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MOST UNIQUE RACING IN ALL HISTORY Meeting Held in the Desert on a Battlefield Shortly After an Engagement Had Been Fought It was just after the battle at Rafa on the northern border of the Sinai Desert in which the English had soundly beaten the Turks that the soldiers were taking a rest And it was during this rest that one of their number compared the desert to a race course In less than two days the entire soldier force was shouting for a horse race The general approved and the date was set for March 21 Of this race of war horsss W T Massey n war correspondent with the Egvption expeditionary forces has written in The Desert Campaigns CampaignsIn In the long history of racing this meeting must hold a unique place It was held on a battlefield shortly after an action had been fought on it The horses encaged had nearly all carried men in the battle and one gallant winner was actually wounded on the spot where he ran to victory At least one half of the spectators were officers and men who had fought the action to a triumphant finish and having played the big game for the empire they came out to see their noble chargers in the sport of kings These sportsmen raced and went racing for generals cups and added money they them ¬ selves subscribed and a sporting crowd was never more satisfied than that at Rafa when it learned that though not a penny was charged for admission to the course over 1000 was made for charities charitiesWITHIN WITHIN SIGHT OF ENEMY ENEMYThe The meeting was actually held within a few miles of the enemy who was alwavs on the lookout for us and the splendid monetary result would have been bettered if the military situation had not demanded that the date should be advanced one day on the very morning of which it was neces ¬ sary to send an infantry division on the march from Rafa RafaSportsmen Sportsmen will read the program of this great meeting with interest The Desert Column First Spring Meeting was assured of success from the start There never was a danger of any of the nine races not filling Indeed the difficulty waf to keen down the entries As it was two races had thirtynine starters each What would the mule race the Jerusalem Scurry have been like if the committee had not limited the entries to one from each unit No gunner sapper or attendant of a pack mule would have conceded that another mans mule was faster than his hisYou You could sec some training spins all over the countryside before the entries of mules were limited The trials were gorgeous At sunset with no truth ¬ ful touts or wily watchers about mules were put through their best paces Some displayed their usual unfriendly attitudes on the journey and con ¬ founded the timekeepers others declined to be bus ¬ tled and none took a hooeful view of the pros ¬ pects When the best mule in a unit had been selected there remained a good deal of doubt about the wisdom of the choice That was inevitable inevitableThink Think of the brisk times the names of the races recalled to the soldier sportsmen of the Desert Column The Sinai Grand National the Rafa Cup the Promised Land Stakes the Cyrian Derby the Border Stakes the Anzac Champion Steeplechase the Ubiqne Stakes and the Jerusalem Scurry What recollections of other race days when the world was at peace of race meetings in the home of horse racing and of those racing festivals in Australia and New Zealand when everybody who is anybody at all makes holiday holidaySOLDIERS SOLDIERS BUILD COURSE COURSERight Right well did these soldiers play the game They built the jumps of sandbags and scrub they in ¬ closed the paddock put up the starting board marked out the course made the totalizator in closure and did all things necessary to complete the preparations for a perfectly conducted meeting To them it was a labor of love loveMost Most people retain memories of popular wins and popular horses on the turf My memory of these matters is short but I shall always recollect the scene after Minortis Derby and some wins of Pretty Polly The racegoer loves a plucky horse and he will appreciate how it was his brother sportsmen acclaimed Clawstoi when he won the Sinai Grand National the race of the day at Rafa Clawstoi has a war record recordHe He was one of the few horses saved from a tor ¬ pedoed transport hurried into Quecnstown with her decks awash He had been twice wounded in Egypt before he carried his owner into action at Rafa where he got his third bullet wound Yet the gal ¬ lant charger after having a pipe opener and third place in the first race of the day nobly cleared the heavy jumps in the National and came in a win ¬ ner over the actual course on which he was hit hitSome Some had backed him in the totalizator more out of sentiment than anything else for his third earlier in the day was not encouraging but it ivrip not winnings that accounted for the cheers It was love for a warscarred veteran with a big heart that moved the crowd crowdThe The starters were too many to hoist all the nm ners on the board so only nonstarters were iut up and they were few AH the owners were out to try their luck but what think you of the lot of the starter who had to marshal thirtynine starters at the post witli no gate He had little trouble from that crowd of sportsmen whose places at the post were printed on armlets and saddle cloths It was a glorious and memorable day
