CHINESE SPORT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1727, 21 April 1888, Page 3

CHINESE SPORT.

A Chinese horse-race is certainly suggestive of the ludicrous, but not more so than the reality as given in the pages of a recent traveller in the dominions of the Brother of the Moon. “Oo the afternoon of the cup day at the Hong Kong races,” says the writer, “ the main road is taken possession of for miles hy a swiftly circulating mass of chattering, pig-tailed, most uncanny looking Chinese. Here we are at the entrance of the grand stand. The saddling-bell rings, the numbers are hoisted, a thud of hoofs announces a preliminary canter. As to the racing, it is beneath contempt. The ponies are from Australia, Japan or Chufos—wretched, groggy, under-sized brutes—while the amateur jockeys are principally conspicuous for the preposterous length of their legs, their heavy weights and queer riding. A very good racer, according to their standard can be bought for about six guineas. But the races are only an excuse for gambling and drinking and betting on th« chances of the wretched screws taking the stakes, which ore pretty considerable. The signal has been given, and they are off. Here com© the horses. What a queer-looking lot the jockeys are I Bow they are hunched up! How they throw their arms about! How fiercely they flog ! What diabolical faces, and how queer their pigtails look, floating in the wind from beneath their jeckey-caps or falling over their silk jackets, for they are costumed tn regie / This is a race run by the grooms of English settlers and is the best one of the meeting. ‘Go It, Archer! ’ ‘Go it Fordham !’ shout their masters, by way of encouragement, and the yellow-skins scream and yell like frenzied madmen or enraged monkeys, until the goal is past, after which they strut about the course in their caps and jackets, evidently iram nsely proud of their make up & V Anglais