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: : : ...... A PEN PICTURE OF AUSTRALIAN RACING Editors Note Daily Kacing Form presents be- 1 low another article from the- lien of Dr. .Maurice M. : Leach, of Lexington, Ky. This time ,Dr. Leach 1 writes of Australian racing- hi -an interesting vein ! and recounts his impressions of the sport gained during a visit to the antipodes some two or three years ago. Australian people are. perhaps, the greatest .devotees of racing and lovers of the thoroughbred horse under the sun. They are all-round sportsmen, too, these Australians: not only does racing flourish exceedingly, but every little town has its annual or semi-annual race meeting and sometimes there is 110 town at all. All such sports as cricket, yachting, rowing, boxing, tennis and so forth are indulged in extensively ainj partisanship runs ldgn when a big contest is down for decision. I would npt have it understood, however, that Australia is entirely given over to sport; there are other and more serious matters afoot, for Instance every lad of a certain age is required to do. so much military training. No one ever vfitnesscd a finer sight than the parade of these youngsters, clad in khaki, marching through the streets of Melbourne in their annual review. Its. a. grand, .tiling .for the young sters themselves, a means of self-preservation and, as a bulwark to the empire the value of this course of military training is inestimable. However. I did not start out to write about .militarism, my purport being to tell you something of Australian rasing and how popular the sport in that faraway land is. In tlie lirst place, I may tell you that the attendance at Flemington. tlie biff racing plant of the State of Victoria, on Cup days. runs, up to 125.000 people. A fairly good attendance I should imagine, for a city which only boasts, .a . population of 500,-000 inhabitants. Australia itself having a population of less than live million. Cup day in Melltourne Is a general holiday. Banks., shops, and tlie like are closed tight and everyone who Is anyone at all betakes, him or herself, to Flemington to witness, Uierr,MhBihgfbfthe. Mclb.wiie Cup, which is worth no less "to the liicky winner than a sum of some seven thousand .pouupX. . Verity Cup day at Flemington is an omnium gatherum" for Australia, a day on whlc.li eypryone, ricli or pocr. good .or hail, wise or otherwise, does hoihagi to the thoroughbred . horse. Ten shillings and Stxpencc-balf 31 gnluea is" the price demanded by the Victoria Racing Club for admission to the grandstand. The charge Is consider ablv less for "the hill," and in bygone, days the field was free to all and sundry. . Entry to the birdcage or paddock is only obtained by the expenditure of an additional live shilling, hut its worth it. Flemington is wonderful and embraces a turf course of almost two miles round, n straight six-furlong course, and a steeplechase course just in side the course proper. There are three big grandstands. A new one was built and another reconstructed during my sojourn there, and then, theie is the lawn, the ring, the paddock, the Held, and "the hill." In front of tlie grandstand is a promenade, tiled and dry, for use in wet weather and in front of that, the lawn, a beautiful grassy tract, some half mile in length, carpeted bv soft, velvety turf where niodlshlv attired ladies love to sport their finery and these ladies honor the big race meetings with their presence, throughout Australia, in large numbers, costumed as fashionably . as at Longchamps or Chnntilly. Tlie ladies, too, are just as keen and enthusiastic over racing as nrct the men, and the presence of this large society elenient certainly lend additional charm to a sport set in such attractive siuTomidiiigs. The lawn is dotted, and flanked with flowers Idooming gailv under the southern sun and peopled by those the gods have delighted to honor. Indeed, it is a bravp show and one of whicli anv Australian may well feel proud. Back of the grandstand lies "the. hill." a natural, sharplv defined elevation some three hundred yards in length commanding a view of the entire racing plant. "The hill" on race days is thronged by enthusiasts whose financial standing does not permit of the expenditure of the necessary ten and six Tor a grandstand ticket. Any number of bookmakers plv their trade on the hill and speculation up there "is ever brik. Out iu front is tlie field covered with a seething mass of ncduscript hu-manitv. Once this field was free to all coiners, but now a charge of a shilling a !hcad is levied. Bookmakers there are. too, iu the field, clad iu tlie gaudv raiments of Joseph, lustJJv inqiorluning patronage, which, you may he sure, is not slow in coming. Down past tlie grandstand, to the rear of the scales room, is Tattersalls ring proper. Gracious! AVhat a din they make; bawling out prices. "Ill take 0 to 4." "Ill lay the double." "Eight "to one bar one." One. however, must not lie iu a hurry no one hurries in Aupstralia plenty or time yet to get vonr money 011. just circulate yourself on big days this is no such easy matter around the ring and discover if there is any money for tlie favorite and price your own selection. The odds fluctuate, you j kiiow.one chap may offer you sixes, another on 1 th opposite side of the? ring will proffer tens for vour smiling cpiid, which in the event of a trade ; is chucked disdainfully into a large leather bag, worn strapped around the shoulders by all bookmakers. Bevond is tlie paddock, a large, grassy enclosure, surrounded by open stalls in vhieh"nll or the horses ; destined to take part in the afternoons sport are i domiciled. There is no other stabling on the course. Training stables are located anywhere within easy walking distance of the training grounds and it is the custom in Australia to assemble all the competing horses in the paddock before the days racing begins. On tin- occasion of my first visit I was amazed I to see all these good horses standing tied up, some s 1 : 1 ! j 1 ; ; i I s by the bridle and others by a piece of cord patiently awaiting their summons to tlie post. What would our, American trainers say to this. The" Australian ; horse, however, when not in action, is the personification of good behavior and seemingly well contented with his lot. The wonder of it all is that some brute does not break loose and run amuck. What a scattering of the clans there would be. Some one would certainly be killed, but nothing of the kind ever happens and I suppose tlie Australian race horse will maintain his reputation for docility to the end. A large glass frame is noticed in the center of the paddock, in which are placed cards giving the names of the horses and a number corresponding to the stall number so that the location of any horse is an easy matter. Shortly before post time the clerk of tlie course rides into the paddock and warns owners and trainers to be ready. This clerk of the course is all togged out in hunting cap, pink coat, white breeches and spurs, quite a resplendent fellow and one having authority. Some sailor men were visiting Flemington not so long ago, evidently novices, but keen sportsmen anxious to lose their money. "Whats your fancy?" shouts the bookie. "Oh, Ill take the man in the pink coat," responds the junior. "All right, twenty to one the man in the red coat." They may be slow, but they are not sleepy, these Australians. The horses soon begin to move out. No order is observed and with their flimsy number cloths blown over by the wind, their Identification by this means is almost imiiossible. The jockeys are put up iu an enclosure in front of the scales room. They wear no arm numbers, and so they straggle off to the pest, getting, .a . stiff cantor on the way, all the warming un work deemed necessary. In no other country in the world have I witnessed such . perfect . starting as Godfrey "Watsou accomplished in Australia. The poor fellow is dead now, but he could handle a field of twenty-five or thirty horses fields run big -in Australia, and .start them in perfect alignment inside of thirty seconds. The starts, of course, were made froni" a stand. Its a fine sight to scq huge fields charging up tie grceii sward of flieNewhiarket straight and witness the unrestrained enthusiasm that greets the triumph of some .popular favorite Talk, .about the ringing British cheer that accompanies the victory of a -raeercarrylng"the" Kings livery or the yells of delight from the assembled multitude which used to announce the success of the American Derby winner! They are as nothing compared to ibo vociferous enthusiasm which prevails when its a tight fit and the right one wins in tlie land of that brilliant constellation, the flaming southern cross. For instance out at Caullield. second only in importance as a racing center to Flemington. one hot sunny afternoon in January, that champion weight carrying. long distance runner Trafalgar met and defeated his erstwhile conqueror, Comedy King. The crowd fairly let themselves go and I have never, in all my experience, participated in such an ovation as was accorded the son of Walace nnd Grand Canary when the issue was placed beyond doubt a hundred yards from home. The official racing judge in Australia has no other duties than to place the horses as they linish and it is quite a feather in his cap that mistakes do not more frequently occur. The racing is watched over by three stipendiary stewards who occupy an elevated stand close to the Judges bow It is dillicult, however, to detect cases of fraud for the courses are so disimilar. At Itandwick they race the reverse way of tlie track. Tlie Caultiehl course embraces a hill, quite different from the dead level of Flemington. Two really big race meetings are held at Fleming-ton annually. The Cup meeting in November and the Newmarket or Autumn meeting in April. But besides these there are steeplechase meetings in the winter time and the various holidays are usually devoted to racing at Flemington. Tlie longest race meeting in Australia is of only fonr days duration and at that racing is only carried on on alternate days, but if you so wish you can attend a race meeting three times a week in or near Melbourne the year round. The ponies; oh, yes, pony racing is a popular sport will keep you busy on Monday. A smooth, broad guage railway trip of two hours brings yon to "sleepy hollow" little old Geelong on Wednesdnv. and every Saturday there is a race meeting at Cauifield or Flemington or at one of tin? proprietary tracks down the line. The Australian press devotes much space to tlie doings of the thoroughbred and employ competent men to clock the work of the horses on the various training tracks with the result that the trials appear in accurate form in the afternoon dailies. The phraseology used may iierhaps. to a newcomer, he somewhat hard to understand. "Gold Braid was sent one mile at half speed on the bid sand." "Uncle Sam strode freely in a six-furlong sprint," "Relievo was on the easy side after his tine effort of yesterday." and so on. but. if an especially attractive performance is put up, of course, the time js given. A number of splendid pictorial sporting and agricultural weekly papers are published in Australia which devote much space to the breeding, training aiid welfare of the thoroughbred horse. The Australasian, the Sidney Referee and the Sidney Dally Mail are the lenders in this line of journalism and have a wide circulation. In fact the lovers of the thoroughbred horse are well catered to by the press of that sunny southern land where Christmas comes iu mid-summer, trees shed their bark and not their leaves and some boast no leaves at all. Another day I hope to write you something more about the Australian horse and Australian racing, the manner in whicli tlie stock farms are conducted, tlie general character of, the horse himself, climatic influence and so forth, all of which, I venture to hope, must be of interest to American turfmen, M. M. Leach.
