Through Palestine with the Twentieth Machine Gun SquadronUnknown
History
Through Palestine with the Twentieth Machine Gun Squadron
Unknown
Great Britain. Army. Machine Gun Squadron, 20th -- History; World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories -- Great Britain
"In March the 14th Cavalry Brigade took over its Aleppo quarters
from the 13th, and the latter were moved many miles to the north,
where they also held a local meeting. Capt. Fraser of the R.H.A.
was now given the task of turning a waste piece of ground on the
western side of the town into a racecourse, and, by dint of much
hard work and begging of materials, he completed a quite good
course of four furlongs. The Royal Engineers erected a grand stand
of sandbags, and a totalisator. The first Aleppo Race Meeting was
held on March 8th, and a goodly representative gathering of the
army and civilian inhabitants of Aleppo assembled. After this, race
meetings were held regularly every alternate Saturday throughout
the summer. The course was laid on fairly level ground, and at the
start of the season had a thin covering of grass, which,
unfortunately, soon was burnt up by the fierce sun and worn bare by
frequent use, being replaced afterwards by litter. Though at first
only a four furlong 'scurry,' the course has now been extended to
eight furlongs, and laid much in the same fashion as Kempton Park
with a 'straight' of four furlongs and the remainder an oval. One
drawback to this course is that it crosses a high road in two
places. On race days mounted military police are stationed outside
the rails to keep order, and British troops are on duty in the
enclosures keeping the gates, serving refreshments, and assisting
in the totalisator. The latest attraction has been the admirable
rendering of popular music by the Band of the Queen's Bays.
"INCIDENTS AT THE RACES.
"Of amateur jockeys and gentlemen riders there have been plenty;
among the most successful being Lieut.-Col. Vincent, R.A.S.C.,
Major Walker, R.A., Capt. Sir Robin Paul, Lieut. Dowling. We much
missed Lieut. Stanley Wooten, of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, who
has hitherto been such a popular rider in the E.E.F. Major-Gen. Sir
Harry MacAndrew, C.B., D.S.O., Lieut.-Gen. Sir H.G. Chauvel,
K.C.B., K.C.M.G., have all, in turn, shown much interest in the
races, and Gen. Geaffar Pasha, the Military Governor of Aleppo, and
successor to Gen. Shukri Pasha (generally known to us as 'Sugary
Parsnips'), often enters one of his beautiful Arab chargers in the
Arab class races, and is often successful. His jockey rides in the
colours of the Hedjaz Army, red, white, black and green.
[Illustration]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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