MR REDWOOD AND THE SALE OF PEERESS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1596, 16 September 1873, Page 4

MR REDWOOD AND THE SALE OF PEERESS.

[FROM THE AUSTRALASIAN. ] ...... Some remarks have lately appeared in a contemporary, accusing us of having assailed the character of Mr Redwood in a foot-note we appended to his letter, explaining the part he took in the sale of Peeress. We fail to perceive in what way we have assailed Mr Redwood's character because we expressed our opinion that that gentleman had acted injudiciously. Mr Redwood owns, in his letter, that "if he thought the mare would have been scratched, he would not have sold her." He further states, " I did not know but that I was dealing with parties who were as straightforward as other men on the turf." "He never asked any questions, to the best of his belief," but sold the mare, on the eve of an important race, to parties who bought her "on purpose to scratch her." He refused to sell her to a gentleman who offered him "within a very little of what he got," and agreed to let the mare remain in Mr Redwood's hands to train and bring to the post/ the buyer to have the privilege of putting up his own jockey. Mr Redwood says be refused this offer because "he had no guarantee that she would be rim on her merits, only your word as a gentleman," and then sold her to, another party, Mr Walters— without asking any question, to the best of his belief— who, in league with certain bookmakers, scratched her as soon as bought. Mr Redwood says he always found Walters "act on the square," so he Bold Peeress to him "without asking any question," in preference to selling her to a'gentleman who offered him "almost " what he eventually got, and would have let the mare remain in his (Mr Redwood's) hands " to train and brinpr to the post." Mr Kedwood, with his 30 years' experience 'on the turf, never suspected why. the mare was purchased ; it never struck him she might be purchased on purpose to be scratched. Mr Redwood says, "Not having a single bet on, I was at full liberty to deal as I pleased with my own property ;" and he owns that "he felt annoyed at some remarks of Mr Robinson's and did not tell the truth." . Mr Stead was so dictatorial and impertinent that Mr Redwood says, "I made up my mind to deceive him." From these and other remarks in Mr Redwood's letter, it is plain to any unprejudiced person that there was a great deal of finessing over this sale of Peeres3 ; aDd from the tone of his letter it is qnite evident that Mr Redwood is now excessively annoyed at having been made subservient to the deaigns of those who bought the mare only to scratch her. As long as the mare remained in Mr Redwood's hands the public had the greatest confidence that she would run her merits. Mr Redwood, with his high character for straightforwardness on the turf, and his thirty years' experience, must have known 1 this, and he should have known that, by selling her, on the eve of an important race, without a guarantee, that she would be run honestly and on her merits, he was taking a step likely to lessen public confidence in him considerably. He did sell, however, without asking any question to the best of his belief, and the mare, as soon as sold, was scratched ; and she was scratched, moreover, in the interests of certain bookmakers. Our opinion, then, of Mr Redwood's conduct in the transaction still is that he acted very injudiciously ; and we think that most of our readers^ whose ideas of what is fair and square on the turf coincide with ours will agree with us.

The "Bohemian' rr of the Lyttdlm Times writes :— " In my younger days, I was once, complaining to an older friend of the difficulty of repressing undue famiJiarties on the part of acquaintances. 'o,' he replied, 'I leave all that kind of thing to my wife' i I do the friendly and familiar, and she does the snubbing.' This is very ingenuous, and very manly into the bargain, and must have an excellent effect upon the character. A western editor has come to the con- 1 elusion that the young ladies 1 in his village are not at all like St. Paul, because they pay so much attention to "things that are behind.'' -„/-••; An American exchange has the following observation :—" We always get mad when we walk along a street about nine o clock, and; passing a shaded porch where a young man is bidding his beloved goodnight, hear the girl exclaim, in a loud whisper, 'Oh, stop,, George, you haven't shaved.' " .