SPORTING NOTES.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIV, Issue 9662, 3 November 1882, Page 2

SPORTING NOTES.

[by cometJ Under the heading of " Handicapping and Handicappers," a letter appeared in : the Herald on Wednesday, in which the ! ivriter, in a most ungentlemanly.man--ner, has made it his business to severely ; . slander sporting scribes and handi- ' cappers (bar one of the latter) of this, : and other districts, in a way that has paused me to think it must emanate j from the pen of som9 person who has, prematurely obtained his discharge from : Mount View, or some other like iistitu-; tion ; for at the very first atte i .1 he ("Legislator ") commits the very s me crime of which he has beon pleased to accuse us poor scribes, and to which hhrd r has been so considerate as to call the attention of the public — viz., the disgraceful way the sporting writers of the ' different papers run down our handi-' capper (Mr Hately I presume he means), showing the mistake he has made. ' Now Mr "Legislator" (if he will believe, me), I will tell him that it is part of a sporting writer's duty to comment upon the different handicaps as they make' their appearance in print, and when mistakes are made by the handicapper we usually show them up, and bring proof for so doing. Not so in his case; although he has endeavoured to expose : Mr Higgie's handicaps at Waverley as scandalous productions he has entirely failed, and in his frantic" attempts, to ,_ poison the public mind by stating, for a certainty that he already knows f the ■(Tinners of those handicaps, and in his i endeavours to give us the straight tips, he has carefully mixed the handicaps with the weightfor-age races, and finally attempted to place the horses in the Guineas, a race over which Mr Higgie has no control whatever. And with reference to Mr Higgie's handicapping his brother's horse at Waverley, I fail to see " Legislator's " grounds for complaint, considering that his friend Mr Hatoly went a step beyond

that in the I . Consolation' race at the last Wanganui :"meetirig,-. •by handicapping his own mare, Scotch Mist, for that event, and I J have no; doubt iv saying that but for the outsider, Minerva, the i stable' " Would have' ■ thrown- in ' for 1 a good l stake, of which I imagine "Legislator^'* ■would- hare received : a share. There'are other remarks 'in " Legislator^" 'epistle', which. l intend to leave to the' parties personally § named in connection with them, but' would like to know before I close where tie' got the follojying information i-r-Se says, they (sporting writers) are chiefly composed of bookmakers ■ and „ general ' betting men, and from my own experience of them, they; will /write >ny way to suit their own ends. ' I can only think that " Legislator " has been ■ writing . upon, this I subject from hearsay ■ evidence, unless he classes any man that invests a pound 'in the tot&fisator ' as a general .betting man.' 'l have riot been long in the position 'of "a' sporting writer, but still,; long. enough ' to' be one of those usefnl beings who : ore compelled to' act as a 'target for the, "stabs given in the dark^'V by and I take this, opportunity before I close of thanking hinvfor the number he has attempted to give^ Prom the following paragraphs, which appeared in the Melbourne Sportsman of the 18th and 23rd August last, it would seem that Mr Saville, the owner of the Cup-winner, 1A ssyrian, had small hopes of any of histeam being hailed as winner . of the'" '■' Ceasarwitch 'of th& Southern Hemisphere," as the Melbourne Cup is not ■•' inaptly called. ' The 1 - owner of Assyrian 'only decided 'to race his team this Reason' because he .'failed to dispose of th'e'tn'/at iwhat he' considered their valu'^:^- 1 ' Mr J. E; Saville willbe missed on the' jawnat the Cue meeting, arid on the .training 1 ground at Fleining'ton. He has -decided, to sell his. racehorses,, and take- a .trip^.tp.the old country. Leaving his ."• frills." out of the question, Mr SavjUeisnot a ,bad sort, .and when he has- departed- he will have more good things said 1 of him than are now said before his. face. Combining the gentleman ainateur-cum-profesßional elements, Mr Saville has a' 'style of his own which is the' envy of aspiring horseymen,'while at the same time he is kuown'to-'be clever and shrewd, but apparently not clever, enough to make a fortune at racing and training." Thejߣcon L d paragraph is ,as follows ; — "Mr .'Saville,'. of, Adelaide, has post poned.his^ .contemplated visit to the OldjOountry after all, and is once more located at Memington for a while ; his presence .amongst us being heartily welcomed again. When his horsea were.' submitted at auction, as. announced, the prices offered were not sufficiently tempting for him to part with them, and he there sold only two or three ! minor lots. Accordingly he has brought here the powerful " string " under, his 1 charge, which contains Promethius,. First Water," and Savanaka, besides. his own well- known horses' The Assyrian, Thei Hebrew, and Footsteps : also a" couple of Maribyrnong candidates named Delusion and Laplander." I am informed that Chandler, the well-known steeplechase horse, has been sold to Mr T. Gallagher, an Auckland sportsman, and will leave for his new home in, the course of a few days. He will be placed in the hands of Donald Taylor to receive his preparation for the Auckland Steeplechase.