SPORTING AND ATHLETICS.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 220, 17 September 1887, Page 5

SPORTING AND ATHLETICS.

According to the Melbourne papers, both of Mr E. Mitchelson's pair of V.R.C. Derby candidates, Tranter and Whakawai, are performing satisfactory work. None of the Hon. W. Robinson's horses are entered for the minor events of the A. J.C. Spring Meeting, and the early risers afc Rand wick all pronounce the team as being very backward. One tout states that lie cannot bring himself to believe that Silver Prince has the slightest chance of winning the Melbourne Cup. Trenton is reported to bo looking well, though the blister on his off hind hock makes'it look unsightly, and Niagara gives evidence of being in capital form. Silvermine and Matador are described as pictures of condition. Abercorn has thrown off all signs of his soreness, but if all accounts are true, Cranbrook is now troubled to a slight extent with the same complaint. Referring to a recent morning's work of the Hon. J. White's Derby representatives, " Martendale " writes :— Carlyon appeared to have the better of my big Derby favourite, Cranbrook. The Avay the latter struggled and fought out the finish impressed me with the idea that he had much the worst of the weights, and that he ia a light good game animal. Trident did well over a mile and three-quarters, but Abercorn fcuffeied a defeat from Aberdeen. But in this instance also I think the Dei by favourite was penalised. The Hawke's Bay Guineas, which is run next month, gives piomiee of providing an unusually exciting contest. Mr G. G. Stead proposes to send Maxim up from Christchurch to take part in the race, and with Bangle and Lady Florin likely to see the post, the Club will probably have no reason to regret ' Subsidising the. race with the good sum ot 300sovs. Australia's ciack horseman, Thos. Halos, \va« lately married to Miss Bladder, daughter of the proprietor of the Fulham Park stud in Sou oh Australia. Hales during a lengthy career has earned more distinction than any jockey on the colonial turf. During his three and a-half years' connection with the Hon. James White's stable ho has carried the blue and white jacket 143 times, and rode no less than 61 winners, representing a total value in stakes of £32,127. Of this sum £13,194 15s was won last season. In the race for Sydney Tattersall's Tramway Handicap, the Queen was a red-hot fivourite. Mitrailleuse was also in great request at 5 to 1. Rockefc made all the running with Al land ale till well on towards the distance, when both died out and Mitrailleuse looked like winning, but she also tired, and Glen Elgin, bowling along in the centre of the course, had his opponents in great trouble in a few strides, and got home n comfortable winner by two lengths from Moorbank. The judge, Mr Olliife, didn't place a third, but Mitrailleuse occupied that position. Rather a good tale is reported by a Sydney paper. A man up country used to catch his horse when he wanted the animal by rattling some corn in a tin dish. This proceeding always ended in a capture, without any difficulty. Being, however, of an economical turn of mind, he substituted a few stones for the corn. The horse began to smell a rat, and it was not always easy to catch him that way. A little while back the horse Avas wanted particularly, and the man put real corn in the dish and rattled away. The lioise suspected another sol and would not come, in spite of the repeated assertions of the oAvner of " Don't be a fool, so help me Jerusalem it's corn this time, it's corn." I clip the following from the "London Referee":— Tan tracks, as conventially prepared, have lots of disadvantages, not the least being the dust, Avhich affects horses' wind, and the tendency to cracked heels they induce. Theie are others which need not be mentioned ; those quoted are sufficient. Lan laid outside the ground is a mistake, because it is so very much better laid under the turf. Lord Geoige Bentinck's> most useful bib of work, the greatest of his legacies, lies in the splendid, almost j everlasting, course he made at GoodAvood ! by laying or relaying turfs on a good thickness of tan. I forget for the moment whether he put a couple of layers of turf over the tan or sandwiched the spent bark between the two ; the exact method could very easily be found out. The fact remains that by means of this sort you can make going that will liteially defy sun, Avind and drought. True, the lirst expense is considerable, but nothing wonderfully heavy, and it is only the first step that costs. Once properly done, you have a perfect course that will stand for generations." Contrary to the rule with high-priced yearlings, both Enterprise and Merry Hampton have turned out profitable investments. Enterprise, who won the Two Thousand Guineas, curiously enough, cost 2,000 guineas a3 a yearling ; and Merry Hampton, the Derby winner, realised 3,100 guineas at the same age. Meiry Hampton was one of fifteen yearlings entered for the Blue Riband, for which sums varying from 1,000 guineas to 3,900 guineas had been paid, and whose collective value was estimated at about 30,000 guineas. It is a remarkable fact that, out of the fifteen, Merry Hampton was the only horse which ran in the Derby. On the other hand, Reve dOr who is probably the be3t 3-years-old in England, not even excepting Enterprise and Merry Hampton, cost comparatively nothing. Reve dOrs dam, Queen of the Roses, was rescued from obscurity by a small breeder, Avho gave a rick of hay, valued at about L3O, for her. She afterwards caught the eye of the Duke of Beanfort, and the result of her consort Avith Hampton was Reve dOr, the Avinner of the One Thousand Guineas and The Oaks,