IN A NUTSHELL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 11 March 1908, Page 55

IN A NUTSHELL.

— Nominations for the Ashburton trotting meeting are due on Merch 21. — It is reported that the well-known hurdler Mohoe is training on satisfactorily. — Nominations for the Wellington autumn meeting are due on the 23rd inst. — Nominations for the Southland Racing Club's meeting are due on the 20th inst. — Scotland, the winner of the Newmarket Handicap, cost his present owner 600gs. — The New Zealand-bred Delaware was fourth in the Australian Cup, and Apologue was fifth. — The rising two-year-old brother to Mun-' jeet, All Red, and co. has been named Cronstadt. — A Masterton telegram states that the well-known racing stallion Porirua died early on Thursday morning. — The Tahuna Park Trotting Club will hold their next meeting on Wednesday and Saturday, May 6 and 9. — Apologue started favourite for the Australian Cup, Peru waß next in demand, and Del«ware was third choice. — Handicaps for the Waimate meeting are due on the 12th inst., and acceptances must be declared on the 14th inst. — A yearling by Martian (a miniature Apollo amongst equines) from the flying Cruciform has been named) Lily White. At- a sale of thoroughbred yearlings at Melbourne Mr Moore, of Wanganui (owner of Dusky Morn), paid 250 guineas for the Pistol — Alvery fiHy. — The Palliser gelding Ecclefechan, who is a winner over hurdles, came to light at the Clutha meeting, and captured the principal event on *he card. — It ;s reported that a well-known Victorian bookmaker lately made Mr John M'Donald an offer of 5000 guineas for Mountain King. The offer was refused. — The Simmer — Cantatrice horse Sims Reeves, who has been at the stud for several seasons, figures amongst the nominations for the Waimate meeting. — The order of favouritism for the New market Handicap was: — Scotland, Antonio, Munjeet. and Grenadier. The last-named trio ranked at the same price. — Cross Battery, who has "been a great disappointment since she has been carrying Mr H. F. Nicoll'B colours, figures amongst the nominations for the Waimate Cup. — A Sydney cablegram states that the Canterbury Handicap was won by Lionheart, with Enn'.emu second, and Haranaud third. Won casil ' by four lengths. Time, 2min ll^sec. —In addition to purchasing the Pistol — Alveary colt at 250ga, Mr Moore, of Wanganui, also, bought a Sir Tristram — Zaroba filly at lOogs at the Melbourne bloodstock sale. — The nominations received for the StrathTaieri hack meeting are very satisfactory, and the quality is rather better than what has previously ■ been- engaged to race on the Middlemarch track. — Excellent nominations have been received for the Waimate Racing Club's annual meeting, and if that can be taken as a reliable criterion there is every prospect of the club holding a record gathering. — The Hobart Tace track is planted with English ryegrass and clover, and it is said to form such a splendid sward that after the recent Cup meeting scarcely a hoofmark could be seen on the ground. — .Horseowners who have thei. horses engaged at the -Waimate meeting should note that acceptances for the meeting are due on

[ the 14th inst., or a couple of days after the I appearance of the handicaps. j — Some sports were recently speaking of I racing in the old days. Quoth one: "I have | seen the day when it was easy to back a ■ horse for the Dunedin Cup to win thousands of pounds — particularly if he was a dead 'un " — The Uniform filly Diana, who recently won the distinction of being the winner of the first South African Derby, is out of a mare called Queen of the Chase, a granddaughter of Prince Charlie, the sire of Lochiel. — A yearling brother to Scotland sold at 650g6 at the Melbourne sales, ard was purchased by Mr E. E. S. Clarke. This was the top price made during the day. The next on the list was made by the Seaton Delaval — Campania colt, which aold at 575g5. — Uhlando, the winner of the Wanganui Cup, is a son of Uhlan (Cuirassier — Aida), who won the Auckland Cup of 1898, and Revenant, a daughter of Nelson and the Musket mare Phantom. The last-named is a sister to Happy Land, the dam of Hova. — Malster has apparently sired a good colt in Alawa, who won the Nursery Handicap and Select Stakes at the V.R.C. autumn meeting. Crossfire, the dam of Alawa,' also threw Firecross (the dam of Cross Battery) and Long Tom, a good winner in Australia and India. — The Riverton Racing Club have issued a richly-endowed programme for their Easter meeting, and the list is well worthy of perusal by horseowners. The jumping brigade is particularly well catered for, and, all going well, a very successful meeting should be experienced. — Scotland won the Newmarket Handicap easing up by two lengths after taking charge shortly after the start. He started a good favourite, and was a popular win, as no secret was nude of his great pace. The son of Wallace is considered the fastest horse ever trained at Caulfield. —It is the determination of Mr A G-. Vanderbilt to beat ths London to Brighton coaching record and to show the world that the English hackney now fall far behind the carnage horse of America, which blends the blood of the racehorse, the trotter, the hackney itself, and the French coach horse. — Gold Thread, a three-year-old filly, who won the Flying Handicap on the first day of the Wanganui meeting in 1.14 1-5, and is reported to have won easily, is a sister to Gold Purse and Auratus. She was got by Gold Reef from Pursering, a daughter of Dreadnought and the Apremont mare Pursestring. — When he first arrived from Sydney to fulfil his Newmarket Handicap engagement Scotland suffered from his feet, and then the tendon of the near foreleg swelled, and subsequently the other foreleg was similarly affected. For several days Mr S. O. Wood, V.S., had Scotland's legs in ice, and in a general way he was under his care. — The death of Porirua iB reported from the North Island.* Porirua was a son of Seaton Delaval and: Weitemata, a mare by the Isonomy horse Eiridspord. Amongst his wins were the Great Northern Champagne Stakes, North Island Challenge Stakes, and other races of minor importance. Porirua had served a couple of seasons at the stud. — An English writer says that the effect of the blinker is both physically and mentally injurious to the horse. In the first place, especially when large and brought near the eyes, it has the effect of heating them and hindering the 4ree passage of air over them. In the next place, it causes the eyes to be always directed forward, and thus produces a most injurious strain on the delicate muscles. — The New Zealand-bred Grenadier evidently raced himself into winning condition during the V.R.C autumn meeting, as he wound up the Flemdngton campaign by winning over a-lteile in 1.41J frona IS otuers. The son of Soult has always' been marked down aa a very speedy horse, but, unfortunately, has never been able to go through a preparation to get him thoroughly fit and well. — Ataab.ua, who won the Tayforth Hack Hurdles on the first day at Wanganui in the smart time of 8.16 1-5 (if the distance is not short), is a well-bred hurdler. His sire, Mahaki, is a half brother to Stepniak, and his dam. Basilisk, was got by Torpedo from the Cadogan — Titania mare Bonny Blink. Ataahua followed up his success over hurdles by coming out on the second day and winning over 10 furlongs in 2.118-5. — " Colic in our horses," says an English veterinarian, "is generally the result of careless or improper feeding. The stomach of the horse is small and the digestion is limited, and if the horse is hungry and oveTfed, or is allowed to gulp down a big feed, colic is the result; and if musty hay, or musty sour feed, is used, or if fresh-cut grass wet with dew or rain is hastily eaten in larcre quantities, colic is often the result." — The Winton Cup winner Spider was started three times at the Clutba hack meeting. In the Winter Cup, of 300sovs (run in 1900), Spider defeated 17 others, and it is a bit of a drop to find .the Stepniak gelding fruitlessly endeavouring to capture a race worth ssovs to the winner. He gained a place in the Clutha Cup, of 12sovs, and Flying Handicap, of llsovs, but failed to get into- the first three in the Farewell Handicap, worth ssovs to the winner. — In Paris the motor ran has already been exploited • with great • success 'in carrying race-H horses from their stables to Chantilly and taking them back again, without the trouble and risk necessitated by boxing and unboxing on the railway. One enterprising company has guaranteed the value of the stake to any owner whose horse does not reach the course in time — that is. supposing the delay is J created by the delinquencies of the motor itself. — " The popular win of the day " at the Clutha meeting occurred when a veteran horseman named W. Kirk rode the winner of the mile trot. He lay back in the saddle in the good old style when trotting was in its infancy here, and proved conclusively that a horse does not require to be Tod Sloanect in order to make it a winner. Mr Kirk is minus one of his natural pedal extremities, but that fact does not daunt him. In fact, he was once guilty of riding in hurdle Taces. —An accepted authority states that a horse can live 25 days without Solid food, merely j drinking water; 17 days without eating or j drinking; and only -five days when eating so.iS food without drinking. An idea nrevails j among horeemen that a horse should never j be watered oftener than three times a day, or in 24 hours. This is not only a mistaken idea, but a brutal practice. A horpe's stomach is extremely. sensitive, and will suffer under the least interference, causing a fever- j ish condition. — Glenculloch lost a leaf of his laurels by being > defeated in" the Jackson Stakes by both Gravitation and Irish Rifle. There is no doubt that Glenculloch is a particularly bri'liant colt, but an evil genius seems to ba barring his way to proving thaf fact conclusively in public. In the race under r.otice. however. Glenculloch appears to have been defeated on his merits, as Gravitation and the bearer of the chequers were on terms at the turn, but the Clanranald colt failed to | see out his tsu=k to a successful termination. | — The Chicago Horseman says: — "At the rate we are now going in for early speed it ■ will not be many years "before we are likely *o feel itgMfi|^L^dtha vengeance. The

logic of it all is that our trotting horses will have a natural tendency towards early maturity, not alone in speed, but in all else, and when our horses are mature at three years old we may expect to have a group of highly nervous trotting ponies. So long as early sport is demanded it will be supplied, but we must have a oare lest we go too far." —At a special meeting of the V.R.C. last week the chairman (Mr R. G. Casey) £«id that the rule {precluding a jockey from wagering on a race in which he was engaged was honoured more in the breach than the observance. It was now proposed to allow a jockey to go to the owner of a horse he was riding and request that owner to back the horse for him. Another recommendation provided that instead of a jockey being penalised for failing to persevere in his efforts to win a race, punishment should be awarded when, in the opinion of the stewards, a horse had not been run on its merits. — For the high-jumping contests at the International horse show, to be held in London next June, endeavours are being made to secure the entry of such well-known performers as Heather Bloom (who holds the American record with 7ft Bin), Pearl, Senator, and Rupert. It is possible for owners of high jumpers at the; show to earn JE2S for every inch their hoxtes go over 7ft Sin. The original prize wiil be £100, and for the £25 per inch contest the start will be made where the beat horses left off in 1907. Jumpers from Paris, The Hague, and Belgium will also compete. — With the present scarcity of food, the following is a hint from an American peper worth quoting: — A farmer has found a way j by which he can make his horses use up to a good advantage the poor hay raised on the ranch. H* learned that horses could be , made to eat poor hay with great relish if it j were sprinkled over with a little cheap | molasses and water. He tried it, and has : made a great success. The horses no longer j waste the hay, but clear up every whisp of it that is thrown in the manger, and look •well. This has been tried in the southern part of California, where hay is scarce and ■ where cheaper qualities of food have to be used. ] —No more forcible evidence of the sensational progress that has been made in the development of the trotter and pacer can be had than a comparison of the number of extreme speed performers at both gaits at the close of the racing season of 1898 and those at the present time — a period of 10 years. At the close of 1898 the world's trotting champion was Alix, 2.03J, and only two other trottexe had taken records of 2.05 or better, these beng Nancy Hanks 2.04 and Azote 2.041. The list of pacers with records of 2.05 or better numbered 22, and of these only four had records faster than 2.03 — namely, the champion Star Pointer 1.991, John R. Gentry 2.001, Joe Patchen 2.01J, and Robert J. 2.01 J. So that 10 years ago the total number of trotters and pacers in the 2.05 list was just 25. At the close of the racing season of 1007 we find no less than 107 members of the 2.05 Mat, 13 trotters and 94 pacers. — Stock Farm. —In capturing the Australian Oup and Champion Stakes Peru has set a m«rk to his name which includes amongst some of the best horses that has ever raced in Australia. Richmond was the first horse to land 1 the double, which is run over journeys to test a horse's stamina. Then a couple of years later Fifst King achieved the same honour, and followed by winning a second Champion Stakes a couple of yeara afterwards. Trident came out in 1887, and marked himself down as a dual winner; Carbine scored in two Champion Stakes, and a third in three consecutive years, but he was beaten, in the Australian: Cup by Lochiel. Portsea, La Carabine, and Tartan are others who have won the double, and now Peru has added his name to the Eelect band. Peru was got by Grafton fom Silver Coin, a daughter of Napoleon and Silverhair, and is somewhat unfashionably bred on the dam's side, but is nevertheless a stoutly-bred colt. —An Auckland paper reports that the Goldsbrough mare Moonga died recently. Moon g a was one of the mares included in the Leiderberg Stud when that concern was submitted to auction in the autumn of 1895, and at the moderate sum of 270gs she fell to the bid of Major George. When brought to Auckland! Moonga was in foal to Carbine, and she threw a filly to the Musket horse. Put bo Nelson in the succeeding season, the result was Seahorse, trho proved himself the crack three-year-old of the seasoa in New Zealand in 1899-1900. As Seahorse won prize-money to the tune of nearly 4000g* when carrying Major George's colours, and was subsequently sold by his breeder for aooOgs, there was good reason for the major to rejoice over the purchase of his dam at 270gs. Moonga was foaled in 1887, so that she was rising 21 years at the time of her death. The old mare last year produced twin foals to Eton, but one of the offspring died a few days after birth. — " Speaking of horses' memory," said a veteran dealej of Nashville recently, " about 19 years ago Dr Walton bought a pair of chestnut sorrel horses for 500dol, and after keeping them a short time he sold one of them for 150dol, and for nine years that horse and I lived together nearly all the time. About 10 years ago I sold the horse to Stirling Walker, and h» promised me not to sell him any more. But after he had kept him for a long time he traded to a man in Springfield, who afterwards sold him at a public auction. A man named; , Griggs, in North Nashville, bought him ; and now I'm going to tell you something funny: I was passing along Buena Vista street, in Nashville, when I saw a horse standing on the other side of the street. I wasn't thinking about anything in particu- ' lar, and just walked on. First thing I knew, that horse had crossed the street and was rubbing his nose against me. 'Twas my old horse, and he hadn't eean me in 10 years. But he had remembered.' — American Horseman. ' ! — Just before the mail left England four casea cam© before the courts in which bookmakers sued foar money owing to them by backers ovei lost bets. In every case the defendants pleaded the Gaming Act, and in each instance the ringman had to put up with the loss of the money. But one or two of the judges made it plain that they bad no sympathy with the men who, having made a wager, lost, and then declined to pay. In one case Judge Willis said : " I am sorry, but I must give judgment against the plaintiff, with costs." Mr O'Connor, for the defendant: "Will your Honor certify for counsel?" Judge Willis (with empKasis): "I have said with costs, and 1 I give nothing more than the law allows." ■ In another, Mir Green, the ringman's lawyer, said it was very hard and very cruel for the act to be pleaded when plaintiff had done the business quite honorably. Judge Rentoul : '' It is. The Gaming Aot is a perfectly legal defence, but in every case where it is pleaded I think publicity ought to be given." — Last year in England Galashiels and Gallinule were responsible for 26 foals each, Wildfowler and Cyllene 25 each. Tail male descendants of Galopin or his son, St. Simon, make a kig show, far in. addition to

G-alashiels (by Galopin) no fewer than seveS sons of St. Simon are represented by fronts 24 down to 20 fcals each, these being Volo, dyovski and Persimmon (24). Collar (23), 8^ Serf \?&). Desmond and St. Prusquin (21U and Perigord (20). Then these are closely followed by other St. Simon horses such a< Florizel tl. with 19 foals, William 111. Muck* intosh, and St. Simonmimi, with 18, Sit Joshua with 17, and Bill of Portland, witli 16, the last-named figuring on the same mark as Galloping Lad and Matchmaker—* who are descendants of Galopin,— while laaj and En Gajde sired 15 foals, and St. Simon himself and Diamond Jubilee are credited^ with 10 foals each. In all these 20 descendants of Galopin have among them begotten 369 foals of last year, and as there are aleo foals by a number of other stallions of the line, it may easily be that it has even now. not yet touched the high-water mark of prosperity. If it iB assumed that all the othes stallions of the family- biing the grand total up to no more than 400 foals, even so thatf is a very big proportion of the total aum* bei of colts and fillies foaled in the UnitedJ Kingdom in 1907— i.e., 2728. , — The Australasian remarks that in Eng-* land Antonio was a good horse, and ones beat The White Knight over a mile an/1 •-quarter at Newmarket. But for the facts* that he is not bred according to the dictates of English fashion, and would have commaoded no support as a sire, and that he had a doubtful leg, he would never have been within the reach of the average Australian breeder. It was because Fisherman's breeding was not fashionable at the timel that M* Fisher was able to get Fisherman for Australia, and English breeders have never ceased to regret that the cast-iron 010 l son of Heron ever left his native land- An^ tonio is a beautiful specimen of the English thoroughbred. His shoulders are beautifully, set, and his barrel is short, deep, and splendidly ribbed. The horse was bred by Cap* tain Laing, and is by Prisoner from Padua,by Uncas or Thurio from Immortelle, hjn Paul Jones from Mulberry, by Beadsman from Strawberry, by Flying Dutchman from British Queen, by Coronation. Prisoner, who was bred by Lord Cadogan in 1890, has not been dead long, but his brief stud record was not a brilliant one. Antonio was by f«K the best of his stock. Breeder*, However* fought shy of him, despite his oeautiful breeding. He was by Isonomy from the Oaks winner Lonely, by Hermit from Anonyma, by Stockwell from Miss Sarah, by Dear Juan. The last representative of the line in Australia iB Maltster, who is ft grandson of Lonely. j — There has been some correspondence a£ to the likes and dislikes of the late Dukf of Westminster (writes Mr John Corlett/ for certain horses and the contemptuous opinion he had of the stock of Ornament} ■ whose splendid daughter Soeptre he did nott live to see run. He had some reason for his dislike, as he saw for himself how Start Riuby "cut it 1 " at Goodwood, and, thought Labrador won several races, his heart was UK anything but the right place, and it vu( the same with some others of his stock.Although he' looked upon Collar ac a gaoc( thing for the Trial Stakes at Ascot, ancK told the King (then Prince- of Wales) toi back him, he had no liking for the animaM and, though he won the race andl followed^ it up by carrying off the rich Hardwicke; Stakes, for which he bewt Bay Ronald ancKJ others, it needed only two defeats, and those in first-class company, to miake him forgeti' the victories, and he promptly sold him toy go to South Africa. He did not, we believe,! like his temper. After Sceptre had accom-j plished such great things Mor Allison wasf not slow in perceiving that there was mon«jd in Collar, who is nearly own brother to, Sceptre, and he succeeded in bringing hint back here. In the matter of horses thexejj were not many who could teach the DuksJ of Westminster anything; but being a son of Emperor in his way he quickly formed^ his own judgment, and t-Bere was no turning! him. Occasionally, therefore,^ he was bound to make a mistake, and the wonder is thas he made so few. It is recorded of him thatf on one occasion when he was going through/ the paddocks at Eaton his eye fell on *' yearling. He did not ask what it was or ; anything at all about him. " Take that ooltf r away," he said, "and never let me see hin* again" That colt (Lacennan) became known as one of the most brilliant sprinters of his! day, amd though the Duke of Westminster, never saw him again at Eaton he was! obliged to see him elsewhere. When he ran* such a great race for the Stewards' Oup mM Goodwood, won by Dalmeny, Archer, whot rode him, told us that he was promised! £3000 to nothing, which was the largest sum! he was ever " put on " any of his mount*, iacemon's weight was 9st 2lb. and Despain be%t him by a head for second place. Said} Archer: " I had taken Despair's measure, and -might not have given him too mucbj room; t>ut when I heard Dalmeny com« clattering up on the near side, going two; strides to my one, I did not take any further trouble."