When Racehorses Travel.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIX, Issue 4, 22 January 1913, Page 12

When Racehorses Travel.

SOME INTERESTING EXPERIENCES.

Many trying experiences have bee» undergone by those in charge of racehorses on their travels, writes Mr Harold MacFarlane in the December ‘■Railway Magazine,” some being more unpleasant than even that experienced by Mr. John Porter when that worthy trainer travelled to York with Virago, the one Thousand Guineas winner of 1554. During the journey the ventilator of the van—a somewhat crude a-pparatus, comprising a piece of ]>erforated metal about a foot square — blew off, leaving the valuable equine traveller in a through draught. Mr. Porter, however, w>as equal to the occasion. Taking a cushion, he placed it over the aperture, and, notwithstanding personal fatigue, held it in position for the remainder of the journey.

Early in August, 1905. when an express train lyas speeding from Atlantic City along Newark Bay, U.S.A., owing to the carelessness of a workman engaged on the installation of a new signalling apparatus in leaving the points open, the engine and tender jumped the metals and plunged into the sea, leaving the foremost carriage, containing a horse valued at £4,000, hanging half over the water. The horse was unhurt, but. its caretakers were badly shaken—a fate that also befell the lad who had Spearmint in charge when the Derby winner of 1906 almost came to grief on returning after winning the Grand Prix that year. All went well on the lastmentioned journey until Amiens was reached, and Spearmint’s van was separated from the others: but at this point a number of wagons wer shunted into it by accident with such velocity that the Derby winner’s “ wagon lit ” was hurled forward, and would have left the line had not a railway employee jumped forward and applied the brake with all his strength. Spearmint’s halter and girth band were broken, and the horse sustained some trifling injuries near its left eye, while his caretaker w*s also •hurt about the head.

This accident was unfortunately reproduced in the autumn of 1909 at .voi .h--allerton Station, when a passenger train which was being shunted ran into a horse-'box containing a racehorse and its groom. In this instance the box was actually forced over the buffer stops at the end of,the siding, and carried on to the station platform, finally crashing into a wooden telegraph office, where three eler.ks were employed. Fortunately, although the horsebox was upset, the telegraph office torn from its foundations and transported with its human freight several yards, no serious damage was sustained by groom, racehorse or clerks. On the London and North Western special horseboxes for racers are provided, having a partition separating rue equine from the human traveller, with an opening through which the former can put his head to be soothed by the latter in the event of its being alarmed. As a matter of fact, although some racehorses proceed on a journey by rail with the utmost equanimity, others, such as Signorinetta. the Derby winner of 1908, become very restless en route, and the groom is always anxious to prevent his charge working itself into a painfully nervous condition. How Laicimer, Signorinetta’s groom, pacified the mare travelling from Newmarket to Epsom, when Lord Rosebery became her owner, reflects great credit upon the deductive capacity of the caretaker. Knowing that the Chevalier Ginistrelli, the Derby winner’s previous owner, made pets of his thoroughbreds. Lattimer decided to try the effect of an ilhi.si<ui upon his charge by recalling to it the personality of its ex-master enough the medium of a cigar which that gentleman had given him. The groom is not as a rule greatly addicted to the “soothing weed,” but in this case he sacrificed his own inclination to that of the fretful Signorinetta. and by gently puffing tobacco into her face not only reconciled lier to her lot as a traveller, but thence onwards attached her to him.