MAJOR TAYLOR'S AUSTRALIAN TRIP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7695, 2 May 1903, Page 6

MAJOR TAYLOR'S AUSTRALIAN TRIP.

(SydrJay " Referee." April 15.) Taylor finished hia- Australi-ao. racing tour in Melbourne om Monday, and leaves _ for Paris io-morrow. He has certainly ridden quite- equal <to his- reputation ; in fact, I think it' will -o found that he at times rode hotter than ever before. , This is not surprising, onco given hi. aretivrn to form, for the Austi-iian climate has-a, peculiarity of improving o<n good athletes. v ßill Martini is a oase iv point. Taken ail round, Taylor has shown him seli far -too good for Australia's _£_t, and in. mentioning the bar© fact that some of our beat, notaibly Walne, 'were never in. form to engage him, there is no desire- to detract from Taylor's prowess. He has wonderful sprinting powers and fine judgment, -and ihat he possesses heart and stamina were, also shown -by _is 'brilliant, but haTe-brai_ed effort- to beat the fieldi "om ihis own" in the " Sydney Thousand." Where hejbeat our men, chiefly, was iv the pfhen-om-enal way i_ whidh : he got pace on. from the report of the pistol. He was up to them before they: got going, so'that the handicap that he 'waa flaked to give was n-ul_B,ed. While he could not do impossibilitaes, still, he often, unpace'd, caught fcis fields- in-' a surprising maimer. . Still, with all Thisbrilli-aicy, he (had hi. baddays, which, in contrast to hia good o_es, were very bad indeed. On. ome day mi Sydney, for which tJhere was mo apparent excuse, he failed to score, and ihe same in, Melbourne last Saturday, after imo«rt -rillia-rt form two days before in Adelaide. Perhaps the cold weather was partly to '-lam-. During his previous visit to Mel-oume.. influenza _no_ked him out for a while. # . Taken, a* togr'-'Jher, Taylor may consider himself lucky while here. He picked up form in a. few days, andi generally retained it im a. ■. marvellous manner. Admitting that he is. keen on ihe game and command- success by his attention to training, ■stall he coaud not have prevailed) against a ruu of ill-luck. There was Zimmerman, for instanoe. He wis in his day, as much a champion, a. Taylor to-day, add yet his Australia— tour was practically a racing failure. ■- Tho «nterprisinc epor'tsmen who brought Taylor to. Australia, are" to be . highly complimented on the success ot their .pluck from a cycling -and sporting point of view, . and no doubt -ley" wili in ithe near future "go ome better," and givo us several other • etaxs to enthuse over. 7