SPORTING NOTES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 90, 3 April 1876, Page 4

SPORTING NOTES.

Thef'* glorious uncertainty of racing''v*4^'leld6_a:::; been i more strikingly exemplified thari in the late raoe for the Dunedin Cup. Horse after horse was elected favorite,- and. fpr one cause or another dismissal, and the winner turned up is a rank outsider against wftSth'ijlmost any odds, cpuldf have— b t eeo got. up. to the start. When the *.wwightl-' WeW first published^ tb^; race waß said- to be a gift to Rdry' O'Mtirfe-pn tbefcu cKitigifPhillip 1 looked in _uch fsplend-d'''f6riii' ji that > he was voted, fit: to r^ee: for. ;aj kingdom, and it was all over? bat shouting for the son of Camden and Lady Dow ling; Templeton, - who" carried all before him last yriar, was sajclHo;f onjly .warit same condition to be again invincible; the perfdr m6n.es of Korari, both at Christchurch and Wellington, showing tbat be pos-Weed4pfeie_ aa well as wonderful stay ing^pp^wers, early brought Mr Redwood's little horse into high favor notwithStandlng (hg.:was to "carry the top, /weight,, and many kaowing-ones did not u s.eejijhp_w y -he. .could be . beaten* Then came a rumor of a dark filly thatjiwas to i: ca£ry the of the Marlborough stable, .which of course mad'e^vher better .than Korarj,. so Amobia was placed first on the list, untiF it 'was whispered she .was amiss; when Tattler came to the fore, to be in ' turpo .fl^ppjajitgd; „by fishhook, who started at the short odds of 3 to 1, in a field of fifteen, and failed to secure a placid v * * yl'f';' , ' 7 ' '„ After th'e*lscr|tching of Korari, who pulle^ ; jap(,j'flame' after a gallop some days before the race, and the known unfitness of Araohia to gallop a hundred yards, (there was pq realjy first class animal left, as the time in which the race was won. showed.,. The best was Guy jPawkes,. but the distance was too greS^'ifor Him. : Considering he gave weight to ? ey9r^..hprse heinet--r7lbß. to, PungaweV%wjßy4 ithe winner, tof Right Bower,.f.f.who. scored second honors, and lllbs to King Phillip, who secured third place, Guy/s performance was really good, and it was evident he could baye obtained a place bad he been ridden home.; His subsequent running r at the meeting fully established the positron 'l'awarcl him, ; Carrying the top weight, he won the Publican's Hahdicap, Jibe .same afternoon. He ran second to Ariel, to whom he was conceding T-lbsyiin the Jocky Club Handicap >Mi3 -o ! ii '-^th.- 1 folldwing day, and aft*srWjar^^ ; /yf!ori. the- Ladies' Purse, at weHJßri/weigKtß-: iOu, the third and last . day*of the meeting he won the Town . Plate of two miles and a -quarter; and . afterwards gotfseopnd to TFishhook, to whott^iß'was^conceding 16lbs, havingbehind 'h'itaa s Wee fLad, receiving a concession. , of 33ios; Parawhenua, lllbs; and"Pungawerewere, tbe Cup winner, 4 lbs. Had Korari been fit, he must have won the Cup, since his race for the Christcburcb/ Plate, two miles, in 3minß 4-Jaecs/witb plenty in hand, was a far better performance than that of Mr fPelamain'sfiiiy's-ihthe Dunedin Cup, - two miles and a distance, in 4mins 7£secs, without-considering that Korariwould would have started 2lbs more favored in weight -than when he ran atiiticaartop. I hope the .'little gentleman may be himself at Christchu¥ch^Jn v \the -ensuing Easter week; so finlt- w^'mayieara' his true. quality^', and tbat the filly, his stable companion, may have- the like'gbdd lortuoei Baakrer'? and- John Stbefel, accompanied by old Sultan, and Mr. Walters* pair of brothers, Fisherman and Isaac WBitt'on/^rrlved. iv the Wallace from their West Coast campaign on Satur- ; day.ii Mr Walters' horses proceeded to * Aufe_!li|nci v -the- same evening in the Taffpo, where thby 1 will have a clear field in a single , day's sport, on Easter Monday, and be ready for another day's racing v ob? r thiß : 24th i ofMay, when Isaac wili^p'robkbly ( ' , m_et! Ariel ih the Leger,, after the son of Una, as we hope, shall have taken part in our meeting on the 2nd-;;and' 3i-J. l10 But ior splitting the Aujtjlilla^ With ah intervalVf' a month between the two. days, we should have seen Mr Walters' . t horses7at Sioke. . .-.'..*• The Auckland Racing Club lately passed, a!reaolu,tioo, that it was desirable a cotif^rence'.bff "representatives of "the various racing clubs' in New Zaaland should meet at Christchurch, or come other central spot, to settle definitively the n .ime f of : ftb'eir respective meetings so |^at one might not clash with the otbir^ioVframp a (general body ot rules for the colony, and settle other matters nffecliFg 1 ibe ointerest0 interest of all. It was also proposed. that there should be three great colonial races for three-year-olds: a mile race early in tbe spr iDg, similar to * the Two Thousand Guinea rac§ y j :r at Newmarket; a Derby, at .„ ...more advanced period : . and^^-^St, "Leger .in the autumn, to Be run for respectively at Auckland, Christcburcb, and Dunedin. I fear Ihatf this .pa,rt of _. the Auckland club's proposal 'sv ill. nbt be 'entertained by the Southern clubs, though with the few ' horses bred here a succession of Derbya and Legers all over the colony will certainly^pifove failures. The Canterbury D.rby secures a fair field of horses, but the same race at Auckland bas not succeeded. Wellington's .first trial saw a field otjfcmr,,. with betting of 60 to 40*ohsKdVari,; who won as he pleased. Thie can scarcely be called a suocosb. The> I|uiO£djrn $itib ..is also about to iry a Derby "at their March meetings, and 150 soys ar^d^ertised; to be added to a sweepstakes of 16 soys for a Derby at the next annual meeting, as also at the onepiu Jforcbj ; 1878,^ nominations for both of which wjjl close" on the 29th iost. jWe?i»<Jpei tbese ra fla s will

realise the expectations of their promoters. It would lend to the success of racing all over the! colony, ;and be eatist factory to owners, if the fiqst portion of. » the Auckland clubs proposal) was acted upjon. The dates of thef principal meetings once settled, other clubs, would be able to issue (heir programmes with confidence without fear of jtheir meetings being spoiled by more" ..attractive ones in their neighborhood clashing with them. Another, and ;m<jst 7 desirabie arrangement to effect, would be the appointmen t of a general handicapper, so as to ensure consistency and competent knowledge. 7 Cheval.