A HUNDRED-MILE RACE,

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 132, 18 August 1870, Page 7

A HUNDRED-MILE RACE,

The Race, from Dubbo to Orange, New South "Wales, nearly 100 miles, between Mr. Frost's Colonel,, and Mr. Tarrant's Barmaid, is now amongst the records of the turf, as an instance of the wonderful endurance of the equine race» and an illustration that- "blood must tell." The «■ Western- Examiner" says:-^" It had been, arranged that the horses should start fron.the telegraph office, Dubbo, not later- than- seven o'clock on Monday morning, the 4th instant, the one not appearing at that hour to forfeit the stalces. At halfpast six, the start was made, the day beingfavourable overhead, but the roads

in terrible condition. The Barmaid was not up to the mark in point of condition, yet evinced her breeding very creditably. The distance between Dubbo and Wellington was travelled in three hours and forty miuutes, the the horses being neck and neck at the punt — which they both entered together. From this point the race seemed either of the horses' until arrival at Shepherd's Creek, within three miles of which place the mare got behind, and on arrival found that Colonel had had his feed and just starting again. The race here may be said to have been virtually at an end, for the Barmaid remained behind at Calcula, and did not reach Orange until next morning. Various wagers appear to have been made as to the time that would be occupied in the journey, most persons inclining to twelve or thirteen hours. Nevertheless, when ten hours had expired, interested spectators began to gather at the Telegraph office. Orange, in anticpation oftheprobabilty that it would be done in less. They had not to wait long, for an advance guard soon arrived with the intelligence that the race was nearly at an end, and precisely at one minute to five o'clock the Colonel passed up the street, hard held, amidst the plaudits of a large concourse of people. The distance between Dubbo and Orange is stated to be ninety-six miles ; and as the road had to be kept the whole of the way owing to the boggy state of the bush, it may be estimated that every inch of that distance was travelled. The time Colonel took the journey was ten and a-half hours, which gives an average of nine miles per hour. The speed at wich the last stage was performed is something incredible — the last twelve miles being accomplished in one hour and ten minutes ! The arrangement was that each horse should carry 9st. On Saturday Colonel was declared lo carry 9 st. 4 lb., and Barmaid 9 st. 6 lb. This has ben made the pretext for a protest on the part of the owner of Barmaid, who makes a point that the weight was not declared at starting, but to us it appears that in a case of this sort it is not compulsory to adhere strictly to Jocky Club rules, and that if the weight decided on was carried, the race has been fairly won. The Barmaid was ridden by Walter Higginbotham, whilst Roger Davis piloted the Colonel." Colonel arrived in Wagga Wagga on Sunday (10th instant), with his owner, Mr. |Frost, and has been very critically examined by the knowing ones there. The " Express" says he is a dark game- looking chestnut, and, as his performances have shown, is a real hard, plucky bit of stuif. Prom Orange to Wagga Wagga in a week and over a flooded boggy country, immediately after the conclusion of a hundred-mile race, is no bad performance."