SPORTING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 293, 3 May 1913, Page 7

SPORTING.

RACING FIXTURES. May 8, 9.—Ashburton County Racing Club. May 14, 15— Egmont Racing Club. May 22, 24.—Wanganui Jockey Club. May 22, 23—North Otago Jockey Club. May 31, June 3, 6.—Auckland Racing Club. DATES OF CO-MING EVENTS. May 22—Wanganui Steeplechase. May 24—Wanganui Century Hurdles. May 31.—Great Northern Hurdle Race. TURF TOPICS. (By "Moturoa."). Ashburton races on Thursday and I'riday. Weights for the Egmont Winter meeting are due to-day. Mr. Geo. Morse will declare his adjustments for the Great Northerns on Monday. After a spell of bad luck Glenfern won a double at Blenheim and paid a good price each .time. The hurdler Oxton broke his leg at Palinerston recently and the bullet ended his disappointing career. Okaihau, who won the Wanganui Steeplechase last year, is showing signs of lameness and Trainer J. Williamson is having some trouble with the sou of Salvadon. , j Peroneals easy victories at Blenheim show what a difference a drop of a couple of stone will make to some three-year-olds. Under 9st and upwards the daughter of Achilles could hardly get 1 six furlongs, but under the lighter scale i of weights she ran. on strongly to the ( end of ten furlongs. | Nyland is being tried over the schooling hurdles at Awapuni A. OUiver riding him. He jumps well for a beginner, but there is big doubt whether the Winter Cup winner of 1910 will stand another searching preparation. This week's Referee publishes a list of winning two-year-olds for, the present season. The principal winners were Soltano (five races) £2190, Mowbray (4) £1725, Peronilla (5) £1595, Nightwatch (2) £JISS and Rinaldo (2) £875. Lower on the list is Astdr, whose single victory and one or two seconds brought in £95.

"Mr. Highden's" stable has been shadowed by bad luck this season, and it ie not surprising that the lady-owner is tiring of the game. Lockwood, Mallard, Neirene, Adelicia and Gerberga are. to go and tljeir boxes may be filled by better horses. With the exception of Bronzj they were a poor lot at Highden, and the frowns of fortune set-in in earnest when Boanerges was "outed" in 'Stralia. Since then the bearers of the "buff and blue" have had what is commonly called a very "crook" spin. Carbine's son Spearmint has proved a veritable gold mine for Major Loder. Bought as a yearling for 300 guineas the horse .won the Epsom Derby, Grand Prix de Paris and other'valuable races, and his earnings at the stud during the past few seasons have, topped £7OOO per annum." No wonder Derby winners fetch anything from-twenty to thirty thousand apiece in the Old Country. The much-travelled wide awake horseman Ben Deeley is having a good innings at the Autumn meetings. At Timnrn he. won on Thrax and Bulletin on the first day, and on Thrax, Oxenhope and Gunflash the second. At Blenheim on Thursday he scored with Royal Sleeves and Sinapis, both horses returning respectable divide ads. The Frankfurter Zeitung has made a discovery regarding the Englishman's passion for betting. Scene, a London court. Counsel is speiking, when suddenly a messenger hands him a telegram. He tears it open, reads it, and says aloud: Excellent; Violet has won."

Applause in court, repressed by the judge saying, ,"I beg you not to introduce irrelevant matter." Counsel apologises and continues his address. 'One moment," interrupts the judge; "doc■ the telegram say which horse was secon! and which was third?" The New Zealand-bred ElectrakofT is gradually running into form in 'Stralia and is ticked off to win the first time tli? money is put in. Another New Zinlander in Antoinette, who gets plenty of weight across the Tasman, was heavily backed at Mentone, but could not get a place. The winner turned up in Lo'.'il Kelvin—a horse that never did much in this country. . Lady Louisa was fancied fo: the Riverlands Hack Handicap at Blenheim on Thursday and once again had to be content with second place. The winner turned up in Sir Moutoa, who was a strong tip down the line the first day. The latter returned his supporters a .crood. dividend. Outsiders had all the, best of things at the meeting, and the Bar Yons got some of their money back. Espurtero is a noticeable absentee from nominations for the principal hurdle races ahead, and from Napier it is reported that the big son of Torpedo | ■is still unsound. Last season his nine starts resulted in three firsts, two seconds and two thirds, and he carried such steadiers as 11.13 and 12.1 first past the post. The turf can ill afford to lose such good horses. Intention, by Achilles-Good Intent, carried Mr. J. Prosser's colors at Masterton, but did not gain a place. This youngster will do better next season. Siola, who shaped respectably for a first appearance over big country at Avondale, over-reached himself while ( schooling last week, and will not be lit to race for some considerable time. Master Paul registered a good per- 1 formance on the second day of the South Canterbury meeting when he carried 12st lib in the Wai-iti Hurdles and , won all the way, running in eight lengths in front of the favourite, Gold Pin. The mile and a half was run in 2.49, which makes the St. Paul gelding out to be no slouch. It is stated that Master Paul is und°r rTer to a Melbourne sportsman. Lord Soult carried a heap of money in the Smithfield Handicap at Washdyke. but after hopping out first he soon fell back and eventually finished sixth in a field of seventeen. On the second day he started at a long price and repeated the performance in the Pareora Handicap. In Salt Lake City, Utah, bookmaldng and pool-selling are punishable by fines up to 200 dollars or one year's imprisonment. It is a pitv these same Mormons don't heap the same penalties on the good elders who reckon that one wife isn't enough for a man who can afford to keep more. Polygamy is apparently not worth consideration, but betting is simply shocking! Old Lupulite has evidently pone- sour on the racing game. At Timaru lie absolutely refused to face the barrier, and in the Farewell Handicap the field had to be despatched without him. Glencairn, a brother to Kilts, who has won a few races in Tasmania, has been shipped to India, and, it is understood, will be prepared for the Viceroy's Cup. "Early Bird" in the Chronicle gets off the following amusing par—He was an optimistic soul and a sportsman, a combination that made hun a friend to

bookies, both directly mid indirectly. His pals, whom lie infected with his enthusiasm, followed his tips blindly, with inure often than not disastrous results. "See what you have done," wailed one of his friends after a race. "And you told me that I could put my shirt on that horse." "And you did?" "Yes, worse luck." "Well, then," replied the. optimistic sportsman, "see the money you'll savt on laundry bills!" Mr. John Corlett, ill the Pink 'Uu comments on the subject of high fee asked for the services of some stallion nowadays:—"One of the curiosities o the Racing Calendar is Rock Sand, ad vertised to cover for the seasons 1913 1914, 1915 and 1916 at 500 guineas, an< all the nominations for those years book ed. God bless us! Apart from wha the horse has already earned, we liavi i here £BO,OOO worth on the books, am I at the end of that time the horse wil [ still have, on the average, some yeari before him. In 1916 he will be 16 yean old. It is on the cards for him to live till 1930. Touchstone was more thai 30. Considering that the best horsi Eock Sand has got is Tracery, a fee a 500 guineas for his services is simpl; astounding. He may possibly be wortl the money, but he has yet to prove it If on the strength of a winner of one hi; race, what, we wonder, would be asket if he had got six St. Legcr winners ii seven years and .two or three Derby win ners, with at times all three places fillec by liia sons, as was the case when Lor< Lyon, Savernake and Rustic were tin first three in the Derby? This was onl; a part of Stockwell's record when Mr Naylor put him up to what was cosider ed the extortionate sum of "200 guineas Poor Reeves, of Epsom, contracted fo: 150 guineas when he sent Necklace t< the horse, and not having the mone; ready, she was seized by Mr. Naylor who sent her to Tatteraall's and sol< her for the charges he had on her. Mi Merry happened to be in the yard, and liking the look of the mare, bought he: for a comparatively small sum. Shi was carrying Macgregor. It was no for a poor man like Reeves to ,ow» : wonder like that. The prices that goo< horses go to the stud at nowadays ap pears outrageous, but in reality are no so if people can be found who will pa; them. The Duke of Portland is no considered to undervalue his horses, bu he" had one of the best the world eve; knew in St. Simon, whose stud caree commenced at only 50 guineas. Thi was one of the opportunities we alway

)lame ourselves for having missed. The )uke of Portland told us at Ascot that le had decided on sending the horse to ;he stud and the fee. We ventured to isk whether we might run two mares m one ticket, and his reply was; "No; ind unless you decide quickly you will not be able to run one.' Just fancy, 50.guineas for St. Simon!" Another Liverpool Grand National was decided last month, and the result further demonstrated that Aintree is a very stiff course to negotiate. At some of the courses in England any average jumper may be equal to winning a steeplechase, but to succeed at Aintree a horse must be able to jump and stay. When Jenkinstown won in 1910, only seven of the twenty-five runners finished, but in 1911 matters were even worse, as only four of the twenty-five runners completed the- course, and the winner, Glenside, was the only horse that did not make a mistake of some kind. Rathnally and Shady Girl, who eventually ran second and third, both fell, and were | remounted, as was the other finisher, 'Foolhardy, whose owner was laid a big j bet that he would not reach the winning I post. ' It is again stated that it has been det finitely decided to retir Lady Medallist, i and that she will go to St. Savin. As Lady Medallist's sire, St. Alwyne. is a grandson of St. Simon, and St. Savin is by St. Simon, that sounds very close breeding; but it is only natural that [ "Mr. E. J. Craven" should be inclined ti

experiment to some extent with his very fine stallion, who has already been represented by two winners in England, Hortensia accounting for two races and Durbar one last season. Lady Medallist proved a profitable purchase on "Mr. Craven's" part, as she vyon him well on towards £O7OO in prize money in her various races, and it is understood that be scored heavily in the way of bets when she won the Caul field Cup. In Australia, the mare with most prize money to her credit is Wakeful, with £16,520, the result of 25 wins, 12 seconds and four thirds, and probably her record will not be improved upon by one of her sex for many years to come. Gladsome and Lady Medallist each won over £IO,OOO, but even WakefulV total is small by comparison with. those of some of England's successful mares. For instance, Sceptre won £38,283, Pretty Polly £37,297, and La Fleche £34,703. Other big winners were Achievement £22,442, Formosa £21,280, SignorinU £20.899, Seabreeze £20,144, Wheel of Fortune £19,840, Memoir £17,300, Hannah £10,701, Apology £13,425, and Marie Stuart £11,545. Achievement , won a total of sixteen raves at two and three years old. Reverting to Australia, the opportunities for a really good mare to run up a large total are much greater than in Wakeful's day, when many of the weight-for-age races in Sydney and Melbourne only carried onethird as much added money as will be [attached to them next season. | Baldy McGregor (3), 2.06%, next te j Colorado E., the world's fastest three-year-old trotting colt, the champion of I his age last year and winner of the fastt est heat in a regular futurity race on ! the harness turf, was sold to an Ausi trian buyer at the Madison Square GarIden sale for £3200. The price is the I highest foreign buyers have ever paid for an American trotter in a public aucItion sale, and is also the highest ever paid for any horse in the history of the midwinter sales, the previous best record being £3IOO, which Jacob Ruppert, master of Hudson River Park farm, Ploughkeepsie, paid for the stallion Oakland Baron in 1901. The bidding on the great solt started at £ISOO, which J. S. Estill, owner of Elnuvood Farm, Lexington, Ky., raised to £2OOO in one bid. Great interest was shown by the hundreds of prominent horsemen who gathered around the sales ring, when Mr. John G. Ruppert, superintendent of Mr. Jacob Ruppert's Ploughkeepsie Farm, entered the contest. At bids of £IOO Mr. Estill went up to £3OOO, which Mr. Ruppert made £3IOO. After an additional bid of £SO, and on Mr. Ruppert's £3200, the Kentuckian withdrew, and the latter got the stallion. Baldv McGregor was the colt which John E. Madden bought during the Cleveland Grand Circuit meeting last year for about £IOOO, won the Breeders' Matron Stake at Pittsburg five days later, and sold him the same night to Henry Schrnulback. Wheeling, W. V., horseman and breeder, for over £3OOO. The horse's only engagement was in the Championship Stallion Stake, which he won at .Lexington the second week of the meet|ing-