THE MELBOURNE CUP DAY.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 200, 30 November 1871, Page 6

THE MELBOURNE CUP DAY.

Griven a public. holiday, and a generally prosperous community, a great prize to be run far on the racecourse, and a numerous field to compete for it, i a grey English sky, and p, pleasantly cool tea-breeze, and the net result is an enormous concourse of people, and general enjoyment. Forty thousand men and women and children gathered from all ranks of society, and collected from all parts of the country, assembled together on the 9fch inst., at f Flemington to see the Cup run for and the race,.and what took place before it, are thus described by the ! " Argus " :—: — MELBOURNE CUP. A sweepstake"? of 20 soys. each, 10 ffc., or 5 if declared, with 300 soys. added. The second horse to receive 50 soys., and the third to aave I his stake. Two miles. Mr. T. Tait's b h The Pearl. 5 yrs {by New Warrior). 7st. 3lb. (including 31h. extra) (Ca.va.nagh) v - - - -1 Mr. .T. Thompson's b m Romula, 4 yr-3, 7sl. 101 b. (Wilson, jun.) - - -2 Mr. J. J. Miller's c c Irish King, 3 yrs. 6st. (Haiighey) 3 Betting— 3 to 1 agst Bpmula, 5 to I each agst Lapdog and Cleoljte, 7 to 1 each iigst Little Dick and Saladin, 10 'to 1 a^st Pyrrhus, 18 to 1 agst Bylong; 25 to 1 agsfc' Valentine and .Barbelle, JOO to 1 arid '£* agsli The Pearl . ... , draped his "flag "to a" gpodj BtarX' fhe'

horses coming down the straight wejl together, with I^arbelle a?d Saladirt leading by about ha)f a length on ' 'the' inside, The Pearl, The Baron, ,an<! : " Aruma, head and head in thd- centra, the others, all .together, close behind. Going round the first turn, the Monk and Lord of Lynne came down,- and GMencoe staggered over them* Barbelle held the lea<J. as they sailed.along the river side, witL Saladin close at . her heels, the.PearJ, Pyrrh.vs. and The Baron iin mediately behind." Opposite the' bridge, Mr. Lee'g mare ' gave way, and the grey horse earned on the running a length in advance of the others; Cieolite, Little Dick, and Romula run.ning sixth, seventh, and eighth ; the repfc all close up. They kept so until they got half a mile f ro m home, when. The Baron, Barbelle, and Fyrrhua fellback, and Tbe Pearl elose,d on the leader, Romula and Irish Kipg following in his wake, with Little Pfck on," the latter's quarters. At the distance* Saladin hung out signals of distress, and liwauhx pan up to The Pearl and brought him to .fcbe whjp, to' which Kg answered gamely," and beat her in' the run home by two lengths. Irish King came up ve/y fast at the last and passed Saladin on the post by 'taff a neck for third place, a length behind Romula. Little Dick was c.lose jjp fifth and Mermaid $ixth, ttoe.u'Eynrhus, Cieolite, and The Baron ca'tne in in, that orcler. Time, 3m. 3§8. ! A prol test was entered against £he winner; but dismissed.

Quite a rush took place to have a look at Lapdog, and when it was seen. that Savage had the mount, Romula, with young Wilson up, became the rage. Of Mr. Tait's pair, tbe Eearl was-., hardly noticed, the yellow and b.lack on Pyrrhua indicating how the wincl lay. Aruma did dot look well in her coat, and we liked not the short, step of her hind le^s. G-leucoe, Nimblefoot, and The Foam were saddled without much notice tyeing taken of them, the old chestnut looking as fit as a fiddle. Tbe bell was at last rung ■ for the horses to leave, and the hill at this time presented such a sight as >wd never saw before at Flemington f from one end to the other it was one ,masg ' ot* human beings swaying to and fro . with excitement. The bum of many voices, and the exclamations of pleasure as any particular favorite made bis appearance, the joke and the laugh of thousands as the universal dog ran up the. course or any unlucky wight lost his seat on the rather perpendicular bank over the paddock were something to hear and see. Although the flat was also crowded to excess, the police had no trouble in clearing the course, and as Lottery, Hamlet, and Miss Jessie were the only absentees out of the 28 on the card, 23 horses faced Mr. Watson's flag. r Lapdog decreased in estimation at the last** a'ud Romula became the favourite at 3 to 1. * C Ley lite was- next in demand at 5 to 1, and the same price was accept ted about" Jj.ipd g'j Saladiu having a deal of support at 8 V to 1. Little DicU left the paddock very firm at 7 to 1, and. these were the only 1 - horses backed for money. Pyrrhua was friendleaa at 10 to 1 j and the last bet. we heard made was, 900 to 9 against The Pearl. 1,000 to 10, 500 to 5, and 100's to 1 were freely offered against him. Little time was lost in the preliminary, most of the^ htrraes cantering past the stand at a ve#y-sslow pace only. So far as could be discerned, the start was aa an excellent one, there being only one breal' away, and the horses came down the straight well together, with Barbelle, Peai'l, Saladin, Baron, and

Aruma forming the front rank, there being a cluster of a dozen immediately behind them. As they got round tho first turn, the Monk and Lord of Lynne fell, and nearly brought- dxiwn GHencO3 and ons or two others. S.iladin then ran into second position, and took the lead opposite the old stand, and kept it to the last turn, wheir the Pearl, Romula, Little Dick, and Irish King got nearer to him. At the distance, Mr. Tait's horse got alongside, when condition told. Both were at the whip, but the grey Ai'ab failed when wanted, and Romula coming up outside, also gave him the go-by, and she and the" Pearl raced home together, the Pearl at last winning easily by a couple of lengths. Irish Kin % came up very fast at the finish, and just niched the third sitnafcion by half a neck from Saladin. The -winner was hailed with considerable amount of cheering. The defeat of the favourite mads at the last moment, after the public were led to pin their, faith on Lapdog, was a sort of consolation. A protest was entered against the winner, however owing, it wis alleged, tj his jockey having struck "Romula over the head with, his whip. A deal of evidence was gone into, and when the board announced that the protest was dismissed, the hill again resounded with cheei*s of satisfaction. With the exception of Mr. Dodd. in Sydney, » well-known follower of Mr. Tait's stable, who backed the horse to win £3000 shortly after his winning at Randwick, and who since tried to " hedge, but could not, there are few winners on the result, and np one was more surprised than Mr. Tait himself. Pyralms was the horse of the stable, as The, Pearl Wcis supposed to have gona off the last week owing to a 'slight colcl.be caught. This is tl^e third jtJiin Mr. Taifc has won ? having carriedj it' qk.vith The Barb in 1866.anjl Jsyitls in t868. '