THE DUNSTAN SPRING MEETING.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 203, 30 September 1873, Page 6

THE DUNSTAN SPRING MEETING.

The Dunstan Spring Meeting canie off On Friday, 26th inst.y &nd"' seldom have the Stewards of the Dunstah lockey plub had to congratulate themselves Oil a fortunate choice of a day, so far as weather was concerned. It was sufficiently warm t'O be pleasant, though the heat toad tiot been great /enough for the two Of llitee pveVious days to spoil the good effect qn.thVOxVUrse Of the late heavy rains. Not a particle of the dust which so often mars the enjoyment of a race meeting at Alexandra, Clyde, and Cromwell was therefore to he seen; and the effect wiii 'consequently to attract a considerable, atteh • 'dance of both sexes. The numbers Oil the . whole were fairly up to! the average, there being present between 200 and 250 people. Alexandra was very well represented, judging from the number who appeared enthusiastic over the performances of the Wild Maiix Boy (the Alexandra horse par excellence).; and, Cromwell contributed somewhere about fifty persons to swell the assemblage. The gambling fraternity, the Aunt Sally men, and the other heterogenous followers of race-meet-ings wef 6 conspicuous by their absence, and any betting that was done,was in that sociable, friendly, and mild fashion which certainly does not detract from the enjoy ability of a race-day, eveft though Only a Spring Meeting. We Were told, however, that a good deal of Speculation in the "coming 'events" had taken place the previous evening, under the auspices of Mr StanbrOok, the Frince OfCaicuttas. But the great majority of ;those present appeared to be quite content with the pleasure of the day's euting, independently of winning or losing anything on 'the various performances. . The grand stand and refreshment booth Were tolerably well patronised, though not so i well as the purchaser of the privileges might have desired ; but then too much is not ex-1 pected at a Spring Meeting. The arrangement of, the refreshment rooms, and the | various rooms set apart for the Stewards and ' the jockeys, might be imitated, with great advantage to themselves and those interested, ■by other Jockey Clubs. They are substantially constructed of weatherboards, roofed with, corrugated iron, and afford a marked and pleasant contrast to the comfortless and j barely decent calico sheds provided at seme I racecourses. The first event of the day was the Alexandra Handicap, for which seven horses had ! been nominated, though only five had accepted. Much regret was expressed that Brunette had not been handicapped in such a way as'would have enabled 1 her to' fun with •a Reasonable chance of winning ; but after Ybing beateh'by'Wild.Manx Boy with the j Alexandra weight On her, it would have been j foolish in: her'owner to have punished her, j without even a show of winning. As it was, the; "Boy" proved 'himself a safe winner,) never being-'fairly called, upon to show any great speed. 'The Dunstan Handicap, the next big " eventj" "was also won by Wild I - Manx Boy, Pickpocket and Sweetlips strug-! gling hard ! to wrest the from him, but without. avit ; all their O'fforts being not suf- j • ficient to persuade his rider to even shake his • whip at him. So confident, indeed, were the 'backers of ! the '" Manx" 'that he would win, that they freely offered & to 1 on his winning, with only'here and there a'taker. The following is a detailed account of the ! various races : Alexandra HAMUOAt> of 10 sovs. Distance, I three-quarters of a mile. Hfr Rivers' Wild Manx Boy. Bs't Gib...(Holt) 1 Mr to 'Kay's Sweetlips." flstflb (Brosnan) 2 Mr Jack's Artful Joe, Bst (U ichardson) 3 Mr Kidd's Silvertail, 7st 121b (N T unn) 0 Mr M'Kay's Maori Chief accepted for this Tace, but did not put in aft appearance. Sweetlips did her best to ptisli the Manx Boy, and came in apparently a good second ; but the Boy throughout was kept well in, and was never called upon to exert his powers. 'Silvertail, of .which something had been expected, was nowhere. Maiden* Ptate of 10 soys. Weight for age. Distance, three-qnarbers of : a mile. M r Morgan's Pickpocket (Richardson) 1 Mr M'Kay's Maori Chief (Brosnan) 2 Artful Joe, Pretty Girl, Bobby, and Nevis also ran. After four or five false starts, the team got away not in the best of order. It Boon became apparent that the race lay between Pickpocket and Maori Chief. The Maori tried his best, but was not able to pass the Pickpocket, who, however, had to race all the way to the post. Hack Selling Race of 10 so vs. Winner to be sold for £ls. Three-quarter mile heats. Mr Hawthorne's Mr Beck's Maori ~ ] 22 .Mr Liscol's Pretty Girl 3 0 0 Mr Kidd's Silvertail 0 0 0 Four horses started for this race, Mr Beck's Maori winning very smartly the first heat, With Blackbird and Pretty Girl hard behind. Some difficulty was experienced in starting the horses for the second heat,and eventually only Blackbird and Maori got away, Blackbird, coming in, first, though Maori's crafty

nearly again, snatched a victory.. . Pretty Girl -ana Silvertail then rom ™ e contest, anci after another sharp for it, Black]) ird again £ame in the winner: Blackbird was then, put up. at. auction, but .was bought in at £l7 lbs.. Dunstan Ha,n»i.<la> Of gOsovs., with n sweepstake of one soy. jidded.: 'Distance, I.], miles.' Mr Rivers' Wild.Manx Boy,-lift .......(Holt) 1 Mr Morgan's Pickpocket, 7st Gib...>.....,..;.. Mr M.'Kay's Sweetlips, Bst 81b \ Brosnan) 3 Mr Phaser's Flora, 7st 01b ....(Fraser) 0 Artful Joe and Kidd's Flora were scratched, their chances, not being considered good after the result of the Alexandra Handicap. After a few attempts, (each of the jockeys being apparently anxious to get a favourable start j) Mr Taggart gotthe lot off pretty well together. The " Boy," as in the first event, soOn took the lead, which he maintained with the .'greatest apparent ease the whole way. Coming up the ruh home Pickpocket and StyeOtlips looked at first as if they, intended to make him. run for it, but it had no effect On the rider of the "Boy," as he. never tocuhed him with either whip or spur. Consolation Handicap of 5 sovs. Three-quar-ters of a mile, en •>: Mr Sweetlips. (Brosnan) 1 Mr MfKayte Maori Chief. (Eraser) -2 No interest was taken in this race, as it was well known thfct the two horses belonged to the same owner. Most Xti the spectators, indeed, had started for their Several homes before it came off at all. In the evening a large assemblage gathered in the Town-hall to Witness the entertainment given in Aid of the funds of the Dunstan Hospital by the Cromwell Amateur Dramatic Club. The programme was Similar to that given at Cromwell in aid of the Athenaeum Building Fund, so it hardly calls for any detailed notice at our hands on this occasion*. It is enough to say that.the actors performed their several parts quite as well on this occasion as they did at Cromwell, although with far from the same happy effect. This result I Was entirely caused by the defective.arrangements made by the Hospital CmOmittee> or rather by those persons to whom they nn- ! fortunately entrusted the carrying -out'of the details incidental to a public performance. The hall itself was ml lighted up at thte time appointed for the beginning of the performance, and it was only half provided with seats. Nearly half all hour after the perforl.mattce had begun, several of the cOnih'iifete'e, | anxious to repair the fault committed, were engaged bringing seats into the hall, and.it may easily be imagined what effect the shuffling of feet, and the shifting from one place to another of people, had upon the per-., formance. The actual result was that only those in the front who were fortunate enough to be possessed of seats were able to hear with any effect a word of the pieces, and j when a laugh was elicited from them, those I j standing behind could only wonder what lit was they were laughing at. It was very unfair to the performors and to all con-! corned, and we only hepe the Dun&tan. Com- j mittce will never entrust the management of j the details of an entertainment to the same hands again. We make these remarks itt no unkindly spirit, for wc have ample reason to know that none were mere chagrined at the result than the members of the Committee themselves. The Dunstan Brass Band played several pieces during the evening,—before the beginning of the dramatic entertainmerttj during the interval, and at its close, —in a style which does the members of it, and especially their leader and instructor, Mr Wylde, the j greatest credit. Mr James Hurley (a Cromwell amateur) also at the close of the first | part treated the company to sonic Irish songs j (in character) in his very happiest maimer,] receiving for the first a hearty and unanimous j encore. At the conclusion of the performance Mr W. L. Simpson, on behalf of the Hospital Committee, returned thanks to the performers for their services in aid of the Hospital, which was duly acknowledged by Mr Fraer on behalf of the performers. The company then dispersed for a quarter of an hour to allow of the hall being cleared for dancing. A very large party re-assomblecl for that purpose, and " kept it up" with the j utmost heartiness and goodwill till about two j o'clock in the morning, the Band kindly giving their services till that time.