SPORTING NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3085, 23 April 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

SPORTING NOTES.

(P.v Li: Nor.n). VlCTdr.lA*:! rrnek jocl:ny, llnlos, bus Jiad «]•■■!:■..--. Ve.io, ii elding by Sir Modrad"* brother Llaliuin. won the Stakes iit MooinVld (N.S.W.; on I In, 1.-t Silver Knight showed a good deal of pace in tho Y.P..C. Bruu.swiek Stakes, fi,r ulti r being left at the post he made up ii lot of ground, and finished in the front rank. I havt! enmu iktoss some very peculiar Ihings in tho spoiling line in my time, but the mode of bottins: at Johannesburg takes the cake. There wore fifteen candidates fur the last big race run there, aud Tracker was favourilo at Stul, Go. sf.hcu next lit oto 1. They go in a lot for place bettinir ii-lso, an i, strange to say, the hooks wvre laying six to one against Tracker being in the firsf, three and six to four against Gosclum getting a ])'ace. rii it's the way they bet at Johannesburg. The only Divine who ever preached from a nice stand was the late Mr Spurgeon, who, a quarter of a century ago, delivered a discourse at Kp3oni Downs. There were a great , many present and Spurgeon commenced his address after this fashion : I daresay the majority of you are in the habit of being addressed out of this spot by a lay-man." It is curious, but nevertheless a fact, writes " Martindale, , ' that one rarely hears of a bookmaker winning. It is not long since that I was at a days' racing, at which the prices were given me by tho most reliable men I could see in the paddock directly after each race. Only two favourites, according to their showing, got home ; yet at the end of the day they all said they had lost. Now this is almost tho case at every meeting ; yet they keep on. This hardly agrees with what I know is a fact, and that is, that in about six years two men have won close upon £30,000 between them " Cranbrook ,: writes :—" There must be some ' real beauties ' about aud no mistake. When Puzzle came down in the Steeplechase atFlemington, P. Boleer sustained a very heavy fall, anc. was reudered partly unconscious for a few moments. Whilst lying on the ground, dead for aught the miscreant cared, the collar stud was torn from Bolger's shirt, the spurs were taken from his heels, and l;is whip stolen. Hanging would bo too good for wretches who would rob under such circumstances." Mr Dβ Crespigny writes from Champion Lodge to the Field :—" Chilblain, who won the Grand Military Gold Cup in IS7O aud 1577, h ending his days here. He has a loose box, shed, and four acres of paddock. An extraordinary mutual affection has sprung up between him aud a lamb. Whichever leaves the box first the other immediately follows, and at the same pace, returning in the same way ; they graze alongside each other, and are simply inseparable. When the old horse lies down the lamb does the same, often resting its head on the horse's body. I need hardly add that they will not be parted so long as both live." A mare with a history died lately near Wabasli Ind. Tho animal was thirty years old and belonged to Thomas Thorne. During the rebellion, General Stanley captured a fine inure the rebels which had a colt by her side. Geueral Stanley, at the close of the war, took the mare into the regular army with him, selling- the colt, which was christened Rod Maria, to Isaac Thorne, who .-old her to Samuel Wertcnberger, of North Manchester, Ind., who ii: his death willed her to Thomas Thorne wilh tho s f ipuktiou that Red Maria should never bo worked. This injunction was faithfully observed, and the maiv has not for j'ears been hitched up. The animal was a groat runner, and during , tho seventies was entered in many running races on Indiana tracks, winning- ninety-eight out of ono hundred. The celebrated stallion Doncaster, winner of 1873 Derby, died in Hungary in January. Mr Merry sold him to Mr R. Peek for £10,000, and the latter disposed of him to the Duke of Westminster for £14,000—the highest figure, up till then, ever given for a horse. Douca3ter bred the brilliant Bend Or for the Duke, and

as a grandson he can boast of the mighty Ormonde, the greatest English racehorse of recent times. In ISS4 he was sold to the Hungarian Government for £15,000. The Weekly Press correspondent at Hawke's Bay says that Waterfall and Rosefeldt are cripples, Rosefoldt having received injuries below the fetlock through being raced on in the Forbury Handicap by Kulnine. Waterfall is very bad, aud it is doubtful whether he can ever be properly wound up to race again. Munn says that the Waturbury affair is tho first time he has ever been called before the stewards of a racing club in ;)0 years experience. Megaphone has been sent to Queenscliff for the purpose of experimenting on the beneficial influence of ozone and salt water by way of repairing the injury which recently necessitated his abrupt retirement from the turf. A Sydney paper refers to Lady Nnrah as a Musket, a mistake that has been made by several writers at one time and another. She is by Cadogan. Tartar was Steppe's only produce to Musket. " Spectator " says that the trotting of Rams at the recent meeting of the Onsloiv Club was said to be a treat to see, and he is reported to have cut out his three miles in Sinin. 4Jsec, or within 4-.',secs of tha New Zealand record. If this really be so, it is certain that he wan Id beat Wanderoo's time on a faster track than that at Epsom, which is not a level one, aud which, furthermore, is right-handed. " Sir Modred," of Invercargill, says : —"The disqualified trotting horse Brandy, Rufus, &c, waa submitted for sale on Saturday week at the yards of the United Farmers' Agnncy Co. He was eventually sold for the sum of £28 10s, but I am unable to give the purchaser's name, as he seemed of a retiring disposition, and the auctioneer did not make it public. Some doubt was ex-

pressed as to the horse being the animal i he was represented to be, but he undoubtedly answers to the description i given in the northern sporting papers of the horse Brandy." , ' The wretched pace at which the first i mile and a half in the recent Champion I Stakes was run gave rise to a good deal i derision on the part of the public. The I Argus say 3 : —" So absurd does it seem to 1 give 2000sovs for a three-mile race, and e then to find that the horses only race for ' a mile amd a half, that some members of J the V.R.C. committee have conceived the I idea of fixing a time limit—say, smin 1 3;"isec—and making a condition that the winner should not receive the prize " money unless he covered the three miles !l under this time." t From London Referee : " A corres- h pondent wants to know if I will recoin- t ; mend him a system for backing horses. Ii Ho happens to bo an old Referee reader t. who docs not often trouble me or the " correspondence department with silly t queries. So, in consideration of his a previous good character, I will not ask n him what he takes me for. Of course there is one aosolutely infallible system w for backing , horses—viz., to put your " money on those that win and are dis- tl qualified, and bet only with people who tl pny you. I know of no other plan that m will not break you some day if you stick rc to it." 8t

"Nemo" of the Sydney Miil must have detected something of a very high order in Autonomy, tho half brother to Bungebah, for ho says- —-'I take this opportunity of expressing Hie beli?f that Autonomy will prove himself to be just about tho greatest racehorse that over curried silk in Australia." Perhaps the jockey who wastes most is he who should ride much heavier than ho dees (observes a London contemporary). It is said that Allscpp will often eat nothing but I re id dipped in vinojrur for a week at a time to keep his weight at 6.11. If ho never rode under 7.2 be would have] more strength for a tight finish. ■~,., ... j