TOM HALES THE CRACK 



perfectly tragic. It was so apparent that Stockwell 

 immediately became favourite for the Launceston 

 Cup. They sent over to Melbourne for the star 

 jockey at the time, Tom Hales, to ride him, and he 

 trotted in, and a full brother, then known as Bagot, 

 but whose name was afterwards changed to Malua, 

 won the chief two-year-old race. These two horses, 

 with another I forget the name of, were owned by an 

 ex-Archdeacon of the Church, who afterwards was a 

 member of the Executive Council; at that time he 

 was known as the Hon. Thomas Reibey. His three 

 horses were offered to Joe Thompson for a thousand 

 pounds. It was a gift, but, through some extraordinary 

 mood he was in when the offer was made, Thompson, 

 who was not a haggler as a rule, tried to bargain and 

 the deal didn't come off. What he missed ! I tried 

 to get a bit of money together to buy one of them, but 

 that didn't come off either. Stockwell was sold, and 

 Malua went to Mr J. O. Inglis, a well-known gentleman 

 rider in Victoria. 



Again bad riding beat Stockwell in the Melbourne 

 Cup the following year, for his jockey couldn't hold 

 him, and for a wild mile and seven furlongs he made 

 the pace a cracker, leading his field. Tom Hales, whom 

 I have just mentioned, had a mount in the race. He 

 sang out to Stockwell's jockey, Riley: "Take a pull 

 at him and you can't lose." When too late he tried 

 to, and was caught and beaten by the Assyrian, owned 

 by Mr J. E. Savile, who settled down near Stamford in 

 England and brought over the little Australian horse, 

 Ringmaster. I had backed Stockwell and made others 

 do the second to win us a small fortune, and it was 

 a terrible experience. Malua did win the Cup in 1884, 

 carrying his nine stone twelve if you please. Not 

 only that, but, pulling up a similar weight, took the 



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