SPORTING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 191, 22 November 1910, Page 8

SPORTING.

AUSTRALIAN* RACING. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright. Received 22. 12.5 a.m. Sydney, November 21. The entrants for the'Villers Stakes include Golden Slipper and Artillerie. TURF TOPICS. (By "Moturoa.") Taranaki nominations close on Friday. Danube's accident was not a serious one. Mortite was a solid favorite when lie exploded at Dannevirke. Some people can't get past St. Toney, 7.2, in the A.R.C. Railway. Clemora let the crowd down last week, but keep following liim, lads. Uhlando is going well, and may break it for a win before long. East Wind is reckoned a moral starter in the Feililing Maiden. Sir Prize is apparently sound again, and will be given a pipe-opener at Feilding. There is a horse named Presently engaged at Takapuna. Also Seldom. The latter prad runs up (or down) to his cognomen. Racehorse nomenclature must be in a bad way when a northern owner cannot think of a better name than Mary Ann for his needy. Hope he didn't stop up all night thinking the sublime thing out!

Birkdale ran such a good race in the C.J.C. Derby that he must be marked dangerous for any race extending to twelve furlongs. The handicapper has let him in nicely with 7.13 in the St. Andrew's Handicap at Feilding. The last two races fell to three-year-olds, Husbandman and Taskmaster, who ran first and third respeotively in the Blue Bibands of 1908 and 1909.

Highden's victory in the Spring Handicap at Dannevirke was a meritorious] one, and the big fellow fairly smothered everything in the last furlong. When the dividend was wired through, one bookie's temperature rushed madly upstairs (as it were), midst a cloud of profane words and the howl of delighted punters. The thermometer threatens to burst its top off or get out on the roof (or something) at the slightest provocation.

Auckland Cup weights are remarkable for many things. Of the fifty odd] horses handieapped only six were deemed j capable of carrying Bst. over the twomile course in decent time. Thirty-] eight have been set to trifle with 7stJ or under, and seventeen—including the locally trained Waitapu, Golden Loop and Uhlando—have been thrown in with Gst 71b. They are a poor crowd to contest an Auckland Cup, and it would be hard to pick a dozen probable stayers amongst the fifty. Most of the lists of weights for the Railway Handicap have missed Maori King, 9st 41b. Armlet, 9.6, is topweight and, with 9.2, beat all but the lightly-burdened Kilindini last year. Salute 9,1, was unlucky to lose that year, and at the same meeting ran off with a treble, carrying 8.2, 8.6 and 8.13 respectively. In the Newmarket Handicap on the fourth day he beat Armlet, Kilindini and a high-class field. Penates is not over-burdened, and the same applies to Gipsy Belle, Theodore, Miss Winnie and St. Toney. However, the race is six weeks off, and racing in the interim may throw some light on the chances of a few of the fancied ones.

Under the heading, "Unexpected Wealth," a short leader in the News of a few days back, gave some interesting items re Tattersall's sweeps and, without coming to blows with "the brains" of this establishment, I would like to point out that the heading has one fault—it is all wrong! Blame it on the compositor if you like. But it should have read, "Expected Wealth." No man ever put a penny-piece into a church bazaar raffle, a sweep, a wildcat mine, or on a "can't-lose" tip, with the expectation of losing his coin. There was one exception; that was Brewster; and even in a play he found it mighty hard to get rid of his millions. But in real life hope springs eternal in the gambler's breast. You, I ("and all of us," as 1 the saying goes) • invest our money to win—not to lose. When the result of the drawing comes along we nearly fracture our eyesight trying to find 37,537 (or some such number) on the slip, and if it isn't there we prob-j ably say things, and go out and invest J some more. "I'll strike it yet," has i been said millions of times, and that expression doesn't show much want of expectation! When a move was made to suppress "Tatts." years ago, the cry of the gambler went up, "What about all my DEAD STUFF in it? Won't you give me a chance to win it back?" Why, I even knew of a fellow who proposed marriage to a lady on the strength of having "a ticket in Tattersall's, dontchernow!" The yarn of the Adelaide policeman who dropped dead when he heard of his luck doesn't, in my opinion, weaker my argument. It only shows what a funny lot of policemen they must have over that way. Now, in Taranaki there are dozens of big, strorig men-in-blue who would gladly take the risk of their "tickers" chucking up the job if they could lift the big prize—or a small one, either. I'd take the risk myself. And even if a fellow was deluged with begging letters. Goodness! Heaps of fellows in this town never open their bills; the fire is such a handy place. And no doubt he could settle his conscience with the thought that as the beggars didn't know him before the win, he wouldn't know tliem afterwards. It' is glad news to read that all nations gamble, and that "the luck varies." Many of my readers who have consistently bombarded "Tatts." for years without striking a prize will take fresh j hope, and keep on stronger than ever. I After all, a fellow doesn't miss five orj ten shillings occasionally. He would probably only get drunk if he kept it! in his pocket. Or he might, in afteri life, never forgive himself for having' been one of a number who raised funds) to buy pocket-handkerchiefs for the lit-1 tie niggers on the Cannibal Islands. It! is a sa,d thought. As soon as politicians | give over listening to the shrill shrieks j of a noisy minority; as soon as the lazy majority of cares to rouse itself and to demand reasonable liberty, so soon will all these hypocritical humbugging peo-| pie be pushed back to their proper, place, and common-sense legislation will give the public the right to do as they please with their own money. Money J

goes to Tasmania by every mail, and no law can stop it. And, all the while, the Tasmanian Government is reaping a liarvest of taxes. Why this money cannot, stay in the.. Dominion is hard to fathom. Sweeps could be conducted just as well in Wellington as in Hobart; in fact, more expeditiously. The money invested would stay in the Dominion. The taxes 011 tickets or oil prizes would help to pay off that national debt, and those wlio didn't care to gamble could leave it alone. The taxes on the consultations would relieve the ordinary taxes imposed on gambler and anti-gambler alike. One sighs for the day of reason!