Sport in Australia.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIV, Issue 812, 28 September 1905, Page 9

Sport in Australia.

(By

“Atlas")

Sydney, September 20.

The third day of the Australian Jocke Club is generally regarded as the off da of the meeting, but nevertheless on Wee uesday the attendance was good, the ra< ing interesting, and the contest for th Craven Plate, in which such turf cell brities as Gladsome, Machine Gun, Mi niopoto, Emir ,and Marvel Loch were ei gaged, was alone worth going to Rant wick to see. The New Zealanders wei not so successful as on the first day, bt still they had more than their share < success, as three out of the six races wei annexed by New Zealand-bred horsei There were no New Zealanders in th opening event—the Second Hurdle Rac —which resulted in a good contest, Cr sis just beating the favourite, Paragol In the field of five starters for the Crave Plate, one mile and a-quarter, weight ft age, Gladsome was made favourite at to 4, while Emir was at 5 to 2. After great race Gladsome won by a neck froi Marvel Loch, who just beat Emir by head. This confirms the opinion I hav previously expressed, that although Emi may be able to beat Gladsome over a mi] and a-half, the mare is superior over an shorter distance. Maniopoto ran disaj pointingly, and Machine Gun, after lea< ing for nearly a mile, dropped out of i The mile and a-quarter was cut out i the slashing time of 2min 7sec. Th er was a big field, but no New Zealander in the Suburban Handicap, which wi won by Arates, a hot favourite (Sunde land) being second, and Royal Artht third. New Zealand was again to tl fore in the Grantham Stakes, one mil There were only four starters, and a though Sungod was penalised, bringin his weight up to 9st 31b, he was made hot favourite, the bookmakers asking to 1 on. The race was a cake walk f< the New Zealander, who won as he likec the place-betters being Jargoon and Bii nia. The other starter was Grafto Lad, and the time Imin 40jsec. Nothin would go down with backers in the W; combe Stakes but the New Zealand fil Lsolt, and odds of 13 to 8 were laid o her. She fairly justified this confidenc and romped home an easy winner fro: the Wellington Park-bred Canteen, whi Roller was third. The time was 2mi 20Lsec, which equals the Australian r cord for one mile and three furlong There were no New Zealanders in tl last race of the day, the Sydney Hand cap, which was won by Elvo, with P; nama and Tatterdemalion in the place It was a bad day for the bookmaker whose faces wore an elongated appea ance at the close. Elvo, the Sydney Handicap winner, h; incurred a penalty of 71b in the Caulfie] and Melbourne Cups. The A.J.C. Meeting was brought to most successful close on Saturday, whi the weather was again fine, the atten, ance excellent, and racing good, that the club have every reason to 1 pleased with the result of the sprii gathering of 1905, which will be ma< memorable by the wonderful success New Zealand-bred horses, who account! for more than one-half of the races < the programme. The only represent tive of New Zealand in the High-weig] Handicap, Machine G*un, cried non-co tent with the heavy impost of almo 14st, and it is perhaps well that he d so, because he would not have had mu chance to beat Handsome, who, with £ 101 b, cut out the six furlongs in lm 14-Jsec, and easily beat a big field. Nf Zealand was once more to the fore in t Members’ Handicap, in which that bea tiful filly lsolt (9st 51b) gave away a 1 of weight to a field of nine opponent

and started at 2 to 1 on. Her brilliance was once more conclusively proved, and "the easy way she won from Roycioft (6st 121 b), and Bluster (7st 21b) set people talking afresh about the superiority of the New Zealand thoroughbred over the Australian, and they nad reason to renew the theme in the very next race, the Steeplechase. Four out of the nine starters represented the island colony, and Haydn (3 to 1), Up-to-Date (4 to 1), and Sultana (5 to 1) received most sup-

port. Haydn disappointed his supporters by running off early, but Up-to-Date and Dingo were always prominent, and the first-named won easily in the end from Dingo, with Middlerose an indifferent third. Sultana ran disappointingly. There were no New Zealanders in the Waverley Handicap, which went, to Scot Free, a representative of Victoria, with Bromine second and Elvo third. Only in one more race on the card—the Randwick Plate—was a New Zealander en-

gaged, and that was Nightfall in the Rainbow Plate, two miles and a-quarter, and she put the seal on the fame of the visitors, as she won with ridiculous ease. There were only four starters, namely, Emir, F.J.A., Marvel Loch, and Gladsome. The popular fancy was Emir, who went out at 7 to 4 on, and Nightfall was the only other backed at 5 to 2. Emir was in one of his bad humours, but even if he had not he would not have been equal to beating Nightfall, who came

away from his horses and finished fully 20 lengths in front of Marvel Loch, whc was five lengths in front of Emir. The time (3min is a record for the race. The success of the New Zealanders had aroused no jealousy in the crowd, for when Nightfall returned to scale she was enthusiastically cheered. New Zealand, although not directly represented in the Final Handicap, had something to do with the winner, Lucknow, as he is by the ex-New Zealander Russley, and he was followed home by St. Modan and Fashoda. Lucknow is one of the oldest geldings racing, and his success this season for an old horse has been phenomenal.

The principal prize-winners at the meeting were:—Air. G. G. Stead, £3570; Mr. H. E. Good, £2222; Mr. J. C. Smith, £1117; Air. E. Clarke, £670; Air. S. Green, £619; C. Barlow, £520; Hon. A. Wynne, £460; and Air. W. Lyons, £396.

The annual road race from Goulburn to Alelbourne was brought off on Monday, and created a lot of interest, an immense crowd of people assembling at the winning-post at Ashfield. The distance was 131 miles, and there were 87 starters, including representatives from all the States and New Zealand. The limit man started at eight o’clock in the morning, and the scratch men, J. and R. Arnst, of New Zealand, were despatched at nine o’clock. J. Arnst is the recognised long-distance rider in Australia, but New Zealand was represented by a lot of other riders, including O’Connor, the winner of the recent big race from Timaru to Christchurch. The winner turned up in Al. Robinson, of Cooma, a brother of the winner last year. H. L. Orr, of Newtown, followed ten minutes later, and close up was Hagney, of Parramatta. The following is a list of the placed men, together with their starts and actual riding time:—M. Robinson, 55m, riding time 6hr 41min 30sec, 1; H. L. Orr, 60min, riding time 6hr 56min 45sec, 2; S. F. Hagney, 35min, riding time 6hr 36min, 3; L. Hogan, 55min, riding time 6hr 59imin, 4; F. Allsopp, 30min, riding time 6hr 37min, 5; G. C. Smith, 50min, riding time 7hr 6; A. M. Brennan, 60min, riding time 7hr 18min, 7; E. C. Robinson, 50min, riding time 7hr 22min, 8. The next riders to arrive were:—E. Gartrell, 9; J. Alumford, 10; T. Selby, 11; W. Larcnmbe, 12; W. Walsh, 13; J. Arnst, 14; B. Woolf, 15; D. H. Carmody, 16; A. E. Sommerville. 17; R. Hird, 18; A. R. Roberts, 19; G. B. Dean, 20; R. Arnst. 21; E. O’Connor, 22; A. E. Paiscoe, 23; E. Larcombe, 24. Jack Arnst, the New Zealander, secured fastest time in the race, chronicling 6hr 35min 30sec for the 131| miles. His record, for the course was 7hr 7min. The previous winners were: — 1902. L. Littlechild, 7hr 52min; 1903, O. H. Brook, 7hr 28min ; 1904, J. C. Robinson, ,7hr 55min.