CANTERBURY J.C. HANDICAP.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 103, 29 September 1874, Page 4

CANTERBURY J.C. HANDICAP.

We extract the following letter from the Press of this morning :

TO THE EDITOR OP THE PRESS. SIR,—I have just seen the weights for the above-named race, published in the Weekly Press of the 12th instant, and with your permission I will offer a few remarks on this truly wonderful production. I suppose it is fair to assume that what are styled «'racing weights," or standard weights for age, are based on sound principles, and calculated to exhibit the true merits of horses, by placing animals of different ages on an equal footing. Handicapping, on the contrary, is the science of estimating the qualities of horses without regard to age, and adjusting weights so as to equalise the chance of every animal in a given race. Fourteen horses were entered for the C.J.C. Handicap, comprising six three-year-olds, four four-year-olds, two five-year-olds, and two six years, or aged. Commencing with the elder division, we have Yattenna, a daughter of Yattendon, sin of the recent winner of the Sydney Metropolitan, and next to his own sire, Sir Hercules, the most successful stud horse ever bred in Australia. Yatterina is not partial to weight, but with anything less than Bst 12lbs on her back is difficult to beat. Her success at the last Nelson meeting in the Jockey Club Handicap of 1£ miles, when she defeated Kakapo and Calumny, showed how good an animal she still was after all the work she has done. Tambourini, Nelson bred, was sent to Canterbury as a yearling, where his career on the turf has been most successful. Except Golden Cloud, he is the best son of Towton's we have seen. At the Canterbury Metropolitan meeting, in November last, he ran third in the Cup to Lurline and Papapa, but in the Handicaps he had no chance against more favored horses. The five-year-olds are Petrobe, a Victorian horse, not known to be thorough-bred, of whose merits I am ignorant, and Malvina, a dangerous mare in a handicap, when leniently treated. The four-year-olds comprise three colts and a filly, the colts all Derby horses last year, : and regarded at the time as a very superior lot. Castaway, brother to Lurline, ran second to Papapa, and afterwards at Wellington carried all before him. At your autumn meeting he was lame, and disappointed his friends in the Leger, for which he was much fancied. If he has recovered his form of last spring he will be a dangerous horse in any company. Templeton, another Traducer colt, out of Belle of the Isle, a daughter of Malton and Spray, although not very successful last year ran a good honest horse, but " Old Tam," who he met in several handicaps, could always give him pounds of weight and a beating. The next colt, Traitor, also by Traducer, out of that remarkably good mare Deception, was so well thought of at your Metropolitan Spring meeting, that though known to have been shin sore, he started equal favorite with Papapa for the Derby; Whether the concussion on a hard course was too great for him, or that his condition was not equal to the Derby distance, or that constitutionally he is unable to stay, I will venture no opinion. It was said the colt did not gallop with his customary freedom, and after racing Papapa for half a mile he lost ground, and failed to secure a place. So highly, however, was Traitor thought of by his owner, that at the sale of the Ham stud a few days after the meeting, Mr Nosworthy placed a high reserve on him, and declared he was a better animal than Lurline then just sold. Batter, the remaining four-year-old, is a mare of no great racing pretensions, and will require a large concession of weight in good company to have a chance of winning a handicap. I now come to the three-year-olds—three fillies, two colts, and a gelding. Commencing with Mr Redwood's pair of fillies, there is, first, Titoko, by Ravensworth, out of Wetsail, a mare that has bred some useful horses, but nothing first class. As the present filly is untried, it is impossible to say whether she will prove a good animal or a duffer; but the chances are she will run fairly, though her half sister, Spritsail, by Traducer, a year older than herself, though possessing great speed for a short distance, could not stay. Roro is another Ravensworth, out of Simplicity, a Peter Flat mare. Simplicity never ran save at Wellington two years ago, when she beat two or three fields of hacks. It is no recommendation to her stock that she is a daughter of Phcebe, who, good mare as she was on the turf, never bred a successful racehorse. Remnant is a filly by Caledon, out of Gitana, the dam of Calumny, Gossip, and Backbiter. Gitana was by Sir Hercules, out of Gipsy Queen, by II Barbiere, so that few animals in the colony are better bred than the filly in question. I believe, however, there is a prejudice against the son of Simoom as a sire of racehorses. Tadmor, by Caledon, is out of Brunette, an imported mare, by Tadmor, and of good pedigree. The Zigzag colt is another Caledon, his dam by Malton, out of Gipsey Queen, and is therefore closely related to Remnant. The last animal to notice is the gelding by Caledon, out of Emmeline, a daughter of Emma (dam of Golden Cloud), by Sleight-of-Hand Junior. Emmeline is the dam of Hatred, Detractor, and Defamer, the latter the winner of the last Metropolitan Maiden, in which he defeated Batter, who onljr secured third place Having briefly noticed all the horses in the handicap, I will turn to the weights and examiue how they have been allotted. The weights I will ask you to publish in a form different to that in which they have already appeared ;and inslond of placing the heaviest actual weights at the top of the list, I will arrange them according to the ages of the horses, and so show what each horse concedes or receives from another :

It will be seen from the above that the three-year-old fillies —Mr Redwood's pair untried—are the heaviest-weighted animals in the handicap, and are asked to give lumps of wught to all the other horses. If the breeding of these fillies was superior to that of other horses entered there might be gome plea or pretext for such an extiaordi-

nary proceeding, but the contrary is the case. Titoko and Roro are asked to give Iwo pounds to Remnant, three pounds to Tarnbourini, five pounds to Yattenna, six pounds to Castaway, eight pounds each to Petrobe, Malvina, Tadmor, and the Zigzag colt: ten pounds to Batter, twelve pounds to the son of Emmeline, thirteen pouuds to Ternpleton, and seventeen pounds to Traitor 1 Had this been the handy work of a person of no experience, and who did not know what handicapping meant, one might have excused the ignorance, but as it is I do not know what to say of it. The soul of racing is a " fair field and no favor," but to ask untried fillies, possessing no special claims, to give a horse like Castaway six pounds over a distance of twomiles, Templeton thirteen pounds, and Traitor seventeen pounds, is the most preposterous thing I ever heard of. To invite owners of horses to pay 5 sovs to enter their animals, and then handicap them against all rule and reason, making it sheer madness to bring them to the post, is absurd. If such a course is continued to be pursued, it must rob the Canterbury meetings of the character they have acquired for genuine sport, and drive owners to seek better chances elsewhere. Yours, &c, An Old Sportsman.

Handicap. Age. at. lbs. lbs Titoko, f 3 7 0 abovew. for a. 1 . 3 7 0 do 1 Remnant, f .. . 3 6 12 below w. for a. 1 Tambourini,g.. . 6 9 9 do 2 Yatterina, m .. . a 9 7 do 4 Castaway, h . . 4 8 7 do 5 Petrobe, h . 5 9 2 do 7 MalvioH, m 5 8 13 do 7 Tadmor, c 3 6 9 do 7 Zig-Zag colt .. 3 6 9 do 7 . 4 8 0 d o 9 Emmeline geld . 3 6 2 d o 11 Templeton, h.. 4 8 0 d o 12 4 7 10 do 16