A GOOD WORD FOR AUSTRALIAN HORSES.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 385, 17 July 1889, Page 4

A GOOD WORD FOR AUSTRALIAN HORSES.

Ringmaster's victory in the Great Northern Handicap at the York Spring Meeting has elicited the following dissertation on Australian racehorses from ''Pendragon," of the "Referee" (England): — "It so happens that I foregather frequently with Australian sportsmen whose speciality is horse-racing. Without seeking to draw at all invidious comparisons, I may as&erl that the average colonial visitor to our shores knows mote of racing's practical details than ninety-nine out of a hundred of our race goer&. I have studied these colonials severely, and stood admiringly while one or the other has deliveied himself of thoroughly practical lecturettes on the turf and its ever-shifting conditions for competitors. Holding as I do the greatest respect for Australians' opinions on racing, I do not know where to draw the line on their estimate of our horses and theirs. 'We are sure co beat you for staying,'is their stock assaulton our national conceit. Until this week the argument rested on opinions only. Since Ringmaster ! smothered his Great Northern Handicap | field, a formidable example is ao hand. Mr Savile's horse had a great pull in the weights, we all know, but he ran on like a glutton for distance galloping, and I am told could have won with much more to carry. Now, whatever Ringmaster has done here, there is no doubt at all that he was not more than a third-rater at best down under. One may then naturally ask where we should be with some of the colonial pick. No one who has studied the subject can fail to see that Australianbred racers ought to be as good as they make them."