CATALOGUE RETURNS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 November 1938, Page 6

CATALOGUE RETURNS

AFTER MELBOURNE CUP VICTORY. REPLY TO AUSTRALIAN CRITICS. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. Catalogue returned today from Australia, where he won the Melbourne Cup. The Westralia had her usual complement of passengers but none of them would begrudge the attention and admiration accorded the horse as he stepped from his box to the wharf. He stood the voyage well and appeared to be in excellent condition. Catalogue was accompanied on the trip by Mr A. W. McDonald, of Awapuni, who put him through the final stages of preparation for the big classic event. “It was a hard race on the face of things, but actually it was the easiest race Catalogue ever ran,” Mr McDonald said. “They all said he wouldn’t stay, and I said he would. That was just the difference. He did, that’s all. All the Australian writers said he should never have won, but, although he got a bad start, he was soon running second, and went to the front seven furlongs from home and stayed there. If Sheen had let him go away, he could have won by almost any distance. A fluke? Well nearly everyone said so. but the fact remains that he won and won handsomely.”