THE WORLD OF SPORT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 124, 16 May 1908, Page 4

THE WORLD OF SPORT.

FIXTURES. \(jr a and 25.—'Wanganui J.C. Winter. May and 25.—Takapuna J.C. Winter" Meeting. M*y M and 25.—North Utago J.C. Win lir, ilay 3«. June 3 and 0. —A.K.C. Steeple' ciuwe Meeting. June 17 and IB.—Uawke's Bay J.C. Winter. June 3 jnd 4.—Duucdiu J.C. Winter. TULIP TOPICS* ißy " Moturoa.' Talk about the sear<r : fish!—the tlawcru rac«eourse warn -Iv AU\ E with sharki on Wednesda;

Starter OH,'onnor'e slipping oi i.. field* at liawera WW a revelation. In most instances the runners moved oil in a straight line ami reminded one ot th» noulus oa * foot-rule. * • * When looking for a tip for the Railway H.iudieap, it waa surprising how many missed the tip that sticking uut a mile —Tip-toe! « « < When Compass and Mount Cook collided iu the Tongahoe Hurdles the former almost lost his balance, and at the finish Mount Cook towered over everything. Lingerer W»» the beat-named prad in th« mee. Maharannl (cored a long overdue win in the Hawwa Cup, and was nicely handled by ®d. Beid. • • • * Virtue improved upon her second at Pa tea by eaaily appropriating the Ladies' -Purw irom Matakawa, a four-year-old son ol Waiuku. Northern Star ran as it In b>d the potato blight. • • . » Golden Dream can "fly " for four furlongs, but she was tiring badly at the «ni«li of U»e Telegraph liaudicap, and Kirsty beat her on the (ion by a nose before she woke up.

The ex-N«w Zealander, Delaware, by Ke*ton Dd»val—Stepfelt, carrying, 7at» 3ib., accounted for the Ulenhuntly Handicap, ran over nine furlongk, at the recent V-4.T.C. meeting. The Maorilandtr started at a good price, and won by three-quarters of a length from Banner, with Akim Koo third, and eight otheri viewed the finish Irom a rear position.

Melodeon aeems to have gone to pieces since he was taken across to 'St rail a. He % still on the sale list, and only £ISO is the figure asked.

The cli'.'-lnut mare Laily Clements, by St. Clciii'-lits—Maria, who raced in the Aneklmid district last sea«uii, was re cently sold in Sydney, and goes to Western 'Stralia. I July Clement* won a few hurdle races aroiuul Auckland, but she never rose above tin- moderate das*.

Bidding was not keen at the sale ol Te Mahanga ami Kararnu thoroughbreds, held at Hastings on Saturday la»t. The highest priced yearling wa» ■ bar filly by San Fran—Mongonui, by Carbim. which fell to Mr. -I. Cameron'.; bid at 63 guineas. Mr. T. Melrose pick it 1 up the Merriwee—The Brook filly for SI) guineas, and Mr. K. J. Watt pai.l 53 guineas for a shapely daughter of San Fran—Kissniary. A brown gelding by San Fran—Unly Darling fetched 40 guineas, bill the others went very cheaply. Waipunehu was 6 old to Mr. .f. .lameson, of Hastings, for 50 guineas, anil Th« Officer gelding Commander joined Mr. T. Kings string at 52 guineas, which was not much for a horse who has proven bis ability to gallop, and would only require a little schooling to become a fimt-claM jumper. Of the remainder Hippolyte and Miss Evelyn changed hands at 35 guineas apiece. AVaiariki at 30 guineas and Niwaru at ii guineas.

(if late years many trainers in the Old Country, and even here, writes "Boondi," have taken a wonderfully queer craie for attending church services. not that it does them any harm, " and. indeed," as one Of their wive* observed, " they generally come home more solier from kirk than from a settling night at TaUersallV." -\t the thanksgiving service one golden summer eve in Yorkshire, alter the vicar had offered tip a particularly grateful prayer for an abundant crop, Fred. Bates, the trainer, shook the litl# poach under the nose of the famoug old-time jockey, .lohn (>- borne. and received a, shilling. This he quickly jerked out and returned, saying. "No. no. John, old back: a liob's all right in tUe ordinary way, but thi- is a ' Harvest Home' course, and that means '.lots Osborne, one pound.' It vim haven't brought a quid with you. I'll drop one in for yon, and put it in the account, became Harvest Home is alway„ a quid!" Xot without some doubt almnt being rooked, honest old John went deep down into his trousers pocket, and weighed out the yellow boy. "For," he thought to himself, "it were far lietter to be temporarily quidless than to harp the collection plate figuring in my riding account!"

A missionary recently returned from nuuuy Fiji gets off a nuty one on to the sporting public. The cleric was "bowing a heathen the pictures in n JUoriland illustrated paper, and amongst them wa s an illustration oi the crowd round a totalizator a hw minutes before the start of a race.

" What'g this?" asked the Dago, pointing to the surging mob all struggling to get their money on " can't lose" tips. " That, my dear friend," replied the missionary, "is a sporting crowd." The heathen thought a while, and then asked, "Say, pboss, you send 'em missionary amongst them pfeller« toot" and the good old racing mob shared the fame back seat an the savage in the reckoning of Brown Brother in far-awav Kji.

In his reminiscences of old-tiuic hookmaker,. -Thormanby" write*:—"tintof the earliest and most successful was the notorious Colonel O'Kelly, owner of the immortal Eclipse. Dennis O'Kellv wa 4 an accomplished maker of matches and judge of racing, as well as a phen omen ally successful breeder; Imt thert was a very strong smack of the blackguard about him. Originally a sedan chair man, his elegant legs and fine figure took a lady's fancy, and she started ; him in life as a 'gintleman.' Ue. to lie in harmony with his new position in life, took to gambling, and at first wa» far from lieing luekv. He had actually > got hold of the lady'„ last tlw whea ■ Fortune smiled upon him, an'd lie not '■ only got lack all fae had lost. but C3<>oo v be*ide». But it wa 9 not so much link - as ability that led him on to fort mi' and to the rank of colonel. He made hicalculations so carefully that bet*. Li I'll were maters of chance with many, wiiii him became certainties. And yet lie was not happy, for with all his money he could neither get into any of thLondon clubs nor could he become a;>i pointed a« a member of I lie -Iwk'-y Ciub at Newmarket. This annoyed liiiu s dreadfully, am) he never mi--cd having IS — a fling at those members or the ari-io H rraey who he thought were the caiw j£ of bi« lieing blacklialled on every oi-r .i ■ I-1011 lie had put up for election. ISui though Dnini* O'Kelly could not get in to society be the front door he managed i to climb in by the luck -tairs. With' his 'guardian'angel' Charlotte Hay - wbom he first met in the Fleet Pri-mi. and to whom lie owed Ins escape from . the debtor's inferno and hi- elevation t" ; ;■ pn»|>eritv. ue kept open liou-e at l'ilieaulifiil 'cottage' at Clay Hill, near r, . E|woiu. The Swietv which the Colonel % and Charlotte entertained was ci rtainl . ji . mi*«l. but it included some of tin f- highrst personages in the land. Tinf Prim-e of the Duke of Cumber p land, the IJoke of Orlcan-. T >iri 1 i mont. l/»ril Cro-venor. and manv otin i i* nobln s|«rt<Ben condescended to part.ik <t Of the magnificent hospitality di-pen-eil i so ehariningljr by their lively ami enter taining ho*t and hostess. The winc- !, were superb, the cuisine of the choice-!. ► and the motto of the hon-c v.the folly old Rabelasian one. 'Do what yon rploaaML>— U was Liberty Hall in the btpadest <en«e: and vet. strange to -av w though r>n inveterate gambler el-ewhere. I" intrllr "oiild allow no ' at Clav imi. ami when on hi> death he be- J j! KT* Mil** of C\v TTill j* intl Crtnimn Park to hi* nephew. the R Vqwst coupled with a condition tlmt hi- he : r forfait for E. _ every bet lie made on the Turf. A mrimiii rla»-e. surely. in the? will of a man who owed all hi« sneees* and fortune to loekr speculation in bor*e-Taring."