SPORTING MEMS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 136, 8 June 1875, Page 2

SPORTING MEMS.

Pint racing in New Zealand has closed for.;; the .season, and the wind-up meetings nt • Nelson, Duneiin, and Auckland, on her M-ijcsty's Birthday were all unfortunate as regarded the weather. But bad as this was here, ifc was wor->e both in th* Northern and S mthern m'tropolis, and in Auckland, where the ra* e programme embraced two days, the second day', fport had to be postponed until | the following Saturday, when the weathrr j proved more fav.irab e. Christchurch closes the season's racing with a Steeplechase meeting on the -46 hof July. The programme comprises a Handicap' Stepplechase of '00 ovs, with » sweep of 7 sovs added, about 3| miles; aHa k St epleehas ->, of 30 sovs, l£ miln; and a Handicap. S f eplechase of 60 sovs, 2 miles. Here is a chance for Don Juan, if entrusted' to safe hands. The Dnnclin Tradesmens' Meeting, as the races on the Forbu'y Course on the 24th ultimo were styled, presented no feature of particular interest. The horses engaged we: e locally owned and nbt of high cla-s. We do , not excr-pt from this remark tbe Victorian bred King Phillip, which hsd . been .poken of bv a Bporting contributor to the Guardian aB the best three-year-old in New Zealnd. When the "best three-year-old" was beaten by such a moderate horse as Rory O'More, whtn conceding only 12lbs, Ve ; cannot rank him very highly. The Consola- ; tion Stakes, ns not unfrequently hsippehs when the handicapping is judicious, produced a capital race. Three horses started-r-Right Bower, bred in Victoria, bythePfer, 5 yrs, Bst { Fnvy. by Traducer, aged, Bs't ; and Atlas by The Peer, out of. an impor ed Simoom mare, aged, 8s C 71bs. After an i exciting finish the race was won by Right | Bower. The .Auckland meeting produced pood . sport, and is noticeable for th9 success that attended th. horses of a Manri sportsman, Mr Pohika Hapuka. On the first day, his horse Shumrock ran second for the Hurdle Race, and with Maori Weed, an a.el gelding, Bst 2lbs, he won ihe Birthday Handicap, beatingYatterina, Bst l.lbs; Ngaio, 3 yrs, Bst?lbs; and Bedouin, by Traducer, 4 yrs, 7st Blbs. On the second dav, Shamrock won the Steeplechase, beating Isleman, Rustic (who struck a fence and 6»me to grief), and three others ; while Maori Wted ran second to Yatterina for the Autumn Handicap, receiving a concession of on'y 6lbs, an:i boating The Belle and two others for places. We hardly suppo-e Mr Pohika Hapuka trained his horses, but there is no saying what a Maori cannot do. The Leger was a failure, as only two horees went for it, both owned by Mr Watt George r-utts de-Tared to win with Toi. sinter to Kak»po, who was »cc impan^e l in her wj-lk-o^er by Ngaro. "The Champagne Stakes on the sicond cay was a well co-nested race. The co npetitors were sons of Fanny FUh r and Una, and n daughter of Nebula, all eot by Dainty Ati.l. Mr Rpdwood had five youngsters engaged, but the Phoebe cot, R nolf, hid not been entered He appea-s not to have considered it worth while to send a youngster at this season on to long n •<o)ag-; with the miserab'e accommodation the steime s s. fiord hy would have bean pretty cer ain t. bo knocked out of condition 1 li « race was taken by the grandson of old Fisherman, after a smart tussel with the son of Una. d.ught r ol that good little mare. Miss R".ve. we hope the Fisherman blood may prove as good a thine; tor Mr W. Iters, a dei-.tro.nK .portsman. as the Sir Hercule grTwinK 8t f _ ane fOC hil " ia Yatteriaa » now Ade'Sdi nt n!! gen _ e ofL « r «ne's success at ady the best now in tho Aostraii-in colonies, if m.t tho best mare that evtr raced south of the rquator. When Lurline took her departure irom Melbourne lor Adelaide she was thought to be s veral pounds below her S duey form. Nevertheless, she carried off the Cup, with the top weight, in ihe fast time of 3 miiis 41 sees, beating a field of good horsts, and won afterwards the three mile race ms she pleased. Lurline's Cup time, although not the ehortest in which two miles has bien done iti the colonies, wai a great perform mee. D^worth, eon of Yattendon, a.nJgandsonof fcir Hercule*, won tbe Sydney Metropoliten, whtn 4 jears old, cairjini; 7at sibs, in 3 mi ,8 36 sees, that bang theshortest time for two milts of which wo have any account J >«m Juan won the Meib mrne Cup when of like aare. in the same time, bat carried only fist 12lbs. Sterling, another sm ot Yattendon. won the Metropolian ia '74, in 3tnins 36Jatc8; but the performance of The Baib, a ton of Sir Hercules, in lhe Sydney Cup in '67, when 5 yrs old, carrying lOst Blbn, he did the two miles in 3 mins 40 s.C3, w,is the greatest aclrevement. The f iste-it two miles in New Zealand was forthe Chri.tchureh Plate in 1873, wo i by Llirline, 4 yrs, 9s* 21bs, in 3 mins 43 sie-j; but Symphony's race in Nehou, ior the same distance in '56, aged, loot 61bs, in 3 min* 48 sees was remarkably good. In looking through Australasian racing records one cannot but be struck with the superiority of hors -a of the Sir Hercults family on the turf, tbe fastest races at nearly, all distancts bavin* beon won by them, 'i he fasttHt three miles of which we have any record, w>.b Manuka's, ior the Canterbury Cup, in '69, when 3 yrs old, ani carrying 7at 7lbB, he won in srnins 87£*ec«; The barb's time .or the Melbourne Champion ia '67, the same age and enrrying 61b9 lets, was half a second longer. The fastest two miles was, as we have seen, Dagwonh's; while Papapva Canterbury Derby in J "3, ian iu 2 mins 44^secs, has only been beaten by half a second on three occasions— by Blair Atltol and Blue Gown for the Epsom Derby, and by Brown JUui-htss ior the Oaks The fastest mil*; and a quarter race wi,s Yattendon's, in *07 for the Ra.dwiik Craven. 6 yrs, 9st Bibs, won in 2 mins ]2Jsecs; and Kakapo's,in the Canterbury For ed Handijap in '73j won in lmin 45tecs, was within a second and a half of the fastest mile It is, there/ore, with justice the Austi alasiun, m a late number, lemarkß:— ''No f-.mily (of horses) haspni e;J such a reputation at* that which, des_e.ni-;* fr m the colonial-. rsd Sir Hercules. In couießtß of every description the icpresrnttitives of this lire have achieved nii;re than their share of popular triumph, from the time Mr Tait carried all before him wiih old Cossack down to the present season, when King.boiough, Dagworth, Melbourne, Reprieve, bterliug, Fitz -Yattendon, Valenli^e, Calumny, Kingwcod, and many others wi'h a dash of the old blood have carried their owners' colors to the fire in some of the hardest tusselß ot the year." No wonder Mr Ridwood is jealous ot paning with mates of this blood, which will rank in futurn colonial stud history with the Prunellas, Filagrees, Jna'inas, an.i Youna; Giantesses ot the "Geaeial btud Book." The defeat of Cambridge and success of f'xford in ihe *« Thames Derby," as the great arnual aquatic encounter between the two University crewH is sometimes called, is a le»aon worth studying. Oxford, afier several years' 6u_d_sive defeßt", resolved to win, and set earnestly to work to achieve what it r solved. Cambric go, on the contrary, elnted by past -success, did not apply itself to the tusk ol preparation with the same energy. When both took up their quarters ( n tbe Than>es, the superiority of the dark j bluecrewwa. so appaient that edda were at j at once laid they would once more iow horae 1

ah .ad of their opponents.. The race j u. tilled this opinion, although (. ambii*!ge led at the Btart, and quickly was elf ar of the : -Oxford boat,' the crew of tho latter were s ' admirably trained that they never varied their stroke, biit keeping up the same steady sweep wore down thtir opponents by the time half the distance was got over, and c-ime in easy victors. Ihe d feat of the Cambridge boat will once more put the University on its metal, and next year a belter crew mny be looked for. The success of Count Ratthyans'. Galopin , for the English Derby is no surj. rise, . inop he was one of the beet two year old performers l«Bt season, and waa always a prominent fav.-rite fe>r the great rnee His owner, r.n Hungarian nobleman, io very popular in English aporticg cbe'ea. The horse, Ire lin Kngland, waa purchased by the Count at a long price wh n a.yeari- g. Cl-iremont, who ran second, is by B air Athol. Altlioutsh he <>id 1 tt'e as a two year old. he only .in fact sfc* rti d tw:ce and hia heßt performance was running Becond to « ambelln at fct *<:kbrioge— he waa so finely shaped thst it was predicie ' ha would distinguish himself. We must await the arrival of the mail in due course for particulars.