AN AMERICAN'S OPINION OF AUSTRALIAN HORSES.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1525, 13 April 1882, Page 4

AN AM E RICAN'S OPINION OF AUSTRALIAN HORSES.

Mr R.jCameron, who imported Leamington and other. horses to America., has just retilruud from a trip to Australia, where he was appointed Commissioner from the Dominion of Canada to , attend the Melbourne Exhibition, nnd his stay being prolonged to the middle of last Noveni- , her gave him an ample oppoitunity of noting all the prominqnt points connected with the turf on the other side., Mr Cameron was , surprised to find the most complete racecourse he had ever seen at, Iflemington. The course is wider than any in America, and the appointments aie superior. The attendance on Cup day t completely astounded him, and the J}erby. day ,at ICpsom is the only place where, bethought he had seen it exceeded. He then goes on to say -The .timing apparatus consists of a huge dial many feet in diameter and in plain view of the thousands who attend. Fiom each fractional point run wires, which an attendant touches as the leading horse passes, and instantaneously the time is recorded on the , dial.' The measurements having been made with the greatest accuracy, the time can be relied upon with a nicety, with the advantage of there being no,tlelay from acomparison of watches and the striking of averages when there is a difference on the part of the timers. Interesting, howe\ er, as the racecourse and its adjuuets aie to those Avho witness the racing, the joeople in this country are' more interested in the chaiacterof the horses which participate in the sport. Mr Cameron is empathic inpionouncing them the best lie ever saw, > and is 'of opinion- that if California does not rear animals of the same calibre,' that theic will be little use in sending horses there to run. This view is based on the advantages of climate, which aie something analogous to those which this State piesents — a gicatci uniformity in tumpoiatme, moie nutritious heibage,ian evidence of superior vitality to those which are reared in moister climes. lie h.ib uOticod the same cle-ctiie conditions, and, doubtless, the insular position is not without some benefits. There is the same tendency to caily matuiity — the two-year-olds in that country, having usually reached their full stature, and though not as '' heavily topped" as the horsed of Kcntuck}' and Kngldud theie is <i. fulness of muscle and general wirings of form which tell of capacity to pcifonn great feats. The success of Iroijuois and Foxhall in England and France has stimulated the desire for American blood in the colonies. Mr Cameron was the owner of .i two-year-old sister to Foxhall, and he disposed of her to Mr Fiulay, the owner of the Glcnmoriston stud. Many of the bicedors requested him to send them inn res combining the Boston and Glencoe or the Lexington and Glencoe blood, and if those were coupled with Leamington, Bonnie Scotland 01 Phaeton, so much the belter. There is no question that mutual advantages will follow an interchange, and that the breeders here can <^et n. supply which will be lust what is wanted. Thoru are only throe Lexington marcs in California, two of them too old to send such a distance, but theie are NoiiolU and Wood bum marcs, many of them having a double cross of Glencoe, and which Mould just suit the Australian stiains. Then theie could be brought back descendants of Fisherman, of Maccaroni, Ynttendon, Musket, Kelpie, &c. ' to add to our blood, and by making a part of the importations young animals, theie would be an oppoitunity to test thorn in actual races. — Ania him Paper.