SPORTING NOTES.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 1015, 22 December 1881, Page 4

SPORTING NOTES.

♦ (from exchanges.) The winnings of American horses in England and France this year amounts to £30,000. Zulu, the winner of the Melbourne Cup, broke down badly in the V.K.C. Handicap. Walton, an American speculator, won £43,000 on the Yankee horse Foxhall, in the Cezarewitch. An offer of £5OO to nothing was made to Mr McDonnell if he would -allow Gough, the rider of Zulu, to ride The Duchess, but the offer was refused.

Three policemen had charge of the American horse Iroquoisfor one month .prior to his run for the St. Leger. His trainer, 'Pincus, always slept with him. Up to October loth, F. Archer had won 181 races out of 431 mounts ; C. Wood, 123 out of 425 ; T. Cannon, 69 out of 232 .; G-. Fordham, 55, out of 299. At the Wyndham races Mr Harry Yeend’s Acrobat won the hurdle race Body MTvor, a well known New Zealand Steeplechase rider, being in the saddle.

A cablegram states that W. Macdonald, who rode Foxhall in the Czsarewitch, and received £2OOO from the owner, and £lOOO in other presents for winning—was killed while riding in the Liverpool Cup last month.

Robert the Devil’s time for the Champion Stakes last year was 2min. lOsec. but that race was run at a cutthroat pace throughout. This year the time was much slower, the pace being very slow at the start. Mr Walton, the American 1 plunger’ at present giving the English ring a turn, won £lO,OOO on Nellie’s victory in the Great Challenge Stakes at Newmarket; but dropped exactly that sum over the?defeat of Iroquois in the Champion Stakes. The proprietress of Tattersall’s Hotel, Orange (who is a widow), held Zulu in the Sydney Tattersall’s big Cup Sweep, and clears £3,800 by the spec. A brother of Mr Buist, a Sydney "tobacconist, had the Czar, and landed £1,600. A poor man in a Sydney -hardware house got £BOO with Sweetmeat.

“ Beacon ” says that Wheatear is a very doubtful starter for the Cham;pion Race. The fall he met with in the Melbourne Cup Race has shaken him considerably, and it is thought that such a preparation as it would be necessary for him to undergo to Tun for that race might seriously affeet his future, therefore it is as well to be prepared to see him withdrawn.

Some interest has been excited in racing circles by J. Robertson, a trainer at Hamilton, Sydney, backing a horse, bred by himself, to beat any horse Messrs Chirnside can find in all Victoria. The challenge has been accepted, and the race will be run in December, at the Hamilton Races. It is probable the Messrs. Chirnside will send Spinningdale. Mr P. Butler was so busily engaged in Dunedin that he forgot to accept for Agent in the Auckland Steeplechase, and this looks like a real loss to him, for the Agent won the race last year with 11b more on his back, and Sportsman, who was second to him then, would now have met him on 101 b worse terms. However, if Matau is only as reliable across country as he is over the sticks, he is capable, with his great turn of speed, of cutting them both down with list 21b on his back. It is said that Mr McDonnell did •did not intend to start Zulu for the Melbourne Cup, as T. Lamond, his strainer, considered him held safe by his stable companion, Wheatear, who fell. But a friend of his (possessed a mare which Mr McDonnell had long wished to buy: The (friend was present and urged him to start the horse, saying, “If you will do so the mare is yours for £50.” This decided it. Zulu started, and we can imagine the feelings of the backers of the Czar.

Mr G. G. Stead has written to a friend in Canterbury, under date Oct. 18th, that he has bought a magnificent hosre, called A premont, bred in France. He is own brother to that celebrated horse Chainant (sold recently for £6000), out of Camelia, Rayon d’Or’s dam. Araucaria, the mare in question, as you are doubtless aware, is a daughter of Pocahontas, so that I have a grandson, on the maternal side, of the empress amongst brood mares. Apremont is a rich ■deep bay, and very handsome. The scratching of Agent and Grip for the Auckland races, has been the source of a little harvest to the “ books,” as the double was the one most in demand after the appearance of the weights. The reason given forthe non-acceptance of Grip is that he had gone slightly amiss, and as the stable have a more promising representative in the Cassivelaunus —Envy filly, who from her running second to Billingsgate carrying 7st 111 b, iu the fastest half-mile on record in the Colony (49 l-ssees.), proves that she has the foot, and the stable must be satisfied that she ean stay the Cup distance or they would never have risked sending her to Auckland.

The coming meeting of the Auckland Racing Club promises to be a really good one as far as the actual racing is couterned, there being every probability that more horses will be tit and well on the day than has been the case tor some years, besides which, the handicaps are open to perhaps less

criticism than those of any preceding years. There is no better proof of the excellence of a handicap than that given by the fact of so many horses being backed as is the case in this instance, since the scratching of Grip. The only horse in the Cup who may seem to have been slightly over-esti-mated is Yatapa (7st 31b), but then it must be remembered that he has always been such an in and out runner as to justify the handicappers in keeping a careful eye upon him. The rivalry on the English turf between English and American horses continues. The London Times took up the matter of the great wins of Iroquois and Foxhall, and solaced English sportsmen by saying that though bred in America, neither the one nor the other was of American breed. “They belong to the line of English racehorses, and they where in I competition with members of their own family. The trainer of one was an Englishman, and the jockey, in each instance, was an Englishman.” The article concludes in these words: —“ AVe hope, however, they may not continue to beat us, and that when Bend Or and Iroquois meet the representative of the old country will show that on great occasions we can hold our own.” Events turned out so ; Bend Or licked Iroquois. The English correspondent of the Leader, writing on the Doncaster Meeting, says that Archer was the hero of the week, the important event on each day, in addition to several minor affairs, falling to his share. It cannot all be luck, and it is gradually beginning to dawn upon others than myself that Mat Dawson ,is right in saying that his favorite “ can ride 71b. lighter than any jockey he ever knew.”

Wheatear’s accident seems to have spoilt many chances. Duchess, Sweetmeat, and Wheatear were gaining on their horses, but the dog bowled AVheatear over, and Duchess and Sweetmeat were knocked out of their stride. But could either have won, considering the very fast time and Zulu’s easy win ?