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ONE OF AUSTRALIAS GREATEST RACES RACESThe The Caultield Cup of 20000 at a mile and a half was run over the Caulficld nice course Octo ¬ ber 20 and after a severe contest was won by W Reids fouryearold chestnut colt Uncle Sam from a select band of twentyseven opponents lio scor ¬ ing at 5 to 1 by a half length from Lady Medalist in 234 This led an Australian turfman In Eng ¬ land to send the following interesting comments to London Sporting Life LifeThe The Caulfield Cup is the hardest race in Aus ¬ tralia to win It is imperative that a horso shll get well placed In the first mad rush for the sharp turn out of the straight that he shall be able to stay in the front division for a gruelling mile and a quarter and still have a sprint left for the final quarter dash home Always some horse tries to win from end to end always it fails but always othes take the place of the pacemaker who falls nick beaten and in such a field it takes a nimble horse to escape the bumps that are fatal unless of course it is a Poseidon who used to literally force an oiHjning for himself It is too a distinctly handicap race In thirty years Poseidon is the only weightforage horse that has won It Other horses of first finality have not got past a place placeWakeful Wakeful the finest mare Australia produced in recent years could only finish second and Krni auother champion had to bo content with third place It is also curious how many horses have missed the Caulfield Cup and then won tho Mel bourne Cup Dunlop was bcatcu by Oakleiqh Bravo by Chicago Apologue by Poseidon and Tul keroo by Maranin yet each subsequently scored at Fleraington Tis true that the Judge gave Lord Nolan the victorv over Tulkeroo hilt all the other experts know that Tulkeroo just won wonUncle Uncle Sam is another of the surprise packets whirh the glorious uncertainty of racing produces As a twoyearold he was a horse that failed with consistent regularity He was tried In classics he was striped for trial stakos and he could nut catch the judges tsye As a threeyearold lie was again completely eclipsed by the topnotchers A fine big chestnut colt by United States Molly it was thought that he was best suited by a six fur ¬ longs race and castles in the air were built upon his prospects of winning the Newmarket Handicap but they dissolved like all dreams This year he showed considerable improvement on the tracks and about six weeks ago he won a welter In such smashing stylo that punters instantly picked him put for the Caulficld Cup That performance alone would not havo brought him down to 5 to 1 Ho must have won the Coongy Handicap in the mid ¬ week to have become one of if not the first favor ¬ ites It is a mile and three furlongs handicap carrying no penalties and usually furnishes an ex ¬ cellent index of the prospects of the big races Incidentally another idea that United States progeny could not go rt distance has been exploded explodedIt It is the first Important win by his owner W Reid who is a squatter near Sunbury about thirty miles from Melbourne Mr Reid is one of the real oldstyle sportsmen He breeds trains and races his horses for the love of the game He has had one or two pretty good horses notably Knox which was unlucky and still picked up some races He is wrapped up in his stable and is as proud of his string as any father of his family At Suubury he has a private training track where his horses arc taught what is expected of them but they always finish their preparation under M P Whitty an expert Flemington trainer Uncle Sam is the first good one that United Staterf which Is owned by Sir Rupert Clarke has got United States himself was believed to be a clinker but he went wrong in training when the Caulfield Cup seemed his for the racing His son has brought him his revenge revengeBy By a curious coincidence the three placed horses are owned by large lauded proprietors The gentle ¬ man who runs Lady Medallist is a wealthy squatter in New South Wales nnd Mr Watt who owns Royal Scotch is one of New Zealands sheep kings Laily Medallist by St Alwync Diploma was favor ¬ ite at 10 to 1 until a fortnight l eforo the race She is a New Zealandbred mare which after sweeping the board of all the mile and a quarter cups and handicaps in the Dominion was brought across to Australia Beating several of Australias champions at weightforage she was purchased by K J Craven for 10000 missed the Epsom ran second in the Metropolitan and with 117 pounds absolutely distanced the others in tho Caulfield Cup last year and equaled record time Sho must have been in good form again this month and Uncle Sam must have doue something exceptional or havo had remarkably good luck to beat her although ho had 28 pounds the better of the weights weightsRoyal Royal Scotch is Ihc latest Maorilaud champion to have a shot at the Caulfield Cup In the last five years New Zealand horses have won twice Maraui and Lady Medallist while Aborigine tied with Blue Book In his own land Royal Scotch was a champion but his home form has again gone down before the handicap horse
