QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 508, 25 May 1869, Page 2

QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY.

WESTPOET EACES. The Queen's birthday is, in this part of the southern hemisphere, a public holiday at an unseasonable time of the year. It is especially unseasonable when the public prefer to celebrate it by holding such out-door sports as races and regattas. This the people of Westport did yesterday, and purpose doing to-day. The simple consequence is that they have to suffer for it, not so much in respect to their loyal ardour as the state of their animal spirits and the condition of their clothes. Yesterday there was every disposition to exhibit loyalty, and its exhibition may be said to have been successful; but it was extremely hard to maintain high spirits in the face of a low barometer, and it was as hard, on an open race-course, to preserve the primitive lustre of a holiday hat or any other outer garment " suitable to the occasion." There was an average amount of what is known as " Queen's weather " during the day—numerous pleasant glimpses of sunshine,but there was an equal amount of the opposite —smart squalls and showers ; and towards the close of the races, which formed the chief or sole amusement of the day, it rained sufficiently to give a lively interest to the race for the shelter of one's own fireside. Erom present appearances it will probably rain as much to-day, when the regatta is to be held, but as there is abundance of shelter afforded by the many licensed houses along the river-bank, atmospheric influences will be of less consideration to those desirous of witnessing the aquatic sports. At an early hour yesterday the town was comparatively deserted. After people had hoisted their bunting, according to the good example of t'.ie Harbor Department, which displayed early all its colors on the two flagstaff's, the majority betook themselves to the race-course, and, as their numbers were supplemented by arrivals from the different diggings, there was a very fair gathering for this time of year, and for the limited amount of sport which was necessarily afforded. For the amusement of those who thus assembled there were altogether six races, and several of these were satisfactorily contested. It was a further element of satisfaction that all the races were run during the pleasant and sunshiny glimpses in the weather. Being " open to all horses," with post entries, there were more than the average opportunities of sport to the spectators, if there was less than average close running. The races being open also to horses from all parts of the district, there was some interest given to the matches by the presence of horses from Charleston, and it so happened that a Charleston horse won the majority of the prizes a circumstance to which there was no parallel on the occasion of the last Charleston races, for the simple reason that there was no parallel condition under which "Westport horses could have run. Beyond this there was, in the character of the races, or in the incidents connected with them, no special feature. In the betting there was more due to chance than to individual intelligence, and this served rather to enhance the interest taken in each race by the few scientific bookmakers and the many artless shareholders in sweepstakes. Mr E. K. Tyler officiated as judge ; Mr W. Eobertson as starter; Mr J. S. Suisted as clerk of the course; and Messrs Simpson and Trimble were respectively Secretary and Treasurer, supported by seven stewards. The course was the same as that which was used at the New Tear races, and, after the rain which had fallen, it was in moderately good order. The skeleton of the Grand Stand, which had stood since that occasion, was metamorphosed by Messrs Tonics and Hughes into something sufficiently presentable, and as such it was patronised by a few ladies and gentleman, while the groundfloor was much more extensively patronised by the many to whom it was the only source of shelter and refreshment.

The following was the result of the different races, briefly told : Trial Stakes—£lß. Entrance £2 2s. Twice round and a distance. Moloney and Scanlan's b. g. Why Not, 4 yrs (Fraser) Mr Munday's b. m. Black Bess, 3 yrs, (Campbell) 2 Mr Lyons' b. g. Dick the Devil, 6 yrs (Kennedy) ... o In the first round each of the horses was equally held in, and they kept closely together, going at an easy pace. In the second round Black Bees, the favorite, took the lead with apparent ease, even on the roughest ground, but wheu doing so, and when recognised as the certain winner, she bolted. Notwithstanding the distance thus lost, she picked up wonderfully before coming to the straight running, and in a hundred yards more would have collared Why Not. She was ridden by Campbell, and was consequently overweighted, but, barring the bolt, would probably under that condition have made the race her own. This contretemps was the cause of some little dissatisfaction, but it was not apparently any fault of the jockey. In straight running, she would have probably distanced any competitor. Why Not's

pace, however, was good, and he proved himself to have excellent stuff in him throughout the other races, though it has to be considered that he ran some of these without being handicapped. Teottinq Match —£15. Entrance £1 Is. Five times round and a distance. Mr Connelly's b. g. Wild Irishman, aged, (Campbell) 1 Mr Cooper's g. m. Modesty, aged... ... 0 Mr Bell's b. g. Kildare, aged j 0 Kildare both broke and bolted, and Modesty, after doing her first rounds in capital trotting style, showed a disposition to bolt to stable whenever she approached the crowd in front of the stand. Wild Irishman, provided by nature with hoofs like the feet of a dromedary, always succeeded in gaining ground on the soft and sandy parts of the course, and, with the stride of an ostrich at all times, made the match easily his own. Publicans' Puese—£ls. Entrance £1 10s. Three times round and a distance. Why Not, (Fraser) 1 Mr O'Conor's g. g. Bobby (Atkinson) ... 2 Mr Freetli's b. g. Grasshopper ... ... 0 Mr Freeth's c. g. Sandy Kankin 0 Mr Temperley's c. m. Separation... This race really lay between Why Not and Bobby. Separation led led spiritedly in the first round, but was soon " pumped" of her mettle. Grasshopper's weighting slackened, and he was ridden off the course. Bobby was well ridden throughout, and hung close by Why Not through the second and third round, as well as a fourth round which appeared to be undertaken by horses and riders con amore. There was a considerable amount of animated discussion among the owners or backers of the several horses in this race, and some amount of turf badinage, which tended to relieve the otherwise monotonous equanimity of everybody on the course.

Packers' Pttrse—£ls. Entrance £1 Is. One round and a distance. Heats. Ist 2nd Why Not 1 1 Mr Stitt's Garryowen 2 3 Mr Jones's Monkey 3 2 Dick the Devil 4 4 Garryowen was by no means to be despised by the winner in the first heat, but in the second he could not conceal his disadvantages of age, and fell back, giving Monkey a show of a fair second in the heat. Consolation Stakes—.£lo. Entrance 10s 6d. Twice round and a distance. Bobby (Fraser) 1 Grasshopper ... ... ... ... 2 Black Bess 0 Black Bess unfortunately repeated her freak of the first race, and, with Grasshopper also distanced, Bobby came in an easy winner. Hueby Scuery— £o. Entrance 10s 6d. Twice round and a distance. Monkey (Sunley) ... ... ... ... 1 Dick tho Devil 2 Garryowen... ... ... ... ... 3

Modesty 0 This, we are told, was the liveliest race of the day. Garryowen, as usual, promised well at first, but Dick the Devil, well ridden by Fraser, crept up, and came in a good second, Monkey, with his young rider, leading.

It deserves to be noticed that Mr Molonv's "Why Not had been ridden from Charleston yesterday morning, had swum across the river, and was slightly lame after the first race. The stakes were paid last evening at the Theatre Royal.