CHRISTMAS SPORTS AND RACES.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 442, 31 December 1868, Page 2

CHRISTMAS SPORTS AND RACES.

FOURTH DAT. Yesterday was the fourth day of the sports, and the third day of the races by which the people of Westporthave entertained themselves and their neighbors for the Christmas holidays of 1868. It was also the last day of both sports and races, all the items of the extensive programme which had been prepared having been accomp!ished within the four days, except the " collar and elbow" wrestling. The competitors who have entered for that particular sport may probably engage in it to-day, at some convenient place in town. For the present, however, the use of the race-course, the sports ground, and the booths belonging to it may be accepted as concluded. There still remains, of course, the aquatic sports which formed a part of the amusements of the holi» day season, according to the original design, but we are not sufficiently acquainted with the secrets of the treasury chest] to be able to say whether the intended regatta can be held or not. It is to be hoped that it will be held, if it is only for the good moral or mental effect it may have by acting as a slight negative to the "horsey' element which at present occupies so much of public thought and conversation. At any rate it will nottake place before theadvent of the New Tear, and there will be time in the interval for people to recover their equanimity and their ordinary sense of the serious interests of life.

It is necessary, in referring to the events of yesterday, to begin, as usual, with the weather., Of the several good effects which may accompany the sports which are past —and it is to be hoped they have produced no bad effects upon anyone's head or happiness —one good thing effected has been the demonstrating to the assembled population of the district that fair weather does prevail in it sometimes. We hope that no one will be ungenerousenoughto say that ihe exceptionally good weather they have enjoyed is only worthy of notice as proving that the rule is for the weather to be quite the reverse. Whether or not, no man can be prepared to deny that the circumstances were altogether most favorable for the sports, and that they continued so up to the last moment. We say " up to the last moment " advisedly, for not more than a moment or two had passed after the last race of the season, when it commenced to rain, and it is now raining with a decided determination to make up for the temporary respite to mortals which the Clerk of the Weather had given for the past three or four days. Fortunately for the fairer of mortals who visited the ground yesterday, the majority had left soon after the Ladies Race, and, if they missed seeing the " Consolation Stakes," they must feel the consolation of having reached home with their artificial adornments their flowers, feathers, and such other " fixings " —undestroyed. The raoes for the day consisted of two Trotting-Matches, the Miners' Purse, a Ladies' Race, and the Consolation Stakes. The only sports other than racing which remained was that of the Cornish or Devon wrestling, some of the competitors in which had wrestled on the previous day, but with no decision as to the prize-win-ner. The crowd of persons which these different events attracted to the ground was not quite so numerous as on the two previous days. Still there was a large and animated gathering; and, altogether, the number of people who have assembled during the different'days may be taken as a satisfactory indication of the extent of the population of the district. How well employed the majority of that population also are was sufficiently indicated by the freedom with which money was spent. How much there was of freedom, and how little of any aggravated form of folly there was in the spending of it, was apparent by the marked sobriety of the crowd, and the general

good order which prevailed. Much was, no doubt, drunk of drinks various in name, color, and weight; hut there was no case of " drunk and disorderly," or of the other condition, " incapable." "We have not heard of evena single police charge,althoughit is scarcely in the nature of things that, in a mixed population, assembled at such a season, there should be altogether a clean charge-sheet. That thereis nothingatall prevailing of party feeling, or of any tendency towards disturbance of the peace, as was supposed to be the chronic state of the district in the early part of the year, was abundantly evidenced. A more well ordered or better-tempered crowd of people than that which has been assembled daily for four days at the Westport sports and races could scarcely be seen at any similar assemblage. The following are some details of the different races:—

TEOTTINO MA.TCH. The stakes were £2O, and the distance three miles ; catch weights, and post entries. The horses entered were Mr J. Bell's Kildare, Mr A. Patrick's Modesty, and Mr D. M'Ginley's Flora Temple. Itwas not much ofa race, Kildare having the whole show to himself after the first, when he was well held by his rider, with some difficulty in keeping him to a trot, which, when thoroughly in the humor for it, was done in very fine style. The grey mare Modesty also trotted very nicely, but not in the same true style. Flora Temple frequently broke out of the trot, and the order in which they came in, with a long advantage to Kildare, was Kildare Ist, Modesty 2nd, Flora Temple 3rd. The second match was for £lO, with the amount of all entries over two. There entered:—Mr J. Connelly's Wild Irish Girl, Perrott and Brownlee's Mendoza, and Mr M'Ewen's Bob. In the first round Mendoza and "Wild Irish Girl came in abreast, and Bob as third. In the second round the order was —the Girl, Mendeza, and Bob, two lengths apart. In the third round the Girl was ahead only half a length, Mendoza being second, and Bob two lengths behind. In the fourth round they were all two lengths apart, "Wild Irish Girl winning. She was ridden by Campbell, who had been in a majority of the < races throughout the three days, and who won all the races he had ridden but two.

MINEES' PURSE. The stakes were .£ls, for all horses regularly worked in claims or drays on the South-west Gold-fields for three months previous to the races. To be run in heats—distauce one mile. The horses entered were Mr Alcorn's Darkie, Mr M'Kenna's Polly, Mr C. Lyon's Bobby, Mr Brownlee's Mendoza, Mr Maloney's Baldy, Mr Coxon's Limping Tom, and Mr Stitt's G-arry Owen. The following was the result of the two heats : Ist heat. 2nd heat. Garry Owen 1 Garry Owen 1 Bobby 2 Darkie 2 Darkie 3 Limping Tom 3 Limping Tom 4 Bobby 4. As posted, the places given to them were —G-arry Owen, Darkie, Bobby, and Limping Tom, Darkie having been sec or. d and third, and Bobby second and fourth. But they were all, or the first three of them marked "protested," and we are not aware how, or if, the stakes were awarded. Since the above was in type, we understand that the Stewards have decided that the Miners' Purse shall be again contested by the horses Limping Tom, Bobby, and Darkie; and they have held the protest as good against G-arry Owen, the horse not having been entered according to the conditions.

LA.DIES' RACE. The Ladies' Race naturally excited considerable interest, and, perhaps, anxiety on the part of some, whose experience may have taught them that such races are often attended by accidents, or whose sensibilities are so keen that the contemplation of a fair rider hurting her little-finger, much less breaking her neck, would make their gallant blood run cold. Our reporter considers that we are fully justified in saying that he belongs to the latter class ; and, judging by the convulsive gasp which he gave when one fair rider fell from her saddle, and fortunately into the arms of some one or half-a-dozen, we imagine that we are perfectly so justified. It might however, be either the fact of falling, or the fact of falling into some other one's arms than his own, which was the cause of his jealous anxiety. He was unfortunately seated on the extreme top of the Grand Stand, and had some difficulty in reaching any probable scene of aecident on the course just at a moment's notice. His friends, in fact, had quite as much difficulty in re-

straining him from attempting something of the kind. His expression was i that he would have taken leave of his life and all his sweepstakes to he the happy man upon whose devoted head and shoulders anyone of the fair riders would have pitched, as he saw one of the number do. Our impression is that he has taken leave of his senses. Sweepstakes and " swipes " have evidently,in his case, a maniacal influence. The horse entered for the race of which he has such a confused idea, in consequence of his greater interest in the safety of the riders than of the auimals, were Mr Kingham's Selim, Mr Stitt's Garry Owen, Mr Trimble's Gipsy, and Mr Coxon's Barwon. All the riders were undoubtedly wellmounted, so far as the appearance of horses and saddlery went. The peculiarities of the animals under feminine government developed themselves, however, before the race was run. There was a quiek equal start, but Selim, ridden by lady in a jacket of blue, very soon took the lead, and maintained and increased it. Gipsy, whose rider had a plain dark habit, was next in front. They were the only two who got beyond the straight running in the first round. Barwon, which was keeping on the outer edge of the course, made a dash to leave it altogether, and its primrose-jacketed rider made a flight in the air, not altogether in circus style, but she had the fortune to fall literally " into the hands of the people," and she soon remounted; but a bad example had in the interval been afforded by ' Garry Owen, which bolted.from the course at Gibson's corner, with the apparent intention of saving the young lady in pink from any evil that might befall her in the sight of strangers, by taking her home to her friends. Barwon was similarly affected at the same corner, but they were brought back in 1 sufficient time to allow their riders to ■ witness, with delight or disgust, the finish of the race by the two others. "Without referring to the style of the equestriennes on horseback, which is, of course, warmly debated, we may say that Selim came in a dashing first, leading Gipsy by a number of lengths, and the winning " jockey-ess " (if we may coin a word for the occasion,) was loudly cheered.

COKSOLATION STAKES. A. Handicap of 20 sovs. £ls first horse, £5 second, for all horses beaten at the meeting. One mile and a-half. The entries were Mr M'Laren's Deerfoot, Bst lOlbs; Mr Harris's Lightfoot, Bst lOlbs; Mr Coxon's Ladybird 7st; Mr M'GKnley's Squatter, 7st lOlbs. We have only space to say that the race towards the end was between Squatter and Deerfoot, and Squatter might be said to win on three legs. The order was: Squatter ... ... 1 Deerfoot ... ... ... ... ... 2 Lightfoot 3 Flora Temple 4 Lady Bird 5 This concluded the racing. WRESTLING. The wrestling was undertaken at intervals. We made a mistake yesterday in saying that Braithwaite had thrown Cowen. It was Cowen who threw Braithwaite, and the remarks as to acting on the defensive applied to Cowen. Yesterday Math. Byrne threw his man, Nattrass, very soon, and, after a long struggle, and several foul falls, Dunn threw Simpson. Cowen then threw Dunn, and for first place Cowen and Byrne wrestled. Byrne was less light and playful than with Nattrass, Cowen going in determinedly to win as he had last year. Byrne was, however, sufficiently unguarded, for he was finally caught in his play, and cleanly thrown by Cowen. The collar and elbow Wrestling will take place to-day at noon on the sports grounds (weather permitting), and the Miners Purse will be again run for at two o'clock, as advertised. There is some talk of a private match taking place also to-day between Cossack and Prince Patrick. .