SPORTING NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3058, 20 February 1892, Page 1 (Supplement)

SPORTING NOTES.

(BY LB Nord). The South Auckland Racing piub have issued their programme fnr their Autumn Meeting, which is to be held on the 23rd April (St. George's Day). The steeplechase course has been altered and greatly improved in several ways, and no doubt horseowners will appreciate it by nominating well for the various events on the 23rd April. There are eight events on the programme, the stakes amounting in all to £205.

At the Sydney Turf Club'a races on .January 2(ith, C. Pen-son, the wellknown light-weight jockey, lace of Waikato and Auckland, steered Holene to victory in the Challenge Stakes, six furlongs, beatiny a fi«ld of 20 in the good time of lmin. lijjsecs. At the same meeting, P. Nolan, also of Auckland, rode the winner of the hurdles and steeples.

The farewell meeting to Lord and Lady Ouslow takes place to-day at Ellerslie, aud given line weather promises to bo very successful. Seven events are set down for decision, the first race to start :it 1 o'clock. The following are my selections for the various events :—Hurdles, Fishmonger or Tupnra ; Victoria Handicap, Master Pat or Ida ; Huia's Handicap, Lottie or Tit; Onslow Cup, Scot Free ; Steeplechase, Hopeful Kate ; Selling Handicap, Romeo ; Farewell Handicap, Loch Ness or Helen Macgregor.

Salvator's mile in lmin. 351secs. is nearly 40 miles an hour—a rate averaged by very few of our fastest railway trains. There are 52S0ft. in a mile, so that for every one of these !).">secs—for every beat of a man's pulse—this wonderful horso covered 55 3 10th feet of ground. In everyone of those 352 quarters of a second that magnificent horse leaped 16 3-10 th feet.

A jockey named George M'Laughlin, at Bundaberg and Gvmpie lately, bad eleven mounts, of which he steered eight winuersand was sccond in the other races.

Too Soon has been purchased by Messrs William Long aud Geo. Hill at the fictnre of 750 guiue'js. He is bred on good lines, by Autens —Stepne, and should be an acquisition to the Hobartville stud. Had he been a sound horse he would have scored many more successes on the turf than fell to his credit.

"Hidaluo," the American correspondent of the Australasian, has the following tough yarn:—"An old man in Illinois, who owns a s'allion called Morokus, last year offered a purse of 200dols. free for all two-year-olds, to run seven furlongs. There were seven starters, three of which were by Morokus, and these three finished absolutely last. This year the old fellow resolved not to be caught napping, so he offered a purse of 200dols. as before, but restricted it to the get of Morokus, the distance one mile. The consequence was the race had six starters, and the whole six r.in a dead heat, neither being fast enough to beat one another. One Field, a blacksmith on Maneroostntion (says an exchange) drew St. Albans II in Tattersall's big sweep on the A.J C. Summer Cup. Almost simultaneously with the receipt of the wire informing hiin of the result of the drawing, he got another telegram from St. Albans ll's owner threatening to scratch the horse if he was not laid £2000 to nothing. Field went down to the nearest office and laid the wager by telegram. The horse ran second, and soon after the race he got a second wire from the horse's owner saying he bad had bad luck, and asking Field to wire to Tattercall requesting him to deduct £600 from his cheque by way of recompense for St. Albans running such a good race. Bigger men, however, than St. Albaus 11. s owner practice the bleeding business freely, and as the Catechism teaches us to order ourselves reverently to all our betters there can't be very much harm after all in doing ai they do. An American exchange say : History tells us that when Horace Eldred started out in pursuit of the famous brown gelding afterwards called Accident, lie found him pulling a waggon filled with milk cans ; and when he sold him to Governor Stanford he warranted him to trot 2.20, provided that nobody sang out " milk ' while the race was in progress. Furthermore, that when Accident started against Goldsmith Maid and Lucy, the Governor hired 500 intelligent contrabands to holler out " hot corn" on the quarteratretch so as to drown the voice of any unscrupulous rascal who might call out "milk."

After riding Annealey to victory in such splendid style in the Anniversary Handicap, at Caufield, Power was enthusiastically received ; for not only had the popular jockey shown remarkable ability in securing a nice which at one time it seemed hopeless for him to win ; but a spice of romance was given to his appearance by the fact that he has recently got married. The bride is Miss Clough, daughter of a popular boniface in Williamstnwn, aurl a gentleman prominently indehtified with the local racing club. Some horses are addicted to stumbling while walking or moving at a slow trot. A wellknown veterinary authority has pointed out that there are two causes that would tend to produce this faulty action—one a general weakness in the muscular system, such as would be noticed in a tired horse, the other a weakness of the exterior muscles of the legs, brought about by carrying too much weight on the toe. To affect a cure, he adds, lighten tho weight of each front shoe about four ounces ; have the toe of the shoe made of steel instead of ironit will wear longer ; have it rounded off about the same as it would be when onethird worn out, iu order to prevent tripping ; allow one week's lvst ; have the legs showered for a few minutes at a time with cold water through a hose, in order to create a spray ; theu rub dry briskly from the chest down to the foot. Give walking exercise daily for a week for about an hour twice a day. W hen you commence driving again oinit the slow jog—either walk or send him along at a sharp trot for a mile or two, then walk a little, but do not speed for at least several weeks. By this m p aus the habit of stumbling from any of the above causes will be pretty well overcome.