RACING IN SAN FRANCISCO.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1213, 31 May 1895, Page 24

RACING IN SAN FRANCISCO.

HOW IT STRIKES AN AUSTRALIAN. Chris. Moore, the well-known jockey, has returned from San Francisco with amusing reminiscences of Pacific Coast racecourses. The Bay District Track is popularly believed to be the best round 'Frisco. Thia Moore describes as being in the most primitive scate. When he arrived they had had 85 days' continuous racing and considerable rain. The con- j sequence was that anyone who wished to cross the course had to don leggings up \ to' his thigh. After each race a thick: plank was drawn round the course to give the mud a smooth surface. "A good mud horse" is a favourite term. The jockeys ride with a single rein knotted. They bend over the horse's head and grip the bar of the bit, and when they attempt to use the whip in a close finish they tumble off.' All the riders wear leather overalls. It is thought nothing for a starter to keep the field three quarters of an hour at the post, and if the rider 3 attempt to "beat the flag " they get hit over the head. There ia no clerk of the course to lead the winner in. On the contrary, the first rider that gets to the gate is weighed in, and the winner has to take his turn. At this operation the weigher is not particular to three or four pounds. The steeplechase course Moore describes as like a switchback railway, and on two miles there are only five fences, and those of such a nature that Moore offer to carry any one of the stewards over them on his back. No work is done in the morning, all the training being done on the track between the races. The sheds are also built on the edge of the track, and tho horses are walked about with their clothing on in the intervals. In many races only an hour is allowed between the time for entering and issuing the handicaps. Yet they give good prizes, such as £IOOO for a four-mile race, and .£2OOO for a mile and a quarter. The records Moore utterly discredits. Carbine he told them could not do the time, to which the cool answer was that they •'had better horses than Carbine ever was." Stromboli had developed a bad

leg, had been blistered and sent to the stud, while Doncaster, who formerly belonged to Mr Keys, was running well. Moore saw Jim Hayes in 'Frisco. He is now on his way back. Moore says he would have stayed in America but that he saw " there was nothing in it. It was all boom ana blow—a big gamble, extending over 133 days' continuous racing." [The above is Moore's "impressions," as supplied to the Melbourne Sportsman. As I am not in possession of the information as to whether Chris, has ever chopped down a "cherry tree" or not, my readers can please themselves whether they swallow the statement about the jockeys bending over the horse's head and catching the bar of the bit, and when they use the whip they tumble off. —Gipsy King.]