SENSATION AT RACES.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 1510, 9 March 1920, Page 5

SENSATION AT RACES.

PHKXOMENAL DIVIDEND. An unlooked-for racecourse sensation in the form of what is believed to be a world's record in totalisator dividends, so far as concerns one horse, enlivened the annual meeting of the Nelson Trotting- Club, which 'was held at Richmond Park on Friday. The last race but one on the programme was the Wakefield Handicap, of one mile and a-half, a Nelson and Marlborough district race of £55. The names of twenty-one horses .appeared on the. card, and there were fourteen starters, one» being a grey mare (aged) named Wairoa Belle, and owned by All - L. Bertett, a farmer, of Hope.

There was only one £1 ticket on the machine on this mare. Another starter -was Mr L. Reilly's grey mare (aged), Cloraine. In the first quarter of a mile these two greys went to the front, Cloraine being in the lead. This position was maintained throughout the race, Cloraine being Three or four lengths ahead of Wairoa Belle until the straight was reached, when the latter came up in strong form, and Cloraine, then well under the whip, about a furlong from the post in front of the stand. Wairoa Belle won by a couple of lengths, the first of the remainder of the field being about fifty yards away.

An excited rush -was. made for the totalisator to ascertain the amount of the dividend that was coming to the lucky holder of the only ticket on the winner. The total invested on the race 'was £1570, and the dividend of Wairoa Belle was well over four figures. The second horse paid only a small dividend. A well-known Nelson merchant held the only ticket. The merchant is reported to have received it in mistake for the number he requested from the totalisator.

The course was a scene of unprecedented excitement for about a quarter of an hour, and it was with difficulty that the spectators roused themselves sufficiently to take trie usual interest in the last race of the day.