TROTTING.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 150, 28 June 1927, Page 9

TROTTING.

WHEEL AND TRACK NOTES. (By ORION.) FIXTURES FOB THE SEASON. July 2—Ashburton County Baclns Club. July 81—Walmate Hunt Club. July 23—South Canterbury Hunt Club. August 6, 10, 12—Metropolitan Trottlff Club. HOBSEKEIT AJID BSTTING. At the meeting of delegates to tha Trotting Conference at Wellington next month the Conference Executive, through its president, will introduce the following remit: "So horseman shall bet on any horse in any race in which he rides or drives except on the hone ridden or driven by himself. Any person betting with or for any horseman in contravention of this rule may be fined, suspended* or disqualified." A rule something on the same lines has for a long time had a place in tha Rules of Racing, but there was nothing to stop a driver or rider in a trotting event from harking other horses besides the one he was riding or driving. The new rule should be all for the improvement of the sport and thereshould be little opposition when the remit is introduced, says a CLristchurri writer. It seems a very necessary ruling and a safeguard to the betting public It is considered that if the proposed rule is carried and put into strict operation it will have a beneficial affect all round, for the mere fact of a driver bat-king other horses betid » his own raises a suspicion that he might not ha out to do his best. The racing should be all the cleaner and there should bo an entire absence of team-driving that has not been altogether absent from certain races. The big difficulty will naturally ha In the enforcement of such a ran. but untiring vigilance on the part of officials and a few sharp lessons to offenders will assist greatly in having carried out a most necessary improvement. GEEAT HORTBEEV DERBY. With tha present trotting season la Auckland now closed, it win not ha long before those interested in tha lightharness sport will ha turning their attention to what the 1827-28 season holds out. Tha means for next season have, of course, not yet been considered, but there wiD be at least one departure from the order which has obtained In previous years. This is in connection with tha Great Northern Darby, which, instead of being decided at the earner meeting aa in the past, will figure aa on* of tha attractions at tha anting fixture of tha A-TjCL in October. A glance through the list of juveniles still remaining b tha three-year-old elasaia snows that many Auckland owners are represented, but the indications are that few will have their colours carried on the day. Local trainers do not gat to work so early upon their young ones as do trainers in the south, and rarely is a local two-year-old asked to compete in a race, whereas in the south many juveniles are put through serious and businesslike preparations and raced. This gives them a big pull over Aucklanders, and it was not until last Christmas that Auckland had tha honour of supplying a winner, that is a locally trained winner, of the classic This wan when J. T. Paul won with Great Peter, the brother to Great Bingen. But even in his case the colt had been raced twice previously, once for a win, so that ha was meeting his southern rivals on something like even terms. As that waa the only occasion for an Aueklander to score, it will be recognised that with the Derby moved along to the October meeting, the prospects of the locals are not made brighter, especially as tha winter months in Auckland are invariably marked by much rain, and the opportunities for getting a candidate ready are not all that a trainer would wish. *

TAXATION ON RACING.

TROTTING CLUB'S PAYMENT. The taxation paid to the Government by the Auckland Trotting Club in connection with its winter meeting amounted to £6852 1/2. Details are as follows:—Totalisator tax, £2247 8/S| dividend Ux, £4045 10/; gates and privileges tax, £73 6/3; stakes tax, £333; amusement tax, £150 10/8| total, £6852 1/2.