N.Z. CUP.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 236, 5 October 1936, Page 8

N.Z. CUP.

LOWER MINIMUM. ■ t TOP WEIGHTS CONSIDERED ■; '> .' STATEMENT BY MINISTER. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, this day. No strict observance of the recoml mendation to clubs, passed at the last | annual meeting of the New Zealand Racing Conference, for a 7.7 minimum ' in all handicap events will be insisted on in the New Zealand Cup and Auckland Cup. The Minister of Internal Affaire, th« Hon. W. E. Parry, stated to-day that in deference to representations made he had given the matter careful eonsideration, and he realised that oivin» to the shortness of notice, and in view of the fact that probably if;any horses had been put through the early stages of their cup preparations on the assumption that the minimum weight would be 7.0, it would possibly make for a hardship in certain cases if the minimum were now fixed at 7.7.

"The further fact that a higher minimum might lead to the topweight being allotted an almost impossible burden has also weighed with me," the Minister said. "I have come to my decision the more willingly because of the fine manner in which both the Racing Conference and individual clubs have honoured what, after all, is for this year a 'gentleman's agreement.' No request for a lower minimum in races under two miles has been made to me, nor have clubs attempted to work on the old seven-stone minimum. I am gratified with this recognition by the racing world that the ever-improving physique of men and boys of this country has made the increase of the. minimum from ■7.0 to 7.7 a humane necessity."