WORLD OF SPORT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 23 November 1907, Page 4

WORLD OF SPORT.

RACING FUTURES. Sov. 2!» ami 3ft—Feildiug J.C. Spring. i'f. 4 anil S—Woodville J.C. Summer. iXx. s—Hororata R.C. Annual. I)se. 3—Waitarm U.C. Annual. Dee. 13 and 14—Lake County J.C. - Annual. Dec. 21, 20, and 27— Manawatu R.C. Summer. i Dec 2fi and 27—Cromwell .I.C. Annual: Dec. 2li and 28— Dunedin J.C. Summer. Dec. 20, 28, and Jan. 1 and 9—Auckland R.C. Summer. Dec. 26 and 27—Reefton J.C. Midsummer. , Dee. 26 and 2J--Tar»j»aki J.C. Christmas. Dee. 28—AslJiaflfrfoaangina R.C. Annual. Dec. 31 and date l-Greymouth J.C. Summer. • Jan. I—Cheviot AG. Annual. Jan. I—Te Kainfca R.C. Annual. Jan. 1 and 2—tengUlket R.C. Summer. Jan. 1 and 2—Stratford R.C Annual. Jan. 1 and 2—"rtneent 3.C. Annual. Feb. 6—Kariori J.C Hack. i . ■*» ' TOO TOPICS. ''. FBOOISt ACCEPTANCES. (By "Motnroa.") The Frilding Jockey Club have good reason to' be pleased at the splendid response of owners to the bill-of-fare j-rovided for their spring meeting. Large i elds and the best class of horses have ucepted, and the handicapper has done ' 1 is work we'L

Ten horses hare paid up for the open:ip event—the Flying Handicap—and f the presence 9! such good performers as. Contender, Moriarty, St. Claimer, and Toa Tuhi ensures a fine contest. The three top weights appear to be the piek of the hardicap, but I will attempt to -ort out the winner later on. In the

k Aorangi Hack Race, of seven furlongs, •■■ are recent winners in Saga, Comedian, Sylvan Park, San Fernando, Houhnhmn, ss'5 s '- JJorsids, Billow, and Scenery, and the i» local horse, Nukutihi, also claims engagement Tan San, on his Waverley dp runingg. must posses fair prospects, and Saga, Climax, and San Fernando look well in. In the St. Andrew's Handicap, Maniopoto is given a god load with Bst 111b, and Frisco, on the same mark, appears * the beter.treated of the pair. 'f Gateley, B*l 21b, is a fair performer b. .over a mile and a half, and must be g reckoned with. Irish Rifle, who scored f a meritorious double win at Wanganni, •■•" is a vastly improved gelding, and may jj, be depended upon to run a good race. g". Star Rose, 7st 131b, has been under a W" —'anwHrf later and has to be taken on Ep tfnst. The winneT may come from I" f'riseo, Irish Rifle, or Garaley. gL 'Asteroid is asked to carry list 31b in W\ the Spring Hurdles, and might have jk - been let .off with a few pounds less. K - The Fending hurdles are not quite as It- stiff as the BJrcarton ones, which stop-

.' ped the litle daughter of Apremont. Pushful, Hit 21b, has carried weight well tm» reason, butTreusot has not ► shown anvthing of late to be given " a show. 'Sen Sim (10st 121b) reads well, but Loll went wrong before the National meeting, aad,**if he has come ! on at all liort fits recovery, will show up well. Tb» others are only hacks, ? and the best handicapped appear to be & Pushful and Sen Sim. ■k Showman will hare to do better than ■Yhe did at Warerley to win the Hack BrßHTdlea. Duleraea lOst 31b, St. Amelia ft lost lib, Earmark 9at 91b, and Cassiopea |* 3st 41b should ran well. » -J** Feiiding Stake* has drawn a fine ■■owd of honta. Banyan (the WangaHKoi Gnineas winner), Eons, Lord Soult,

r Cambrian, Fleetfoot, Elevation, Mnnyi, and Armlet are ft slashing crowd, '»Li this rare should be worth going r~~ a"king way to witness. Banyan has not tasted defeat Ota season, and if auy- : thing can stretch Us neck it may be Cambrian or Analet Whakawehi tops the pol in the Kiwitea Welter, i«9 Matftftri, The Stake, Maitjrim, and Saga hate i Shown good for* Oris season. Mataari, i. Dm Stake, aad Martyrrnm may show r~ up at the busiMft end of the erent. : In the Fitsuy Welter, Bri King, Pr<jj! liability, Waßoey, and Peariie are k weft haiidicaMMiL and I prefer the f,_ ehaneea of WHlaMy, Erl King, ana F." Fiarlie. f • • • • »' Pixie is dead. $ * Mr G. G. tfead disposed of Hauscar ft: the other day for IWI guineas, at which ST price the chestnut-looks * bargain. i' tfden, who has shown promise of paying K: her way, went for 175 guineas, and her EL half-sister, Angele, by Multiform—r'atfiE away, changed hands at 160 guinea*. W> The trio were honestly worth double EUstfce money, but the public are suspicious jjTabnrjt cast-offs, and consequently they f «nt tight and took no risks. \- •••"•. f The ops and downs of the sporting £"- life. Len King, who rode Frisco tp B- victory in the Aew Zealand Cup,' bad tte'toe misfortune to break one of bis arms iffii' fewJaxaago as a result of a wheel gjKJMatfplßHsVin whjch In was riding. H-amd yet people say this racing game is ■"dangerous! Hj[ "Mr Preston" has dispose! or St. Joe Bto Mr Cox, the proprietor of TattersaU"* Mtlatai, Christchurch. Hffi Punter*' writes as follows; BJpi it 100 k>ie ly euggeat an amendment H| the new Uaming Dill now before the 1 notice that power is givea Hfrrubs to license bookmakers. Is there Hf*ny provision nude, and if hot, can giabe made for the protection of Bfilbfi public who bet with the bookHjpakeNt At present there is no redress ■ftt law when a bookmaker refuses to HBfy out, and this fact is apparently very known to certain of the bookHVakiiig fraternity in New Plymouth, for HB hare known of several cases of Bfrwehuung" lately. So far, however, HWkk welshgrs have escaped the fate of BShe Melbourne weLsher who about eighBBsen months ago was done to death at BBhe hands of an infuriated racecourse BV "Sorrowing Punter" is not alone in his Bftom plaint. Several cases have been Bwcrbally reported to me lately, and I Knave also been permitted to peruse corBKespondence between a bookmaker and HjMa patron, in which the bookmaker MTabsolutely repudiated a written and acE ttrpted wager when the backer "hit him E hard" in a recent race meeting. Sooner Bar later some steps will be taken to Bjtjmnuh defaulting bookmakers, but I do Bjtsot think there- is much ehenee of the BJEiw heing amended to admit of the reof gambling debts by legal proKcess. The best Temedy will be for E-fnatrrs to place their business with refinancial betting people. The sifbBfiEtt certainly deserves to be more fully ■Phtntilated for the sake of the general Blaring (or bettlngl public. Erf Of course them are always two sides Kto 3 question of this sort, and in many Meases the punter is as liable to make an Hjatror as the odds merchant. The forHJfcr has no recaM for his Investment, Vand in the case of "doubles" which are B often taken inorlrns before the events Bah Jnemory may be at fault. ■ 'Auckland bookmakers are in the I habit of gittnf numbered cards. m m which they are backed, and ■ this Is certainly a good system. A Hrtetfrr of acceptance merely saying that bet is on is of no earthly use if a Bfljspute arises, and it behoves investors ■As not only place their money with reKjlable men, but to get a receipt, and Kpflken mistakes are less liable to happen. Bwft « a very unwise po6cy for a "book■Jiaker to do bnstnets on the "scaling" BBVr as the "halaneej tne" is Certain to ■Kpeal his woes «]1 over IKe coiintrysi.le, B*w!Tlt is onlv a matter of time when W 'he layer will drop into the pit of his I -wn misileeds. aad once Hown his little y,, -nme is "goosed" for erermore.

f There are rjrlons ways of losing a -ace, and perhaps that discovered by a ■entleman jo key riding hi* own horse i a steepleci.ase at a meting near Lon- ' <n a couple of years ago was the mo-t I rating. There was hut one oth»r itor, an! lie was pimping so badt the gentleman jockey felt the were, in his hand, but to get from !u'» swerving op|>onent he ste.in and came down. Jlis «as lii.j and he was small, ami ouhl not remount alone, he called nder t'» give him a leg-up. There ill neirly a mile to go, and if Id only get into the Raddle at he chance was still a good one. e other horse,, deprived of hi«ra« jumping worse than ever. me a leg-up, if you're not afraid horse!" he shouted, for the ime, in despair. "I ain't feared horse," replied the bystander i "hut my bet's on t'other one, ain't agota' to take no riskj."

It is said that sportsmen arc nut, as | a rule, either superstitious or eccentric. I (remarks Basil Tozer, in "Fashion") do not at all hold with that view. If they are not superstitious, many of them are, at any rate, quite extraordinarily eccentric, more especially the keenest of all sportsmen—namely, IrHh sportsmen. To quote a single instance. I was jogging to a meet in Tipperary County a year or two ago, with a hardriding, impetuous, middle-aged "Tipperary boy," whose heart and soul 1 knew to be wrapped up in the sport. Presently a weasel ran across the road a few yards ahead of us. "Begor!" my friend exclaimed, drawing rein instantly, "it's not foxhunting I'll be today, liad cess to it. What the mischief that baste wi-hed to be after baulking me for, Gawd knows!" and, without more ado, he pulled his horse round and rode home. By a curious coincidence, one of the field met with a fatal accident that day. On my return home I at once told my friend the sad news. "And didn't I tell yonl" lie exclaimed triumphantly. "If I had hunted today it would have been me, and not him. lying dead there at this moment." "Then, where do I come in!" I asked; "for the weasel crossad my path as well as yours, rememlter." "Ach!" he replied, with a short laugh, "and would you In- after forgetting you're a stranger in this land?"

There are plenty of men who object to owning 13 horse*, and I could name dozens in my own small circle of acquaintances who will not under any circumstances whatsoever allow 13 horses to remain in their stable at one time. Owners of racehorses arc exceptionally superstitious; some of them, at any rate, for I have known more than one owner to change the names of several of his horses two or three times, being under the impression that certain names were wont to bring bad luck at certain seasons of the year. Then, it is a fact that hundreds oi backers of horses consult West End fortune-tellers with a view to peering into the future and discovering "dead certs." There is a man in the Edgeware Road who styles himself a "Tsephomaneist." and professes to discover "dead certs." by picking pebbles out of a heap. You may believe it or not, but it is a fact that this individual (who makes a speciality of these "racing selections") has quite a large clientele of ladies, and of men, too, for that matter, who strive to supplement their incomes by backing horses, and go to Mm for their information. T must say, nevertheless, to give this precious "psephomanicist" his due, that he does succeed in "spotting" an amazing number of winners in the course of a season, but then I am one of his sceptical acquaintances who still believe that the picking of pebbles has nothing to do with the case.

And there are plenty of men to lie found who never ran their horses on Fridays, and plenty more who do not allow'their horses to lie either shod or clipped on Fridays, while I may add that I know two at least who cannot be induced to mount a horse at all on the supposed-to-be unlucky day. Yet these men, mind you, are not by any means lacking in intellect

A Tendon paper tells the following story, under the heading of "Also Ran": "A irokmaker in the suburbs of Edinburgh, named .Tack Andrews, having laid beavilv against The drafter to win,and Goblet to win and place, in the City and Suburban Handicap, trekked, leaving the following notice posted on his door:—"City and Suburban Handicap— The Grafter 1, Innocence 2, Goblet, 3. Also ran—Ja-*k Andrews.'"