and Cremorne rommand such enormous prices as 12,000 gs it can well be understood why £50,000 should not be too large a sum to pay now for Boiard, Doncaster, Flageolet, Gang Forward, Marie Stuart, and Kaiser. So far as we can tell there is still a long career on the turf for every one of this lot, and they have a great value apart from what they are worth for stud purposes. The only one of the six about whom there is the least suspicion of unsoundness is Marie Stuart, who is suffering from a thoroughpin, but her case is not worse than clannah's was when she won the St. Leger. What is Marie Stuart's value as a broodmare it is difficult to determine, but any of her sons or daughters that had anything like good looks to recommend them would be worth as yearlings fully 2000 gs. Doncaster and Gang Forward have the merit of being handsome horses, and of being sons of Stockwell, with the famous Touchstone cross. Boiard is " all round "a good horse, for not only is he a brilliant stayer, but he has a pedigree as great as that of anything that ran. His sire, Vermout, was, like himself, a winner of the Grand Prix de Paris, in which he had the rare distinction of beating such horses as Blair Athol and Fille de l'Air. Vermout was by the expatriated Nabob, who was exported after the season of 1857. Nabob, who was by The Nob out of Hester, by Camel, was bred by General Peel in 1849. La Bossue, the dam of Boiard, is by De Clare out of Canezou, who ran second to Surplice for the St Leger. We have seen large fields for the Ascot Cup, but the o;dcst trainers admit that never did such a splendid lot of horses go to the post, the worst of them being worth upwards of £SOOO. In the field were winners of the Two Thousand Guineas, Derby, Oaks, Prince of Wales's Stakes, Goodwood Cup, French Derby, Grand Prix de Paris, and St Leger, and there was not one of the lot that ran who had not, at one time or another, shown form of the very highest character.