The Homebush Races of 1848
It was at the Homebush races in the year of '48,
That I saw the famous "Jorricks" win th' big Australian Plate;
Young Healy, best of riders, then bestrode the grand old bay,
He led from start to finish, boys, and won it all the way.
Real sport we had at Homebush, then, in sunshine, or in rain,
When will I see such galloping and jollity again?
The horses then could race all day; the jocks knew how to steer,
Racing round the old course in the Maytime of the year.
Then here's to all the steeds that ran, and to the men that rode,
To Jorricks, Snake, and Razorback, and Warrigal and Toad,
To Johnnie Coutts and Higgerson, and Healy, and the Browns,
To Warby, Butts, and Merrick, and Gorrick, Tait, and Towns.
For honest owners all they were who ever ran 'em straight--
At the ancient Homebush races in 1848.
Notes
From Old Pioneering Days in the Sunny South by Charles MacAlister, 1907 p. 58.