VETERAN OF RACING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20656, 30 August 1930, Page 13

VETERAN OF RACING.

MR. ARTHUR SELBYLAST OFFICIAL RIDE* MEMORIES OF SPORTING LIFE, EARLY DAYS AT ELLERSLIE. Mr. Arthur Selby, the "grand old man'* of hunting and racing circles, will ride as clerk of the course for the last time today. He is 85 years of age." Mr. Selby, who might have ridden out' of Dickens or Goldsmith, has a host of personal friends because ho is an attractive man of character. But he is held in high regard by tens of thousands moro who know him only at a distance. Every visitor to the Racecourses instinctively; feels at the sight of the kindly face with its Dundreary whiskers above the red coat of the hunting field that here is a man to be taken at once to the heart.. Such is his personality. It is not because he is aged or because he is a picturesque figure. Everyone knows that he belongs to the highest order of sportsmanship. Sport, particularly hunting and cricket, has been his obsession. "If I had been half as keen on money-making as on sport," he said, when interviewed yesterday, "I would have been a millionaire. But I would take the same line again and chance it." And one recalled the lines of Lindsay Gordon in the "Dying Stock Rider":"I would live the same life over if I had to live again, And the chances are I'd go -where most men go." When Hermit Won the Derby. "I saw my first Derby in *67," he said. "Had to do a lot of work on the farm before starting and had to run five miles to the station. Yes, I was something of a stayer in those days. It was a cold day and the rusty brown coat of Hermit was on end and he did not look a winner. The Marquis of Hastings backed both his horses, The Earl and Lady Elizabeth, against Hermit, and Hermit's win broke him, poor chap. "I saw Doncaster win the Derby in '73. We came away in a four-in-hand. I had a pea-shooter and I .shot a policeman at a corner. Then we struck a jam and the policeman came along, so I slipped off and ran. I wonder why I thought cf that silly episode ? "The best hunter I ever had or ever rode was Wooden Leg. He didn't look much and my uncle called him Wooden Leg when I first took him out. He was a marvel." A photo of the horse was produced. The girth came about the middle of the barrel, and, as Mr. Selby remarked, "the muscles of his hindquarters were as low as a pig's." A Memorable Meet. "I rode him at a joint meet of the Surrey and Mid-Kent staghounds. I used to talk to him and at a bad place I'd suggest that he should not try it, but he had a way of pulling and shaking his head to let me know that it was all right, and then I just had to sit on and let him take charge. At this meet he led a field of 300 and was the only horse to take the gate jump with the stream beyond. Good old Wooden Leg. Hunted for eight years before he fell. "The stags for these hunts, you know, used to be trained for it—fed on white peas and oats and carted to the spot. Once I was suffering an injury and the doctor told me not to hunt, but said I could trot about as a spectator. I had old Wooden Leg. The stag took a long time before it jumped out of the first paddock. By that time I couldn't help it. Off we went, the huntsman and I—and he had an arm in a sling. I remember going through the Otford churchyard jumping just by the tombstone of James Selby, 'friend of the poor'—cousin of my father—and we two rode alone for six miles after the hounds. Oh, the fun of those days!" Former Bacing Days. Mr. Selby was appointed clerk of ths course at Ellerslie 36 years ago. The previous year a flat race had been started before the hurdles had been taken down. All the horses survived and went the course. "Things were rough in those days," he said. "People who objected to me as a newcomer used to interfere with my.horse, but I couldn't stand that. In a year or two, however, they realised that I was fair and I had no more trouble. The funniest episode was when a man on the course was warned back by Sergeant Gamble, but he ran between Gamble's legs and tossed him. " Stop him,' roared Gamble, but how could I ? I nearly fell off laughing." Racing, said Mr. Selby, was now much cleaner than it was in the days of licensed bookmakers. Once he had followed a messenger from a bookmaker to a jockey, already on the course and upon his return heard the odds completely change.In former days the last race was the "Recovery Stakes," with post entries and handicapping on the spot. It used to delay the finish for an hour and more. Later the races used to be deliberately; delayed to help the "machine," but in Mr. L. D. Nathan's term of office that was finally stopped. With a memory clear as day Mr. Selby, recalled famous races and racing incidents* When Kingswood and Miss Nelson deadheated in the steeples the owners did not but raced again. Jack Rae won on Kingswood. "A bitter race," ho recalled. "He and Katerns, the other rider, afterwards fought." Ellerslie's Greatest Race. "The greatest race ever seen at Ellerslie was in 1900 when Seahorse, owned by Major George, beat Explosion, owned by Messrs. L. D. and N. A. Nathan, in the Auckland Plate. They were locked all the way. Explosion was a lazy horse and his rider, Gallagher, was done at the finish, otherwise Skeats might not have got Seahorse's nose in front. A great Great Northern was when Levanter, with Jack Rae up, beat Liberator, ridden by Free Holmes. It was as near as anything a dead-heat, but Rao threw his body forward at the post and so seemed to catch the eye of Major Banks first.

"No. I never betted much. Onre in England I won £lO on the Oxford-Cam-bridga cricket match. The bookmaker pave me double or quits. I won. Then he offered to put my £2O on Iroquois. I did not take it, but Iroquois won at something like sixties. No. I have not betted much since."

The most enjoyable period of Mr. Selby's life was when he was training bin own horses, notable among them being Nor-west. He used the Sylvia Park track. On the same ground lie won his last point-to-point race 20 years ago on Woodcock. He was then 65 years of age. It was to have been ridden by his son, aged 15, but it was classed as a heavy-weight. Because there was some talk of a "double" the old huntsman forthwith decided to ride. "If ever a man went out to win I did on that occasion," he said. Tliei-e is a photograph of Woodcock with the 65-year-old rider in full flight over a rail fence.

Hi* last point-to-point race was ridden at Ramarama six or seven years ago. The horse, Hobart Town, was nearly 20. "No," concluded the veteran. "I am getting stiff. I have not played tennis or cricket for six or seven years now and I haven't been over a jump for two or three."

Mr. Selby makes a wonderful beverage called milk punch to an old English recipe, but he does not. smoke. Ho has not smoked "since Hermit woo th« Derby."