The Melbourne Cup.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 2, 8 December 1911, Page 16

The Melbourne Cup.

r - ■ ■ «* — .-; As it appeared to "Cilrooney.'* ' Another' Melbourne* Cup is numbered with the things that' have been; Melbourne on the Yarra has been pro- ; vided with another golden harvest; and goodness only knows how many fortunes were; lost and won when The Parisian lived up to his name, 'and proved himself to be a very rapid party indeed. * * * There is no doubt that the Melbourne Cup is now a world event. The result' is flashed across the desert sand to the loneliest outposts of Australia; underseas it is borne on slimy, wires J;o .the furthest ends of the earth. And the Cup is cosmopolitan, inasmuch as some representative every nation' in existence' is there. Foreign vessels make a point of reaching Melbourne about Cup time; and thousands of staid anti-sporting people somehow find that they have most important business- in Melbourne on or about the first Tuesday in November. * .'. * . . * Tuesday's Cup crowd was a spectacle to remember. All trains, tratus, 'buses, and motor cars led to. Flemingtool. And so did "Walkers' Bus,"j and scores of little boats that plied their way up the river'and deposited their racy cargo on the near-by bank. Everybody seemed to be there;., big, brown, bushmen from the hills; .men from the deserts, with sand in their hair, and great wonderment in their eyes; "cockies" from the mallee cjouiitry—l could pick them by the wheat in their whiskers and clothes jthat might have fitted anybody but themselves. The wowsers were also there. I could pick theni out by their long faces aiideyes that squinted upward to where their owners will never go. *».'.--■ * * The lawiv, as usual —only more so — ■, was a blaze of colour—a riot of frills and fashion, The "hill" was never before so terrifically patronised; To : 'shift from one place :to another 50 yards away represented an hour's hard walk. Jfc ". * B . ' By the way, the "books" there soon "tumbled" ■to this fact, and offered just what, odds they liked. Some of them cramped odds in <a most scoundrelly fashion. One of them was of-, fering 20 to 1 Alarm (100 to 1 could be obtained; in the grandstand enclosure); 16's was the best about Hartfell (he started at 25 to 1). The best they could do" with Lord Nolan (a 100 to 1 chance) was 40 or 50 to 1. If the 'hooks" on'the "hill" lost—well, then it wasn't their= fault; not by a long way. " '■ ~' ■■■ .' ..*..■' * • The flat—ror the "poor man's lawn" or the "Methodists' Paddock," as it is called—w r as a seething mass of peo; pie—of whom, probably not 10 per cent; saw as much as two yards' running of the Cup. Only 'those immediately near the fence could see. Those behind could only see the new kinds of hats worn-by the old kind of ladies in front. But if they didn't see the Cup, they were somewhat in the vicinity. And that was sufficient. % * * Up on the "hill" the tickct-snatch-ers were doing great business. By the way, in a new book called "The Rich "Uncle from Fiji," the modus operandi of- the snatchers is ; described. IV is how the leading on courses since the big clubs instituted control over all bookmakers. It is, usually worked by three or four "heads" with rummy tickets, who bustle" into a.crowd around a "bookie" who is paying .out. If a "lamb" puts up a ticket like a signal to stop a train, it is whisked away in a flash. One of the "heads" grabs the ticket, tucks it under his arm, and so it is passed out, by his confederates. It is done very '•. quickly, and as nine out of ten persons don't remember the number of the ticket, all hope of ever getting paid is gone. Even some of the shrewd "heads" have fallen victims to the snatchers' audacity. The_ most knowing may be caught napping., . But once in the straignt, The Parisian- who had a grand passage, shot through the field—and the race was won in the twinkling of an eye. He won by about two lengths, but he was only cantering. He could have won by ten lengths. * i * -. * * The Parisian, is a very dark brown. Racing with his coat ashine with perspiration, he resembled Comedy King. "Comedy King wins!" was the cry that went up from thousands of throats. Then it dawned on the shriekers that it was a horse of a slightly different colour that had won. And they shrieked again. 0 • B » » Comedy King made a fine dash at the distance, but he could make no impression" on The Parisian. Trafalgar' could only play into twelfth position.' Didua did well, and Flavian, who is a top-notcher, but a bit unlucky, did better. But the honours; x>f the.fee Men division were with Cadonhi, who was racing over everything at the finish".■is scribe would like to tak© 500 to ] now about him for the aiexfc Cup. He' is a chAmpion in the making.