Turf Topics.

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 88, 8 March 1902, Page 21

Turf Topics.

By Silverspur.

The Masterton Racing Club's laoes take place on Thuisday and Fnda\ next, when some interesting contests ma} be expected Acceptances for the meeting aie due to-day. The St. Patrick's Handicap, which is worth winning, will be run ovei a mile and a quarter. Ruamahitnga, -who heads the handicap, will probably be found to be a dangerous horse with a]] his Bst 131b. Rebel, on his Woodville running, should about -win, in my opinion, and next to him I like Benefactor, whose owner cannot complain on the score of weight. Plaidie will not be a starter, having sustained injury through putting her foot m a hole the other day. Should Ringlet be taken up. she should have a good chance in the March Handicap a six-furl ong flutter. Westguard who has recovered form, raav be expected to run well, and of the others I like Turepo, who is evidently coining on. Waitoa has a good paper chance in the Masterton Hack Race, and will probably find strongest opposition from the Hutt horse Pure Silver, and Valiant. There is a. big crowd in the shorter distance Telegraph Hack Race there beting no fewer than nineteen weighted, and the winner is very carefully concealed Frontier En Garde, and The Rioter should make a good showing. The handicappei has assessed Cress's horse Pukania as only a pound better than Euchans. They Avon turn about at Woodville, but it is on the cards that Great Scott, who was just outed by a head on the first day, will down the paar on this occasion. He is a good jumper, and has a fair turn of foot. Rosette is to be giv,en a run, and may prove more successful over sticks than she has been on the flat. I do not approve of clubs disfiguring their programmes with four-furlong dashes. They are not productive of any good, and are undesirable contests in every respect. The tendency of clubs now-a-days us to shorten races instead of lengthening them, and that is one reason why we have so many nonBtayers in the colony. However, short flutters attract good fields and this meams increased totahsator revenue consequently, clubs go for the beans '' There are no fewer than 23 in the Dash Handicap, at Masterton, and the man who could pick the winner in one before the appearance of the acceptances would be a prophet of no mean abihty. In selecting Languid, Frontier, and Spun Gold, I do not think I shall be far out in my calculations. Cavalier, Greygown, and Lady d'Eau will probably prove to be the best of the crowd in the Ladies' Bracelet. The reckless spendthrifts who rolled their cash on to Sir Foote for the great six-furlong event of the year, at Flemumgton, despite the allegation that he was likely to go wrong on the slightest provocation, will collect, with much laatisf action, and the ever-complaining Ikey Mo will, as per usual, assert that he has been robbed, ond has lost half-a-mmlbon or so. But Sir Foote only came into bettaing prominence since the Ca>ulfield meeting, and there were a number of animals better backed than the winner. Aurouis, especially, carried a load of bullion. Then, »there were Drawbridge, Moonbeam, Carinthia, Mylae, and others, who were persistently supported throughout. The sire of Sir Foote, Sir Hugo, created a surprise a few years back by winnimg the Epsom Derby. Sir Foote, who is out of a Gallopin mare, was imported last year, but has not been raced much, being quietly reserved for a big coup, which he has now successfully brought off. The horse's trainer solemnly stated recently that he was unsound, might crack up at any minute, and that the stable had not then backed him. Rather a big mouthful to swallow, that. Sir Foote was, apparently tested severely in the race itself, and finished resolutely. Aurous and Bonnie Chiel, second and third, are both by Wallace. Auraria's half-sister would have won probably had she not had to carry a penalty. TipTop, who hails from Adelaide, apparently ran a good race, and finished fourth. A fortnight before convincing day something happened to her, and it was thought that she would be unable to start. Strange that in a six-furlong straight run three horses should come down one

of them, Moonbeam — and hei jockey, Maiming— being killed, the rider dying some bjours after the catastrophe. If foul riding was the cause of the acei^ dent, it is to be hoped the chaige will be sheeted home to the person or peibons responsible for it. Some lockies stop ait nothing. It is- well known that the most unscrupulous of them are often tempted by substantial bribes to indiil^e in blocking tactics. They take their ohanc© of coming down themselves, of course, but that does not appear to trouble them much. Vladimir, who «ou a treble foi the Hon. G. McLean at Dunedin is said to have grown into a fine colt, but is a lazy track horse Peters had bad luck with Velocity at WoodvrlJe, wheie she was galloped on, and has been suffering from a veiy much swoo'llen leg in consequence An Australian-bred colt by Proiectile — Loch Mane is just recovering from a touch of paralysis, an affliction from which the Porirua colt Achilles is recovering. Drawbridge aaid Moonbeam, who met with the mishap in the Newmarket, finished fii stand second in the Oakledgh Plate, at the V.A.T.C. gathering iust previously. Silencis, who notched t lie Alma Stakes at Caulfield lately, is by Valala, an unknown sire, who, how&vei, carries good blood vi his veins, as he is h\ the mighty Malua. We are getting on. At a little wayside meeting up North the other day a Maori, who made a book on each event, was assisted bv his dusk^ better half — a canny lady, who took fine care not to lav too long odds. The retaining fees of first-class joekles are so high at Home just now that men of small meians are unable to employ them. Fashionable manmkms undoubtedly make a pot of money, and most of them live up to it. The fourteem-y ear-old Peg Woffington horse Drury Lane is once again '.criking out on the Hastings tracks. He has been at the stud for a, number o f years. but hisi owner seems- to think that he has a race' or two left in him. The first race that Billingsgate, who died up North lately, started in included his own sire Izaak Walton, whom he heat, but Pmfire (by Deadshot) downed them both. Billingsgate 1 also beat his dad on other occasions subsequently. Sheilldrake, who sustained a broken leg at the Woodville meeting, was a finely-bred horse, of great promise — one> of the sort that would improve with age His dam. Merganser, was one of the fastest mares ever seen in the colony. Te Taiaha seems fated to run seconds. Jemama just '"pipped" him in the Electric at Woodville. One Wellington sportsman, who thought the horse was a particular juicy thing, had a £15 dash on him, and got 17s back for each pound. Lady Dundas, sister to the Dunedin Cup winner, is reported to be a fa.st galloper on the training track, but runs indifferently with the colours up. She belied her reputation in the First Hack Race at Dunedin, however, and paid a good dividend. Lady Lillian, who raced successfully at Dunedin, is splendidly bred being by the Trenton horse Phaeton, out of Lady Zetland, a most, consistent performer when on the turf. Medus, another of Phaeton's progeny, was also in evidence at the meeting, and seems to be a horse who will prove something moie than useful. A team of over twenty-five mediumpace racers, including the Carnngton Stakes winner Cast Iron, ha® been purchased m Sydney for South Africa. There are any number of alleged gallopers in this colony who would not be missed if they took their departure thather also. There promises to be a good field for the Hawke's Bay Stakes this year, but, of the seventeen left in, a number are bound to drop out. Yaldhurst Stead, as usual, holds a strong hand with Royal Artilleirv. Romany Queen, and Evelyn Wood. The Aucldanders, Grey Seaton and La Valette, may make the trip, and it is likely that Prosser will take up Porirua. The bird of ill-luck which has been perched over the stable door of the Napier sportsman, Mr. G. E. G. Richardson for some time has apparently taken wing. His Robinson Crusoe mare, Hinetaura. won her treble at, Woodville m good style, and her victories were very popular. Now that the ice has beesri broken, Mr. Richardson may experience similar luck at the Hawke's Bay meeting with his other representatives. Ambush. II . who won a steeplechase at Home t(he other day for King Edward, is trained in Ireland. He will be a starter in the Liverpool Grand National this month, a race he won two years ago. Other winners of this coveted stake in Gruedon, Manifesto, and Drogheda are also billed to run, so that the erst Aucklander Levanter will have a rather select crowd to tilt against .

to start.