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AUSTRALIAN BREEDING ESTABLISHMENTS. Homes of Positano, Poseidon and Other Stars of Recent Years Excellent Australian Starting. An English horseman. Mr. Ernest Tanner, tells an interesting story in London Sporting Life of racing uml breeding matters in far-away countries Australia and the Argentine. .Mr. Tanner saw much that would be interesting to horsemen in all parts, and the account of his trip is given below: The first place at which 1 came in touch with thoroughbreds was," he said. "Adelaide, where I met Mr. Aldridge. He had a stud farm just outside tlic city. Sir Edgar Vincents old horse. Pistol by Carbine, out of Wcnonah. is located there. He is making quite a big name for himself as a sire In South Australia. Tor already he lias had a lot or winners. Proceeding to Melbourne. I lmiuediatcly liMjk train thence to Womambool. 1C.0 miles away, to inspect the stud belonging to Sol .reen. lie is the proud owner of Positano. the crack stallion of Australia and the sire of Poseidon. It is si beautiful stud farm, covering about 300 acres of undulating land, volcanic in its origin. 1 lie ground was very drv at the time of my visit, but there was gooil grass: "the paddocks afforded plenty of shelter, and there is no lack of water, because the estate is bounded by a line river. The stud is under the management of Mr. Crozier, who. for many years, was a prominent personality on the American turf, and who is an excellent judge of horscllesh. Positano is bv St. Simon, out of Ponza. As a race horse lie was, of course, of little account, though lie did manage to finish second to Conroy in the Ascot Derbv in 1S!W. beating lfciy Ronald at level weights: but iie has Ix-en wonderfully successful as a sire In the land of his adoption. There is more of the Springfield than the St. Simon character about him. and the ame remark applies to his stock, for the are of the long and low type, and there is a goo.1 deal of white about them. As soon as I saw Positano I declared him to be a typical Springfield, though I was not then aware that he was descended from Mr. Houldsworths famous horse through ills dam. Green owns some high-class broodmares, -Mr. including Alexandra, by Persimmon, out of Ambleside and bred at Sandringiiani: Tragedy Queen and Sea Shell, for all of which big prices wens paid. Then there are Air .Motor by Ayr Laddie, son of Ayrshire. Gladsome and Key three mares which gained distinction on the Australian turf. All had foals by Positano. "Returning to Melbourne, r visited the principal training stables at llemington and Caullield and saw most of the best horses now in training. These establishments are conducted on pretty much the same lilies as our stables, but the studs are not so big as some we have. The horses arc trained on the race courses, there being an inside track of light plow specially provided for the purpose. It is carefully prepared each morning. At Caullield 1 cailie across the celebrated mare Wakeful at Mr. Mac-domilds plai. Though rather small, she Is a beautiful type of mare, with n great back. At foot she had a line foal by Posllano. Then; was no racing at either Fleniington or Caullield during the time of mv stay iu Melbourne. Going on to Sydney, 1 went through most of the racing stables in the neighborhood of Randwick, and at Karnshaws establisli-inent saw Poseidon, which as a three-year-old won the Melbourne Cup. carrying 7 stone pounds, part of this weight lMMiig a twelve-pound penalty, "u Is not so commanding a horse as I had imagined, .mil must be much better than he looks. Anyway the.i sav he is the best horse they have had in Australia for many years. The horses that ran are not of much class. I attended a race meeting near Sydney.. What interested mo most was the perfection of the starting. The starter was Mr. Mackellar, and I accompanied him to the post several times. He adopts the plan, which is almost universal in the Australian colonies, I believe, of Jamming the horses together as closely as thev can stand. His own hack is placed next to the inside post, and the others line lip in verv close order. Under tills method there is no backing away and turning round such as we see, and the whole operation is carried through very uiiieklv. I saw fields of fifteen or sixteen horses dispatched without any delay. The horses stand with their noses close to the tapes and give no trouble whatever. The gate employed is not the one we use in England. Before going up the taper, move for a vard or so parallel with the ground. The machine is not worked by electricity, the power being supplied bv taut rubber bands. .Mr. Mackellar told me thev had tried every known form of gate and found that the one now in use was the best of the lot He is the ollicial starter of the Australian Jockey Club. Though quite a young man, he lias great control over the jockeys, and it is really wonderful to see the way in which he discharges Ids important duties. No doubt there is a little squeezing and bumping when the horses jump into their stride, but they nevertheless manage to get away on level terms. I pressed Mr. .Mackellar for his views alxtut the advantages or otherwise of a walk-up start, and lie seemed to think that it was out of the question. And here I may say that I received precisely the same answer to the same question in New Zealand. The starting I saw here by .Mr. OConnor was also first rate. He. too. puts the horses verv close together behind the tapes. In the Argentine I. however, saw the walk-up start in operation, and it answered admirably. The whole secret lies in the bit. In the Argentine a severe curbed bit is used, and the jockeys have a wonderful control over their horses. In Australia they use the ordinary snallle. That makes all the difference, no doubt
