BAN BEATEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 8, 11 January 1944, Page 4

BAN BEATEN

AUSTRALIAN RACEHORSES O.C. SYDNEY, January 4. Transport restrictions stopped interState in Australia 18 months ago, but recently two horses travelled from one State to another. Transport officials are still trying to learn . how Saint Warden, Caulfield Cup winner, travelled from Melbourne to Adelaide to win the Adelaide Cup, and reappeared in Victorian raging the following Saturday. In contrast to the Saint Warden mystery was the journey of Young Valais from Brisbane to Sydney. He walked the 650 miles. Young Valais is owned by Miss Susan BeU and her brother, Captain W. E. Bell. After successes in Sydney and Newcastle Young, Valais was taken last July to Brisbane to contest the Doomben Newmarket Handicap, worth £3000. He travelled by boat,1 foot, and float, then failed to fill a place in the big race. ' Subsequently, he had-six seconds in other races, but his owners decided he was unsuited to the Queensland tracks and to return him to Sydney. WALKED TO SYDNEY. . Except for the first 25 miles, which . is the limit racehorse floats are al-.. lowed to travel, Young Valais 'walked to Sydney. At his side plodding a weary way was Captain Bell. Young Valais wore out seven sets of shoes, Captain Bell four pairs. They travelled 25 to 30 miles a day when on the road, and the trip took 35 days, from November 19 to December 24. Captain Bell occasionally rode a pony. Tick sprays kept them ori the border for five days. To avoid controversy as to how he travelled, Captain Bell got certificates - from livestock inspectors along the road to prove that he did , not break the law. Captain Bell said the horse arrived tired and footsore, and a little strung-up. "My worst experience was when I stabled him in the Tweed Heads pound and I slept beside him in the straw. He stepped on me, and almost broke my arm," he added. "He will pick up after a month's spell, and I expect him to be a better horse in the future for the long walk."