The New Plumpton at Auckland.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume III, Issue 146, 11 May 1893, Page 6

The New Plumpton at Auckland.

By

'Sir Launcelot.'

For some reason coursing has apt ‘caught on’ in New Zealand so Before the days of Plumptons, Watetloo Cups were tried away down South in the open in the Otago Provinces, and they used to have some rattling good sport -there, , too< Open coursing, both there and: in Canterbury, flourished vigorously ( ; for -a 1 ■ time, but up to then, so far a'S'/T khptyjfip coursing was carried on in the ; North Island under the' operations oLt any coursing ;club. Many’s the.good, time. J?ve had/)in the open (down in' Canterbury with some enthusiastic coursers who them, under the enclosed system.: The Canterbury Plumptpn died out for want of proper sport, and .coursing, may , now truly be said to be dead down there,? but in North Otago they course, in. the .open and give decent stakes, and owing tpthp Dunedin Jockey Cliib lending their t ingjinfjuenco there is,now >4 nice, jumpton laid out at the Forbury Park. About a couple of years bactc we used to hear a a good deal ofcoursing in Hawke’s 1 Bay,' but the sport seems ' to have iahguished there 1 lately. Some Auckland coursing Enthusiasts some time ago laid'oatha Plumpton at Papatoitoi but to this’ground the same objection applied as 7 to ! others that I have been acquainted‘ with down South—-it was tbo far from the metropolis;and the consequence was people did not’ journey there in sufficiently large numbers to allow the club to Catry oh withbUF a loss and the ground ’had to’ be abandoned. Thus for a titne coursing became defunct ip Auckland/; btit coursing club has been "Tbrined bn/ a substantial basis,' and a 'Pluinpton has been laid but' on' the Avondale Jockey Club’s racecourse. It was with 'the object of seeing this new Pluttiptbii ' that I journeyed to' AVOndale last "■ • Saturday afternoon.' For the information of my readers who do not ’ reside irt Auckland,’ I may* say that Avoridale is distanthbbUt eightmiles from Auckland, and can bp easily reached at all hours of the day by either ’bhs bt rail, the ’bus road travellingJhrbugh sbme beautiful scenery; Arrived-at tire Course, I found Host Foley, of the. Avondale' Hotel,; who is a real “ grafter?’; ;at the coursing game, hard at work superintending some ploughing operations, andabit of a hard job it was, too, for it had been raining all the morning and the ground was very slushy. To add to the. discomfort, it started to rain soon after Mr Foley started to sbow me how far the: formation of the new Plumpton: had progressed, so we didn’t have a very nice time of it, but I saw enough to convince me that the work has been done thoroughly, .and energetically by those who have laid out this-new PlumptonJ < ; m The whole of the racing track proper has for the purposes of this Plumpton. been - enclosed with m a r wire netting specially;:imported from England; and which I could-see is of excellent quality? The dogs will be slipped from: the end near where the present caretaker’s house is situated.? A Slipper’s hut will beerected* and the usual race will be- provided? From here to the escapes at the opier end of the course, wpl . afford a straight run of about 600 yards, which.is ,quite enough license,, and it mpst not be forgotten that puss may bend tq eithpr-the left or the right, ; and will all the timP/be ip full view of; the spectators. The es-, cap.es have been particularly, jvpll constructed, and after the hares haye escaped they will find splendid shelter .in . the fences around.the course? and in some high grass at the end of thp course faqing towards Waikomiti. Most of. the steppiechase fences nppr,on the course;, will hetaken down, and the, hurdles rt and log fences, also removed. Altogether I was, very pleased with yvhat jl sa.«[. had been , done,; to wards _■ the formation, qf Auckland’s new and all that is.qqw wanted; is : a, p)ep- : 4jl supply qf hares,;, which } ha^fft. not cpMe forwardrso far. quite as promptly.aSvCOuJd be? wished.. .Thisßas been mainly.dun to thq wet w pathpj which MW; the Waikato, and Mi is .thought somq will hayp lo be procured frpm, tite fl SqiiUb However the club should have littte.pr no difficulty : ip. surmounting this:; p.hstaqle, and with. the. perfpet arrangements.jthey (SO jar made and- are epntinuing ,tp make their initial meeting qpjpnp f 17 should inagurate^jicw exa in coursing in Auckland. ... ? . ■.. ; !q- U ■ j.i, Li Ui.w. Msn i