SPORTING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81894, 26 November 1906, Page 3

SPORTING.

TAKAPUNA SPRING RACES.

FIRST DAY. (.Per Press Association.) Auckland, November 24. The Takapumi Jockey Club openej its i-pring meeting to-day. The weal lief was excellent, and the attendance large. The sum of ,60,400 was passed through the totalisatur, againn for the coirespoiidmg day last year. Results : Trial Handicap, one mile.—Lord Scaton, 8.7 (Pinker], 1; Peregrine, 8.3, 2; Philosophy, 7.9, 3. Also started: Catastrophe. Won by hall' a length. Time, 1-40- Dividend, £2 <)'• Cambria Handicap, four furlongs. —Mahcno, 7.10 (Lindsay), 1; Quadroon, 7.10, 2; Port Light, 7.10, 3. Scratched: Uiisti. Time, 5.2- Dividends, £2 2/ and 12/. St. Andrew's Handicap, one mile and a-quaitcr—Geordie, 7.0, (Conquest), 1; Delania, 8.4, 2; Akaranu, 7 .g, 3. \\m by a length, and ahalf. Scratched: Baltimore, Bully. Time, 2.11 2-5. Dividends, £b 2; and 1 Si. Maiden Hurdles, one mile and alialf and 100 yards.—St. Harp, 10.4 (Bums), 1; Tui, 10.0, 2; Siepney, q.cj, 3. Scratched: Bononiiana, Mozart, Loch Fync Won by two Lengths. Time, 2.50- Dividends, £3 14 and £1 $;• ~ . , Cheltenham Handicap, five and ahalf furlongs.—Luciece, 7.12 (Gray), i- Noteonni, 7-4. 2 '> ulack and Gold, 7.12, 3- Scratched: Fnskie, Si noma, Foremost. Won by a lengthTime, 1.10 2-5- Dividends, £5 1 and £2 u/Melrose Handicap, four furlongs.— Celerity, 7-4 (Conquest), 1; Lady .Cressy, 7-S. 2; Norma, 7.5, 3Scratched Kelpie, integrity, Miss Crespin. Won by a length and ahatf. Time, 52.1 S.sec. Dividends, £s 10/ and £1 16/. Tiri Handicap Hurdles, two miles. Swagsrnan, 10.12 (Neary), 1; Silica, 10.10, 2. The other starter, Aqua Regia, fell. Won easily. Time, 3.57 2-5. Dividends, ,£2 15/. First Pony Handicap, six furlongs. —Xorana, 7.7, 1; Sonoma, 8.11, 2; La Annie 6.7, 3- Scratched: Me.r riman, Herculean, Glenora. lime, 1.20. Dividends, £2 18/ and ,£1 13, TURF TOPICS. (By "MoturoaC" Lady Sylvia is now being trainee, oy l<- Barlow. I'arksuoi is acquitting uim»e.l creditably in lus schooling oyer tnc auiries. lUe hamUome jack horse l'leseat who is compiling in tlie p-ny even* ai Tatapuna >s owned 111 1 arauaki. It is reported tuat J. in-uauglilin lias =old lapiam Snauu-.i to an Australian purcaser at a satistac-

toiy figure. Sonic strong comments on the Coie t-mu s annual meeting appear; in the -Oiajfo Daily Time».' Among other sidicmi-nii the writer says mat the uoli « wire kept watting at tne post until sigiia.u ..ere reeeivid by me sianer tuat a-1 mvesiruents were received, and the races m consequence weie stain- .ate. lis much to be regretted tnat some clubs will peisist in making un louliiator receipts the principal consideration at the mietiugi.

English jockeys are kept prettybusy mrougnout the rial-racing season, but, wkmg ail the yar round tor it, they have a couiiMiatlveii easy time tola p.Hid wi'n 'ending American huisenien. I ■ .fiance a writer in uie Sydney "lceieieu remark*, up to tin; first week in September no Less ihan sixteen American jockevs liad ruliltu 4"" tn.i.. o: over, the lad with the greatest number oi mounts to his cieilit toeing \\ ■ .Vliller, wuh yO2. out of wmcu «e hail scored 250 fusls', 212 seconds, and 131 thirds. Howevti, in the- mailer oi ..uitung pevceuiagc he was beau a by Nicuj, with 254 wins for 7G7 ndi , . :id Kadike, with IS4 wins lor Woa tides. Other jockeys prominent in the list well) D. Austin, 7j- m <"'"■-> ji6 wins; Sewell, 693 mounts, 105 rtins; E. Kobinsun,o;o' mounts, 117 wins; Aubucliou, Clls m-.'unts, 107 wins; and Koerner. 002 inuuuis, iji wuis. Lite foregoing will a.iow m.u once a jockey lakes the iancy ot .-■ ..l'-ncan

owner, lie i- not 'i' l ' tt "' l . m '■ >.~l ia "' tiino on his haiuL. .Milei, for instance, had been tilling at • tie rati' of (excepting Sunda\s) marly 4! races a (lay for eight months, li leading American jockeys cccasionally put up indifferent displays towards the end of a season it is not surprising, as from overwork 111 the saddle tbey must become thu'ougn'y stale.

There have been s-ime trem .1d&us wagers in connection with tin' Doncastcr St. Leg' 1 !', but probably one made by the late K. 11. Fry, the jJvialUan bookmaker, is without parallel in its peculiar circumstances. A few weeks before the St. Lcger won by Commons, a gentlemanly stranger approached the genial pencil'er at one of ihe neat-London meetings, and inquired the price of Common for the big Doacastcr race, 'i'l U take 6 to s> : ' llu ' bookmaker rep:ied. "Right you are," ihe querist'said, and noticing pry's look of curiosity, he continued, "I'll lay you i'Oooo io £5000; but as you don t know me and I, on the other hand, know you well, I'U post the money. Suiting the action to the wold, he handed him six Bank of England notes fur £IOOO each, and smilingly wa.ked away. The famous bookmaker never saw hij mysterious customer again until Commons had passed the winning post, when he sauntered up to him in the ring wttn a nod, saying, "i'll trouble you for .£1 i.ooo." H nu *>' be mentioned that enormous cash transactions arc rare on the turf, and ate only to b>met with in novels and stage plays written bv authors who have no knowledge of the internal workings of the sport of kings.—Otago Witnets.

Poseidon, the three-year-old son of Positano and Jacinth, is (says a Victorian wrier) a colt of great galloping paris, a worthy scion of me allconquering St. Simon-Musket combination. In point of conformation the individual characteristics of both tho-6 famous families arc obliterated by Poseidon's strong hereditary tendencies in other ancestral directions, notably those of Fisnermtin and Vattfinlon, especially Fisherman, of whose illustrious tribe he a typical representative. There is no mistaking those sweeping, greyhound-like hindouarters so figurative of me Fish.Tin:!" clan. The- sturdy shnulil.ir- 11 nd hooped bane), allowing ample room for heart play, are all there, also trio well-rounded back libs, so symbolic of stamina. In point of disposition P'>seid»li inherits the kindly attributes of the Musket farnil'.-, there inn being a suspicion of ihe con-iitutioual irritability of the St. Simon race in 1» 5 temperament.