ELLERSLIE IN SUMMER.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 307, 27 December 1924, Page 11

ELLERSLIE IN SUMMER.

A WET CTTP t>At, j NO FASHION PAIIAD£, \ It has long since been entered up that i New Zealanders arc a sportj loving | crowd, but possibly they are no more I keen than in other parts of the world i where the sport may not be served up I in such comfortable surroundings aa in j the Dominion. England lias earned the j right to be credited with being the home i or the thoroughbred, but th at on j v applies to the breeding of racehorses, and not to the sport of racing. .\ s a | matter of fact, racing in the Old Couulrv i and in New Zealand is quite different in ' the opinion of the racegoer, and where. ' at Home the general public who I patronise the sport see little or nothing of the actual races, here in jj ew jr ca . land everything possible is done by the ! various clubs u> give enjoyment to all who attend.

And nowhere is racegoers treated better than at Kllerslie, and while perhaps there is room for further consideration, when all is reviewed there is really little room for complaint. Be the weather wet or line the same thousands of horse worshippers line the stands and grounds at Ellerslie, and so it Kas v ,. s . terday. Boxing Day at Ellerelie in fine weather is something to remember. It is the one race duy of the year when Aucklanders turn out en masse to sco the Cup. Ellerslie is the Ascot of Auckland. It is there the ladies promenade the lawn in the smartest and latest fashions in frocks.

No wonder then that the fair sex look forward to Boxing Day. But this year the fates were unkind. In the early hours of the morning rain which had threatened during the previous night, commenced to fall and continued without even a suggestion of easing off. Continuing almost without a break oil thought of sporting their new frocks was banished, and it was quite apparent when racing commenced yesterday just before noon that the fair sex was not present in the usual Cup Day numbers. The family picnickers, who "arc to be seen in hundreds under the trees near the old mile post when the weather is tine, were missing this time, and there were wide spaces where in other years the family circle would spread a tabledoth on the grass and set out lunch. At the bottom of the straight, or "on the outer' as it is known, there was a noticeable scarcity of ladies, and the few who were present were -well rugged with topcoats and umbrellas.

But it was not so with the men. Topcoats or not, they were everywhere in dense crowds, and to them it mattered not whether rain fell in torrents—they loved to bet and give their little ''ten bobs" a flutter. If their fancy lost, well, it was all in the game, if it won. so much the better. Racing without bettinois like corned beef without carrots, the two must go together to be appreciated.