Page 25 Advertisements Column 1

Otago Witness, Issue 1901, 17 July 1890, Page 25

TO CORRESPONDENTS. {Correspondents must forward their proper names as a guarantee of good faith. Full performances of horses cannot be supplied through this column, but thet* and extended pedigrees can be arranged for by communicating with the Editor.] A. P.— At the March meeting. X. M.— The consultations you mention are both genuine so far as I know. J?BD.-On the subject you refer to the New York Clipper Annual tor 1890 says t— " George Seward, the American sprinter, was given a record for 9i»eo ruu at Hammersmith, England, September 30, 1844. Although the time was phenomenal, the runner was yards faster than any sprinter of hit day. and the record remained virtually undisputed until after the lapse of many years, and the few who at the time presumed to question 16 being silenced by a Btanding offer made by Seward, through Bell's Life, to repeat the performance for a good-sized stake. In those days, however, recordmaking was not hedged about with the safeguards of later years, and the failure of the fleetest runneis of modern times, with all the advantages of superior paths, equipment, and training, fco nearly equal Seward's figures, strengthened the conviction of those who discredited the performance. Their arguments were direoted mainly against the watoh with which the race was timed, which, of course, was hardly as worthy of dependence as" the stop-watch of the present day. That fact alone, however, was not conclusive proof "that the race was not run in the time stated, and we allowed the performance to remain among the records. Now, however, we are in possession of the evidence of an eye-witness that not only was the race run from a flying start, but the piece of turnpike road on which it took place was downhill— facts that warrant us in expunging It from the record." Otkpopo.— Mr W. R. Wilson's Beaufeast, engaged in the Oaulfleld Oup, is by Plebeian out of Festival. She has not yet raoed in Australia.