CLOSE FINISHES.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVI, Issue 957, 9 July 1908, Page 5

CLOSE FINISHES.

Those who, as it is termed, “ live on the game,” that is, make a living by following racing, are always opposed to weight-for-age racing (says an exchange), from the fact that the fields are never very strong, consequently they have no chance of getting on early, as in the case of handicaps, and then retail it out through their favourite bookmaker to the public at a profit. The genuine racing man, on the other hand, admires w.f.a. racing, and so do the public—generally. Very often do we see a keen contest between the cracks at Randwick and Flemington. Was there ever a finish for any handicap that has aroused the enthusiasm at Randwick as did the great race for the Craven Plate between Carbine and Megaphone, when the equine champion defeated the Queenslander by a head on the post. Many other keen contests could be mentioned, the most sensational, perhaps, being the dead-heat between Reprieve and Dagworth in the Randwick Plate (and, so far as Auckland is concerned, the memorable go between Seahorse and Explosion). For a series of close finishes, I should say that the Newmarket Stakes, run for at the second spring meeting of the English Jockey Club at Newmarket, has proved a remarkable record of late years. In 1890, according to “ Ruff,” there was only a head between Memoir and Blue Green, and in 1892 Curio only beat St. Angelo a

head, while a similar distance separated second and third. In 1895 The Owl defeated Solano by a neck, and the judge returned a similar verdict the following year, when Galezzo was returned the winner. The race, it may be remarked, is for three-year-olds, run over 1% miles, so that it is not a sprint event by any means. That the close finishes have continued since the dates mentioned is another curious fact, as in 1900 Diamond Jubilee only beat Chevening a head, and William the Third was only, the same ahead of Doricles the next year, and after a great race Ard Patrick defeated Fowling Piece a head, in 1902. Henry the First’s victory was only a head over John o’ Gaunt in 1904. Lally beat Malua a head in 1906, and Acclaim was a head in advance of Linacre in 1907. The score is of 19 races, eight have been won by a head and two by a neck. No handicap can show such a record.