SPORTING.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1942, 18 March 1885, Page 2

SPORTING.

MASTERTON-OPAKI JOCKEY CLUB AUTUMN MEETING. President, Mr W. Lowes; Judge, Mr A, W. Cave ;Starter,MrC. Vallance; Clerkof Scales, Mr J. Harding; Clerk of Course, Mr W. lorns; Handicaper, Mr H, McMaster; Stewards: Messrs Jos, lorns, A, Elkin's, T. Parsons, H. Vermeil, R, R. Wolch, A. Stewart, and E. Dixon; Hon Secretary and Treasurer, Mr R, J. Fitton.

The first Autumn Meotinc under the auspices of tho above Club was hold on the Opaki course yesterday, and proved very successful, and marks an era of progress in tho affairs of the Club. Considering the number of race meetings we have had lately, and the wretched weather we were favored with yesterday, the attendance (which numbered about five hundred) must bo considered very fail'. Among the spectators wero a number of Wellington people who had taken advantage of the spocial train arrangements to pay the Opaki course a visit. Blessed r with fine weather no doubt the attendance would have been tho largest ever on the course. As a matter of course the fair sex were not well represented. There were the usual racecourse appertenances in the shapo of gamos, &0., including two shooting galleries. Mr Pearson's Privato Brass Band discoursed sweet music frequently during the day, and greatly helped to pass away the tedium of the intervals between tho races, which on account of the w'et were rather longer than usual, supplied the inner man wifchrefrgshing liquors and did a good trade, most of those prosont thinking they might as-well got wet all over (inside and out) while they were about it, Mr McGlashan had charge of the refreshment booth and was well patronised while Mr Feilding supplied fruits. The officers of the club under the circumstances had a very arduous task yesterday and it was with great difficulty that everything was kopt going pjeasantly, but still they succeeded. Considering' th.e nunjb'e.r present % totalisator did a gqqd business, passing through something jike £1?00,. Cribbago again treated his oackors to a big dividend •in the.St Patrick's handicap, paying out £4lss, The course was ii) fair condition though rather heavy in places. Mr W. 0, Williams kindly furnished us with tho times of the different events, The first item on the card \m tho hurdles for which Zulu, Crlbbajfe and The Gunner faced the starter, The first named was the favorite but he broke, down badly and after three quarters of a mile had beon covered tho raw was never in doubt, Cribbage not being asked to go and although the pace was not by any raeana fast, the Gunner was completely outpaced, and wo can't imagine why such a thing should have' been entered for a race as he iB not even good enough for the liacks. The fencing was not up to the mark, all three of thorn knocking the' etioks about. >

Tho HaokHurdlos brought out five,, and the money .was landed by LochLomond (who was in the pink of condition) after a good race with Halicore, Farewell a fair third.

For tho Opakj Autumn Handicap all seven pif the card cried content, Pilgrimage was oqnsidered 'tho good thing for this and he, certainly justified jJ)e ooiji fidenoe of his backers. Qentje Annie came next in the betting, and the race was really between these two. Kopi looked in grand fettle and many thought he would upset the pot, but he could not get tho distance. Little Scrub was suffering from sore shoulders, evidently having done a little too much work, and considering his condition ran a good horse. Fit and well lie would have had a big say 'ir it. After a long delay they were got away well together and ran in a bunch to the straight where Pilgrimage took command with Gentle Wo'at hj girt)}. The Slave, Kopi, Firptwater, Scrub, and £>'ignq'r in the order named, Out of fche straight the Scrub began to go through hishora.es, but ho could not get on teims with the loaders. From this to tho straight Annie and Pilgrimage raced together where the latter had the mare beaten and passed the post a length to the good with something in hand, Kopi third, Signor fourth, Firstwater sth, Little Sorub Gth, and the Slavo last,

The Novel Eaco brought out a field of seven, the vetoran Blue Jacket being amongst the number. It was thought' Jack Tar could not lose It, but the pot was upset by Laurence who went to the front after half a mile had been covered and was never caught

winning by two lengths from Dan, who was run very close for second place by Susetto. '•!•:'■'

Great interest was centred in St. Patrick's .Day Handicap, for .which eight out of the ten on the card put up silk The Slave and Kopi being scratched, Pilgrimage was again thought to be the good thing, but he was never in it, Good starts were not the order of the day, and in this it culminated in the lot going away without the word from the starter, It appears Mr Vallance had great difficulty in getting his horses together and lowered his flag to walk back, but the jocks took this to mean a start and' away they went, Glaicks getting all the best of it, and Coreare all the worst. Glaicks was never caught, and passed the Judge a length ■ ahead of Cribbage, with Waitahgi, Rollo, Pilgrimage, Te AVliiti, Dan O'Connell and Coreare in the order named, Of course the public thought the start was right and that Glaicks had won it. The owners, of Pilgrimage were very wrath .with Crawley, and freely accused him of pulling his mount. He was pulle'dout of the saddle and quickly stripped of' the colors, and lioked as if he was goingio be-roughly handled, but. the intervention of the police put a stop to' anything of this kind. At this stage Mr Parsons, who was acting as assistant starter, arrived on the Bcene, and announced it was a false start. The excitement then became intense; the backers of Glaicks especially being loud in their denunciations of the. starting. However, there was no help for it, and the race had to be run. over again. A fresh rider was put up •on Pilgrimage, and Mr M. McKenzietook charge of the starter's flag. Ho was not long in getting them away, but the '..start was a very indifferent one, Glaicks again getting all.the best of it, and'led into tho straight, where he was collared by Cribbage, and a splendid finish resulted in the latter landing the money by a short half-length Waitangi again third, the others finishing in about the same order as in the first attempt. Pilgrimage was nover in it so that the accusation against Crawley for pulling his mount was not borne out by tho horse's running the second time. That he was not ridden as a horseman would ride him we have no doubt, and Crawley's exhibition on Bamboo in the Maiden Hacks shows clearly that he is not to be trusted. We cannot let young Buckeridge's riding on Cribbage pass without a word of approbation, and if he keeps on he will develop into a most finished horseman. More than ordinary interest was felt in this race from the fact that Leo's sweep was drawn on it. We hear tho first prize goes to ,a young lady in the Empiro Hotel. Owing to tho mistake in starting several of the backers of Cribbage in the totalisator tore up their tickets, but Mr McFarlane very kindly paid them the dividend. This was all the more considerate from the fact that by the rules of the machine no money need be paid if tho tickets are even blemished, The difference in the time of the' running from the falso start and tho second one wa,s only three quarters of a second—lmin 2i}aecs,, and Imin, 228008.,--but it wfts • sufficient to put Glaicks out of it and Cribbage in it, The rejoicing amcng the backers .of-Crib-bago was immense, . ,'"

For the Hack Bace for horses that have never won a race nine faced the' starter, and a good race resulted in favor of Roughcut by two lengths from Bamboo, No doubt Bamboo could havo won had ho been properly ridden, but in' the straight Crawley began to fall about On the horse's neck and finally fell off among tho turnips on the inside of the course, Ho was apparently too drunk to keep his seat; but some people seemed to think he was merely acting and that Bamboo, was not intended to win. The riding of the jock was perhapß in keeping with the action of the owner in entering the horse, who must have known perfectly w e " that Bamboo won the Saplings at Waihenga on Boxing Bay, 1881. The object in running the horse must have been to misload the public, and so increase the totalisator dividend, These are the sort of things which tend to spoil horse racing, and should be put down with a firm hand. 1 We hope the Jockey Club authorities will take action in this matter and not only disqualify the jockey Crawley, but also warn the person who entered Bamboo.

Owing to the time taken over, the St, Patrick's Day Handicap, the Consolation Handicap was run in the dark so that a the raco is out of tho question. Five started. After going about a quarter of a mile The Slave fell and rolled Qyor his jockey (Laing) breaking his ankle. 'Jack Tar made- tjiß pace a cracker fromstart to finish and landed tho money, with Kopi second. It wbb quite impossible to recognise the jocks on the horses behind, as they wore covered with ' mud. AsubscriptibmvasopenedforLaing, to which the Jockey Club ,Rayes>, The Jockey Club is to bo congratulated on the success of its first autumn njeeting and no doubt when it gets on jig pernj'ancnt course will make improvements as wjji pliice it as one qf the best upcquntry meetings in the North'lß]an4. ttyo want of gopid accommodation yesterday was greatly felt and no dqutykepi man'yawaj who would otherwise haye fp'urid their way on to the course, The follpwing is the order in which tho events were ran. off;~ ■.•-..■•

Hokum Handicap, 40 sovs, Second horße 10 sovs. I£' ntilqs;. over seven flights of hurdles, 3ft Gin high, Nom. inationß 1 sov„ acceptance lsc-v;,' and 1 bov. at post; ' ■ Mr T.Ray's Oribtyje 10st, (Booth.) 1 Mr F. A. Sheath's Zulu, list (Von.

noil) .'. 2 MrW, A Eajiie's Tho Gunner, (E. Polling) ...... .... ... 8 Flying Jib, 9st 31b was scratched. Cribbage was first away, but was imme.diately pawed' by. Zulu who: took the hurdle first. The. Gunner nearly coming down. Zulu led Cribbage to the second jump. The third, the pair took together, Zulu gaining in the leap,' Zulu took the fourth jump first, Cribbage a longth away, and Gunner right out of it. Here Zulu's leg began to trouble him and from this opt pribbage hail th,e raco in hand. Tot#lisator Hi j |2 M wjnner, djyjijen.d £2 Bs. No time was tak.en . Hack Hurdles, 15 save, Once round the course, Not leas than lOat up, Loch Lomond ' ... 1 Halicore ... 2 Farewell ,„ ... ... 3 Slander and Never Mind also ran. The raco was between the first two, Lomond winning after a good finish with Halicore, Totalisator £228, winner £B3, dividend £2 Bs, Time 2ni 21sec.

Opaki Autumn Handicap, 75 sovs. Second horse 10 sovs., third horse 5 govs, 1£ mjleq. J. sov., iiqceptan'pe 2 sqvs,, and i sov, at post, Mr Osborne's Pilgrimage, Ust(Crawley) 1 MrW. 0. Williams'GentloAnnie, U 81b(Hayward) 2. MrN. Grace's Kopi, 7st (Coneen) ... 3 TJie Skvo Bst 41b, Firatwater Bsfc 21b, Little Scrub 7st 51b, and.Signor, 6st 81b, also ran, - After a long delay at tho post, thoywere got'away well togetbe'r; and raced past Here 1 Pilgrimage' and Gentle Annie. weht : to the; front and' were never overhauled,-the race being virtually between theßO two. Entering the'straight it was all over, Annie being beaten, and the horse caught the judge's

eye by a length, Kopi third. Tbtalisator 317, winner 113, dividend £2loa. Gentle Annie had 103 on her; Time, 2min Novel Race, of 30 sovs, 1| miles.' Catch weights. The winner to become the absolute property of the Stewards, and to be sold by public auction ten minutes after the race, the proceeds to jo to the race funds. Post entrv 1 sov iNon-winners in this race can run io; the Consolution Handicap -.. Mr T.H. Hill's Lawrenco ... ....- 1-. Mr J. Ross'Dan .~. ,„ „; 2■Mr G. Townsend's Susette ... ~. 3•, Utu, Blue Jacket, Jack Tar and Miro also started. Going out .of the straight Lawrence took command and was never collared, winning by two lengths. Tota.' l '- sator, £105; 21 on winner; divididendjfa 10s. Time, 2min 24sec. The wirO was put up to auction by' Mr lorns and bought by Mr Hill for £24. St. Patrick's Handicap, 40 sovs. Second horse 10 sovs. | mile.. Mi- T.' Ray's' Cribbage,' 6st lllb^ (Buckeridge) '.., ' .'» • Mr T.'H,: Hill's Glaicks, Bst 41b, (Laing) ... ... ,2' Mr W. O. Williams' Waitangi (Hay- . . ward) " ... ... 3. PilgrimaPß 9st, Dan O'Connell 7st 21b, Te Whiti Gst 121b, Rollo 6st 121b, and • Coreare Gst 71b also ran.. The Slave Bst 81b and Kopi 7st were scratched. After some delay and ! a false .start in which they all raced to the . .finish, they. were got .away in very straggling order, Glaicks getting all the best of it, The latter led to the straight , . where he was!co}lared by Cribbage and: an exciting finish resulted in favor of . the lattor by a head, Waitangi third. Totalisator 322; 7. on the winner, dividend;'/ ; £4l Bb. - Pilgrimage had 164 on him. Timelmin22.y : Hack Race, 10'sovs.' Once round tho course. Bst. up, For horses that never wonarace. ; ,/. Mr Donald's Roughcut '^A Mr Ray's Bamboo * !( Wp Yennell's Julia, Ingley's Delta, Rosaß Wildboy, Mike's Ngapihau, King, Kelly's Ringarooma, and Olson's Dolly also ran.; Roughcut went to the fore at the backof the course and won from Bamboo who was badly ridden.' Totalisator 58,13 on the winner, dividend £1 Timej 2min, 17|secs. Consolation Handicap, 25 sovs. Second horse 5 sovs, ;()nce round the course..;„; Mr T.H. Hill's Jack Tar, 9st ... 1 ■■•■: Mr N. Grace's Kopi, 7st 2

The Slave, Bat 71b, Gentlo Annio, Bst 21b, and Miro, Cat. 51b, also ran. Firstwater, 9st, and Rollo 6st 101b were ' scratched. The Slave fell and broke his jockey's ankle. Totalisator 37,4 on the winner, dividend, £8 fa. . £235 were paid away laat; night in prizes. MrT. H. Hill's Pasha has won tho Railway Stakes Handicap of 150 sovs,, at the Hawke's Bay Autumn meeting, . FROZEN MUTTON. • : #L

(From St. James 1 Gazette,) •■■ Tho arrival in tlu'B county, in one cargo, of nearly.2s,ooo frozen carcasses of Now Zoaland snoop is a fact of considerable significance. It shows to what en* ormouß proportions the frozen meat trade is likely to attain, though certain risks and difficulties still stand in its way, The ordinary dangers of long voyages will, of course, always have to do met; but there , are other difficulties to be got ovor. Until quite, recently the refrigerating machines had a habit of getting out of order on very slight provocation;, and directly their.ioy.breath was withheld unpleasant consequences ensued. The prejudice in this/ country against imported meat is largely due to the occasional distribution of cargok of "chilled" beef or mutton, the texture and flavor of which are abominable, i Even now that the aparatus foc'" 'refrigerating has been brought ao much nearer perfection, there is always a chance of its breaking down during the voyage 1 and thus spoiling every carcass on Board.j It is this considera* - '' i which made "thej Bldmlk venture. courageous a one.| Had her cargo "JHL wrong," the loss Tfould have beensenOTHP indeed. ' . \ \ Then come the questions of demand and supply. Can the Antipodes send us as much good mutton as we want ? Are we prepared to take as much as they can ' send? It is asserted on good authority that the present prices in tho London market do not pay the sheep-breeder jn Now Zealand. "'A]} through the 't|e past summer'tjie froze.]) hjeat trade' was' mue'lj depressed, and many shippers lost heavily on their consignments. A correspondent of a Scotch paper, recently quoted frorq letters he had just received" 'from New Zealand, One. writer told linn, that '■ ' m shall never he ablo to ifiake "n]uttofl pay frqrji hertj to England, unless we get the ■ charge's cut down. It costs very nearly 4d per lb from the tjme the sheep arc pufi into the factory, till the mutton is sold in, Ijpndfii)," Another, wrqte to him; ''The Stock niarkcthas-heoii very bad tjiis winter, Tho-expenses are tp,p heavy, Fancy, it costs 4d per lb to freeze, ajr.v and soil at home!" When we remejf that prime mutton in New worth from 2$ to U per pound, jfflF when we put side with this W fact that tho same meat was but lately selling in London, for sd, and part of ono . cargo (reported to bo in a satisfactory condition) for as little aa 3d per pound, it is dear that tho exporters must havo done some very unprofitable businosa. The following table will throw consider-, able light upon; the war tho money goea • in tho frozen meat trade : Charges on frozilrmuttou'. per 1,000]!),, 'taken' 'from actual account/ailes, Md aoourwy' 'gumntesd--. '...,' lb. V. .■:': , ; £! 1 8 .. Bags and petty >eipon»e«,- ticbauge, etc.,atjdjterlb. ~.-••. ~.'... 1 010 Insurance on vfth&of&Lper lb., at £ssbporcent ..;:.•• ;., ... 1- I 0 . .•" London charges—namely,.storage,.. .;•...-.' •■ cartage, at least jdperib..,.. ... J, 1J ■"' ' ■ per primage ;..'•':. .., ::! 3-3 4 Total expense? .•■ Ulfi 8 fi 'Experience proves that -there is an 'average Wof at least 5 per cent . in weight (I have had it as much fe' as 10per cent); there will therefore only be for sale 9901b, which, at say 6d per pound is 191510 Net proceeds ..:-;• £4«HH £4 7s 4d per 1,000 lb is a fraction ovcnßPpr ]b net, and the: total expenses are a fraction under 4d. In most cases, however, the London charges are considerably over Jd., as it depends on the length of time meat has to be stored.'

It appears'from'this account that the ' price paid in.the London mar|qj; for HJe||. . Zealand, nmttijpis', lii'the fjraf place, c ; insufficient,, and. in the second-'plwo not,:;;;:, fairly distributed,, One penny perpowid;, net cannot pay any breeder Twopence" ' per pound .net will-pay only those '•' breeders'who have''sheepfamßiingood:;. working order, into which.theyhave.not. ~',. put much be'side their! labour.' But good" : . mutton ought to fetch moretbin five-' > a.pound in the; Englisfrmarke'tsijwdit will be* surprise to i^ianj; ; pe'dple' that ifc•' - Laa sold »o low. Atfor the rest, gjeat complaint isinade of■ the,high r premium* • charged by the underwriters. 'Doubtless'the rates will be lowered as' : the risks appear less; and in these times of dulness in the shipping tradeithere ought to be ..*•<

no great difficulty in arranging freights so as to give a littlo profit all round. The Argentine Government are about to recommend Congress to grant a bounty on the export of frozen meat. In that •country there are over 80,000,000 sheep, which is said can be sold profitable in London for i\ per pound. If so, we may expect to see vast consignments of South American mutton in this country before long. • A beginning has been made, nearly CO.OOO carcases having already arrived this year. It is said, however, thatihe meat is of decidedly inferior quality as compared with that of New Zealand and Australia, and as a well informed correspondent has recently pointed'out in the Scotsman, there is a great difference between the quality of Australian and New Zealand mutton. The food of the Australian sheep consists of the natural scrub and coarse grasses of the bush to obtain which it must travel continuously from sunrise to sundown. This causes a great muscular development which, however favourable to the growth of wool, turns into coarse, dry, fibrous, unnntijteius mutton. New Zealand, on the tllflfthcr hand, is a splendid crazing country. But sheep breeding is not without its drawbacks even there. Although free from the severe draughts which work bucli havoc among Australian (looks, .New Zealand farmers suffer from other and equally serious '■. disadvantages.. In the mountainous districts the loss from cold and exposure is very, great and elsewhere much mortality is caused by a bird of the parrot, kind, which eats into the back of the wretched sheep, in search, it is said, of the kidney fat. Furthermore,'the New Zealandev. cannot farm cheaply, because of the heavy taxation which, however levied, must in the end fall upon land-owners and cultivators. When we add that the decrease-over' 7,000,000—in the flocks in the United Kingdom last year equalled more, than half of the entire stock of Now Zealand, it will be seen that English breeders of prime sheep need not altogether despair of holding their mm. One important matter needs attention. Many butchers pass off the best imported inttm as English, and sell only the inkW consignments for what they arc. And now that New Zealand is getting so good a name for its meat, it is extremely likely that a variation of this device will he resorted to, and its name given to the less fat and juicy products of Australia and the river Plate.