38 RACEHORSES IN AUSTRALIA 



age class, taking the Spring Stakes, a mile and a half, the Melbourne Stakes, 

 a mile and a quarter, and the Melbourne Cup, two miles, carrying nine stone 

 nine, his rival. Commotion, being half a length off second, with his nine twelve 

 up. As a six-year-old, with nine nine, the Australian Cup, two and a quarter 

 miles, fell to Malua, and then, as an eight-year-old stallion, he won the Grand 

 National Hurdle Race easily, carrying his owner, Mr. J. O. Inglis, who was a 

 very fine horseman. It must be confessed that Malua was wonderfully 

 favourably handicapped for a winner of his great class, as his weight was only 

 eleven stone seven. Tw^elve seven would have been a more reasonable impost. 

 Malua may not have been quite up to the pitch of a "great" horse, but he was 

 terribly near it, and his brilliant and determined run over the last two furlongs 

 may have been electrifying enough to have defeated even the best. And in 

 estimating his merit, we must take into account his unusual versatility. Of 

 course, Abercorn was a "great" horse. His was that great light which caused 

 the greater light of Carbine to burn with such dazzling brilliancy. The great, 

 slapping, lengthy chestnut won for Mr. White twenty races, all of them against 

 the highest class of horse, out of a total of thirty-four starts. It was a case 

 of Greek meeting Greek when Abercorn, Australian Peer, Carbine and Melos 

 threw down their gauntlets. 



Australian Peer scored many points, but undoubtedly Abercorn won the 

 rubber. A great racehorse, he was promising at the stud, and gave us a stayer 

 in Cobbity, another lovely mover and good winner in Coil, and a Derby horse 

 in Cocos. All the three, by the way, were out of the one mare. Copra. 

 Abercorn was bought to go to Ireland, and there he did very little good. Had 

 he remained behind in Australia, and continued to produce horses of like merit 

 with the three mentioned, there might have been a different tale to tell. As 

 it was, with him the blood of Whisker seemed to peter out. 



Wallace was in the "great" class, and was certainly a very great sire. His 

 two-year-old career was not so promising in public as it was in private, for, 

 although backed well upon many occasions, he only secured a single bracket 

 out of eight attempts. As a three-year-old he commenced with a second in 

 the Spring Stakes to Hova, and then went from strength to strength, taking the 

 Guineas, the Derby, and the C. B. Fisher Plate. In the Leger something 

 happened which fairly made me groan with anguish, as I sat there watching a 

 good horse being beaten by a comparative commoner. Mr. H. Oxenham had 

 two representative?, Cabin Boy and Waterfall, in the race. The latter was a 

 pretty good horse, and Gough, on Wallace, galloped along beside him, the 

 only competitor whom he thought was likely to offer any dangerous opposition 

 whatever. Delaney, Cabin Boy's rider, meanwhile, in the guise of making the 

 running for his companion, shot away, secured a tremendous lead, and 

 Wallace could never quite get up. Next day Idolator, a six-year-old, with 

 seven three on his back, just got home from Wallace, in the Australian Cup, 

 carrying eight ten. It seemed to me that Wallace winced in the last few strides 

 as though he had been struck with the whip on a painful spot, but I never heard 

 until lately whether this was the case or not. Mr. Phillip Russell, the owner 

 of Idolater, says "No." The verdict w^as half a head. Next day Mr. James 

 Wilson, Junr.'s beautiful Trenton mare. Quiver, ran a dead-heat with Wallace 

 in the three-mile championship, and they completed the distance in the then 

 record time of 5 min. 23^ sec. It has only once been beaten since, by three- 

 quarters of a second, when Radnor won, and it will never be equalled again, 

 as the race has since been abolished. In the autumn, at Randwick, Wallace 

 won the Leger, the Sydney Cup, with eight twelve, the Cumberland Stakes, 

 but, probably stale, lost the three-mile A.J.C. Plate to a couple of moderates 



