WORLD OF SPORT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 14 December 1907, Page 4

WORLD OF SPORT.

TOKF TOPICS. (By "Jloturoa.") The Stratford Club have good reason to lie well plea«ed at the generous response of owners to the excellent bill-of-fare provided for thei r Xew Year meeting. Splendid nominations have been received for all evtmts, and the class of horses entered is a distinct advance on that of last season. Twenty-four horses figure in the County Hack Race, twenty-three in the Toko Welter, and twenty-two in the Midhirxt Handicap and the Railway Hack Race.

The Cup hat drawn ten entries, including such smart horses as the Taramki Cup winner, Ulenullin; Uhlando, the hero of the. V&verley and Waitara tups; and Trttfcet, Billow, Daisy Paul, Immolation, Montigo, and Bosegrove, who h*te all peffßrmed well of late. Starina aacf CUnfc* ti& not shine in their cngagement»»W-Wood»iIl6 and Feilding respeetiTelyiTjgk-fcave time to come on between this aid the Ist of January. Fourteen ate carded for the Dominion Handicap, tin Jig race on the second day, and, bedßet the Cup candidates, Silver Shell, Sylvan Parle, Stayboy, and Fiilmimtor figure in the shorter race. The haefcv nominated are a decent !? !; .. B, «" t '''*' T,riB °. Golden Earie, earl*, HydfaaHc, Sylran Park, Daley Paul, Fulminator, and Miss Vera represent the cream of Taranaki hacks. With St. Claimar in the Flying and Trial Handicaps, it is easy to pick the top weight m those events. Cood fields are assured for the trotting events, and these events are popular item, with the public We do not see mnch trotting in this district, ami it comes as a bit of a novelty.

fiovernment Buildings burned down! .\o wonder, after the fiery Gamine Act Wing in the placet s • • •

The Gaming Act compels clubs using the tote to Hcense bookmakers, but does not provide for dobs not using the machine. A Wellington lawyer gives it as hi* Opinion that the latter clubs have under tho new Art, no power to license the books, and it looks as if the smaller meetings wffl soon be a thing of the • • • '* Sid. Reid has ridden twenty winners this season, A. Olliver seventeen, Ben Deeley fifteen, C. Jenkins and L. Wilson fourteen apiece, and H. Price, L. G. King, and J. Pine ten each. * • • The Porirua horseman, A. iTConnon, has steered eight winners over the sticks since August 1. T. Pritchard has score* * uk . e nnmber of wins, and H. Telford, W Young, and J. Hall have each pUoted five winners.

Aboriginal's success in the Borough Handicap at Woodvilla is the first that has come his way since he lifted the Winter Cup of 1906. Boniform and Armlet are said to In showing great form on the tracks. If the former horse is as well as report ays he is, there appears nothing capable of extending him at Auckland. * • • The connections of Lull threw out a goodly sum when that horse lost his rider at the Tery first fence at Feilding. The horse was in great heart, and ran the full two miles out, jumping beautifully, and putting in a good run in the •traight. He finished a neck ahead of • fold Dust, the winner. It is stated that I-iifi hung his head in dejected fashion ■"•hen he looked roand and found that '. dropped off. and that ne hod no wr-ij-M to weigh in, but tliw may br only a rumour. ManiiipoU U now in tip-top condition, and -huuM pick up a good race orer V/t or !■/, miles this summer.

Ikon, who won the Maiden Scurry at Feuding, got ont badly in the Flying at tVowiriue, but put in a great uasu, and finished dose up to that flier, Jfotua. But for the indifferent send-off, Ikon would hare won. She is worth worth watching for sprint races about Christmas time. • • • The ClanraaaM gelding, Flying Spark, who won several aces in Otago but season, and waa •ahtoanemly taken across to Australia, won the Acot Handicap last week from a good field, and his party is reported to hare had a good win over his success. The ex-New Zealander, Chiralry, ran into third place. ♦•• • • r Handicap* for the Stratford raeetin-are-daemon or about Tuesday, 17th oi December^-" . ,». • • • R. W. King and L. G. King were up on two winners apiece at the Hororata meeting hut week.

Playmate has quite recovered from the effects of his .spill at ClaretiUe, and is a certain starter at Awapuni at the end of the month.

Uranium's record this season: Three starts, three wins.

Handicapper Ulic Shannon is taking . mi risk* with Irish Rifle in the Bang? flbtfweifrt away Xangbnoana At, and number of* other /air hone* oyer a mile and a quarter. • • • * The racehorses Bonny Glen, Clan and Stylish arrived in Auckland from the South on Sunday last, to fulfil their engagements at the Auckland Racing Club's summer meeting. Ihe newcomers were on the tracks at EUersut on Monday morning, but were restricted to steady pacing. I lie Auckland Cup and Derby candidate, Bonny Glen, is in great fettle, and will run well in whatever races he is slipped. • » #

The erstwhile Taranaki horse, Southern Crew, figures amongst the acceptors for the Springston Welter Handicap, to be run at the Christchurch summer meeting. Willi 9.4, the Daystar gelling has a good weight to carry, but the opposition, is poor, and he is a fair borse orer a mile »hen in galloping humour.

What do jjou think happened in Belgium recently! Listen to this: At tionckeu Races, near Vervieis, the polic suddenly appeared and seized the stakes. The Public Prosecutor explained that he had acted on his own initiative entirely, considering racing legal as a question of skill, but that betting on it was a mere question of chance, and as such illegal. One race moie was run after the incident, but the bookies and the Pari Mutuel took no part. The interference of the law is said to be due to the fact that Ihe working population oi Vervicrs has become bo inoculated with the passion for betting that many tragedies have happened, and tradespeople hare complained. Teacher, endeavouring to explain the meaning of the word "harness": "What does yout father put on the horse!" •Tleaae, »ir, 'e puts on all 'e can if 'a thinks it'U win* ; Mr. W. H. Walker, whom Hewitt is to ride for next season, has been an ail-round sport in his time, and keeps a splendid stable of thoroughbreds, and har wuu many important events on the lurf. He now baa a thoroughbred stud at Kildare, where thirty brood mares are stationed.

Writing of the condition under which jockey* labour in various countries, an English paper says:— The tendency in England is to cut down retainers for jockeys, and on the Continent to increase them. In Anstria bigger retainers are paid than in any other country. Sensible men hare long ceased to place credence in paragraphs from the I'nited States regarding salaries earned there by jockeys. French owners used to pay big salaries, and do so still, but they are leing beaten by their German and Austrian friends. A jockey who ten year* ago in England would have ..mmannVd x'.IOOO a year would now wk £2llOO. The truth is a man would '»>ner ride in England for £IOOO a vear riiiin in any other country for two or ■ hroe times that amount. In England. !■• know*, so long as he conducts hiin- - If in his private life in accordance <:th the high standard set up by own••is in the country, and possesses riding ibility. he may he easy about earning ' good income for many years, whereas hp moment he leaves England it may * a esse of going up like a rocket and oraing down like a stick. It was a pet theory of the late .Mm ■ott that in no season could lie found ur four-year-olds capable of winning '■<• Derby, meaning, of enruse. at even ■ights (writes "Vigilant" in the l.oun "Sportsman"). It seems at flrst •hi. a startling a—ertion. Itnr cam.in one «f the cleverest men of all - in the training profession, for the izard of the Xorth" had a marvellous . >ttl oz dMiit winntri, which, hu

never been broken by any of his successors. Moreover, when carefully considered, it requires no stretch of the imagination entirely to agree with the contention. The White Knight certainly would have beaten Orby on June .), »o possibly also Bridge of Canny; : and, having regard to his Ascot runniii", I a fortnight later, Sancy might perhaps be added to the list. Some will doubt-lc-s form the idea that Lally would , nave proved capable of holding Mr. I Crooker's champion in check, but f . doubt whether he could have staved the | requisite mile and a half, and of other I notable four year-olds, there remain , Ileppo, Troutlieck, and Radium. Posj sibly the fast waning season may have provided one of the rare instanoee in which John Scott's theory would have been exploded. We may take it that at least on., five-year-old would have won the Derby, reference, of course being made to .Mrs. Jackson's crack Irish horse, Velocity, which has been styled a fortunate winner of the Doncaster Cup two years in succession. For ruy own part. I see no valid reason why the merit of either victory should have nern depreciated, and much is it to be regretted that, having cracked up in his last essay at Doncaster, there is no dance ~f Velocity and the White Knight having another "cut" at one another ]t is nothing to the point o add that, had such a contingency l»en poss.ble, my choice would have gone m favour of the older horse, who certainly commanded the better speed and, for all [ know, could stay as well' Maybe this in lwld argument' with the magnificent performance of 'the Knight" in the Cesarewitch bo reeenlv before us, but who is to sav that Verity would not have done as much m the same company. Anyone who ha« seen or read of the scenes that take place at the ponv races held near Sydney and Melbourne; where the lowest senm of those cities is so greatly in evidence, will trust that Wellington, at least, will be spared the infliction says the local correspondent of the Marlborough "Express" The •eTonk" owner and the "eronk" rider nourishes at these meetings, which are purely and simply got up for gambling purposes, and are a curse to the voun* ? e V. a „ ny cit - v where th<, v are" held". .No tote permits would he issued to snch meetings, but there would bo odds-laying hawks by dozens-and thev would have no £2O fee to pav