SPORTING NOTES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 367, 24 June 1874, Page 6

SPORTING NOTES.

(From the Nelson Colonist. ) Tamburini, er " Old Tarn," as he is generally called, ia tnrning out a mine of wealtH to his present owner,. Mr O'Brie&, who purchased him of Bob Bay, after his- defeats at the Canterbury Spring Meeting. Although Tarn stood no chance against Mr Redwood's, clinkers at the great meetings at Christchurch and Dunedin, he has been carrying all before Him at oc-reinil nountr'y meetings in both Provinces,- where the.'^great stable of th** North" was not represented. Besides winning some handicaps in North Otago, he wort the Cup at Timaru, giving a lump of weight to Templeton ; and the Free Handicap, making heavy concessions to Malice (sister to Lurline), Malabar, Madray, Aiee Grey,, and No Gentleman (late Reliance). But he sustained a defeat in the South CanterburyHandicap at the same meeting, being beaten; by Malice, at a difference of over two stonen weight. At Ashburton, Tarn won tweandicaps, conceding 141bs and 171bstoTempletoa, and 291bs to tinvy ; and at the Ellesmere meeting he carried off the Cup from the Revoke colt, with which Mr Webb had fondly hoped to win the last Canterbury Derby, conceding to him 71bs. If Tarn is aob quite first-class, he certainly ranks at the head of second-class race -horses bred in New Zealand. His dam, ' ipera, was by II Earbiere, out of- a daughter of that celebrated turf matron Princess, and Tarn possesses the staying-quality of .the Emilias blood, which, he inherits from his grandeire. Towtoo, his sire, promises, we think, to show himself a better stud horse in his old days than in his younger ones, if we may judge from the rising yearlings and' two-year-olds bred by Mr Redwood from him and the daughters and granddaughters of Sir Hercules. Mr H. Stafford, by disposing of Tamburini when a foal — the beßt he ever bred — shared the luck which befel Lord George Bentinek with Surplice. After , striving for several long years to breed a Derby winner, his Lordship broke up his Btud with a foal in it .that not only won the "blue ribbon," but the Leger also.

The prejudice entertained in the Colonies in favor of "imported thoroughbred stallions in preference to Colonial bred ones, was not shared by the judges at a recent great horse show at Sydney, where Yattendon, a son of Mr Hercules, was awarded tha prize, against Hawthornden, winner of the Den^aster Leger of 1872, and the imported Lord of Linne.and Hapfcivator. Yattendon is the .sire of Mr Walters's excellent little mare Yatterina, so well known in Nelson, and of Dagworth. th» reputed best horse now on the Australian turf, and of several other celebrities. Mr Cox/ the owner of Yattenden, recently refused 0,000 guineas for him. Dagworth was Bold the other day for 1,500 guineas. <

Mr Smith, who carried off the Gold Cap with Speculation, was the largest winner at the late Randwick meeting, his cheque having amounted.to 1.1,367 I©3. The Governor, Sir Hercules Robinson, stood next on the list, his Excellency having drawn LI, 142 for stakes • John, T&it followed, with L 935 10s ; Mr De Mestre with L 62 7; and Mr J. D. Little with L 525. The" remaining individual winners,, tanged from. L 246 downwards to LUX .' * The entries made by Messrs Redwood and Watt for the Melbourne dap are Lurline, Papapa, and Wainni. * The first named will run as a five-year-old, the Becond as a four-year-old, and the third as a three-year-old; the last two are brother and sister — dam Wainva, sire Kavensworth. Whether one or more of these animals will go to Melbourne will, depend on' the weights awarded, them for the Cup. If the. hones are kept in New Zealand, the stable is beund to have anothe* good innings, and acting on the principle that a "bird in- hand is worth two in the bush," Messrs Jtedarood and Watt may resolve to make a" certainty " at home instead of risking" defeat in* Australia. Whatever they may do with the mare and the colt, to send the filly to Melbourne will be a great sacrifice, as the Derbys and Legers of the season — and she is engaged in them ail-— will, to alf appearances, be a gift to. her. 'She met nothing in the Champagne, , Stakes at Cbristehunih, in April, that e'oold race a yard with her, and we look in vain th^ueVthe Ijat of thfe§.-year-olds engaged ktmeet Wainui, to' find «n« that baa th«

remotest chance, barring accidents, of beatUS ber.

Bat in racing, the "uncertainty" is as great as ia "the law," or, as we have heard i1;i 1 ; said, as success in farming' ia New Zealand, wheie high winds, rain, or drought, and scarcity of labor at harvest, oftbimes upset the most carefully made calculations of probable returns. - The commencement of the present racing ' season in England has afforded a remarkable scries of surprise. * onimencina; with the Bristol Royal Steeplechase of 100(1 soys. , added to a sweepstake of 25 soys., the winner tamed up in an liish horse name I Scots Grey, a noted slow horse but a safe jumper, who was at 26 to 1 in the betting. Then the Lincolnshire Handicap, the first flat race of any note of the season, was won .by Tomahawk, a three-year-old, with the odds of 18 to I against him at starting. Next followed the Chester Cup, .won by Organist, the favorite failing to r©' a place ; but the greatest surprise of all was the race for the Two Thousand Guineas, looked on as a certainty for the unbeaten Ecoasais, who figured only as third. The race wag run by Lard Faloiouth's Atlantic, by Thormanby ; Reverberation second. The defeat of the splendid son of Blair A.thol over ,the Rowley Mile, by horses- which scarcely nude their mark, as two-year-olds,, must havecaused immense seuaationatNewmarket. It was at one .time thought that M. Lefev c held nearly all the great three-year-old races of the year safe, so strong was his team ; bnt in the tirsfr trial'his great pot boiled orer. Lord Falmouth has another don of Thormanby — Aquello, who stood in the foremost rank of favor for the -Derby ; and now, with Atlantic for a second string,, thia highly popular sportsman stands a good, chance of again carrying off the " blue ribbon." His Lordship races solely for sport, and was never known to make but one bet— a " sixpence," which he" lost to the wife of his trainer, and paid it in a new coin richly set.

We are sorry to state that Mr Bedwood has just lost a yearling colt of great promise, named 1 hree Pink, out of Toi Toi, by Tow--tou. The colt a short time ago met with as accident in his paddock, and iujured himself in his loins, and as recovery appeared to be hopeless Mr Redwood, with great reluctance, decided on destroying him. He was regarded as the season's pick foal, and was thought very highly of. Since this accident occurred, the foal bred last year by Countess (daughter of Phoebe, by th.fi Peer) met with nearly a similar accident, and this colt was to ba treated similarly to Three Pink. ' The adage, that 11 Misfortunes never come singly" is too often verified but we hope '• misfortunes" to the stable will not extend beyond the loss of these two promising animals. The London sporting papers of February last announce the death of Voltigeur-— the Derby and Letrer winner of 1850, but "better known to the present generati n by his match with the Flying Dutchman— the Derby and Leger winner of the preceding year. Ihe close of the straggle in this great macch was splendidly painted by Herring, and there is not a town in the British dominions, and scarcely a village, but where a colored engraving of this picture may be found adorning the pwlor of one or more taverns. Here is fame. names of Na poleon and Wellington will scarcely reach the ears of .thousands who will feel a deep interest in the mighty struggle pictured before them between The Dutchman <rad Voltigeur. The reason of thia match was the defeat of the wonderful Dutchman by Voitigeur for the Doncaster Cup, after the latter horse had won the Leger : but the great son of Bay Middleton vindicated his superiority when he nut the son of Velocipede at York. Voltigeur is regarded by the fanatical opponents of the Blacklock blood as having failed at the stud,- but he has been the sire of some rare good.. horses— Vpdette. Sabreur, The Ranger, and numerous others might t>e cited — though none of his stock ever won any of the great three-year-old races.