AFTER 50 YEARS

Hokitika Guardian, 11 August 1932, Page 2

AFTER 50 YEARS

trainer still wins races. , ABOUT JAMES SCOBIE, ■ \ ’ SYDNEY, August 9. 1 Anyone who could follow the mind •of Ahs 'veteran Flemington trainer ■James Scobie to-day would glean a ■ store* of reminiscences and gain a re- ; markable insight into racing history ■of the last 60 years. Lor this is the iSO’th anniversary of the day on which •Scobie realised the ambition of every cross-country jockey by winning the fj rand National /Hurdle Race at Flemington, and since that day 'Scobie has gone on from success to success—first as a rider and then as a trainer.

The horse on which Scobie won the Grand ‘National was 'Rhesus, trained by Isaac Foulsham, who, despite his 76 years, still follows his calling in Sydney. Scobie was to have ridden Lothair in the Grand National Hurdle Race of 1882, but two weeks before the race another jockey was engaged, and Scobie accepted an offer to ride Rhesus. The irony of it for Lothair’s owner was that Rhesus defeated hie horse by half a head.

~ Scobie, as is only natural in .view of his mafty great wins over fences, always contends that the modern steeplechase horses are inferiors jto those of 40 or 50 years ago. In , his ivolume, '"My Life on the Australian Turf,” he remarks; -—“My memory goes back to stai*s of the ’chase such as Sussex, Himalaya, Left Bower, Corythus, Ringwootl, Blue Mountain, Lone Hand, Ruby, Kangaroo, Sir Peter, -Handy Andy, Redleap, and Hans Bveitman. Such horses far outclassed their successors of the present day,”

Many racing men of the present day v.-Jll not agree with that statement, and they direct attention to the fact that when Scobie won the Caulfield Grand National Steeplechase of 1837 on Blue Mountain, the horse baulked early in the race, but, taken on again, scored a very easy win. The modern contention is that no horse, past or present, could give such a performance among steeplechase horses of the present class. 1 In Blue Mountain s days, however, jumping rather 1 ’ 1 than c j\ €e P was the chief consideration. The -steeplechase course at Caulfield was turfed, and the horses jumped fi-om .setad. In addition, the fences were muefi 1 higher than those of today. Blue ‘Mountain, however, possessed more than the average pace on the flat, and was heavily backed for the V.R.C. Botham Handicap at the Melbourne Cup meeting of 1888. He ■missed a place, but made amends by winning both hurdle races at the mooting—one with 12.10 and the other with 13.4. In the <SO vears' s’nce Scobie won the Grand National Htmlie Race on Rhesus ho has trained the winners of .nearly every important race ' in c States. Among the victories are four Melbourne Cups, and Scobie desp’te his 72 years, is still a power in the world of racehorses and racecourses.