SPORTING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 227, 23 March 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

SPORTING.

RACING FIXTURES j March 28, 29 —Masterton J.C. Autumn. April 6, B—Auckland R.C. Autumn. April 8. —Patea RjC. Annual. April 8, 9 —Canterbury J.C. Autumn. • April I, 9—Feilding J.C. Easter. TURF TOPICS. (By "Moturoa.") Masterton races on Thursday. To Roti jumps well for a new chum. How' much money did you lose at Opunake? Winners were hard to pick —if you weren't in the know! Lady Fran has caught it hot in the Flying at Patea. Xorthorn papers report that Sir Artegal is a duffer at the jumping game. Galtee got a\iay well at Opunake, but could not go the pace with slippery Simple Sam. Is Gal tee over-rated? They say that Golden Loop has more than a 'rough chance in the Cup to be run at Masterton next week. White Australia was the name of a winner in Sydney t'other day. Per contra a prad named Chinaman got away with the trot at Nelson. A Taranaki sport, just returned from Napier, reckons that Merrie Lad is just the cut of hurdler to prove a recordburster when lie gets a bit more experience. The evergreen Full Rate is streaking in his best style and promises to keep the opposition warm at Masterton. \ Has 'Deeley gone off his handle? Everything he rides nowadays is there or thereabouts. Four firsts, out of five rides was this successful jockster's record at Nelson on Wednesday. Percy Johnson has 2ante looking bright, and rumour has it that the bay gelding will be that hurdle race at Patea. He won with 9.13 last year, and 10.7 should not trouble him this time —considering the company, Sandy Paul is just about the most unlucky prad racing, and has run enough seconds to break an elephant's heart. The chestnut jumps neatly and can *tay I with tliQ best of them, and it strikes one j that the horse would do far better if kept absolutely to the illegitimate game. A number of New Zealand bred horses will be racing at Rosehill to-day. Gunboat is engaged in th; Cup, Ireland in the Rawson Stakes, and others in the minor events. The New South Wales bred mare Ladv Medallist, whom we look upon as our own, figures in the Cup and Rawson Stakes.

That moderate performer Euroto, who raced in Taranaki lately without success, has changed hands at a low figure, and is now owned by Mr. Tom Scott, whose colors were popular when carried by that fine fenc.:r Plain Bill.

The special correspondent of the "Sporting Review" writes of the Dannevirke meeting in no uncertain terms as follows: "The writer, who has been attending races for over a quarter of a century, has never seen such barefaced swindling perpetrated on the Turf. Races appeared to be 'arranged' with consummate ease and impudence " It must have <been daylight robbery!

Wallace, Carbine's best son in Aus- , tralia, is leaving some fine stock behind him. His get include the best in every class running there now. They comprise Trafalgar, who is the champion of the old brigade; Wilari, the crack three-year-old, and Wolawa, the best two-vear-old. Carbine's memory is being kept fresh by the deeds of his grandsons and daughters. Delegate has been jumping the big 'country at Ellerslie in promising style, but he came to grief recently, and his injuries are such that he may not be able to sport silk Easter. Winners were ea'sv to jiick at Nelson, a,nd the Waipunui, Sinapis, and Ladr'one ' must liave proved disas-, trous to stay-at-home "wool-brokers." Practically nothing else was fancied much.

Labour Day is just about the worst treated mare in the country. Only recently out of hacks the daughter of Soult is placed on the same mark as the wellperformed Dorrtino over a mile and a half, and is asked to concede weight to Merrivonia over the same distance. It is fairly safe to say that the Waverley mare will not take on the great Autumn Handicap next month 1 The Soult—Miss Nelson mare, Miss Alison, is showing great form in Westralia, and after scoring at Belmont Park, cantered home the easiest of winners at the W.A.T.C. meeting. She is now in favour for the Onkaparinga Cup. The rules of racing allow a jockey to back his owh mount, but no other horse in the same race. That this rule is frequently fractured in twenty-nine places at once is evident to/the merest tyro at the game. Happenings such as the Dannevirke affair set us wondering how broadcast the evil is. The vast majority •of riders simply haven't. the wherewithal to "punt" heavily, but that does not prevent the'm "guessing," and the number of "collect" wires that are ticked off every clay "must be pretty considerable.

We are all acquainted with the saying, "So-and-so has got a wire from what-you-may-callem," and the "hot stuff" is backed accordingly. At tim4s the information is: "deadly," but there are other times when the layer smiles larger than usual. Perhaps he has his own wire, too! The only remedy is to bar "tipping" per telegram. Codes may be used, but only by those who are very keen on the betting game. Only the fanatic will say that a moderate amount of racing is bad for a man who can afford to enjoy himself that way,' but this continued under? hand everyday betting is a thing which is bad for everybody but the oddsmerchant, and brings discredit on a sport which deserves 1 better things. A few days a;go a press wire informed us that a mother's meeting somewhere in the South M'd denounced the Sporting League as a movement primarily engineered to kfeep the totalisator going on racecourses. ' Sporting, people will no doubt be honoured by the attention given to the subject by the good ladies mentioned above, but it seems hard to convince the kill-joy crowd that the League, though pririi'ariiy supported—financially, that is—by racing clubs, is run for the protection' of'all legitimate sports. The organiser, Mr. Paape, freely acknowledges that he knbWs'little 'of horse-racing, but has all branches of athletics at his fingertips. This officers of the League's many branches include representatives of every sport ill even numbers. The work already doni} by. the League has had absolutely nothing; to do with horse racing. We do not deny that if horse racing is threatened by ( the. kill-sports the League will move'eii masse; but we do contend, and can provfc, that we have united to protect the. rights.of ail healthy sportsmen and.a,ll clean sports and pastimes. It is a narrow mind that caijnot grasp j the fact that we are simply endeavouring to stir up a broader, more liberal spirit: a spirit of fair play. If the "jovstranglers" don't indulge in our sports, that is no reason why the latter should be stamped out. Probably they haven't, the brains, or the physique, or the energy for clean sport. If so, they deserve ouv pity. Meanwhile the League is spreading its branches in all directions. Its members already total over 50,000, and hundreds are joining every day. It costs nothing to be a member, and it is a duty ,which every sportsman owes to his own particular branch of sport and to his sporting brothers in general. /