STARTING AT ELLERSLIE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 132, 5 June 1923, Page 3

STARTING AT ELLERSLIE.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—One feels very loth to make any comment on the work ot an official with the reputation of the A.R. Clubs starter, but if there were many exhibitions similar to that in the Cornwall Handicap on Saturday last, the A.R.C. would have to look to its laurels. The recent' innovation of a second clerk of the course, occupying the space next to the trestle when space is all too limited for a larg« field, has directly spoilt the chances oi" many a horse getting a fair start. If the inside rails were boarded up to a fair height for say a length and a half in front of and behind the barrier post and padded to prevent a possible crushing, and the drain covered, the trestle and the second clerk of the course at the barrier could be done away with with much benefit to all concerned. Then again, from the number of times we have seen the horses in almost perfect line and a subsequent delay of ten or more minutes through the starter dwelling in his dispatch, would suggest that if the starter was limited to say five minutes from the time of the horses reaching the post, and the jockeys heavily fined for atI tempting to beat the tapes, there would Ibe a much needed improvement. —I am, I etc. OBSERVER.