MY NOTE BOOK.

Observer, Volume 3, Issue 69, 7 January 1882, Page 260

MY NOTE BOOK.

By "Saul."

" Is Saul also amongst the prophets ?" — King Don has broken clown badly, and is not likely to race again. — : Coriolauus "was never mentioned iri the betting for the Champion Stakes. — Coriolamis will have been another Zulu to the Melbourne Ring, who must have " skinned the lamb" oxer tlie Cliampion Race.

— Snider, Drake, Harris, and Gardiner all lost large sums over the late meeting ; but Lyons, Blaikie, Weston, and Poole are winners. — A few years ago the Southerners used to laugh at Maid of Honour, and call her a " cowliorse," &c. They don't think so now. — Directly the weights for the Stewards' Handicap were declared, it was voted a moral for the Maid, who did Mr Smith excellent service during the meeting. —The A.R.C. Handicap was the best race of the meeting. At the last moment Mr Vallance backed Randwick, and he made a grand fight of it with the Poet and Tim Whifller. —In the Canterbury Derby Peeress colt ran second in 2 mins. 44 sees. In the Auckland Derby the same colt took 3 mins. 10 sees, to do the same distance. — The weather played ixp " old Harry " with the Steeplechase on Tuesday, and it is impossible to say what would have won had the day been fine. " Lone Hand, as usual, proved a "pig." — Billingsgate an ust obviously have been suffering from the effects of his sea voyage on Boxing Day, for he was a very different animal on Monday last, and spread-eagled his field in the Publicans' Purse properly. Progress was scratched on Monday, December 20th, for the Champion Race, and would have had the pen through his name sooner but for the fact that " too many cooks spoil the broth j" and both owner and trainer were expecting the other to do the needful. — Coriolanus, the winner of the Champion Stakes is a brown colt, by Tubal-Cain out of Pauline, belonging to Mr S. G-ordiner. Last year his single essay was in the Sires' Produce Stakes at G-eelong," for which he ran third to Royal Maid. Considering that every week the Canierlun/ Times clips whole columns of sjjorting gossip without a word of acknowledgment, it is rather amusing to find " Sir Lauucelot" abusing me for appropriating a par. or two of his without attaching the prefix "Sir Launcelot says" to them. People who live in glass houses, &c. — The Summer Cup at the A.J.C.'s Meeting on Boxing Day was won by the favourite, Trump Yoss (Bst 71bs), Valctta second, and Bathurst third. Distance, one mile and a half. Time, 2 mins. 37 sees. The betting at the start was 5 to 1 Trump Yoss, 12 to 1 Valetta, and 10 to 1 Bathurst. — A gentleman who owed one of the Ring £21 for six months, and eventually paid it up in driblets of £1 and £2 at a time, Avon £100 from the same bookmaker at this meeting. He was at the Occidental by nine o'clock on Wednesday morning, and in a deuce of a hurry to draw his money. There is a wide difference between the manner in which the Ring pay and receive. — Those who backed Hilda for the Grand Stand Handicap in the paddock Avere naturally much incensed when they discovered that the mare's lameness had not been found out till the jockey had weighed out, and that therefore they would have to pay tip. The position of one or tAvo was most lamentable. They absolutely put their money on the mare after her number was taken down, and yet have to pay up. The decease is noted in the Sydney press of a clerical gentleman — Canon Reilly — who prided himself on being the bitterest foe to bookmakers on the face of the earth. He is averred to have stated that "he would rather not enter the Kingdom of Heaven at all, if the metallic fraternity enjoyed the same privilleges." Rather hot language this for a supposed preacher of " goodwill to all men." — The backing of Coriolanus for the Champion Stakes in Tattersall's rooms at 9 o'clock on Monday evening Avas surely one of the most barefaced " haves " ever tried on in a nominally respectable betting club. Mr Roper reminded the backer that if he had any information he laid himself open to expulsion from the club for proposing to bet, but that worthy appeared by no means appalled by the prospect ; in fact, lie observed thnt he didn't care a solitary d for Tattersall's Club. Subsequently, however, when the result of the race was known, the backer told the layer he should not claim his winnings. — The Australian sporting community was greatly shocked by the sudden death of Sir Joshua Peter Bell. The deceased knight was the proprietor of the well-known Grange stud, -Ipswich, and he Avas deservedly regarded as the premier breeder of racing stock in Queensland. Among the horses bred by him were Whisker (winner of the first Queensland Derby), Canary, Lothair, WarhaAvk, Legerdemain, Lord Clifden, and Wheatear (winner of the last A.J.C. Derby). Sir J. P. Bell was a sportsman in the true sense of the word, and the colony of Queensland lias suftained a loss the extent of Avhich cannot at present be realised. — For the information of " Sir Launcelot," ■whose remarks on the Observer assault case my editor has rend, marked, learned, and inwardly digested, I may state that Messrs Snider, Cohen, and Gardiner had not arrived in Auckland when the paragraph at which Mr Weston took offence was penned, so that no insult to them could possibly have been intended. I may add also that it is, after all, only a matter of opinion as to which bookmaker it is best to have very extensive transactions with ; and to take offence because Jones or Robinson preferred Harris to Snider, or vice versa, would be absurd. It is stated that Iroquois, Avhen he was defeated by Bend Or, was scarcely fit. He did not look so bright and blooming as at Doncaster, Avhere lie Avas " polished enough for a man to shave by." After his defeat, he was enveloped in a suit of sweaters and Avas given half-a-dozen canters of six furlongs each and two half-speed gallops. The next day he Avon the Newmarket Derby in a common hack canter. This is something startling for trainers. Monmouth's defeat in the Sydney Derby is ascribed to the heavy preparation that was made, and Zulu's Melbourne Cup victory is accounted for by hia week's rest before the race. Are these flukee, or are the ethics of training being proved defective ? — The second day of the Auckland Racing Club's Summer Meeting was, if possible, even more Successful as regards weather and attendance than the first, but the running •was by no means altogether satisfactory. A growl arose, to begin with, over the riding of Stnikein the Derby. Indeed, even the friends of

the colt admitted that the performance was carious, to say the least of it. The stewards thought the matter so serious that they held a meeting to discuss it; but, after li earing both sides, I cannot say I believe there Avas anything Avrong. The fault, if any, lay Avith those who put Tommy Hodson up. The fact seems to be that Hodson had his leg broken against a fence Avhilst riding just such a brute some time ago, and Avhen he found Smike swerving all over the place, he naturally went more gingerly than perhaps Derritt or Clifford avouUl have done. — Sir John Astley seems to have fallen foul of Mr Walton, the American " plunger," at the Newmarket-Houghton Meeting. It appears that the American supported Medicus, Sir John Astley 's horse, pretty freely for the Bretby Nursery Handicap, and Sir John's representative left off an equal favourite Avith Oatmeal 4to 1. The notion of Mr Walton Avas that so soon as the numbers for a race were hoisted he had every right to bock what animal he fancied, and in the case of the Bretby Nursery his inclination prompted him to support Medicus, and the bookmakers uot being unwilling to bet Avith him, the price Avas naturally a somewhat short one Avhen Sir John Astley came to the front to back his own horse. Medicus Avon, and in the saddling paddock after the race something that could be deemed little short of an open insiilt was ollVred by Sir John Astley to the " Yankee plunger," who Avas much commiserated Avith because of its being the general opinion that he had not done Avrong. Mr Walton protested that since he had been in England he had endeavoured as far a.s he knew to conform to the notions of what Avas deemed the etiquette of backing horses on that side of the Atlantic, and he expressed himself as feeling deeply grieved if he hud in any manner committed a breach of any recognised courtesy, and said that he would be especially annoyed if his American friends imagined fora moment, that by any act of his he had brought upon them the smallest amount of contempt.