SPORTING NOTES.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2219, 6 April 1881, Page 4

SPORTING NOTES.

By Sinbap I remind members of tbs Canterbury Jockey Club that a meeting will be held on April 16th, at which some subjects of much importance will be discussed, notably the protest oases referred to the Jockey Club from Kaianoi and Bangiora, and the letter from the V.E.O. in connection with the disqualifi tion of Mata. A very large portion of the timber required for the erection of the new grand stand has arrived from the North Island, and has been stacked on the racecourse. It is of first-rate quality, and Messrs Stock and Stenhouse announce their intention of commencing operations immediately after the autumn meeting, probably when the winner of the Consolation has weighed in. The dry season has made the grass on the course as dry as tinder, and a week or so ago a fire took place which might have been attended with very serious consequences, and which consumed all the grass at the lower end of the course. To prevent a recurrence of such an accident the caretaker burnt all grass inside the plough gallops. In the programmes of up-country meetings such enigmatical sentences as the following are often seen, “ Publicans’ Purse, of sots ; so much on nomination, so much on acceptance." This conveys very little idea to owners at a distance of the amount it is pos sible for them to win. Again, the conditions of many of the principal events at minor meetings are so indefinitely worded that winning owners are frequently quite stunned at the difference between their calculations and the amount they receive. Thus, assuming a stake of 30 sovs is advertised for the chief event, second horse to save stake, nothing being said of what becomes of either nomination or acceptances, this is how the owner finds ho comes out—Three sovs for second horse, 27 sovs ; qualification fee, 2 sovs, 25 sovs ; jockey’s fee, 5 sovs, 20 sovs ; expenses, travelling and while there, say 8 sovs ; total received, 12 sovs. It may not be intentional on the part of committees thus to mislead owners, but a little more care in the wording of programmes would be an improvement, both for country clubs and owners of horses. Steps are being taken (says the “ Waikato Times”) to bring about on amalgamation of the Waikato Turf Club and the Cambridge

Jockey Club. This is a most sensible suggestion. If carried out, the immediate affect will doubtless be to reduce the number of racs meetings held in the Waikato ; but this will enable the district to offer richer stakes, and so concentrate tho interests of the sportsmen of the various smal ; settlements south of Auckland, that races commensurate with the importance of the district may bo gotj up. ' ’otn petition is all very well up to n. certain ■o nt ; but in the Waikato the principle has open don - to death as far es horse racing is concerned, as all who read the local papers will allow. On the whole tl’cro is little to be lost and much to be gained oy the proposed amalgamation. By the way, the "Leader” readers —sporting readers, I mean—will hardly credit it, but the English Jockey Club members have scarcely a habitation, though tho club has given its name to more famous clubs throughout the world than any other, and wherever there is a Jockey Club it is undoubtedly the best club in tho country. Not only is this so in France, Germany, and Austria, but it is so in America ; whilst in Australia a writer of the present day remarks—and I suppose ho is correct—tho Jockey Club is so powerful that legislative functions have been granted it. But tho homo of the English club is certainly not that of “golden youth,” though its members are men of vast estates whose patents of nobility “go back a thousand years.” In evidence of this I will quote again from the writer who evidently knows all about it. He says, “ The members of the Jockey Club at Newmarket dine in a sombre apartment used for various turf transactions off some four or five plain but well cooked courses, and always winding up with red herring and cheese. For this dinner the member pays about ss, and his wine bill is on the same moderate scale. After dinner perhaps a snuff-box will be handed round. It is a horse’s hoof mounted in gold. On it you will see an inscription, which tells that it was presented to the Club by his .Majesty King William IV.; and you will gaze at it with more interest when you learn that the hoof is that of tho famous Eclipse. Practically speaking, therefore, the English Jockey Club is no club at all. At a meeting, however, the other day there was some talk of building new premises as tho head-quarters of the turf.