SPORTING NOTES.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 323, 25 June 1875, Page 3

SPORTING NOTES.

(From the Press.) The Christchurch steeplechase comes off next month, and the nominations (about which I shall have somethiug to say further on) close on Ist July. The stakes offered are good, indeed, very good, and the fields will, I feel sure, be very tidy, but still there is no denying the fact that even at this slack time of the year one hears very little about it. I fancy we are not sufficiently accustomed here to the sport. That steeplechasing is popular enough no one can deny, but the cry has always been "we have no jumping horses, and how are we to get up a chase without them." Thus our steeplechases have been few and far between. The fact is, as you have observed over and over again, jumping horses don't pay here. Up to the present time it has not paid a man to breed a jumper, still less to run him. The stakes for hurdles are not payable even for winners, and here, where we have no hunt club, a jumping horse, unless of the Sir Tatton class, is only worth hack value. Readers of the Australasian will have noticed in recent articles allusions to the increasing interest taken in steeplechasing in England. " Rugby," the English correspondent of the Australasian writes apropos of chasing : " The added money, now doled forth with no sparing hands, makes it quite worth while for owners to run their horses for the value of the stakes. Gentlemen who were never heard of before in the 3teeplechase hemisphere, now keep large studs, and make them pay. At Croydon, twice a year, £SOO is added to steeplechases. At Cork Park and elsewhere the same sums are given, while Rristol and Liverpool come out with a thousand each to their great chases, and Sandown Park caps all by giving £I2OO to its chief jumping race." After the above no one can doubt that steeplechasing is going ahead in England. In Australia it has always been successful; and when " Augur" in the Australasian has occasionally had to lament the want of success of a cross-country meeting, it is amusing to think what he would have thought of some of ours. There may, however, be a good time coming here for steeplechasing, like everything else ; and the formation of the New Zealand Grand National Club will probably do a great deal towards it. Next year I understand the venue of the club will be Timaru. Wanganui this year has offered a most liberal programme ; so much so, that it has been a matter of wonder to me that none of our cross eountry horses at present in training have gone up. I feel sure the meeting will be a big success, and should it be so, I hope that our Wanganui friends will, in the interests of steeplechasing, give us next season a repetition of their programme. We are also promised a good cross country meeting next year at Waimate. There, with the newly formed club, the splendid course ready to hand, and the interest Mr Studholme, and indeed all the local sportsmen, take in the matter, it is safe to predict not only good stakes and good sport, but it is also, considering the above mentioned prospects, safe to say that a good jumning horse will next year be worth money 'The more so as I hear that it is far from improbable that we may have by that time a drag hunt. A; drag hunt is spoken of, as auctioneers gay, "in two places," and thus perhaps we may have our long talked of hounds after all. I have been given to understand that when Mr Webb has been pressed by people who " want to know you know" about his opinion of some particular horse, he has characterised the animal as a " useful horse." The information to be derived from his answer is not perhaps large. " The pint of the remark may," like those of the famous Bunsby, " lie in the application of it," but it is sometimes hard to know how to apply it. A horse may be useful for so many purposes, and I have seen some in Canterbury racing -.tables who would appear to more|ad vantage in well, elsewhere. Every year animals well bred enough are put in work—race—and however good they may appear in training, however fast they may gallop in their owner's opinion (and their private time is sometimes very good), somehow or other in the race itself others get there before them. At the close of a season they are relegated at an alarming sacrifice to hack or harness purposes, as the case may be. To the owners of such animals it may be a consoling fact that many of the best steeplechasers in England have been duffers on the flat. In an- article quoted in the Australasian from Baity, Amphion says " experience points to the fact that our most distinguished chasers of modern days have been reckoned as softly bred, and mere T.Y.C. animals at the best, until their real sphere of usefulness has been discovered, in which they have developed the exactly opposite qualities of stoutness and staying." "Non cnivis Jwmini, s'c." It does not fall to the luck of all to breed or possess a Lurline, a Castaway, or a Templeton ; but there are plenty of horses now in the province that with schooling would make good steeplechasers. Up to the present it has not paid to do so, but I hope the Christchurch Steeplechase may become a yearly institution, as in Dunedin, and that before long our sportsmen may find that a chaser is " good property." For the coming steeplechase there are now several in work—Medora, Tommy Dodd, Alma, Ivanhoe, Alice Grey, Royalty, Major, Muscatel, Kapai, and others besides the foregoing to fame at present unknown. It is also more than probable that we shall have also some , Southern and Northern visitors.

A recent resolution passed by the C.J.G. ought, and I have no doubt will, command the hearty co-operation of the country committees. It is to the effect that the dates of the various up-country meetings be fixed early in the season. Thus the clashing of the past seabon will be avoided, and each fixture will lead up to, and contribute to, the success of the next. Apropos of country meetings, the Little River races have always been pleasant enough, but there is no denying the fact that the value of the stakes have not been sufficient to attract first-class horses ; nor are they what they ought to be, considering that the Little River is the race meeting of the Peninsula. I hear that some of those interested in the matter are shortly to meet, and to establish a club. I hope this may be the fact, for I am quite sure that with a little trouble the Little River might be made a really firstclass meeting. The district is anything but a poor one and possesses plenty of good sporting men. It only wants some of the leading sportsmen to take up the matter promptly and the affair is settled. I wish to remind breeders once more that the indefatigable Mr Elliott is, and has been,

engaged for some time in the compilation of a fresh volume of the New Zealand Stud Book. As the date given by Mr Elliott for closing "nominations" h-is long since passed I would remind those who have forgotten to send him their returns, to do mo without IO3S of time, or they will be left out in the cold. They have a short reprieve; but these matters are best settled out of hand. The Victorian Jockey Club must be well satisfied with the number of nominations for the Cup and Champion Stakes, and the Sydney Metropolitan Stakes has also filled remarkably well. I see by the recent telegrams that Lurline has been favoured with 9st 71b, Calumny Bst 121 b, ano Castaway with 7st 131 b. The latter must, in my humble opinion be considered as certainly well in. From some cause, we have not yet learned Templeton's weight. Our own Metropolitan Meeting I fancy promises very well. The Bush Inn and Yaldhurst stables have already numerous inmates. Mr Redwood's string of two-year-olds remains here for the winter, and with Hercules, Guy Faux, and some youngsters to arrive in the spring, the Great Northern team will be unusually strong. Ted Cutts will remain here in charge, and Dick Mason goes back to work the home team. Bob Ray's stables will be, I hear, well filled, and Dan O'Brien with old Tam and Lough Neagh will be also to the fore. It is also likely th*t George Cutts may pay us another visit with Parawhenua and Ngaro ; and I hear that it is also highly probable that the great Papapa will, if George thinks him well enough, form one of the team. "What Mr Walters may have in store I cannot say, but he will surely have something to bring down. Some of Mr Lunn's young ones will, I also understand, also be in work.

I hear that it is the intention of the C.J.O. to continue the old course in a straight line past the back of the stand, joining again nearly opposite the main gate, thus making a splendid grass gallop of about two miles. This work will be, I believe, shortly set in hand, so that the gallop maybe available for the use of horses training for the next Metropolitan Meeting. I also am informed that the club have decided upon erecting a new stand. On the lower portion of the building will be scraping boxes, a commodious bar, and reporters 1 and jockeys' rooms. These will all, to use a very hackneyed expression, supply wants that have been long felt; The other portion of the building will be simply set apart for the accommodation of visitors at a very reasonable charge; and altogether, I should say that the building will be a convenience to the public, and I hope, a source of profit to the club.

Though the present season is unfavorable for the " pencillers by the way," some speculation has already taken place on the Melbourne Cup, the Canterbury Cup, and Derby. For the Melbourne Cup, Diver, Dilke, Lurline, Melbourne, Goldsborough, Kingsborough, and Gloom have received support here at odds varying from 100 to 1 to 100 to 5, which our local bookmakers seem willing to lay. For th« Canterbury Cup, Castaway, King Philip, the Waimea and Phcebe colts, have been installed even favorites at about 6 to 1, and Templeton is also supported, but both in his case and in that of Castaway, the probability of their running for the Melbourne Cup makes their supporters rather coy. For the Derby the Waimea colt is most in favor. He has been backed pretty freely at 100 to 15. Daniel O'Rourke, the Chief, and Pungawerewere have also been touched at 100 to 10. SINBAD.