Riccarton

And so we're having, um, the 24th and 5th, so that's, uh, Friday week, uh, Friday and Saturday at, uh, in Christchurch here.

We've got a bit of a, a gathering and, uh, on Friday night in town and then out to the races at Riccarton on Saturday.

Brilliant.

And so, uh, yeah, we've got a few boys coming from Australia, and, uh, girls, and a few out of the North Island, and a few Canterbury and Southern people.

Yep.

More than happy to travel if we need to go to Riccarton.

What, what would you like to dress up as?

Uh, I can drive.

So it's a really unusual crossover time for racing.

And among all that, we've got questions about New Zealand horses heading to Australia, what horses are heading to our big races, what horses are gonna go to Riccarton further down the line for the Guinness races.

So it's a, a really cool time, Tony, but it's a, a time with lots and lots of questions.

Mm.

I, I'd li-- I wanna get back to the Great Northern, uh, in just a moment, or the Great New Zealand as it's known now.

But firstly, uh, Te Akau, big weekend for them, both sides of the Tasman.

Yeah, well, they, they won the feature race at, at Riccarton, um, with a horse called Sweetest Thing, who is now one of the favorites for the New Zealand Thousand Guineas.

So they often...

It was introduced a few years since and has spread so rapidly as to become a perfect nuisance choking every ditch in the neighborhood of Christchurch blocking up mill streams causing meadows to be flooded and doing all kinds of mischief.

Towards Riccarton, about four miles out of town, the Avon shows like a slender stream a few inches wide, moving sluggishly between thick beds of watercress, which at this time of year are a mass of white blossom.

It looks so perfectly solid that whenever I am at Islem, an insane desire to step on it comes over me, much to F's alarm, who says he is afraid to let me out of his sight lest I should attempt to do so.

I have only seen one native bush or forest yet, and that is at Riccarton.

This patch of tall gaunt pines serves as a landmark for miles.

Riccarton is one of the oldest farms in the colony, and I am told it possesses a beautiful garden.

I can only see the gable end of a house peeping out from among the trees as I pass.

This bush is most carefully preserved, but I believe that every high wind injures it.

It was introduced a few years since and has spread so rapidly as to become a perfect nuisance choking every ditch in the neighborhood of Christchurch blocking up mill streams causing meadows to be flooded and doing all kinds of mischief.

Towards Riccarton about four miles out of town the Avon shows like a slender stream a few inches wide moving sluggishly between thick beds of watercress which at this time of year are a mass of white blossom.

It looks so perfectly solid that whenever I am at Ilam an insane desire to step on it comes over me much to F's alarm who says he is afraid to let me out of his sight lest I should attempt to do so.

I have only seen one native bush or forest yet and that is at Riccarton.

This patch of tall gaunt pines serves as a landmark for miles.

Riccarton is one of the oldest farms in the colony and I am told it possesses a beautiful garden.

I can only see the gable end of a house peeping out from among the trees as I pass.

This bush is most carefully preserved but I believe that every high wind injures it.