HORSE NOMENCLATURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2813, 12 February 1908, Page 54

HORSE NOMENCLATURE.

Discoursing on the nomenclature of racehorses, " Phaeton " has the following amusing paragraph: — "In some of the old English calendars many humorous, senseless, and inept names are to be found. Tt i« fortune for the latter-day bookmakers that owners are not given to saddling their horses with such long alliterative mouthfuls as were so popular with many who patronised the sport of kings before bookmakinewas known or became an institution. Much time would be cut to waste by the latterday ' knights of the pencil ' in offering 6to 4 against the chances of Chicken-Comb-Crock, or dealing quickly while the rush was on with Down With The Dust or Who Says 800. All these have figured with mor» or lesg— chiefly tees — success oe turf ia

t>ygone days. Such names as these are simple music to Alamahatamaha, a colt by Slerod, that twisted the tongues of be•wifpjjed sportsmen towaids the end of the seventeenth century. The meaning of Chaise and One is not quite clear to me, and Gibscoutsky would commend itself more to a Russian than a Britisher. The party •n ho in 1735 christened his Childers colt Hop-Srep-and-A-Jump cannot by any stretch of imagination be accused of a too dose obseivanee to brewitv- and no d-oub-t the Lord Abmgdon who reigned in the last quarter of the eighteenth century was a bit of a wag m his way, as we find two colts and a filly out, of his Merlin mare Merlitena named Hurlothrumbo, Puffendorff, and Fieri Facias — three names that would -cause a deal of trouble to the modern bettor in running. I'm Sure I Shan't, Jack Come Tickle Me, Jennie Come Tie He, Je ne snis quoi, I See Yon Kitty, Cut A Dash, Kiss My Lady, King's Son of Blank. Let's Be Jogeling, Long Looked For, Look At Me Laddie, Look About You, Let Me Alone, Before the People, and Potoooooooo's (the original name of Pot 8 o's) are titles that in these dusty days of cash betting wou'd add considerably to the burden of the bookmaker and the patient punter. In the old days Kow Zealand could boast of a few oddities in nomenclatures. Billy Gq By 'Em, Mother Bunch's Baby. Across the Grass Tommy, Up the Gum Trees, and Port Wme wore some of the titles conferred upon -equines that come to mind. Eketarina Passeropoulo is a latter-day effort in New Zealand nomenclature, but though now and ag-am a stiff task is set to g-et th" correct pronunciation of some of the Maori title* conferred upon equines. it can be said thac nonsensical names are not nearly so common as in days gone by." AN ENGLISH VISITOR. Mr B. Thompson, who is on a visit to Australia > has changed a good deal since I first saw him at Hawkesbury the day Whalebone won the Hawkesburv Derby, about 1871. I was a small boy then (says "Milroy"), and, boy-like, was much interested in this 6martly dressed member of the great Thompson family. for his beautiful velvet coat, shiny stovepipe hat, and " headlight " diamond attracted great attention, apart from the fact of his being a full brother to Joe of that ilk, the leviathan bookmaker of Australia, whom I remember in those far-off days as an aggressive bettor, wearing black sidewhiskers, a tall hat, and an everlasting cic;ar. The Thompsons were fine-loolijng men. and all bier except "Parncv." and po&s ; blv the most popular of the five brothers was poor old Phin. a handsome man. v.ho saw some ser\io9 in the American Civil War, as did his voungrer brother .lack, who was wounded in the battle of Bull Run. Tho story of Mr Barney Thompson's first marriage was romantic enough for a " Ouida '" novel. The first Mrs Thompson, a Tasmanian, was very beautiful. Some time in the eighties the brothers Joe and Barney went, to live in England, and both have made their mark in the bettintr world. Being ■& man of prominence in the Old Country Mr Thompson has been extensively interviewed by the Sydney press, and tol-d his interlocutors a lot of things that should be pretty .familiar to regular newspaper readers in jhis far-off land. Speakinjr to him at ■Randwick, he told me that headquarters hwa altered beyond recognition since he left hero 20 years ago. The difference between the starting hex? and in Enprland puzzled Air Thompson exceedingly. Of course, it ian be only accounted for by the difference in the manner in which horees are handled. Mr Thompson gave some interesting particulars about the startinpr-prioe business in England, and the car© which the start.ineprice organs take to get correct quotations. He also mentioned that the representative of the London Sportsman receivee somethine like £1000 a year for this work, which after all is expert, and to do it properly one needs come knowledge of bor>kmakm# and a bettini? book. Speaking of the introduction of _ naid etowards in England to another interviewer, Mr Thompson gave it as his opinion that the present management cannot be improved upon. He said that English authorities do not co seeking for ■trouble, but when they oat-ch offenders in the act. they endeavour to do without them. They don't tinker with the matter by wiping an owner or trainer off the slate for a year or so as sufficient penalty for malpractice, but. " warn him off," and he is fortunate if he comes back until after ■the lame of years: and. says Mr Thompson, that is wanted in Australia. Racecourse swindlers are not of any use in the business, pnd you should endeavour to do without them, a* is the case in all other branches of business. Fortunately for English sportsmen, all turf men are valued ■Hiero for their character, and often by the company theiy keep. If the same principle were followed in Australia half a dozen well-dressed desperadoes of the turf whom everybody knows by sight or rpontation, and who are the real cause of half tha trouble on our racecourses, would quickly find themselves " far from the madding crowd " on the wrong- side of the gate.

THE TAHtTNA PARK MEETING. The Tahuna Park Trotting Club will once more open their trat&> to patrons of he-lit-harne«? racing on Friday next, and as the card for the day promises to b« of an attractive nature, a larpe attendance ma-v be safely anticipated. The Talruna meetings are growing: in popularity with each succeeding season, and as this will probably be the last year during: which they will operate on their old track it is to be hoped that the remaining meetings held there will be both a sporting and financial success, in order to give an additional zeal to the opening of the new track.