whilst the Austins, with Bessie Bedlam, appropriated the PORT PHILLIP STAKES and the LADIES' PURSE. On the last day there was a H U R D L E R A C E once round the course, heats, which was also won by another Austin horse, well ridden by Mr. R. Greene.
1849. The Geelong races were run on the 7th and 8th March, and the result of the first day was conveyed by overland express for the Herald, and arrived that night in time for next morning's issue of the paper. This was thefirstfeat of the kind effected in the colony. T h e courier was a Mr. Patrick M'Grath, then a shipping reporter on the paper, w h o was afterwards a City Councillor for Gipps Ward. H e had a miserable, toilsome ride of it, for neither roads nor weather were in the best condition. But he did it with two good horses, and though he was half drowned at the Saltwater River, where in the darkness he missed the punt, he swam his horse safely over, and reached the office about midnight.
THE MELBOURNE MEET
Of this year was not well patronised, occasioned by a scarcity of money, a fall in the price of wool, and the frequency of races in the interior ; but an evident improvement was remarked in the general turn-out of the people, and the number of vehicles which put in an appearance. The T O W N P L A T E was the great event of the first day (27th March), and six horses came to the post, including Petrel, n o w owned by Mr. T. Austin, and Bessy Bedlam, owned by J. Austin. Mr. Lyall, one of the Stewards, officiated as starter, and, on the dropping of a flag, the horses got away, and Petrel and Bessy soon had it all to themselves, the mare, after an exciting run, winning by half a length. T h e three miles were done in 5 min. 56 sec. Lyall n o w proclaimed it to be no race, inasmuch as though there was a lowering of the flag, he did not say " off," and a majority of the Stewards concurring, though none of the owners of the horses offered any objection, it was decided the race should be run again. Petrel was withdrawn, and Bessy Bedlam also won the second heat, beating Harper's Orlando, Greene's Garryowen, and Mills' Little John. Lyall's mismanagement was severely animadverted on, and, though the day's programme was thus unexpectedly increased, no one denied that a bungling, though unintentional, injustice had been done. In the A L L - A G E D S T A K E S (heats) Petrel ran away from the rest, and was an easy winner. O n the next day prizes fell to both Petrel and Bessy, the former winning the L A D I E S ' P U R S E , and the latter the PUBLICANS'.
Some drunken scrimmages occurred, and a most cowardly and unprovoked assault was committed on Mr. John O'Shanassy, full particulars of which appear in the Chapter of Trials. Petrel scored the F O R C E D H A N D I C A P on the third day, and on squaring accounts had a balance on the right side of the ledger to the tune of a ,£50 note.
1850.
The course was now in part enclosed by a fence, and an entrance gate fixed close by the river. T h e meeting commenced on the 19th March, with a lack of interest through the disappearance of Petrel and Bunyip from the scene, without leaving any successor for the public favour, though Bessy Bedlam was in no want of admirers. T h e T O W N P L A T E was w o n by Bermingham's Merino, beating Bessy Bedlam and Crosbie's Waverley. Distance, 3 miles (heats). Time—1st, 5 min. 56 sec.; 2nd, 6 min. 4 sec. Merino was a very fine black gelding, broad-hipped and deep-chested, bred in 1845, f°r Mr. James Henty. T h e P A U L J O N E S C U P was contested by four, and w o n by Mr. Dwyer's Ellen but the Stewards allowed a protest, when it was ran again for on the second day, and w o n by Simpson's Maid of the Mist. T h e T R I A L S T A K E S terminated in a dead heat between M r . Maine's
