THE GREYMOUTH JOCKEY CLUB ANNUAL RACE MEETING.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1754, 19 March 1874, Page 2

THE GREYMOUTH JOCKEY CLUB ANNUAL RACE MEETING.

Jupiter Pluviuß, who had dispersed his favors in a very praiseworthy manner on Tuesday, was good enough to restrain his ( hand yesterday, and, the weather was--) despite the proceedings of the previous evening in another place — • " Queen's weather"— warm, sunshiny, and alto- i gether delightful. Of course the postponement of only one day was sufficient to reduce the number of spectators, but still there was a good muster, about 1600 persons being on -the. ground. The journey, to the course taintly reminded one of the Derby. W<* say ; .f faintly," because in lieu of the proverbial dust there was plenty of mud; ' u 'There wtoe no "four in-

hands." nor crack teams of any kind, but there were innumerable 'busses and other vehicles which on account of having .slow horses were called "expresses." The problem of how to make two into one to go was solved, after very much skewing of coaches and hard swearing at horses at the,few ,deliglitf ul places,where f ±he,p.perat. tion was possible. The " road" to the cburk made by; the Jockey Club was what might be very properly called a via Inferno. The descent to Hades :may ;be easy, but jthe . sideline: constructed under the auspices of the Town Surveyor— not "cuss" was -in .such a state that, it was almost " impossible to use it. The exhibitions of, agility and— should, we say ancles 1 — which' occurred should have touched . the heart even of that great stoic the BbroucrhSiirvey'or.Flbp ! flop'! ! that was the process, and we ar e credibly informed that a selection of tudelums has been recovered, varying; from! twos to any other dimension one could name. A This Via- Doraloso: having been f passed thei course was reached — and, barring a few drawbacks, it is one of 'the best courses; in ■ the Colony. We could not help thinking that it was a shame that '-with such, a course, and with such a bill of fare, the Greymouth, Jockey Club should not commaiid the best races iti New Zealand. As ? a matter of fact, the money offered at the Greymouth meeting places it on a par with the best of the crack meetings, but ; oii ' this, -as oh previous : occasions, : the field was. too small,. and the big money was a gift to' any horse who was above the level of a scrubber. But notwithstanding all drawbacks .there was ah earnest desire to see "racing," and we may say that .for once the 'races yesterday were run upon their merits. The Hurdle Handicap was in every sense a " picture;" A prettier race was 'never run on any course, and the beadty of the contest was not marred, by accident of any kind. It was, really delightful to see the competing horses taking the hurdles like "birds "—no stumbling, no lifting, or anything but what was perfectly natural, s One had heard of covering a lot of steeple-chasers with a table-cloth'-rr-a'very small article of this kind would, have covered the- three nags; who jumped the hurdles in /this race, i- ! ■'.' ; The ; first ; 'event-^the Railway; Stakes, was rather "dark," Bero having 1 jbe'&i' scratched. It, was almost a gift to;Yat-terina—-in fact, it was .evident that she 1 ranto order, for her jockey "had simply t£ j say '"come," and she came in an easy winner without any effort. !

The great event — the Jockey Club Handicap—was^ well contested. Therej was> no i suspicion of "squaring" or arrange-'' nient of;any kind— had theie been, the'i' hone'stway in: which- the race \wasi run wduld r 'have satisfied anyone' : as^to: -the, ))0Mi s ji<lps of. ttie contest. v lt , wasa sple'ndicl, ra<ie j'not very special as' to speed, lput a thoroughly good contest, the best horse iVridpu btely winning/" It! was considered -.that; Lacenfeed would come to the frontj but the extra weight was too niuch,; and the little mare won easily. j

Altogether the, race meeting of yesterday was very successful,! the races beiug fair and straight; and the. horses, alth6ugh v few, good. : . ..r r : .-; ! i -The first event was : — • , - _;__ !■ Railway stakes, : 01 30' : sovs' ; 1£ - miles ; 1 ••' weight for age. Winner of any stake or plate, value of 100-sbvs,' to carry 7lb -penalty f-ofr 200 soys, 101 b. Entrance, ! 3 soys. ! Mr Walters's b m Yatterina, aged, Isifr l ,1 lib. (French) „... ... .1 -*.]. 1 Mr Cochrane's eh g Sandy; aged, 9st 4lb (Owner) ... ... 1. 2 Mr Carroll's br'g Nero, aged. ... J. ; dr. 1 Nero was entered but scratched, and the race was from the .first a gift to JTaV terina. 'Sandy played game enough, but it was no use, all that Yatterina'a. joukey had to do was to nurse the mare until the thrilling moment. : ' The next event wa*s the. I IJurdle Handicap Race, of 30 soys ; aTjout "2 miles. ' - \ Mr M 'lvor's Tommy Dodd, aged, lOafc | 121 b (owner) .;. > ..;.:■ ;\. .7 .!.' 1 Mr Camerou's Septimus,- aged, lOat (Calliban) ... ... ;;.- ! .;■ ".. ,2 Mr Carroll's Nero, aged, lOst 61b (Llbyr )- ; 3 Mr Seaton's Boy in Blue, 5 yre, Bst 7B) (Rraaft) ... ...; ... ; .:: ; . . 0 for which four horses as above comptted. A .better or prettier race ; was 'nsver run upon any course.' The betting was all along in favor of Tommy. Dodd, but if Septimus could have kepfrup^hjs beliows : he would have landed.the money. J3ep. got the start and kept it for some time,' buthis staying qualities were ; . not equil.tp •ihioae of the old horse, and laifter the first round it was evident the"." Dodd ?'j would win the money. ,, ; ;• 1 " " "' I The : Trotting ; Race , might ; . have been; very, well omitted. Three : horses competed, but as for. u trotting;''.inthe rtißchnical sense ©f the wordj.there'was^norie to 'speak of. One horse made i! a ■ judicjious selection between running and walkiiig— a pace which might be called a " butcl'ier's trot," but it was certainly not a -style of .runninsf- knowp to the rules'* of trotting matches. Thejbest horse on this occasion did not win, for it was.eyident'to everyone that had not_the Ranger bauikedjatf the corner. :herwould:haVe. won the trace, j The Handicap Race for thebig money was in everyway a splendid exhibitioli" of : g6 r odridingJof good horses;' It was thought to be a "gift" to , Lacenfe'ed, andiitis pn ibable that' 1 had she 1 had a quarter |of a mile less to ruii^sh'e would have ! piille'd it off.. : She tpok ; 'at \he start and kejii it up for some timej but Yatterina gradually closed up, and the two miares raced neck and neck in the middle of 'the racj — so close -indeed that it was hardly possible to distinguish' tieWeeh'thetn. But Malice, meantime,' asserted her position, and it required a little whipcord and steel to settle the difficulty, Yatterina 'Winning by a length. Malice played well — indeed it was a toss up whether she would 1 not win the race; but; although she was not first, she came in a very good second. And so ended the big event— and it ended satisfactorily to everyone .as being a proper' result. The : best Wse won— and for once in a way the Greymouth public had, the opportunity of witnessing some really honest racing, v - :'• ■■•: . kt

The Hack Race was interesting; and amusing, Rover being the winner, and Septimus -hiade^up- for lost time by 'winning the district Handicap.