OAMARU STEEPLECHASE CLUB'S MEETING.

Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 716, 26 July 1878, Page 2

OAMARU STEEPLECHASE CLUB'S MEETING.

i Owing to a very great pressure upon our spn.ee yesterday we were unable in our last issue to give more than a brief description of two of the events. We may now say that the meeting was not so successful as have been many of its predecessors. This may be attributed to two causes. In the first place the threatening ! aspi-0.. of t..e we idler in the early part of the. (iae, gr.aily interfered with the attendance. Ac mid-day. the time announced for starting the first race, there were only about 2-jO people on the course, bur throughout the afternoon the number was augmented hv fr. Sb arrivals, and probably between <)oo"and 1000 persons attended the races during the latter part of the. day. The sport was greatly marred, especially in the two first events, by the ■ frcpient banikings at the water jumps. These consisted of ditches of from 10 to 20 fee! in width, with almost bare rails placed along the centra of them. The horses did not take kindly to these, and in every case two or three attempts had to be made before any of them could he landed on the right side, while in numerous instances their riders bad to cut oil', and retire to the saddling paddocks defeated and disgusted. It is to be hoped that the ridiculous cut yesterday by many of the competitors, and the utter absence of anything like legitimate sport during the earlier portion of the meeting, will induce the Committee in future to either do away with water jumps altogether or place a solid hurdle j i;i the centre of them, so that the horses will not be abb; to see the water on both sides, and become, as the Americans expressively term it, ' c skeered" at the jump they are asked to take. On one occasion nearly half-an-hour was spent in inducing a number of the horses, many of which were well-known good jumpers, to negotiate the jump, the consequence being that the race was simply.a gift to the horse who did manage to get over it after a couple of attempts. The antios cut by the other horses, and the perseverance of their riders in their efforts to get them, over, may have created some fun to the onlookers, but it did not afl'ord sport of the legitimate order. It was absurd in the extreme, and calculated to make the whole meeting a ridiculous farce. Then, again, there was a want of punctuality in starting the various events, not one of which was stari ed within less than half-an-hour of the advertised time. We deem it well to mention these things in the hope that the lessons learned at yesterday's meeting may be taken to ' heart and matters improved, on future •• occasions. The grand stand was very , well patronised, amongst the occupants being a fair sprinkling of ladies. The' various booths under the direction of Mr. ' W. Maitlaud appeared to do good trades. A strong body of police was on the ground, but their servicea were not in

great requisition, only one instance occurring where the interference of the police was necessary, and that only to allay the pugnacious proclivities of an individual who had imbibed rather too freely. Having said this much we will proceed to give an account of the two last events on the programme, the chief of which was the

OAM.VRU HANDICAP Mr. S. Powell's ch g The Agent. 4 yrs, 12st V2lb (P. M-Coy) I Mr. B. Eraser's b g Shillelagh, aged, list 611) (Unodmau) 2 Mr. Hoskiu's b m Brunette, aged, list, Theodore and Silverstrcam also ran. Eversley, Stockman, Tommy, Baron, Jack, and Sha-k were scratched. Betting.—Kven money about 'Die Agent, 5 to 2 against Silverstrcam and Shillelagh, 4 to 1 against Theodore and Brunette. The flag fell to an indifferent start, The Agent rushing away with the lead, followed closely by Shillelagh, Silverstream acting as whipper-in. The tirst fence was safely negotiated by all, and ai i ho second gorse hedge all got over safely with the exception of Silverstream, whose rider came to grief, the horse following the others round, and taking three jumps before he was caught. Meanwhile The Agent led the other horses past the stand, with Shillelagh second, Theodore third, and Brunette fourth. At the water jump, they all baulked. The Agent, Shillelagh, and Brunette got over at the second attempt, hut Theodore could not be induced to follow. All the horses refused the second wafer jump, but The Agent goi. over at the s. cotid attempt, shillelagh following 20 lengths away. Going round thi! back of the course, Shillelagh gained considerably on The Agent, until when th'-y entered the straight the latter was only leading by alvnt four lengths. On coming up the straight to the next fence, Shillelagh got within a length of the chesnut, but M'Coy called on The Agent for a tinal ell'ort at the second last hurdle from home, and his horse drew away, taking the last two hurdles in line style, and won easily at the iiuish by three lengths. Brunette was a bad third.

CONSOLATION" HANOK.'AP. Mr. W. TT. Keith's br g Stockman, ngcd, 10-t 711) (A. Lyford) ] Mr. J. Black's br g Ivanhoe, aged. 12st 71b (Joyce) 2 Mr. K. Fraser's oil g Tommy, aged, lOsfc 7U) ... ... ... (Armstrong) 3 Siilei.igh, Brunette, Barou, and Billy Button also ran. Borting.—2 to 1 on the field. The horses wont- away to n good start, and the lirst three fences were taken by them .all, with Baron in the lead, and Billy Button at the tail end. At the warer jump, all rushed through it. Baron being the lirst to get out on the other side. Baiueon that, an I the next water jump, lie obtained a strong lead. Stockman cant'' u«xt, SliilJelii'.'h third, and Ivaulioe t'our:'!:. Bai'nn, Stockman, and Ivanhoe got over the second uai.er jump, out ShilLlagh refused. Going rouiul me back of the course, Si.ockman drew op to B.u'oii, and the two raced up to the third jump from homo —a timber fence, gorsefopped. Stockman cleared it in fine sryly, but Baron struck it, and threw his rider. Stockman then cantered in aneasy winner. Ivanhoe was second, and Tommy a good third.