THE CLUB AS HANDICAPPER.
About this time last year there was considerable discussion among trainers who gathered together at Epsom during training operations concerning handicap = - ping, and there were manv who contended that no horse should be handicapped faster than he had ever gone, and that in maiden races onlv winners should be penalised. Others contended that the handicapping should be left to the discretion of the handicapper as has been the case all along, and no doubt this is the only satisfactory method. But it would seem that the work of the handicapper is not to be left to him always, and at least one club, the Auckland Trotting Club, is handicapping horses at from two to three seconds better than they have gone. Take for example the Auckland Cup, which is open to hors.es who have gone 4.31 or better. There are dozens of horses who have gone 4.31, 4.30, or 4.29, and because the Cup conditions make the race for those who have gone 4.31 or better, the owners of those horses have- every right to enter them. Some possibly have not been handicapped at better than 4.30, because in the opinion of the handicappers, who are supposed to be experts, their performances do not warrant it. But not so the committete of the Auckland Trotting Club. Not content with making the qualification time 2s faster than last year, the committee go further and " penalise all horses eligible, but who have not gone 4.28, by fixing the limit mark at 4.28. In other words the club says to the
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'•©itfner of&iaehn > J {i.3Xhfsnd owners of ! other-fiorae&jon. the standard: "Oh, yea, .your horse -has gone -fast enough to qualify for 'our £2200 Cup, but if you put'him in, we will penalise you» 36yda.* /• •, ... It y the with; the "improvers" races. " The conditions allow auy horse who has gone 3.30 to be in, But he is to be handicapped on 3.28, and in at least one instance at- the summer nieetin"-, : 3.27. sv
THE CLUB AS HANDICAPPER.
Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 208, 3 September 1927, Page 15
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