THE MELBOURNE CUP.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3850, 19 November 1883, Page 3

THE MELBOURNE CUP.

Those Avho have once seen a Melbourne Cup run for never forgot the sight. Those who have never seen tho race can form no idea of that scene, and forme to try to produce it on paper, to bring it vividly before tho mind's eye of him avlio has never scon it, would bo folly, and could only end. in ono w;l y—failure. Flemington, in its conveniences, in its attentions te Avhat may bo termed petty dotails and little things, surpasses all other racccourccs in the Avorld. Those Avho havo soon tho English Derby run for, or any of the groat classic races of England, aro as much astonished when thoy view Flemington for the first time as the Tasmanian Avho has left Launceston on his first visit to make his lirst plunge eni the great handicap race of tho Australian—l may say Australasian—colonies. The public take a pride in their racecourse, the club officials study tho comfort of tlic visitors, and everything is done by all concerned to make the carnival "a gay high time " for all who put in an appearance. Nowhere else can such perfection bo found as regards racing itself, noAvhero else can the surroundings be surpassed if thoy can be equalled, and noAvhero else can tho gambling mania which seems to seize nil and sundry for flomo Avceks before tho race be approached. I verily believe no race ever run had so much money depending on it as the Cup run yesterday. AYe all knoAV tho owner of the English Hermit landed his .£IOO,OOO on his horse's victory iv tho 'Derby ; but, though no such stake Avas ever landed by {piy Australian sportsman, the money depending on tho race is far in excess of tho amount over staked on any English raco. Tho servant girl has her interest in a BAveep ; the boy avlio had better not be there at all has his odd shillings and crowns on, and SO on through all society's stages, till avc reach the owner avlio stands to Avin £00,000 on his reputed good thing. Beforo to-day the astute St. Alban's party, Avho nearly alAvays have " a dark horse " because trained ou a private course—have stood their six figures on some flyer. The race is a handicap, bonce its popularity. Tho fields aro large invariably, and tho odds against certain animals good, hence the public infatuation. Thirty-three horses have started—the largest field in the Avorld that y eal . —and if avo take the race from tho day of its institution—tAventy-three Cups have been run—the fields are far in excess on tho average of any race either of the past or tho present. Strange stories aro told of this Cup. Men dream dreams of tho winner, and back their dreams and lose their money. Spirits have rapped out weeks beforehand the Avinnor's name, but tho spirits havo been more tit sea than either prophets or touts, for thoy have never yet given even a placed Clever dogs have draAvn the winner out of a hatful of names, but when that has happened avo have only learned it after tho race, which somCAvhat discounts the statement. But the actual realities of the race far surpass whtit either the imagination or clever penmen could -supply. No bad racehorse ever avou a Melbourne Cup, bocauso no bad horse in a large field ever got homo first in a two-mile raco. Nnnblefoot was 0110' of tho sensations. c \' I,IS ownor, and the landlord of Craig s Hotel, Ballat-at, weeks before dreamt the horso won tho race, and the jockey wore crape on

his arm. The dream was told at table, and a bookmaker laid tho sporting wager of a thousand pounds against four drinks and four cigars that the horso did not win. The dream was realised, and the jockey Avore tlic crape, for the owner died beforo the day, and the wager Avaspaid. A journalist not unknoAvn in New Zealand in Calamia's year dreamt ..that the all-black avou, ancl the dream was right; but the journalist, avlio lacked superstition—Police Court reporting and Parliamentary scenes had taken all the romance out of him—lost his money, for, being a bit of a racing man, and not likiusr the horso, he laid a pound to three' drinks that the winner avus not in tho first three. Some of his friends, hoAvever, were wiser, for thoy backed the scribe's dream, and though the scribe avus chuffed unmercifully that night the select few made a night of it. Three cripples in Zulu's year ran into the three places, all of Avhoni' Avere ranked as outsiders. That Avas only in the fitness of things, for the previous year tho three favorites—Grand Flaneur, Progress, and Lord Burghley— filled the "situations." More than one horse—tho Pearl, for instance—has started at 100 to 1, to be returned tho winner of the Cup, and red-hot favorites have gone out at nearly level money only to be beaten, to tho disgust of tbe 'infatuated public. A cab horse was trained and won it once, but though more than one cab horse has since been" trained tho charm never worked again. Tbe only horse that eyer_ Avon it twice, Archer, won it during Ids first two years. More than one horso has run twice into a place without, winning, but no horso that has won it was ever placed afterwards. The top weights have repeatedly run in the first three, but raivly has the winning bracket been theirs. The public for years —always after the event—u>cd Avhen on the stool of repentant.'-'- for unrecoverable losses to console themselves ],y saying no favorite ever avou, but that is a fling of tho past now, for Martini-Henry, Don Juan, Chester, and Grand Flaneur Avere warm favorite's, and thoy all gained the coveted prize. Then -again the remark frequent.ly quoted, no mare will ever Avin a Cup, Avas proved false, for in the sixteenth year the spell was broken, and the St. Alban's maro Briscis romped homo an easy first, with tho gallant little Sybil second, both marcs : but that year was the "ladies' year," for Derby, Cup, Loger, and, if I remember rightly, Australian Cup also, all fell to the lot of tho fillies. Tint 1-cforc that was achieved there had been many disappointments with thorn, and more than one owner lost his pot on a mare's only running second.

So much for the raco in the past. Tho night before the race, I. think, as a scone is only surpassed by the nice itself. Hundreds pass iv and out of tho betting rooms ; you sco faces there und meet friends brought together from the ends of the colonies, Avhom you may reasonably conclude you Avill not meet again till the same night conies round again twelve months later. Outside in the street thcro is a motley crowd of some thousands, and every lip gives utterance lo but one theme, every tongue has but. the ono talc to tell, but in the telling of it there is great diversity. You hoar from ono how the Demon avus badly ridden Avlien beaten by tho Gem; how another is now receiving lumps of Aveight, and must have a big say on the morrow : how a third ran a trial that avus good enough lo Avin any Melbourne Cup over run; perhaps you know—have heard, I. should have said, of a faster trial -but that makes no difference. Your informant knew that also, but then there was only a " feather on tho horse's back, Avhilo on tho eventful day the horse has a crusher. To a student of human nature that anxious, free talking, and loudly assertive crowd is a study that is then and there seen at its best. Tho caution, cunning, and strategy exorcised by tho " unAvashed crowd"-— which in this instance is a misnomer—is not surpassed by tho astute gentlemen up stairs avlio are booking thoir thousands Avith as miu;h nonchalance as if the earth of Australia avus indeed A-eritablo gold. Men

take each other's Avords, simply pencilling the amounts in little Looks, not one penny of Avhich by law is recoverable, for amounts as large as any commercial transactions, and those debts aro so promptly met on the fatal pay clay that one need not Avonder that last session Air Joyce advocated the abolition of nil laws for the recovery of debts. On Tuesday the scene avus the same us it has been for years, a perfect sea of faces on that hill from which such a splendid view of the race is obtained ; a grand stand Avith accommodation for twenty thousand people is packed as no sardines Avere over packed in the AA'orld, and beneath on the "terrace" men stand shoulder to shoulder with ono another because they can do nothing else. In the saddling paddock the bookmakers aro yelling their loudest, tho crowds of backers are moving from one bookmaker to another to see if they cannot get a point more about, that certainty they know of. Littlo knots aro at every post and. corner drawing sweeps, tho lawn has an array of dross and beauty such—now that Parisian taste und Continental art havo begun to reach the colonies -that you can find n< where else in more profusion. In the far corner the jockeys aro getting ready to mount, Avhile the horses aro receiving their finishing touches, and eager crowds scan the horso that, carries their dollars. Presently the preliminary canters begin, and then up the straight the largo field is taken iv baud by tho prince of starters, Mr Watson. Firm as a rock he stands, the flag drops, v yell announces they're off, aitcl like a troop of cavalry thoy rattle down that long- straight half-mile. The countryman sees his horse in the lead, and is satisfied ; the astute horsey man sees a horso pulling double in tho nick, and ho is butter satisfied. As they pass the stand already ono or two begin to show that the pace- is tolling, but tho field this year is one of more than average merit. The horse, tho idol of the public for tlic Derby, Archie, carries Uumi along tit a groat speed round tho course, and as they enter the straight for the final struggle where the pinch always tells tho public aro delighted, for more than a dozen horses aro yet in it, aud the public clearly love a good race, even AY-hen thoy lose. Discordant erics are heard on every hand, opinions aro all different, on thoy come ami still on, a bare furlong and all will be over, and out of the crowd tho favorite comes away, and coming on like a cotKptcror his backers need have no " fear of tbe result." The New Zealand bred son of tho imported English Musket and the Australian Sylvia has placed the Cup to tho credit of Noav Zealand, and for the first time tho islanders havo won. The sensational horso of tho year followed him, First AVater, Avhom the bookmakers never tired of laying is second, Avhileinch by inch the top and bottom weights Commotion and First Demon fight it out for third place, and the great horse, with lOst lib on his back, Avtus the place by a nose, and then come a long crowd, ut tho head of Avhom is Sin-dins, avlio aa-us second for tho Derby, and thus slioavs the triteness of the running of Martini-Henri in that race, for to-day he concedes Sardius much Aveight. Tho Avinner is loudly cheered, nearly as many look pleased as arc looking glum, and then after two more races the crowd makes for home, many making vows—alas! to be broken next year—that thoy will bet no more ; but tho groat majority Avill be glad that it is all o\*ei% for thero is no pleasure like anticipation, realisation falling so far short.