Ture Topics

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 76, 14 December 1901, Page 21

Ture Topics

Although the Auckland Cup held has been curtailed materially, theie is still a fine crowd left in, and a. capital lace is promised Cocksuie- people, who bet early, and often make bookies monetan ptesentis in consequence of the sciatching of their horses, have been backing Nonette and Blue Jacket with great enthusiasm Also San Remo Canteen, and Pampero, but, as these three will not start, their admneis might get their money back on anyone of them next year or any year before they peg-out, ajid are placed beneath the turf instead of on top That the two favourites ha\ c an undeniable chance on paper is undoubted, but there are others Battleaxe, for instance, may make things hum w ith Bst 71b , he should not find that weight too heavy for him, and he is just the horse to ma,ke a bold fight if he happens to be in a generous humour. I cannot say that I like either Coionet or Beddington in the big two-mile event, and Ideal does not commend herself to me, although she may lun a good lace Mr. Ormond's mare sometimes shapes very well, and on other occasions very indifferently. Formula, howe\er, is a candidate that, will have to be reckoned with. She is reported to be on the improve, and, as she ran good races at the last Auckland meetng, the full-sister to Multiform should nearly about score. Mr. Stead's St. Michael is considered to have a firstclass chance by those best supposed to know, and, if such is the case, he may be found m a place • * * The Yaldhurst people have elected to accept with Crucifoim in the Flying at Auckland, and if she starts there will be a huge rush of investors to get on to the bearer of the yellow jacket. It is possible that she will be a starter, too, as she is otherwise engaged at the meeting. The Great Northern Derby w ould appear to be a gift for Mr. Stead, as he has three representatives engaged in a field of six, and he should win with any one he chooses In the Northern Foal Stakes he will send Helen Faucit, but the race- is very open, as some of those engaged are very slippery. This district will likely be represented by Porirua, who is in good nick just now, and should shape well. Yaldhurst horse.s will, no doubt frighten a number out of the Royal Stakes ere the day. There are no fewer than fourteen left in at present, but the Southern sportsman holds a very strong hand More anon * • * The Chatham Islanders hold their anna! horse <?hhoo next Tuesday. When are we going to hear more of the extension of the railway right up to the Hntt couise^ 1 The \ cry latest turf new s item is that a lady owner on the other side has been passed out for two years, and her horse for life, for suspicious practices. The Northern Wairoa Racing Club actually goes in for a three-days' meeting, and pays out tw o dividends in all events m which three or more horses start. Latter proposal is ridiculous. Starter Piper had a narrow escape at Dunedm. That fractious beauty Dartmoor lashed out at the post, and kicked his hat off. Unpleasantly close, one fancies. Piper has a big head, too A Wellington lady, who takes a great interest in the pastime, has just purchased two trotters, and they are to be trained at Clinstchurch By the way, why are not more racers of this class trained in this district? And why are the public so apathetic about the sport. It ought to flourish as well here as elsewhere. Related that in a back-blocks district up North a man new to the place pnced and agreed to buy a horse he fancied from a local farmer, but he wanted a certificate signed by a, veterinary surgeon that the horse was sound Now, vets, are particularly scarce m that part of the country, in fact, there wasn't one available, but the astute farmer did not allow that to trouble him. He persuaded a friend to act the part and make out the necessary document. Now, he did not know much about horses, but he gravely examined the animal and gave the purchaser a certificate "guaranteeing the horse sound for two years." This was too much for the astonished stranger, and the deal did not take place. Reads like a watchmaker's arnarantee about his time-pieces.

The laujheld Cup winnei Hymettus, who was galloped on in the Melbourne Cup, hais now leoovered. He may not be seen out m handicaps again, but will piobably appear m weight-for-age races in the autumn. A city spoit, who went out to try his Juck art: the Hutt with a hvei on the last day, sold} because it was his birthda \ , not only lost the cash, but found a bailiff in Ins house when lie letuined home His lucky day, forsooth ' The Yankee owners discoveied thi 1- \ eai that the handicappei was not handicapping; owneis, but trameis, and the sliort odds offeied in most cases made financial success almost impossible. Result was that they did not do so well as they expected. The Wanarapa Racing Club will shortly be requiring a good secretaiv, as Mr. Hutton is relinquishing the post. The club, by the way, has a healthy-looking overdraft, but with good management that should soon vanish from the annual balance-sheet. A certain MH R related recently, when in a rather generous mood, that he had beem offered £15 cash if he could secure a tote permit from the Colonial Secretaiv for a diminutive way-side club in his constituency , and the bribe came from one of hrs most. aJued supporters, too. The takings at the gates at Longchamps, on the occasion of the French Guineas, amounted to £4228 odd, as against £440 last -seal, when the Exhibition attracted so many people to Paris The turnovei at the mutuels," or totes, however, was larger by £12,000, and amounted to £10"), 000, of which 4 per cent goes to the fund Owing to the tempoiaiy embaria^sment of its owner, one medium galloper has been i aced by a local bank during the last few months, but without success However, its prospects in the near future aie reckoned to be godlen, and when the moke is due for a win the office clerks will rake up the bank's old stock of battered sixpences and plank them on with great confidence. The strict partneislup - registration i ale is not adhered to in this oolonv. T know quite a number of people who are interested in the proprietorship of hoisee>, but who haA c not proclaimed the fact by means of official notice pieferrma to keep discreetly m the' background Well, it will be their own fault if they ' fall in" some fine day when a dispute crops up which requires minute investigation Hautvilhers, the thiee thousand pound dual Dei by winner, who has been quaitered in Wellington this week, is a fine looking animal, and ought to prove cock of the walk at Buenos Ayres, South America, whither he is beang taken by the Tongariro Mr H. H Ewin, who purchased him on the other side" for Mr Sampson, is well known to Christchurch and Poverty Bay people of thirteen years ago He was in business in both those places pnor to going to thf Aigentine The Adelaide jockey Gibhn will act us the horse's mentor The well-dressed gentry who tour both islands, and who aie officially known as Guessers," have had a number of Sydney additions to their swelling ranks lately, and the new comeis appeal 1 to be rather oleverei than the local product, inasmuch as they aie allegedly expert pickpockets, and are, consequently, rarely hard up for a fewpounds. It was the fun of the uoild when one of these talented strangers tnexl to pick the pocket of another guesser" at the Feolding races tlv> other day. Neithei was aware of the other's identity, but when an alert fuend chipped in with a smashing blow on the> nose the tuo soon realised how things stood, and a brief altercation was settled by the appearance of a man in blue. It is a great pity this vast horde of spielers could not be gaoled on saght but the apathetic police force is quite satisfied to arrest two or three now and then for appearance sake, and that miserable number makes no appreciable difference whatever — -in fact, the gap is so insignificant that it is not noticed. A number of Sydney visitors to Melbourne recently came back with the idea that racing there was far purer than it was in Sydney, upon which a Sydney journal remarked that if such was the ease, racing in Melbourne must be particvdarlv hot, for truU theie ha-\ c been some warm things in Sydney of late. Proceeds the writei "At one time an owner oi trainer who ran ai 'dead 'un would at least allow a fortnight to elapse before having a try but now it is nothing uncommon to see a horse urn last one Saturday, win easily in similar company the following Saturday, and then bring up the rear again a week later. Then again horses are pulled in such a glaring fashion that it passes comprehension how the stewards oveilook them, and it is not surprising that charges of being wilfully blind are levelled at them Of course the stewards can no* he expected to see everything but tihe wav in which as a rule, they avoid seeing anything is what causes discontent among race-goers "

Theie are some people who talk just as glibly, and with as much foundation, about a horse beang ' pulled" as Lord Huntwoith's cleigyman did about "Hell, just as though he knew the country." The soveieagn - coloured Chinese appear to prefer toting other people's hoises to running animals themselves, and that is probably why so few of them go in for the game. They are wise in their generation. The Yankee jockey Ames, alleged to be the only true exponent of the "on the neck" system in the colonies, was m Auckland lately, but has returned to Sidney for this month's racang there. It appears that his system is to shorten the leathers, bringing the calves forward of the pads on to the horse's shoulders Ames does all his w eight-reducing m the gymnasium, but does not care to get down under Bst. The Sou-we ster horse Boieas, who has just died at Porirua, commenced his caieer in the hack lanks, and was raced bv W H Keith His true worth was not, of course, then known, and he scoied in many a big event subsequently including the Wellington Racing Club Handicap, of 1} miles, in which he earned tihe big weight of 9st 131b His imposts latterly were invariably high, but when very well, he was generally able to earrv them Boreas was not seen at his best when he visited Victoria w ith Advance, and he was not tried at Sydney. The last appearance m public of the son of Hippona was at Christ church where he had bad luck. Plenrisv and pneumonia caused his death.