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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=350484" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>How Babs Malone cut Down the Field</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Now the squatters and the “cockies,”<br>  Shearers, trainers and their jockeys<br>Had gathered them together for a meeting on <br>   the flat;<br>  They had mustered all their forces,<br>  Owners brought their fastest horses,<br>Monaro-bred - I couldn't give them greater praise<br>   than that.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">  &quot;Twas a lovely day in Summer -<br>  What the blacksmith called “a hummer,” <br>The swelling ears of wheat and oats had lost<br>   their tender green,<br>  And breezes made them shiver,<br>  Trending westward to the river -<br>The river of the golden sands, the moaning<br>   Eucumbene.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">  If you cared to take the trouble<br>  You could watch the misty double,<br>The shadow of the flying clouds that skimmed the <br>   Boogong's brow,<br>  Throwing light and shade incessant<br>  On the Bull Peak's ragged crescent,<br>Upon whose gloomy forehead lay a patch of<br>   winter's snow.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">  Idly watching for the starting<br>  Of the race that he had part in,<br>Old Gaylad stood and champed his bit, his<br>   weight about nine stone;<br>  His owner stood beside him,<br>  Who was also going to ride him,<br>A shearer from Gegederick, whose name was<br>   Ned Malone.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">  But Gaylad felt disgusted, <br>  For his joints were fairly rusted,<br>He longed to feel the pressure of the jockey on his<br>   back,<br>  And he felt that for a pin he'd<br>  Join his mates, who loudly whinnied<br>For him to go and meet them at the post upon<br>   the track.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">  From among the waiting cattle<br>  Came the sound of childish prattle,<br>And the wife brought up their babe to kiss his<br>   father for good luck;<br>  Said Malone: &quot;When I am seated<br>  On old Gaylad, and am treated<br>With fairish play, I'll bet we never finish in the <br>   ruck.&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">  But the babe was not contented,<br>  Though his pinafore was scented<br>With oranges, and sticky from his lollies, for he<br>   cried,<br>  This gallant little laddie,<br>  As he toddled to his daddy,<br>And raised his arms imploringly - &quot;Please, dad,<br>   div Babs a wide.&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">  The father, how he chuckled <br>  For the pride of it, and buckled<br>The surcingle, and placed the babe astride the<br>   racing pad;<br>  He did it, though he oughtn't,<br>  And by pure good luck he shortened<br>The stirrups, and adjusted them to suit the <br>   tiny lad,</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">  Who was seemingly delighted,<br>  Not a little bit affrighted,<br>He sat and twined a chubby hand among the<br>   horse's mane:<br>  His whip was in the other;<br>  But all suddenly the mother<br>Shrieked, &quot;Take him off!&quot; and then “the field” came<br>   thund'ring down the plain.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">  'Twas the Handicap was coming,<br>  And the music of their drumming<br>Beat dull upon the turf that in its summer coat was<br>   dressed,<br>  The racehorse reared and started,<br>  Then the flimsy bridle parted,<br>And Gaylad, bearing featherweight, was striding<br>   with the rest.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">  That scene cannot be painted <br>  How the poor young mother fainted,<br>How the father drove his spurs into the nearest<br>   saddle-horse,<br>  What to do? he had no notion,<br>  For you'd easier turn the ocean<br>Than stop the Handicap that then was half-way<br>   round the course.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">  On the “bookies” at their yelling,<br>  On the cheap-jacks at their selling,<br>On the crowd there fell a silence as the squadron<br>   passed the stand;<br>  Gayest colours flashing brightly,<br>  And the baby clinging tightly,<br>A wisp of Gaylad's mane still twisted in his<br>   little hand.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">  Not a thought had he of falling,<br>  Though his little legs were galling,<br>And the wind blew out his curls behind him in a <br>   golden stream;<br>  Though the motion made him dizzy, <br>  Yet his baby brain was busy,<br>For hadn't he at length attained the substance<br>   of his dream!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">  He was now a jockey really,<br>  And he saw his duty clearly<br>To do his best to win and justify his father's <br>   pride;<br>  So he clicked his tongue to Gaylad,<br>  Whispering softly, &quot;Get away lad;&quot;<br>The old horse cocked an ear, and put six inches<br>   on his stride.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Then, the jockeys who were tailing<br>  Saw the big bay horse come sailing<br>Through the midst of them with nothing but a baby<br>   on his back,<br>  And this startling apparition<br>  Coolly took up its position<br>With a view of making running on the inside<br>   of the track.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">  Oh, Gaylad was a beauty,<br>  For he knew and did his duty;<br>Though his reins were flying loosely, strange to<br>   say he never fell,<br>  But held himself together,<br>  For his weight was but a feather;<br>Bob Murphy, when he saw him, murmured<br>   something like &quot;Oh, hell!&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">But Gaylad passed the filly;<br>  Passed Jack Costigan on “Chilli,”<br>Cut down the coward “Watakip” and challenged<br>   “Guelder Rose;”<br>  Here it was he showed his cunning,<br>  Let the mare make all the running,<br>They turned into the straight stride for<br>   stride and nose for nose.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">  But Babs was just beginning<br>  To have fears about his winning,<br>In fact, to tell the truth, my hero felt inclined <br>  to cry,<br>  For the “Rose” was still in blossom,<br>  And two lengths behind her “Possum,”<br>And gallant little “Sterling,” slow but sure,<br>   were drawing nigh.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">  Yes! Babsie's heart was failing,<br>  For he felt old Gaylad ailing,<br>Another fifty yards to go, he felt his chance<br>   was gone.<br>  Could he do it? much he doubted,<br>  Then the crowd, oh, how they shouted,<br>For Babs had never dropped his whip, and now he<br>   laid it on!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">  Down the straight the leaders thundered<br>  While people cheered and wondered,<br>For ne'er before had any seen the equal of that <br>   sight<br>  And never will they, maybe,<br>  See a flaxen-haired baby<br>Flog racehorse to the winning post with all his<br>   tiny might.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">  But Gaylad's strength is waning,<br>  Gone in fact, beyond regaining,<br>Poor Babs is flogging helplessly, as pale as any <br>   ghost,<br>  But he looks so brave and pretty<br>  That the “Rose's” jockey takes pity,<br>And, pulling back a trifle, lets the baby pass the post.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">    <br>  What cheering and tin-kettling <br>  Had they after at the “settling,”<br>And how they fought to see who'd hold the baby on<br>   his lap;<br>  As President Montgom’ry,<br>  With a brimming glass of “Pomm’ry,”<br>Proposed the health of Babs Malone, who'd<br>  won the Handicap.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Barcroft+Henry+Thomas+Boake">Barcroft Henry Thomas Boake</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=350484" data-title="How Babs Malone cut Down the Field de Barcroft Henry Thomas Boake" data-description="Now the squatters and the “cockies,”
  Shearers, trainers and their jockeys
Had gathered them together for a meeting on 
   the flat;
  They had mustered all their forces,
  Owners brought their fastest horses,
Monaro-bred - I couldn't give th..."></div>
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