SPORTING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 307, 5 February 1910, Page 3

SPORTING.

RACING FIXTURES. 'Feb. S—C.J.C.5 —C.J.C. Summer. •Feb. s—Takapima J.C. February 9 and 10—Egmont R.C. February 10 and 17—Taranaki R.C. February 23 and 24—Woodville J.C. March o aud a —Wanganui J.C. Autumn .Meeting. March 2(5, 28, 29 —Auckland Racing Club (April 9, 13 —Avondale Jockey Club. May 21 and 24 —Takapima Jockey Ciub. June 3, 4, B—Auckland Racing Club. DATES OF COMING EVENTS. New Zealand: February IG—Taranaki Cup. •■ March 3—Wanganui Cup. March s—Jackson Stakes. March 20—A.R.C. Easter Handicap. March -28—Northern Champagne Stakes March 29—Great Northern Oaks. Australia: February 26—V.R.C. St. Leger. February 23—Dunedin Cup. Februal'y 2(j—Newmarket Handicap. March i— Australian Cup. March s—Champion Stakes. March 20—A.J.C. St. Leger. March 28—Sydney Cup. TURF TOPICS. (By "Moturoa.") Acceptances and general entries for the Taranaki Jockey Club's autumn meeting close on Monday night. Gold Lace will probably be taken ft cross to 'Stralia to contest sprint events in the autumn. Trainer T. Goddard has Maharanui jroing well at .present, and the Sylvia Park gelding may notch a winning •bracket shortly. Waverley advices state that an Australian 'buyer was after Crucinella recently, but even £ISOO would not tempt 'Mr. Mcßeth to sell his flier. Sir Prize ran badly at Foxton, but should do better at Hawera, where the iiandicapper has given the chestnut very lenient treatment.

Good acceptances have been received for tlic Egmont R.C'. autumn meeting, -which takes place on Wednesday and Thursday, and punters should then have a line to go on to pick winners at New Plymouth the following week. Dunedin Cup weights' are due on Monday next. The Canterbury Jockey Club's sumTnei' meeting will be concluded at Ric/•arton to-day, when the Middle Park Plate and St. Alban's Handicap will come up for decision. The Lethe gelding Lsthean changed hands recently, and is now an inmate of 0. Cox's stable at Hawera. Waitapu has 7.12 in this year's Taramaki Cup, a weight under which the I'oxton horse won last year. Old Roseplot has joined W. Olive's string of battlers. Glenullin, in the same"stable, is still standing up to his graft and may survive another preparation. Gunstock was sold the other day and may possibly race in unregistered ranks. A safe jumper, but a wretched stayer, the aged s'on of Linstock generally ran Siimself out in the first six furlongs and invariably walked in with the crowd. For the Newmarket Handicap, Pink >Un has 9st., Kerlie 8.9. Motoa 8.2, and Don Hannibal 7.G. Since crossing the Tasman Motoa has been an absolute failure, but a Newmarket victory would just about pull his owner out of what looks like a bad bargain. A promising colt by Sarto fro... enfctia, owned by Sir George McLean, j. one. of his fetlocks' broken last week through stopping a kick, and had to be ipassed out with the soothing bullet. A hard-up guesser at YVanganui approached a well-known sport for a loan of "a peg." The sport had no "bobs'* for busted racecourse hangers-on, howfever. and scenting a joke, rushed into a grocer's establishment and came out a sain shortly bearing a small parcel, j which he pressed into the guesser's greedy paw with a muttered Don t inention it. old man! G-lad to have the ■measure." Then he faded, and when tlic dead-broke person opened his packauo j io foand —what do you think?—a common or garden clothes peg! His language for the next ten minutes stopped the town clock, and it is surprising what a lot of cuss words some fellows can separate themselves from in ten minutes! As Sandy Paul is still growing, Arthur Gilbert has very wisely decided to let liim run along easily. The other member of '' Longfellow's'" team, liairoa, is showing fair form over the schooling hurdles" and may make his maiden attempt over sticks at New Plymouth next fortnight. _ Waiari has turned out in great nick | at Takapuna, and ran off with a double in easy fashion, but the short prices paid by the son of St. Paul did not bring much grist to the mill, which eats yip big junks of cash all the year round. The° Wanganui scribe, '' Achilles," gets a rude jar on to owners in these words: /'Some owners complain that the losingfees provided under the present rules are too high. Owners must remember the risk jockeys run—especially when riding for some owners." Do you notice it? , Winners at Riccarlon on Thursday ,-were sticking out a mile, Guianforte , Fasnakyle and Tikitere being well back- j ed. Fortunately for the Bar \ons not a <n-eat amount of interest is taken in the meeting, aiul speculation was, luckily for the pencilled, very limited. " Muskerado won a double at the Hutt on Wednesday, winning each race from end to end. Miss Park is w r ell down in the weights for forthcoming meetings and may be ■Worth watching. Tarina ran two good races at Takapuna, and, with better luck, may break 'in for a win next start. Sir George Clifford's colors have had {i wood run in the Middle Park Plate. Stronghold won in 1905, Gleneulloch m >1907, C Fleetfoot in 1908, and Sharpshooter in 1909. ' The Ivarioi hack meeting on Thursday drew a large attendance, gloriously fine weather and interesting racing tending to the enjoyment of attending sportsmen. Thirteen bookmakers howled tramped odds and did no good, and M.P." Jennings' loomed largely over the .proceedings, .presenting cup 3, bracelets find other jewellery to the successful ones, and the meeting was just about as fenjoyahle as the average picnic races of the old days, and a heap more gay than hianv of tiie present day sharpers' benefits', ' which provide poor but expensive sport.

Jockey A. Olliver was in good form, f'.vinning a double on Newport and the ■big race on Strathmoira. Newport landed the Riiiipehu Handicap after a pretty Vace with lnveran, Apollinaris, who would have been hard to beat, being left at the post. The starting was uniformly wretched throughout the afterboon. Clemain best her opponents in hollow fashion in the Bracelet, but the next Vaee, the Malison Stakes, was evenly contested. The Native (Ollivor) and Jim were most prominent in the early stages, but Apollinaris drew up in the last bit, hud, in a slashing race home, won bv p, long neck from The Native, with In-•,-eran half a length away third. There were our runners in the Karioi Cup, Strathmoria being a better favorite than Debonnaire, and the race resolved itself into a duel between this pair. &fter several false starts Debonnaire led Strathmoira for a furlong. Then the mare drew level, and they ran together to the straight, where Strathmoira came right away and won easily by over three lengths. A hot order in Clemain got "upped" in the Kaimanawa Handicap. A big •field went off in straggling order, with the favorite last. Lowgarth Mare singled himself out in the run home, and although Clemain came up well under the >whi;° she failed to catch the leader by 'half-a-length. A good start was' effected in the Muri-■-motu° Welter, and the favorite, New-port, was in the van all the way, winning by over two lengths from Jim. Apollinaris was practically neglected in the betting «nd ran accordingly. According to a writer in the London ■Sketch, the S.-P. bookmakers had a disastrous time during the flat-race season just closed in the old Dart. It is a remarkable fact that while the big handicaps, with about two exceptions, were won by outsiders', somebody managed to find the winners with the stay-at-home layers. Many of the S.-P. men are practically broke, and in many instances itliey got out of their difficulties by payins'only a small percentage of the winnings due to their clients. So bookmakin<Avithout the opposition of the totaltisator is nt the "get rich" profession •that most light heads cackle about, and (bookmakers in this country are far better off with "the mill" at their elbow ito entrust with risky commissions on itfjangerous horses. The pencillera need tafke few risks in t-Ms mud-spot.?.