ASSEMBLY SPORTING NOTES.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2357, 22 October 1881, Page 3

ASSEMBLY SPORTING NOTES.

THE STANMORB STEEPLECHASE. ( Continued.) [By the Feiae.] I revert to the preparations for this event, which promises to be of unusual importance, and is attracting more than an ordinary share of attention in sporting circles. The fourth horse entered for this maiden event is, as your readers are doubtless aware, the celebrated Folle-F.rine, whose preparation being considered sufficiently forward, was yesterday taken for h*o preliminary on the B ngaland course. I was not disappointed at his appearance, since from the day he was found running wild on the Peninsula till the present moment I mamtaffi it is totally beyond hla power to live in the same spin with the most ordinary animal —his condition was, as I had anticipated, a disgrace to his trainer, and a slur on the stable, as ho is very gross, soft and flabby, and blown up like a puff adder, his penchant for inordinate quantities of hay has not been controlled in the least, and his well-known fondness for ohaj)' has also tended to this result. I believe in my former note I promised yon his pedigree, but the result of a careful hunt through the stud-book, has failed to give me the slightest clue. Candidly I do not believe there is the least drop of good breeding in his veins. Aa ho at r>ed on bis way, it would seem aa though the remembrance of his Peninsula defeat was present with him, and his following looked anxious. The boy np seemed new to the work, not being at all at ease, and owing to the man er in which he went went for the first few yards, no bets resulted, odds being offered freely against him and gloomily pissed over. After a little he warmed to his work, to the great delight of a few small boys. At the Government fence he came on fall dash, and crashed through it somehow. At the Progressive Land Tax Gully he made a point, and at the Law Heform Hurdles, a very low jump indeed. he just got over; by this time his condition told on him, and he was taken as leisurely aa possible over the flat that lay before him, and the Native Dyke, which he skilfully parried, and walked round. The Education Hurdles were cleared very creditably, andt e West Bailway Fence was also negotiated, but the time occupied in this preliminary was so out of proportion to what must be done to score a win that he will have to take rear rank. Ho collided nastily at Requisition corner, from whence ho walked in hopelessly lame. I also looked in at the other grounds, to take stock of Peter Flat, Boomerang, and Billy Pattons. The old horse does not improve on acquaintance, and I hear it is more than likely he will be scratched. Peter Flat is doing very fair work, but I doubt his ability to catoh the judge’s eye. The little black horse, Billy Pattens, is doing very well indeed, although he was a little ’ ruffled yesterday by a snarling black wolf dog, of foreign breed, running on the course and fastening on to him. He takes plenty of exercise, and crosses all his forces in a manner leaving nothing to be desired. I am more than ever confirmed in my opinion that the first Stanmore Steeplechase will be won by this game horse, hands down. The result of his good work is that the betting has hardened in his favour.