32 RACEHORSES IN AUSTRALIA 



the Goodwood Stakes at two and a half miles each. This was the highest 

 form imaginable, and was an excellent advertisement for the Australian horse. 

 Newhaven, our Cup and Derby winner, won the City and Suburban 

 Handicap at Epsom, a race which the fiddle-headed old gelding, The Grafter, 

 also appropriated, while Maluma, the sister to Malvolio, won races. Aurum, 

 a son of Trenton, was, without doubt, the best representative we ever sent to 

 the Old Country, but, unfortunately, he went wrong and never had a chance. 

 He was the greatest three-year-old 1 ever saw, and at three years old ran third 

 to The Grafter and Gaulus in the Melbourne Cup, two miles, at the beginning 

 of November. This was such a good performance that I must append the 

 weights, so that you can thoroughly appreciate the magnitude of the effort: — 

 Gaulus, 6 years . . . . . . . . 7.8 (1 ) 



The Grafter, 4 years 7.0 (2) 



Aurum, 3 years . . . . . . . . 8.6 (3) 



Had they been meeting at weight-for-age, their respective imposts would have 

 been: — 



Gaulus, ch. h., 6 yrs. . . . . . . . . 9.6. 



The Grafter, b. g., 4 yrs. . . . . . . 8. 1 1 . 



Aurum, br. c, 3 yrs. . . ... . . . . 7.6. 



It will thus be seen that this three-year-old was asked to give The Grafter, 

 a horse capable of winning a City and Suburban, no less than thirty-nine 

 pounds, calculated on the weight-for-age basis, and Gaulus forty pounds. It 

 was no less than astounding. 



A New Zealand colt, Noctuiform, perhaps almost as good a colt in his 

 three-year-old days as Aurum, also travelled to the Old Country, but went 

 all to pieces, and was a complete failure. That was the fortune of war, but the 

 Dominion avenged herself when Mr. S. H. Gollan took a steeplechaser, Moifaa, 

 across the wide seas to Liverpool, and put down all England, aye, and Ireland, 

 too, over that unique and difficult course. Yes, I assure you we can breed the 

 best in the world here, if we would but take the greatest pains. That is where 

 we fail, and fail badly. English stud management can give us a couple of 

 stone and a handsome beating. 



We often hear men arguing on the subject of "Which was the best horse 

 ever bred in Australasia?" 



The subject is an interesting, if a somewhat profitless one for discussion. 

 It is impossible to decide the point, for the horses of old had perforce to 

 contend with conditions which their more pampered brethren of to-day are 

 never called upon to meet. But I should say that the champion laurels hover 

 between the brows of Carbine and The Barb. The time occupied by each 

 in running the Cup, two miles, can scarcely be compared. The old-timer won, 

 as a three-year-old, carrying six stone eleven, in three minutes and forty-three 

 seconds. Carbine, a five-year-old, with ten five up, finished in three minutes 

 twenty-eight and a quarter seconds. The pace in The Barb's year was 

 probably not fully on until approaching the Abattoirs, when the winner and 

 Exile came away from the field and, locked together, they fought out every 

 inch of the last hundred yards. In Carbine's year they hopped off with a full 

 head of steam on, and the last five furlongs were covered at the tremendous 

 speed of one minute and two seconds. But the going in The Barb's race, no 

 doubt, could not be compared with what it is in our day, although we must 

 remember that, after all, there was only an interval of twenty-four years 

 between the two eras. It will be interesting to briefly run over the careers of 

 the rivals. 



