THE RACES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 208, 30 March 1877, Page 13

THE RACES.

Jupiter Pi/ottos must certainly regard the Dunedin autumn meeting with disfavor. One of the days, at least, he invariably visits with unpleasant moistness, without regard paid to its effects upon the spirits of the sporting world, or even consideration for the pains which the fair sex has bestowed on preparing charming toilettes for the occasion. We do not, however, venture to say that the parties most interested in the racing object to a slight dash of rain, for we have been assured by enthusiastic fox-hunters that, in addition to a " southerly wind and a cloudy sky," they rather preferred a mild shower, as it seemed to settle them in the saddle ; and it will be generally found that whenever some exciting amusement is on foot, a thousand excuses will be found, and a thousand pleas advanced in favor of all sorts of unfavorable conditions, atmospheric or otherwise.

This year the rain came down on the first day, and, fortunately, only on the first, the other two being exceptionally fine; but although it thinned the non-sporting or ordinary spectators' attendance, its effects were else imperceptible. The running was particularly good on each of the three days, and crowds hung, as usual, breathlessly on the various careers of the horses.

One is almost inclined to do a little in the philosophical-specu-lative line, as to what it is in a well-contested race that has such a power of excitement, and that, not only over persons concerned in the event, but, as well, over the most unlikely-seeming individuals. It is not astonishing if some fair damsel, all gas and gauze as Rachel was said to be, but with modifications, who is interested to the extent of several dozens of Liliputian gloves, and otherwise sentimentally affected by the matter, palpitate almost to faintness as the horses come tearing up the stretch that extends in front of the winning post, and the affair is still doubtful. But why on earth the homely and substantial mother of three diminutive children — one of them being an infant in arms — who stands compressed against the barrier amongst the crowd, and who distinguishes the horses only through the colors worn by their jockeys, should, for the time, become oblivious of her offspring, double up her baby as if it were something kneadable, all but "trample her other two children under foot, and elevated on tip-toe, shout for red or blue, by whose success she will lose or gain not a sixpence, is a question for psychology to fathom if it may. Can it be that! however bottled up, whether, as it were, in the most delicate champagne flask with abundant promise of sparkles, or in the commonest earthernware jar, bespeaking only muddy dregs, human nature is akin ? It almost seems as if it were. And possibly, if there were no tmy gants de Paris, and no suspicion of anything more tender, the dainty demoiselle would be little less agitated. 1 ; for all the field, while fate is yet in the balance, is in a tremor. During the intervals between the races, a stroll through the crowd is not void of entertainment. Ingenuity can do no more, in order to induce this world's goods to change hands, than here is done ; pegs and balls and cunningly devised holes, all invite the hand of the gambler. Fortune seems ready to be thrust upon the adventurous ; it is but a throw and your capital is doubled. Yet try and try again, and prove yourself to be a tyro. There are more regular dealers too. One, in particular, offers some valuable article for a mere song; he is a public benefactor, ready to sacrifice his substance to the casual stranger ; but his overtures are rejected, and he retires in disgust, pathetically offering to bet five pounds that, even if he expose a sovereign for sale at the unexampled price of one penny at any public gathering in the colonies, a stiffnecked and incredulous race of settlers will refuse to deal with him. The snatches of conversation that reach the ear are now and then amusing, though occasionally we are riled by overhearing the remarks of some cynic from a neighboring province, who wilThave it that his country's institutions are superior to those that surround us. This we are inclined stoutly to deny. The racino here is excellent; the stand and the course generally are admirably got up, and as for the situation, can there be a more beautiful ? It seems to have been selected by poets; here close by the breakers amidst that sweep of verdant hills, and with the distant city arising full in view. A more fitting scene for the festivities he confessed to delight in, could scarcely have been chosen by old Froissart himself, who so keenly appreciated all that was pleasing to the senses.