SPORTING.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 15782, 2 April 1919, Page 8

SPORTING.

ENGLAND v, AUSTRALIA. Tke Australian, horseman, B. Cacsiake. was recently interviewed ini England on racing matters, sad says tue interviewer; Barsiake, in his views about Australian racing and English racing, is not dogmatic. Nobody is who knows both, it is only people who talk by hearsay who think they know everything. Garslake says; “Every thing is so different in the two-countries that it is impossible to give an opinion. as to which is the better. In Australia every racecourse is run from the spectacular point of view, to draw the public, like football or athletics, or boxing, in England. That is the reason why in Australia there are such large attendances. The longest straight track in the whole of Australia is six furlongs. That is at Flemington. The whole of the races in Australia are run on circular tracks, so that the public can see the races. The crowd would not stand anything else. Fancy the public in Australia being asked to see the Cesarewitch at Newmarket, two miles and a quarter, and only half a mile of the race to be seen without raceglasses ! Everything on Australian racecourses is studied not to bring out the best qualities of the horses, but to give the best show to the public. Here Australia beats England all ends up. In England the public do not get anything like it. You could not compare the two countries in this respect." Having delivered himself of this, Garslake went on to paint the other side of the picture. “As for comparing racing itself in England with racing in Australia, there Is no comparison. No jockey who has ever ridden in England would ever want to leave England. Racing in England is on a pinnacle, and after riding in England it would be going downhill for a jockey to leave the country. There is no racecourse in the whole of the world like Newmarket. It is a verysevere course, from the easiest five furlongs to the severest Wo miles. There is no horse who does uot stay who will win. any r'ace there. That is what stamps the mark on any horse that wins at Newmarket It stands to reason that Newmarket makes a heavy call upon all the art that a jockey possesses—the nursing of a two-year-old, the judgment of pace, the different gradients, the knowledge of the mount under you, whether to take the lead a furlong from home or wait to get your advantage till you are on the post. These points and many others have to be considered. The race tracks in Australia are not to be compared, any one of them, with the courses at Newmarket. From the point of view of bringing out what is best in a horse English racing is out by itself."

Ih New Zealand it is not pemissahle to run matches, but in England things are different, and recently a match for A 250 aside, two miles over hurdles, was run between Mr 11. Bottomley’s br g. Gorydon, and Mr Jas. White’s Ivanhoe. Commenting on this, an English writer

says:—“\Yc then came to the sporting match between Gorydon and Ivanhoe. and if the general impression prevailed that it was a reasonable good thing for Mr Horatio Bottomiey’s young horse, it was not conceded that it was hy any means a foregone conclusion. Odds were laid on the Dicker-trained five-year-old, which was expected to act. as well in the heavy-going as Mr J. White’s chestnut. The experimeut was tried of running Ivanhoe for the first time in blinkers, and he appeared to stride out with more freedom than he had done in his rare at Wolverhampton. From the outset it was a soundly-run contest, the pair keeping close company and racing neck and neck right up to the entrance to the straight. Up to that point Ivanhoe was going ns well as the favourite. Duller being the first to show his mount the whip. The chestnut made his first mistake at the first flight in the line for home, Gorydon then getting about a length the best of his rival. Ivanhoe was not to be so easily shaken off, and, answering to the calls of Driscoll, drew up to the Corydon’s quarters again. The latter, with his stone pull in the weights, drew ahead again, and two flights from the judge apperaed to have the best of Ivanhoe. Doth horses then began to tire perceptibly, and Gorydon knocked down the penultimate hurdle, but lost- no ground in so doing, and went to the last jump more than a length in front. One was as tired as the other, and Gorydon crossed the final flight with an effort, but on the fiat he put two lengths of daylight between himself and the well-beaten Ivanhoe, and though he went across his opponent in the run home he was the requisite distance in front, obviating any question pf an objection. Thus ended a very interesting and sporting match, and the only regret is that Mr White was not present to witness it.