Wentworth held its first Race Meeting on 1st and 2nd January, 1861. Could someone help me to understand the terms used: FIRST DAY Wentworth Plate:- Entrance £3-3 with ............sovereigns added; two miles; one event; weight for age; the second horse to have the entrance. [What does the "with .........sovereigns" mean? - as written. The £3-3 seems a lot of money to pay in those days. Does the horse that came second get everyone's entrance money? Does the winning horse get anything besides the Plate? A two mile race over the countryside doesn't sound easy.] Ladies Purse:- Entrance £2-2 with ...........sovereigns added; Mile and a half Heats; catch weights. [Does this mean that they had to come a place in the heats and then race the same distance on the same afternoon ie 3 miles of racing? What are catch weights?] Race for Untrained Horses:- Entrance £1-1 with .........sovereigns added; mile heats; catch weights. SECOND DAY Publicans' Purse:- Entrance £2-2 with .......sovereigns added; mile and a half heats; second horse to save entrance. [Does this mean that the Publican had to provide the prize money?] Stockkeepers' Purse:- Entrance £1-1 etc; one and a half mile heats; etc [Which stockkeepers?] Consolation Stakes for all beaten horses during the Meeting:- Entrance £1-1; with ........sovereigns; Mile heats; weight for age. Hurry Scurry, for all untrained horses (the winning of any previous race excepted):- Entrance £0-10-6 with ...........sovereigns; one mile heats; catch weight. RULES All disputes settled by Stewards, whose decision is final. Three horses to enter for each race. No walkovers allowed. [I presume that to be the minimum number of horses for the race to proceed. What does "no walkovers allowed" mean?] No person to run a horse for the first prizes of each day who is not a subscriber of at least £2-2 to the race fund, and for other prizes £1-1. [What does subscribing to a race fund mean?] Entries for first two races to close at 11am on the day of the race. Races commence 12 o'clock noon sharp. J.T.SMITH, Secretary. Looking back on the report of the results of a day's racing in 1884, I see that my relatives raced their horses for multi miles on the same day; one won 50 sovereigns twice on the day, the other won 100 sovereigns. I know that the value of sovereigns varies, but does anyone have any idea how much a sovereign would have been worth back then? BTW I searched for some glowing report about that first two days of racing at Wentworth; what I found was: Wentworth Races turned out to be a miserable failure, partly owing to the supineness of the committee and partly to the bad faith of the stewards. (Pastoral Times and Deniliquin Telegraph) Looking forward to becoming racing literate, Regards ..............Rusheen. ...............

Would love to see any replies posted to the list! The only one I know is the Walkover...designed to stop a single entrant doing just that...walking around the course! I would imagine second prize would mean collecting all the entrance money for the race (could be pretty good!) Weight for age is as in todays terminology...graduated weights younger to older horses & colts carrying heavier than mares. The winning "Plate" would probably be something very substantial...most of the older trophies were sterling silver or gilded! 2 miles is Melbourne cup distance and fairly common then for a major race. Rusheen your rellies would have done VERY well that day! Judy Qld ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rusheen Craig" <rusheen@optusnet.com.au> To: <AUS-NSW-WEST-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, August 07, 2004 5:22 PM Subject: Wentworth's first Race Meeting - Help with terminology. > Wentworth held its first Race Meeting on 1st and 2nd January, 1861. > Could someone help me to understand the terms used: > > FIRST DAY > Wentworth Plate:- Entrance £3-3 with ............sovereigns added; two > miles; one event; weight for age; the second horse to have the entrance. > [What does the "with .........sovereigns" mean? - as written. > The £3-3 seems a lot of money to pay in those days. > Does the horse that came second get everyone's entrance money? > Does the winning horse get anything besides the Plate? > A two mile race over the countryside doesn't sound easy.] > > Ladies Purse:- Entrance £2-2 with ...........sovereigns added; Mile and a > half Heats; catch weights. > [Does this mean that they had to come a place in the heats and then race the > same distance on the same afternoon ie 3 miles of racing? > What are catch weights?] > > Race for Untrained Horses:- Entrance £1-1 with .........sovereigns added; > mile heats; catch weights. > > SECOND DAY > Publicans' Purse:- Entrance £2-2 with .......sovereigns added; mile and a > half heats; second horse to save entrance. > [Does this mean that the Publican had to provide the prize money?] > > Stockkeepers' Purse:- Entrance £1-1 etc; one and a half mile heats; etc > [Which stockkeepers?] > > Consolation Stakes for all beaten horses during the Meeting:- Entrance £1-1; > with ........sovereigns; Mile heats; weight for age. > > Hurry Scurry, for all untrained horses (the winning of any previous race > excepted):- Entrance £0-10-6 with ...........sovereigns; one mile heats; > catch weight. > > RULES > All disputes settled by Stewards, whose decision is final. > > Three horses to enter for each race. No walkovers allowed. > [I presume that to be the minimum number of horses for the race to proceed. > What does "no walkovers allowed" mean?] > > No person to run a horse for the first prizes of each day who is not a > subscriber of at least £2-2 to the race fund, and for other prizes £1-1. > [What does subscribing to a race fund mean?] > > Entries for first two races to close at 11am on the day of the race. > > Races commence 12 o'clock noon sharp. > > J.T.SMITH, Secretary. > > Looking back on the report of the results of a day's racing in 1884, I see > that my relatives raced their horses for multi miles on the same day; one > won 50 sovereigns twice on the day, the other won 100 sovereigns. I know > that the value of sovereigns varies, but does anyone have any idea how much > a sovereign would have been worth back then? > > BTW I searched for some glowing report about that first two days of racing > at Wentworth; what I found was: > Wentworth Races turned out to be a miserable failure, partly owing to the > supineness of the committee and partly to the bad faith of the stewards. > (Pastoral Times and Deniliquin Telegraph) > > Looking forward to becoming racing literate, > > Regards ..............Rusheen. > > > > > > > > > > > > ............... > > ______________________________