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MELBOURNE CUP FINISHES Many Were Close but No Dead Heats in FiftySeven Races Some Errors Made in Placing Some Were Remedied Be ¬ fore Confirmation Though fiftyseven Mellxmrne Cuiis have been run no dead lient for first isecond or third place has been recorded There have been some exceed ¬ ingly close finishes and in more cases than one the Judge might have declared a dead heat for first place without being brought to book He is how over in tlie box to give a decision according to Ills lights and if he judges one horse to roach the winning post even an inch in front of another lie must if he acts honestly award that particular horse the race In the case of a close finish tile Judge is certainly under the temptation to declare dead heat That is the decision likely to please the greater number of people However whether r not any judge at Flamington has felt tempted to give what may be termed a popular verdict the fact remains that no dead heat lias ever been de ¬ clared in connection with the biggest racing event run in this part of the world Not every Mel Ixjurue Guy decision has given universal satisfaction TJi re have been a few cases notably as regards Nimblefoot nnd Lord Nolan when many of tho spectators disagreed with the judge This brings to mind the remark of a wellknown racing nuin in Sydney on being told that his horse and not the one which secured the judges verdict had won Yes he remarked quite a number of the spec tators take the same view but unfortunately the only man whose opinion counts thinks otherwise That mistakes in judging have liwn made is ccr taihr Master Avenel was undoubtedly declared in error the winner of the Caiilfield Cup of 1SS1 but when it comes Jo a close tiling the judge stand ing in front of a perpendicular iron bar and casting libeye across the course to a corresponding white line on a blackboard is the only person able to de ¬ cide accurately The point is tp Mildge at the par ¬ ticular moment the line is reached not immediately before or immediately after as many spectators do doGLENCOE6 GLENCOE6 GEEAT THREE DAYS RACING RACINGThe The first close Melbourne Cup finish was in I860 vhen The Barb then a threeyearold won for Honest John Tait The Barb which was by Sir Hercules the crack sire of those early days carried only 93 pounds and lie was ridden by AA JItivis As has since been demonstrated on more than one occasion a lightweighted threeyearold Jible to stay must always be reckoned with in a Melbourne Cup The Barb was favorite at 0 to 1 in this particular year He and Exile practically had the race to themselves over the last three quarters of a mile and in the end The Barb pre ¬ vailed bv little more than a head John Tait won the event again in 1WIS with Glcncoe by I rd of the Hills in 1871 with The Pearl by New Warrior and 187 with Tilt Quack by Peter AAHkins but none of these races was associated with a clos finish During the three successive days of the meeting at which Glencoe won his Cup he was successful in Jive races and covered an aggregate distance of nine and a quarter miles The Melbourne Cny two miles was run on the first day Thursday Novem ¬ ber 5 on the second day Friday November I he won the Spring Handicap one mile and a quarter a nil Four YearOld Handicap two miles on the third day Saturday November 7 lie took the All Aged Stakes one mile and Queens Plate three miles He only scored in the lastnamed event bv a half head from Je Mestres Tim AVhiffler but J5ie other races were won easily It is strange that Ciencoes name was not prominent among old time stayers in the recent discussions OTMBLEFOOIS WIN AND A DREAM DREAMThe The finish of the Cup race of 1870 was most ex ¬ citing The judges verdict was a head in favor of Nimblefoot There was a sentimental glamour surrounding this gelding because of the fact that his owner Walter Craig of Ballarat had dreamt Nimblefoot was the winner and that his jockey wore a crepe armband A leading l ookmaker of the day thinking little of the horses chance laid Craig according to the story current at the time there was however more than one version 5 u to eight drinks against Nimblefoot Before the day Craig was dead and his jockey actually wore cnsi e 011 his ami Though death canceled the wager the bookmaker paid Craigs widow 2500 on settling day It was what the old race reporters would term a dingdong go between Nimblefoot and 1ipdog from the distance and they passed the post locked together The onlookers thought it was a dead heat Wilson the rider of Lapdug James Wilson the erstwhile owner of Outlook was certain that he had won by a good margin You can hop my arm off if he did not win bv a full half length asserted Joe Thompson the bookmaker The judges decision was however in favor of Nimble foot by a short head Lapdog was in the St Albans Stable with winch Thompson was associated and his success would have meant to him the winning of some thousands of pounds Lapdog was sent from Adelaide to the late James Wilson When he saw the horse he was not all pleased with him He remarked to Phil Gleuister who had charge of many of the stables betting commissions They have sent me a hairy dog to win the Cup with Not long afterward he instructed Glenister to take all the long shots he could l et about Lapdog That little horse is pretty good was his summing up upAnother Another close finish in which the verdict went against the St Allmns stable wes between Chester and Savjinaka in the Cup of 1877 Saxiinaka was owned by Herbert Power who still takes a keen interest in racing The batting over tins race was heavy and the superiors of the two horses being about equally divided Chester and Savanuka went out equal favorite at r to 1 each Pigott who had ridden Haricot to victory in 1874 was on Chester and the jiMkey known as Peter SI Albans he was sucojssful on Bribeis the previous year had the mount on Savanaka At the sheds Waxy fell and Savanaka nearly tripped over him losing much ground By the time the distance was reached Chester appeared to have everything beaten and a little farther Ilgott eased him Savanaka had in the mcuntfme made up a good deal of his lost ground and coming fast from the halfdistance only failed to reach Chester by half a head a short margin thai made the difference of many thousands to SavanaUaV owner and for that matter to Chesters owner the late lames White whose representative collected from Joe Thompson alone Continued on second page i MELBOURNE CUP FINISHES Continued from first page 100000 on settling day the money being paid publicly in notes outside the old Exchange in Col ¬ lins street streetSHEET SHEET ANCHORS SEKSATIONAL WIN WINThe The 100 to 3 chance Darriwell ridden by Crnek nell only won by half a length from Sweetmeat in 1879 nnd that was the margin by which Mania beat Commotion in 1884 A more exciting finish was witnessed in 1885 Sheet Anchor landing the prize for Ballarat by the shortest of heads from Grace Darling which carried a sevenno11 penalty for her Caulfield Cup win and was ridden by the present Caulfield trainer John Williams Trenton was half a head away third with Nordenfeldt a close fourth Robertson blamed himself for losing on Trenton He waited with the result thnt his mount was interfered with The judge R Wnkley nt first hoisted Blink Bennys number is second Telegrams placing Blink Bonny in that position were sent nil over Australia On the first day Mr Wakley had hoisted the number of Lralla instead of her stable companion Nordenfeldt as the Derby winner He quickly rectified the error ex ¬ plaining that he thought Hales had ridden Norden feldt As a matter of fact Ellis was on Norden feldt and Hales on Uralla OBrien rode a desperate finish on Sheet Anchor in the Cup There have been few better finishers in Australia than the same OBrien OBrienArsenal Arsenal only beat Trenton in 18S6 by a long neck Both horses were trained on tari tracks which exploded the idea prevalent in those days that horses so prepared could not win great races Ten days before the race Arsenal put up a splendid gallop at Ramlwick but it upset him and when lie reached Melbourne he would riot eat His train ¬ er II Rayiier had an anxious time as the horses feet had all along been a source of trouble A tonic was given Arsenal with the idea of stimu ¬ lating his appetite but hot until a pony belonging to the trainer It Sevior hml been placed in Arsenals IK X was there any change The pony was a great doer and following his example Arsenal set to and cleared up his own manger He gradually improved from that time and the stable connections who were a few days previously iinabln to lay off the money for which he had been backed except at ridiculously long prices decided to hang on to what they had Arsenal was first into the straight and it was only after a most interest ¬ ing finish that he reached the post in front of Trenton which was conceding him twentyeight pounds William Gannon who owned Arsenal won it was announced at the time 80000 The sum would have been larger had all gone well with the horse as only about half the stable commission had been worked at the time Arsenals relish for oats disappeared disappearedHOW HOW THE GRAFTER WAITED AND WON WONAuraria Auraria won by a neck in 1895 Hova was the favorite that year and the general impression among the spectators was that Hova would have won had lie not made his run too soon Auraria however was a staying threeyearold with a comparatively light weight and might have won in any circum ¬ stances The stable companions Oaulus and The rafter both owned by the late William Forrester made a finish of it in 1897 Gaahls winning by half a head much to the relief of many supporters of the stable who had heavily backed the winner while they had only supported The Grafter in a mild way In the following year The Grafter won by half a neck from WaitaBit which should never have been beaten With nearly all the straight in front of him and a clear run the rider of Waita Bit tried to get up betwen The Grafter and the rails WaltaBit was blocked and had to be pulled out This was somewhere near the distance When WaitaBit got going again he finished fast but could not quite reach The Grafter which started at 8 to 1 while WaitaBit went out at 15 to 1 1The The Lord NolanTulkeroo battle in 190S was one of the most notable in the whole series of Melbourne Cup finishes Lord Nolan looked an easy winner at the half distance until challenged by Tulkeroo A great race ensued to the post Tulkeroo hnng in toward the end and X D Godby who had the mount lost the race through making an effort to pull him out almost on the ipost The judges ver ¬ dict of half a head in favor of Lord Nolan was disagreed with by many of the spectators Charles Wheeler the trainer of Tulkeroo would ihave landed a big stake in bets had the decision been the other way H However he has not had much occasion to grumble A about his luck since that day seeing that lie trained The Parisian the Cup winner in 1911 and Patrolias which won in 1915 besides nu hierous othefgood winners Both Wheeler and Godby were confident that Tulkeroo had won Their opinions however did not count Had not Mooltan been pinned on the rails by Delaware he would probably Jiavei beaten both Lord Nolan and Tulkeroo Last years Cup finish was exciting enough for any ¬ thing The judges decision was a short half head in favor of Westcburt from Lingle Of course tlie usual arguments in the case of a close finish arose Quite a number of the spectators thought that Lingle and not Westcourt should have been returned the winner Goodwood in Melbourne Argus
