WELLINGTON R.C. WINTER MEETING.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 19, 22 July 1909, Page 3

WELLINGTON R.C. WINTER MEETING.

TE ARAI'S STEEPLECHASE VICTORY. Steeplechase day will not quickly fade ■from the recollections of those who experienced its meteorological idiosyncracies. "For the sake of the historian who may have to ransack, in future days, the musty archives of the past, it may be here set down with precision of verbiage that the weather was atrocious. Lots of people would say that there "ain't a word for it." The heavy rains made the paddock and the lawn impassable and impossible. Just before tho hors=es tWent out to contest the Steeple, the. rain did its worst, and then quite unexpectedly knocked off work. The old heatlven poets would have said that the Wellington Racing Club Committee had failed to sacrifice to the particular deity control of the elements. Let them, therefore, pour out oblations of wine and so forth to the offended. Olympian before Saturday. There will be an opportunity at that feast of reason and flow oi soul — the Racs Club Ball. The invincible good humour of the crowd w-as the dominant feature. To ■use a useful Americanism — they were evidently resolved '"to think in qurves." And the courage and fortitude with .which daintily shod and daintily "otherwised" ladies crossed the slushy paddock ,vas a lesson to foolish cynics who would deride the weaker vessel. A glorious opportunity, however, was not availed of by the attendant squires. They should have flung the conventions to the iour winds andS carried their dainty charges to the waiting motors. But this is a degenerate age, my masters. P+obably they thought they had struck all the winners they wanted. And no doubt the ample backsheesh contributed by the bookmakers materially assisted the crowd to bear with equanimity the assaults of the elements. Given a fair proportion of winners, and ■the imagination of even the inept can conjure up enough sunshine to release the wheels of humour. Speculations, as befitted a day of favourites, was brisk. What the crowd .won on one race they put back on another, and so the coifers of the club •uffered no diminution. At" the clote of the, frajy, the machine had put through, its mill- -"chaff-cutter," be it known, is the vernacular — £13,555 ; an increase of £572 on the corresponding day hist year. From the diminished ranks of the bookmakers, the club, however, will derive a much smaller revenue. Really, if matters do not change we shall have a "Society for the Support of Indigent Bookmakers"' mooted. They «5Jk-ork hard and pay high for "the glorious privilege of losing. To their credit, be it recorded — they paid with a smile. • The Steeplechase was a magnificent contest, and if a refwendum had been possible on the question "That it be mandatory upon all metropolitan clubs to include two steeplechases per day at their winter meetings'' it would have been carried by a huge majority. It was the enthusiasm engendered by the spectacle of the great field of fourteen charging the formidable jumps that m^de even the chronic grumblers forget their pet vice. Give steeplechases with good big stakes, messieurs of the Wellington Racing Club, and have no fears about the financial resiiit. The crowd .will come, be tfte heavens ever so threatening. And now for fhe one fly in the amber. The first train from Lambton was a heavy one, and the "puffing billy" a relic of the Stephensonian era. After a gallant struggle it lost its "puff" at Heretaunga, and not only blocked itself, but blocked the two succeeding trains. The consequence was that heaps of folk who had vowed on the family hearth tho night before to back St. Bill in tho first race were foiled in their resolve. Surely the department is capable of calculating the power necessary 4o successfully pull a train-load from Lambton to Trentham in forty-five minutes. Ordinary punters have to solve mentally much more elusiva problems in as many seconds. The details of tho concluding events are as follow :—: — .WELLINGTON STEEPLECHASE, of 650 soys ; second horse 100 soys, and third 50 soys from the stake. About three miles and a quarter. jMr. C. Morse's br g Te Arai (F. Porter), aged by Monaco — Frolic, 9.11 1 Mr. J. 'B. Williamson's br»g Irish (C. Cochrane), by ' Eton — Asthore, 10.3 2 £ir Win. 'Russell's eh m 'Nadador, aged, by 'El Draque — Noyade IJ. Hall), 10.12 "... 3 Mr. J. Twohill's Capitol, 10.13 (M. Deeble) 0 Mr. T. Lloyd's Speciosa, 10.12 (J. M'Gregor) 0 Mr. F. Saunders's Mocassin, 10.9 (H. Cairns) ... ... ... ... 0 Mr. J. Orr's Tilson, 10.6 (T. Pritchard) 0 Mr. H. Fryer's Lingerer, 10.1 (F. Flynn) 0 Mr. Highden'a Aorangi, 9.9 (Futcher) 0 Mr. A. S. Ehvort lvy's Wanganui, 9.9 (11. Cairns) 0 Mr. V. O'Neill's Coy, 9.7 (C. Cress) 0 Mr. L. N. Bussell's Otus, 9.7 (Gray) 0 •Mr. J. Maher's Defeat, 9.7 (J. Lyford) 0 •Irish, Wanganui, and Lingerer led for nearly two miles, with Te Arai at tho head of the others. Capitol, who was last passing the stand, ran past Wanganui and 'Lingerer six furlongs from home, where Te Arai drew away from Irish at the last fence but one. Capitol, when running second, fell. Te Arai jumped the hen-coop three lengths ahead of Irish, and passed ihc post by that distance. Nadador was ten lengths awa y> just clear of Mocassin. Capitol, who was remounted, finished fifth. The others were in the following order : — Lingerer, Otus, Wanganui, and Defeat. Time, 7min. 21sec .WATERLOO HANDICAP, of 250 soys. Seven furlongs. Mr. E. J. Watt's br. g. Wimmera, by Merriwee — Mousqneterie, 3yrs, 9.3 (H. Cairns) 1 Hon. J. D. Ormond's Dawn, 10.9 (Jones) 2 Mrs. M. Moore's Sir Frisco, 11.5 (Oliver) 3 Mr. W. Smart's San Fernando, 9.5 (Hatch) 0 Mr. A. L. D. Frasei's Kurawaka, 9.0 (Jenkins) 0 Wimmera jumped away with the lead closely followed by San" Fernando ; Sir Frisco and Down next, and Kurawaka in the rear. Wimmera shook San Fernando off at the five furlongs, and entered the straight full 'of running. Dawn threw out a great challenge, but could not make any impression on the leader, who had an advantage of a length and half at the judge, Sir Frisco a fair third. Time lmin 422-ssec. JUMPERS' FLAT HANDICAP, of 130 .«ov.«. One mile and a half. ■Mr. 13 Stowart's b g Scotty, by St. Leger (imp.)— Janet, aged, 10.13 (Decry) 1 Mr. J. Casserley's Compass, 10.0 (Cochrane) ... ••• 2 Mr. J. Bulls Belario, 9.10 (Futcher) 3 Mr. C. Dawson's Ben Jonson, 10.13 (Percival) 0 Mr. J. H. Prosser's Exmoor, 10.9 IH. Telford) .. s „. Q

Mr. J. C. Skeet's Silken flein, 9.11 (A. M'Connon) 0 Mr. H. Bertram's Southorn Cross, 9.11 (Redmond) 0 Mr. W.J. Sklennar's Rangihaeta, 9.6 (W. Young) 0 Mr. Highden's Moscow, 9.4 (T. Pritchard) 0 Mr. W. Davies's Yosami, 9.0 (N. Campbell) 0 Exmoor and Moscow made the early running, but at the half-mile Scotty came through his field, winning in the commonest of canters by twelve lengths-. Belario was a length behind Compass, then close up were Southern Cross and Ben Jonson. Time, 3min. 2 3-ssec. THORNDON HANDICAP, of 100 soys. Five furlongs. Mr. L. G. M'Donald's bg Te Ru, I 1 by Birkenhead (imp.) — Eider, J 4yr-s 10.8 (T. Pritchard) 1 Mr. *W. C Tully's Purakau, 9.11 (Cairns) 2 Mr. H. Bertram's Inchbonny, 9.8 (Donovan) ... ... ... ••• 3 Mr. A. Benjamin's Axite, 9.10 (H. Crawford) ... 0 Mr- A. Peters"s Waiata, 9.7 (li. Hatch) 0 '< Mr. W. C- Vincent's Royal Maid, 9.3 (J. M'Comb) 0 Mr. D. Webb's Notorious, 9.0 (C Price) 0 Mr. H. Hodge's Merry Christmas, 9.0 (E. Lowe) 0 Mr. J. W. Skinner's Glenfield, 9.0 (E. Cotton) 0 Waiata led a packed field to just below the distance, where Te Ru and Purakau came out, and a great finish ended in favour of To Ru by a bare length. Inchbonny a poor third. Time, lmin. 11 2-ssec.