JAUNTS AND JOTTINGS. 155 



Honest Necl won. Several of the horses^ inclading 

 most of the heavily -backed ones^ did not run but 

 remained at the post. The jockeys on these horses 

 declared — two of them personally to me — that the 

 starter called them back. No notice was taken 

 of the race won by Honest Ned^ and the people 

 were waiting for the horses to go back to the 

 post and start again. To the amazement and in- 

 dignation of the people a rumour quickly went 

 round that it was a start, and Honest Ned had 

 won. The stewards held an inquiry, and the race 

 was given to Honest Ned the outsider. I have 

 seen a few exhibitions of feeling on racecourses, but 

 never one to equal that at Eagle Farm when this 

 decision was given. The people rushed the Grand 

 Stand enclosure and commenced to pull down the 

 fencing. For a short time there was a riot, and 

 some of the stewards were greatly perplexed as to 

 what should be done. 



The manager of the Totalisator took the pre- 

 caution to retreat with the money to a safe distance 

 until the storm was over. I never saw a racecourse 

 crowd more determined to show how they felt 

 about a race. It was a deplorable blunder on 

 somebody^s part, and it would have been better 

 to have run the race over again, but as the starter 

 stated it was a start, the stewards had no option, 

 and awarded the race to Honest Ned. 



