46 RACEHORSES IN AUSTRALIA 



furs.). The Doncaster Handicap (1 mile), The Caulfield Stakes (9 furs.), The 

 Melbourne Stakes ( I i miles). The St. George's Stakes ( 1 mile). The Essendon 

 Stakes ( 1 5 miles), The All-Aged Stakes ( i mile). The Autumn Stakes, Rand- 

 wick (I 2 miles). The Sydney Cup — carrying 9 st. 7 lbs. — (2 miles), The 

 All-Aged Stakes (I mile). The A.J.C. Plate (3 miles). The Spring Stakes, 

 Randwick ( 1 i miles). The Craven Plate ( I i miles). The Randwick Plate (2 

 miles). The Caulfield Stakes (9 furs.). The Eclipse Stakes (1 mile 3 furs.), 

 The Melbourne Stakes (U miles). The C. B. Fisher Plate (U miles). The 

 St. Helier Stakes (I mile). The Essendon Stakes (1-1 miles). The 

 Champion (3 miles). The merit of any victory depends, of course, not 

 upon the race won, but on the quality of the field in opposition, but you 

 cannot find Wakeful wanting in this respect. She beat, and habitually beat, 

 all the best performers of her day, and over their own distances, were they 

 five furlongs and a half or three miles, Hymettus, La Carabine — who, how- 

 ever, did once put her down at three miles — Ibex, a mighty sprinter, Bonnie 

 Chiel, Great Scot, Brakpan, Abundance, Air Motor, The Victory, Footbolt, 

 Sojourner, Lord Cardigan, and all the crowd of handicap horses which she so 

 often met at enormous disadvantages in weight. And some of her defeats 

 were scarcely less full of merit than her wins. The Melbourne Cup is a good 

 example of this. Here Lord Cardigan, a really high-class three-year-old, and 

 the winner of the Sydney Cup with eight stone seven up in the following 

 autumn, only just got home from Wakeful. The three-year-old was handi- 

 capped at six stone eight, the mare at ten stone. In the spring, the colt's 

 weight-for-age would have been seven six, and the mare's weight-for-age and 

 sex, nine one. She was actually giving him twenty-five pounds more than her 

 weight-for-age demanded, and she was horribly ridden. All through her 

 racing Wakeful suffered from this extra handicap. Dunn, who usually rode 

 her, was an indifferent horseman, but Mr. McDonald preferred to trust to 

 his unimpeachable honesty rather than risk a more brilliant rider of whose 

 integrity he was not absolutely sure. Owners who have been in a like dilemma 

 will sympathise with him. Wakeful has not been a bright success at the stud, 

 but she cannot be set down as a failure altogether. She is the dam of Night 

 Watch, a Melbourne Cup winner — under a light impost, it is true, but you 

 must be good to win a Cup even with the minimum to carry. Another son, 

 Baverstock, has sired a good colt in David, and was a winner himself. She 

 also threw a very speedy horse in Blairgour, and this year, after missing for 

 some three or four seasons, she is due to foal as 1 write. As her years now 

 number twenty-six, it is unlikely that the produce will be a champion, but in 

 a good season, and with the care which will be lavished upon her and her 

 offspring, we can, at least hope. 



Auraria, yet another Trenton mare, from Aura, by Richmond out of 

 Instep, by Lord Clifden from Sandal; Carlita, by Charlemagne II. from Cou- 

 ronne, by Gipsy Grand — a New Zealand family — and Briseis, by Tim Whiffler 

 out of Musidora, winner of Derby, Oaks and Cup, might almost claim Queen- 

 ship. But none can come near Wakeful, and leaving her in undisturbed pos- 

 session of her throne, we will pass on to other things. 



