Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-11-20
WHERE HORSES RACE WITHOUT
PLATES.
Are the Australians Right in Running
Their Horses BarefOOted. or are Wei
Different Steeplechasing-The Acct.
dent Room.

I
| From the London Referee.
In Australia all the horses race without
plates. The Australians hold up their hands
and wonder at our benighted ignorance when
they are told that We still adhere to the princi-
pie of racing with plates. To me the most ex-
| traordinary feature OF the day at either Rose
| hill or Randwick, in New South Wales, or at
Monee Valley, in Victoria was that OF the
| smiths who removed the horses shoes before
| they went to the post, and replaced them d.
| rectly the race was over. So much is racing
barefoot a matter Of creed here that ifan owner
were to run horse with his shoes on, even
though they were only as thick as waters, he
would be regarded as having run the horse
without intending to win with him, and would
in all probability be hauled before the comlnit-
| tee of management. II two horses, known or
supposed to be of exactly the same calibre, were
going to run in Melbourne or Sydney upon
what We should consider exactly level terms
and one Of them ran with plates and the other
without them, long odds would be laid on the
latter, and nobody would believe that there
was not foul play it he was returned the loser.
am assured that this belief is the result OF &C
curate and Oft-repeated experiment.; a set ofthe
thinneSt plates Is looked upon as retarding
horse tany hOrse) three lengths in the mile.
What makes this difference from ourselves
still more peculiar is that, q rule, the Aus
tralian courses are much harder than our own.
Except a couple of months in summer, and not
always then, our tracks and training grounds
are as soft as the most tender-foOted animal
could desire In Australia they go month after
and therefore hard ground, is what the Aus.
trallan horse always has to race over. me
more confident the Australians are that their
system OF racing without shoes is the only cor
rect system-and they are more confident
about this than they are about anything else
in connection with their departures from our.
selves-the more extraordinary does 1t seem
that some owner or trainer in England does not
lay himself out TO make the experiment under
such conditions will leave the result no
longer matter OF dispute or discussion.
Just as the riders make the best OF their way
pursued in the steeplechases. The way in which
men and horses gallop at their fences.and
such fences!-nakes an Englishman hold ms
breath in apprehension until he sees them get
safely over. This he does not always see. In
the half dozen cross-country races at which l
| have assisted no one OF them has ended with
out casualty. i have already told you of the
jumps, as measure them at Pennington and
Caufield, at Rosehill and Randwick, and they
are not so formidable, but they are all stout
timber, firmly secured, at least four fee: three
inches high, and sometimes higher. To touch
one of these obstacles is to come down with
most absolute certainty, and yet the steepie-
chase riders go hard they can at them.
The practice of steadying horse at jump of
any kind Is entirely unknown in this the
birth and abiding place of the real
rough rider. At Randwick the jumps are even
more formidable than they appear, as the
take-Of is sandy and loose, and not
nearly so safe for the horses as the wel-cared-
for paths which front the various obstacles at
Bennington and Garfield. man takes his
life in his hand when he starts for cross
country race in Australia. There is no allow
ance for mistakes, or for want of courage. or
for exhaustion on the part OF eith her rider or
ridden. 1t is not much OF a stretch of fancy-I
am almost sure 1t IS absolute fact-tO say that
over such a steeplechase course as that at Rand
wick they gallOp couple OF miles quite as fast
as we gallop the same distance on the fiat in
England. l never realized what was meant by
horse taking fence four feet and half In
his stride until reached the antipodes.
Really, it does seem as ii steepiechaSlng were
trif1e, more than a trifle, OverdOne In these
colonies. The entire business is very wonder
full, but 1t has more than a Soupcon or the
shambleS about 1t. The beautifully dressed
gentlemen who crowd the stands and lawns of
Pennington when big steeplechase has to be
run have about them good deal more OF the
Greek and Romans who went out to see with
untinching eyes cnmbats to the death and
other human sacrifices that we have or wish
to have about ourselves in quiet, humdrum,
OmmOnplace England. And is ours the lower
civilization? l think not. 1t is a very ordinary
thing for man TO be killed, or even badly hurt
in Steeplechase at home; it is an equally eX-
or Disagreement for any heightened period in
Australia. The sight of the Casualty Room,
which is leading feature of a sLeeplechase
courses arrangements out here, proves my posi-
ton to the foot of the letter. Ii this article
should find Its way back to Australia, as it
doubtless will if it once gets safe 10 England,
when say that my first visit TO the Casualty
room filled me with little short of horror. There
were four specially prepared beds, with oil silk
covered mattresses OF the KIND which all VINO
have seen surgical operations know SO we'll.
These mattresses are made SO that they can be
lifted out and placed in the ambulance cars,
also kept ready. There were spints and tourn-
iquets and bone saws, and all sorts OF imple-
luents, i'll rows aud cases There were knives
and scissors and silk already to be threaded
into the flesh needles. There were flesh needles
and leg rests and arm pads and slinSs and
every other arrangement and furniture OF the
surgical theater. Not forgetting two three
pints of chloroiorm In bottle ready at hand,
with all other known forms OF restOratives or
anRStheticS.