Horse racing -- Australia -- History; Race horses -- Australia -- History; Stainforth, Martin, 1866-1957
If we walk and carry a weight we can go a certain distance and not feel
fatigued, but if we attempt to run with the same weight we soon find out
the difference. In walking we always have one foot on the ground; in
running we are entirely off the ground at times. In walking we put
little strain on the heart, for the foot that is always on the ground
helps us; while in running we have to lift the whole weight of the body
from the ground, and so we call on the heart to do much more work. If
then, we have to carry a weight and run, we have not only to lift the
body from the ground but also the weight. Naturally, the heart is called
upon to do more work and becomes exhausted in proportion to the amount
of weight carried, the distance it is carried, and the time consumed.
The heart muscle, as a matter of fact, in great exertion has to work at
eight times its normal rate, and so it becomes tired, and the effect of
fatigue is simply to reduce the output of the heart.
Weight acts on the heart in the same way that distance does—that is,
weight tires the heart after a certain amount of energy has been
expended, and distance exhausts the heart in galloping on account of the
amount of work required from the heart; a horse may trot fifty miles who
cannot gallop two; the reason being that in the trot his body is not
entirely off the ground, in the gallop it is. It is the pace that tells.
There are many horses capable of carrying a huge weight at a great pace
for a short distance, and yet they cannot carry a light weight for a
long distance. Thus Woorak, as he got on in years, could carry
weight-for-age for a mile, but we saw 9.12 send him into second place in
the Doncaster; yet he ran away with the Oakleigh Plate, 5½ furlongs,
with ten stone five in the saddle. What a heart the immortal Carbine
must have had when he carried this very same weight to victory in his
celebrated Melbourne Cup! Is it any wonder that Wallace and Trafalgar
inherited great staying hearts?
THE AUSTRALIAN JOCKEY CLUB
AND RANDWICK
By KEN AUSTIN
There is a faded document hanging in the Secretary’s room at the
Australian Jockey Club offices. It may be regarded as the coping-stone
of what is now the most important Racing Club in Australia. This
document reads as follows:—
“S. C. Burt, Esquire,—
“In consideration of your commencing the foundation of a Racecourse at
Randwick, I hereby undertake to become liable to the extent of £50 for
the purpose of paying the expense thereof.
“The revenues to be derived from the annual subscriptions and the sale
of gates, booths, stands, etc., when completed, to be a security to me
for whatever I may be called upon to pay under this guarantee.
“Sydney, Thirtieth June, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
“(Sgd.) GEO. ROWLEY.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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