Cap And Jacket

Observer, Volume 4, Issue 89, 27 May 1882, Page 174

Cap And Jacket

MY NOTE BOOK,

By "Ariel."

" Tot homines, quot sententice"

, — Johnny Thorpe rides Paramenaat the Thames races. —Mr Percy was kicked by his horse in the face and severely hurfc afc fche hunt on Saturday last. — Spinningdale (the unfortunate) and Primrose have been sent to the Stud. — Messrs. Rutherford very properly declined to accept the list 51bs clapped on Sportsman at Whanganui. — Pat McCoy did not after all take Catchem to Whanganui. He and Lone Hand 1 were both in Jones' charge. — Kalo, by Yattendon— GKpsy Girl, is expected in Auckland by the Te Ahau'next week. He is to win the next Auckland Cup. — Mr W. Lyons, the well-known Auckland bookmaker, leaves for a holiday in Sydney, on Tuesday next. — A pony named Black Bess, standing only 12h. 2in. recently trotted, 16 miles in 59min. 40secs., near Manchester, winning a match against an hour by 20secs. Stakes, £100 a side. — The Southland Jockey Club is to be wound up. The reason is that Northern horses won all their big money, and the public were chary of supporting the Club in consequence. _ — Mr Frank Reynolds' well-known sire, Kelpie, died at Tocal on the 6th instant, afc the advanced age of 27 years. Kelpie was sire of Mr J. Smith's grand sprinter, Maid of Honour. — The St.Alban'smare, the sensational Duchess, has broken down, and Progress has become so infirm that it is improbable that he will ever race again. — Blackall, the champion stick-horse at the late A.J.C. meeting, was bred by Mr W. P. Tozer, of Blackall. He is by Alpha— Jewess by Kelpie — Lady Ripon, by Rubens. — Mr George Dunnett, of Ponsonby, has purchased the racing horse, the G-host, from the owner, Mr James Smith. I understand the price was fifty guineas. — Mr Whittingham's stud of racehorses was offered for sale in Melbourne on May 2. Riverton brought 250 guineas; Chatterer, 220 guineas; Nautilus was passed in at 390 guineas ; and Prince G-eorge at 210 guineas. „ — An American exchange says that Bonita and Wildflower will be the two fastest mares ever harnessed, and that either can now trot a £-mile at a 2-minute pace — i.e., at a rate that would make them do a mile in 2 minutes. When will this record-cutting cease ? j — A sportsman, who had £25 stolen from him at Shrewsbury races, received a few days afterwards, an anonymous letter accompanying a £5 note, and couched in the following .terms : — "Dear Sir, I stoled your money, Remorse naws at my conshense, and I send some of it back. When remorse naws again, I will send some more." — The Christchurch Jockey Club's report shows — £4,974 paid in stakes for this year, as against £4,938 last year. The totalisators brought in £919. The total revenue was £7,304 ; expenditure, £6,244. The Club has an overdraft of' £4,000, which is expected to be paid off in four years. An attempt to do away with the newlyappointed handicapping committee was defeated by 25 votes to 14. — Miss Angler, by Angler colt, from Old Josephine, bred by Mr Charles G-uy, of Brungle, has been scooping the pool in the far-off West Australia. At Wilcanna, on New Year's Day, she won the big handicap ; at the Menindie annual races she won the Cup, Menindie Handicap, and Forced Handicap ; and at the Wilcannia annual meeting she won the two principal handicaps. This is a mare worth her training. — An important sporting event, though hardly coming under the head of " Cap and Jacket" is to be decided, I believe, this week. I refer to a match, £10 a side, between Montague's wellknown yellow greyhound, and a black and white dog belonging to a Southern gentleman now staying in town. Monties dog is a first-class prize-taker at the last show and will take a lot of beating. —The two men who tried to get clear with the racehorses, Pope and Gay Lad, were recently brought into Maytown, Palmer River, by Seniorconstable Atteridge and native troopers. For seven weeks that officer had to watch his prisoners, with only a tent and chains for their custody, being camped on the other side of the Mitchell, awaiting its falling. The brands of the horses were so cleverly changed as to be unrecognisable; but after several weeks the false brands began to disappear, leaving only the originals. — The "books" are dealing liberally with the public on the coming Victorian campaign, and those who risk backing a double before the nomination can get unusually long odds. Mr J. Steenson, of Sydney, has opened a £500 book, and will lay anything, "if not" too sovereign. This is regarded by the ring as a bad-paying price, but, we have no doubt that Mr Steenson sees his way clear to a marginal profit when the events 'are concluded. He derserves support for striking out in a new line. — Bulletin. • — Very little coutesy is shown to sporting writers by the secretaries of country clubs, as a rule. In so small a matter as forwarding a programme of their meetings they show a neglect, which is anything but creditable ' to them, or beneficial to the Club they represent. Take the Thames J.C., as an example. Very few in Auckland knew what was on their programme until the "weights were declared} and the Secretary of the.A.R.C even did not receive: a copy. Common let alone self-interest, should induce the officials i, to post a programme'to each of the'sporting writers. It could scarcely dp a club any harm to have its meeting noticed by the sporting journals.. , • „.-..

— " Soukar "in the Wangawui Chronicle devotes a column and a half to a vfery favourable discription of Mr Walters' stud at Papakura. Taking the stud as a whole " Soukar " doubts if such another racey-looking collection stands in New Zealand. He speaks very well of Yatterina's colt by Musket, now twenty months old, who is to be taken in hand at once for his two year old engagement's. "Soukar" also paid a visit the Auckland Stud Cos., farm, and amongst other flattering comments says "I may state that no description, however full, could do justice to the equine beauties upon which I had the pleasure of gazing." — They are mighty particular in England, as the following will show :— " Mr G-. S. Lowe, a gentleman jockey, was charged before the Worcester magistrates on Thursday morning with cruelty to the horse Servant Girl, which, it is alleged, he rode in the Spring Hunters' Hurdle Race, on Tuesday last, when suffering from a sore on the back, nnder the saddle. The defence was that Mr Lowe was not cognisant of the sore on the mare's back, that he did not saddle her, and there were no symptoms of flinching when he mounted and rode her. Several professional jockeys were examined to speak to the fact that gentlemen jockeys did not, as a rule, saddle their horses. The magistrates, after consultation, dismissed the charge." — Sportsman. , — -It is common talk that Randwick will run at our next Auckland meeting, some folks actually going so far as to ask his price for the cup. But as a fact I am given to understand he and Coyle were disqualified by our club without any direct evidence being laid before it. If this is true, now that ample opportunity is given to get a copy of whatever evidence was received by the T.J.C., would it not be just as well if the A.R.C. were to reopen the matter, and at least let the public know what grounds they are working upon. " Give a dog a bad name and hang him" if you like, but don't let us treat a man quite so cavalierly. While I was under the impression that the T.J.C. had a clear case against Coyle I upheld their action to the utmost, but everything I hear since goes to weaken the first feeling of j resentment against a crooked action ; and now I j would really like to hear a few facts and less surmises and taken-for-granteds. "Spectator" in the Yeoman, is informed on unquestionable authority that Coyle, supposed owner of Randwick, was disqualified on suspicion only ; that at the meeting held to investigate the matter not one tittle of evidence was brought against him ; that the enquiry was not conducted as the importance of the matter demanded. The Taranaki Jockey Club is a " recognised " Club, and therefore the decisions of its members are entitled to be respected ; but if, as I am led to believe is the case, no evidence was brought forward against him, Coyle, it is a great pity that other clubs are following the lead of the T.J.C. The evidence against Williams, though by no means conclusive, was very strong, and though he stated his belief that he rode the correct weight, there can be no doubt whatever that he did not do so, and it is hard to believe that he did not know that he was not riding the proper weight. The circumstances were, at all events, suspicious enough to warrant the club in withholding the stakes from the owner, on the ground that the jockey was short of weight, and the club would have , been quite justified in disqualifying the owner and the horse if they had to satisfy them that he had anything to do with the crooked weight. Coyle, lam told, acted very discourteously to the stewards, and did not attend the meeting at which he was disqualified, though he had been requested to do so. This surely is not why he and the horse Randwick were disqualified for ever. If the stewards of the club were in possession of the facts of the case, it is strange that they should have promised the jockey Williams " a free pardon" to tell them all about it." "Spectator," however, falls into an error, which is excusable in a stranger to Auckland, when he says: — "The real owner of the horse Randwick is a well known j getter-up of consolations, and I hear he has expressed his willingness to race Randwick the same distance against Larry, with the same weights as they were handicapped at for the Taranaki Autumn Handicap, for £500, if the stewards of the latter club and witnesses will subscribe the amount." The former part no doubt refers to our well known and respected townsman, Mr. H. N. Abbott ; but that gentleman never had any interest whatever in Randwick, the owner being " a horse of quite another colour." " Ada Mantua " does not lie in a bed of roses, as a perusal of the following will show : — "Thames, April 19th. — Ada Mantua: Sir, — Please inform me how your other event came off that I wrote to you about. You could not have sent a prize to one more in need. I should like to know who won, or when it was closed. It seems a very mysterious thing, especially when you now send me more tickets, which is simply placing money away on print. If you had sent me a prize, I could have filled up these tickets and sent many more members ; but I, for one, can't recommend them unless you do so. If you send me a prize I will fill up th« tickets, and I have it in my power to send a great many more members — that is, if you send me a prize ; but if you, don't, it will he the worse for yourself. Please excuse the scroll. — I remain, &c, ." A deliberate attempt at coercion is the above, and the letter tells a plain, unvarnished tale. I have omitted the name and. address of the writer, but' it was only after -mature deliberation that I did so, as such a character deserves a full exposure. It fully proves that there is a certain class of people who are not satisfied to abide by fortune's favours, but must attempt to "gain by fraud what they cannot by chance attain."