TALES OF PAST RACES

Taranaki Daily News, 6 November 1934, Page 4

TALES OF PAST RACES

THRILLING VICTORIES SYMPATHY FOR TOPWEIGHTS. POITREL’S GREAT WIN IN 1920. As is nearly always the way with crowds on racecourses, the public sympathy is with the topweight. There is nothing the average racegoer likes better than to see a real horse win a big race, and to carry top weight to victory in a Melbourne Cup a horse has to be good indeed. When a topweight makes his effort over those last three furlongs watchers forget their own wagers and cheer the champion. The greatest effort in recent years

was that of Poitrel in 1920. This great V ' chestnut had the welter impost of 10 - stone to carry and opposed to him were some good horses, among them being Eurythmic. Going out of the straight the first time Poitrel was at the tail of the .■ field, a long way from the leaders. But that was the right place for him. It was always maintained that he regarded a race in the nature of a game. Once all the field was in front of him the game commenced; he set off to overtake the others one by one. As soon as he passed' the last one the game was over and he immediately began to pull up. One day at Sydney he nearly lost a race through this habit. He passed the other horse a furlong from home but immediately stopped and the other managed to get up to dead-heat. In the Melbourne Cup Poitrel had 20 horses to catch and with 10 stone aboard He waA like the man with the wheelbarrow—he had the job in front of him. He commenced his run from the back of the field five furlongs from home but at the home turn he had still six in front of him. Among these was Eurythmic. Many wondered whether the weight would tell, and doubtless it did, but Poitrel had a great heart and on he came, Responding to every effort of his rider (Ken Bracken) he cut them down in grand style to win by a long neck from his stable-mate Eurasmus.

CROWD ON ITS FEET. This brought the crowd to its feet, and even the Melbourne crowd forgot that Poitrel came from Sydney as he passed the post and came back to scale. They did not care where he had come from; he was a great horse who had just won a Melbourne Cup. It was estimated that Poitrel’s connections won £65,000 through the success of the chestnut that day. A similar sum was won when Bitalli won the cup. The horse was trained by the veteran James Scobie, who “set” him for this race nearly a year beforehand. He won a race at Adelaide in the previous April but was not started again until the day of the big Flemington race. To the average racegoer the starting of a horse in a two miles event Without a race for six months appeared rather a risky procedure, but Scobie always subjected his charges to a searching preparation. He was so confident that he decided against even a start in the Hotham Handicap on the opening day. In the race Bitalli lived up to his trainer’s opinions to score in good style. Another big plunge that succeeded was that on Revenue in 1901. A few weeks before the event he was quoted on all the cards at 50 to 1, but so solid was the support that came for him that he started at only a few points over evens. It takes a big sum of money to back a horse to that extent for a Melbourne Cup. Phar Lap’s failure in 1931 will always remain, one of the mysteries of the race. Despite the fact that he had the tremendous burden of 10.10 the Red Terror was in such wonderful form and the opposition so mediocre that he completely monopolised the market for weeks before the race. When the field settled down he was in a good position, but just when he was expected to come along to win in the gjorious style that had characterised his victory the previous year he started

to weaken And finished well back.. His inglorious display stunned the crowd, and many were the tales and rumours that circulated in the city during the next few days. HOW CARBINE WON. ■ The “old timers” always, like to refer to Carbine’s great victory in- 1890, when that great bay son of Musket lumped-his record weight of 10.5 to victory. Describe ihg that race one of the Australian papers wrote as follows: — As the great field lined up at the post the flag went down to a splendid start, and, as the contestants dashed down the straight at a pace strong enough to win a Newmarket Handicap, excitement was raised to a high pitch. After Tantallon, Highborn; The Scot, Gatling and Whymbrel ~ alternately had forced the pace, Enuc assumed command six furlongs from home. A little further on Muriel challenged Enuc, aiid; Correze and Highborn putting in their claims, they raced in a heap past the half-mile post, while the great ruck that followed had Carbine at the head, carrying his great weight well and not half at his top'. Once into the straight Carbine came through with a terrific run, which soon placed the whole field in trouble.' Quick as thought the topweight cut down his horses as if they were standing still, and at the distance he had established a lead of a length. Highborn and Correze made a determined run at the half-distance, but Rammage, drawing his whip, shook it, and Carbine, resenting the implied insult, settled down into his wonderful long swinging stride and the cup was over, for he drew away and won easily by two lengths and a half from Highborn, who was a length and a half in front of Correze, with Enuc fourth. Time, 3m 28is.