CAULFIELD

Otago Witness, Issue 2328, 13 October 1898, Page 31

CAULFIELD

The slowest record for the Guineas is Sandal's lmin 50^sec in 1884 ; the fastest is Carlyon's time — three years later, the big son of Chpsler and Moonstone beating Sandal's record by exactly lOsec. Relatively, then, Bobadil's performance on Saturday last is nothing to speak of from the -watch point of view. Yet this fact is of no special significance. If he did take lmin 47^sec to do the mile, we must remember that Caulfield is a slow course, that it was dull from recent rain on this particular day, and that Bobadil was never pressed. He took the lead in the first furlong, was not headed, and won as he liked. On form he certainly ought to beat in the Derby all that he met in the Guineas. It was in 1881 that the Guineas was first run. The Debutante Stakes was established the same j^ear, not under that name, but as the Caulfield Great Foal Stakes, a title that stuck to it until 1892, when Light Artillery -won. This horse, by the way, was the first Trenton to get home in this race. Tremarden this year is the second. His success was a godsend to the bookmakers, as the stable did not strongly fancy the son of Lady Harden. The time, 51£ sec, is about the average. The best is Challenger's 49J,sec in 1894 ; the worst, Ringmaster's 55^sec in 1884. Golden Queen, who finished second — and a good second — in the Debutante Stakes, is another that claims a New Zealand horse as sire, she being by Zalinski, one of Mr W. R. Wilson's famous pair which he facetiously alluded to as a pair of buggy horses. There are 34 final acceptors for the Caulfield Cup, and the prospects seem somewhat cloudy, since some of the horses that on form appear to be dangerous are not going very well on the track or for reasons not stated have declined in the betting mai/fcet. My own personal fancy for the Cup is The Chief, whose running in the Caulfield Stakes was decidedly meritorious, and next to him I like Thunder Queen and Cocos, with Wait-a-Bit likely to be troublesome if in the humour. Ido not, however, care to prophesy too positively. My information is no fuller than that which appears in the cablegrams.