RACING NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 23717, 26 October 1940, Page 8

RACING NOTES

RACING. October 28.—Wellington Racing Club. October 28.—Gore Racing Club. October 28. -Waikato Hunt. October 28.—Poverty Bay Hunt. October 28.—Waverley Racing Club, October 28.—North Canterbury Racing Club. . . November 2.—Rangitfkei Racing Club. November 2.—Banks Peninsula Racing Club. November 2.—Poverty Bay Turf Club. November 9.—Napier Park Racing Club. November 9, 11.—Avondale Jockey Club. November 9, 11, 13, 16.—Canterbury Jockey Club . November 16.—Napier Park Racing Ciuv November 16, 18.—Waikato Racing Club. A RAGE MEETING IN PALESTINE Tho writer is indebted to Captain John Fulton, who is with tho First .Echelon in Eo-ypt, for the following account of a race meeting held in Palestine, at which • 15,000 Aussie soldiers were present. It was a field day for the A.1.F., the Force turning on the biggest and most successful race meeting ever hold in Palestine. The meeting was the result of weeks ot hard work by a strong and representative committee headed by Captain Eugene Gorman M.C., K.C., of the Australian Comforts Fund. Captain Gorman, who is a committeeman of Australia’s premier racing club, is one of tile best known'racing men in the country. Through the generosity of Ins club, the Victoria Racing Club, the success of the meeting was ensured from the start. Tho entries were splendid, more than 100 horses competing. Four of the races gave the placed horses the right to compete for the V.R.G. trophy. This was an Arab mare valued at nearly I-.P. 100. For weeks before towns in Southern Palestine were plastered with posters advertising the meeting, and Arab owners responded amazingly. Two of the races were limited to Australian riders, and for these events tho nominators were members of the A.I.F. Horses were obtained from every possible source, and for weeks before the meeting trainers, would-be trainers, and jockeys were out at dawn galloping and clocking their candidates. The Engineers laid a track near Barbara village, and this was completely fenced. The track was rolled and watered daily, and in the end resulted in a surface that was almost free from dust. Now and the.n some enterprising trainer would sneak his pony in for a try-ouUon the track, but. the rage and indignation of the committee soon discouraged these efforts. More careful rollings and waterings soon obliterated the results of these efforts. A large totalisalor was organised and placed under the care of the Australian Pay Corps, In addition, bookmakers were licensed from- within the Force, a £5 registration fee and a guarantee of £SO in hard cash being necessary. The Australian Canteens Services worked overtime establishing bars all over the course, and saddling paddocks, official enclosures and marquees sprang up overnight like a mushroom mining town.y For days before the meeting the great Bedouin trek commenced from the country well beyond Beersheba. On horses, camels, donkeys, and foot the Arabs poured, into the course area. The evening before the meeting saw hundreds of them arguing and galloping their horses along the land at the bottom of the course whilst enraged guards rushed j exhaustedly from one point to another protecting the precious track. It was- a day of free leave for the troops, with a special pay parade for all. The men were erabussed froni' all the Australian camps, and by 1 o’clock the course was full. " There were Australians everywhere, with a large sprinkling of British troops. In addition it seemed as if every Arab in the countryside had turned up. The horse lines at the top of the track were thronged as the Arabs met and discussed their candidates’ chances, while selfappointed Australian “ experts ” gave their views on the horses.

[By St. Clair.]

November 23, 25. —Levin Racing Club. November 23, 25. —Auckland Racing Club. November 25.—Southland Racing Club. TROTTING. October 28. —Greyinouth Trotting Club. October 28. —C“iraru TrcUing Club. October 30. —Auckland Trotting Club. November 2.—lnvercargill Trotting Club, November 12, 14, 15. New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club. November 23, 25.—Forbury Park Trotting Club. November 30, December 7. Waikato Trotting Club. Tho guests of honour were the High Commissioner for Palestine and Lady MacMichael. Lieutenant-general Sir Thomas Blarney, G.0.C., A.1.F., and many senior Australian officers were also present. Senior police and civil officials, Polish officers, British and Australian nurses—all went to make up the colourful scene in tho enclosure. For the first lime in the history of racing in Palestine all tho jockeys wore racing silks. Donated by nearly every prominent racing man in Australia, some of the colours were the. actual sets worn by riders of several winners of the Melbourne Cup in tho last 50 years. Vengeance, The Victory, Posiedoii, Nightwatch, Backwood, Marabou, and The Trump were some of the famous Australian horses thus represented.

Every horse competing carried the name of an Australian horse and tho appropriate colours. Every typo of horse from champion to rogue and “ ring-in ” was included m tho names. The racing wont off without a hitch apart from one falso start. Tho methods of the Arab jockeys astounded and delighted tho Australians. Besido themselves with pride at their unaccustomed splendour in silk and satin, the jockeys proudly rode their mounts round the saddling paddock and set off for tho barrier with a dignity that would be hard to find at Flemington or Epsom Downs. However, once the race started all this was forgotten, and -with wild yells and wavings of huge sticks they “ went for the doctor.” There is only one way to the winning post for the Arab jockey, the shortest way there—no matter what obstacles are to be met on' the way. It was appropriate that the pony bearing the name of tho greatest horso racing in Australia to-day should win the first race for Australian riders, the Randwick Cup. Hence the great burst of cheering when Ajax got to tho front at tho bottom of the straight and went on to win. More coincidental was the win of Wakeful in the second Australian race—Wakeful, the greatest and gamest of mares in a country that has produced a thousand great horses. All through the afternoon tho crowd milled round the tote, and bookmakers. Arab or Australian, all seemed intent on backing the winner. The spirit of the day proved too much for tho “ hardheads.” Two-up schools sprang up all over the course, and the Arabs looked on in amazement as the pennies Hew. “ Fair go spinner ” will become a common word with them as they describe some strange Australian cult round their camp fires. Tho Bedouin is a great gambler, and it was not long before several were well and truly in the games. The afternoon closed with the presentation of trophies by the High Commissioner. Sabbah Hamed, of the Sani tribe, was the proud winner of tho V.R.C. trophy, and very serious he looked as he affixed his thumb print to the document setting out the fate of the first foal from his beautiful mare. So the day ended, for the Australians their greatest picnic since leaving home. Nor was it an event without deeper significance. “ The propaganda value of a day like this cannot be estimated in money.” said a high and respected Palestine Civil servant.. “They love their horses, and a chance to race at a meeting as well organised as this one has never come their way before.”