Racing Parliament Meets

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 169, 19 July 1941, Page 3 (Supplement)

Racing Parliament Meets

/I Birds-Eye View Of The Conference From The Press Gallery

(By A. F. HOWARTH)

NOTHING more placid could very well be imagined that a meeting of the New Zealand Racing Conference. Once, it seems ages ago, somebody whose purse had been badly mauled, described racing as the sport of kings," meaning thereby that a person needed the income or a king to be able to indulge in it. These were the days of Disraeli, and Lord George Bentinck's famous "superb groan." To-day racing, in New Zealand at all events, is pre-eminently the sport of the people. And the people's representatives, duly elected by the racing clubs of the country, meet once a year in Parliament assembled, to govern the conduct of the sport.

Another, which would have in- 1 terested the racing public (had they 1 known anything about it) was the proposal that two or more horses trained by the one trainer should be bracketed. This, of course, has been ' the law in trotting for many years, j rt failed to find a seconder. j A good dead was said by Messrs. ' George Beatson and Eric Riddiford in favour of sending the horses out later to the starting post. Chief Stipe Charlie Gomer in his report had said that, owing to the late closing of the tote, horses at a cer- j tain meeting had been kept at the post for an average of 35 minutes, ! and a jockey who had six rides that afternoon would have been on the i track for three hours and a half. | This was grossly unfair both to horses and boys. Mr. Beatson said that a Hawke's Bay sportsman, who had recently been to England, said that we were years behind the times in this matter. Mr. Riddiford pointed out that it is the practice in England, Australia and India to send the horses straight out to the starting post before the start of a race. He would like to see some such innovation tried by the W.R.C. Dr. Grant said that the Auckland Racing Club had already tried it to a modified extent and that it had been successful. All these expressions of opinion were highly stimulating and of great value. Wartime racing? Well, we've heard a lot about that. The president and the vice-president spoke their pieces, and the conference applauded heartily. If the individual members had any opinions on the subject, they succeeded in keeping them a profound secret. But there is one thing to be said for them— they were certainly a very happy family.

fsay that the proceedings are, as a rule, calm and uninterrupted, I is not to say that the delegates do not take their duties seriously. Many of them travel very long distances to attend a meeting which is generally over by one o'clock in the afternoon, and it is only doing them justice to say that the abandonment of the Wellington Racing Club's winter meeting this year did not make any appreciable difference to the attendance. As befits a gathering of those who control a great sport, the most controversial subjects, on the rare occasions on which they are debated, are Oalt with in the most friendly manner. Also, there is never any hasty or ill-advised amendment of the rules. The autocrats who framed them took good care of that, as it requires a 75 per cent majority of the votes actually recorded to alter a rule. The laws of the Medes and Persians had nothing on the Rules of Racing. The Admiral Rous Of the N.Z. Turf This conservatism is sometimes reflected in the debates. A name to cbnjure with is that of the late Sir George Clifford. "Sir George Clifford used to say ..." is a favourite counter to the argument of one of the younger generation urging some innovation. It was used by the opponents of blinkers for many years, but the innovators won.out in the finish. Sir George was quoted is describing blinkers as "the rogues' badge." He is also quoted on the starting controversy, the most keenly-debated subject of recent years. In spite of the fact that he has been dead for over eleven years, his name still carries tremendous weight with delegates. He was president of the conference for 34 years,

This alteration was carried by | what appeared to be an overwhelming majority, as only the Auckland Racing Club, Auckland district clubs (north and south), Taranaki district clubs and Wellington district clubs (south) voted against it. The actual voting was 39 to 11. but it is a splendid illustration of how the 75 per cent majority works, when it is seen that if only two votes (and some clubs have as many as four) had been the other way the amendment would have been lost. Size of Fields It is obvious from the above what an overwhelming majority is necessary to amend a rule of racing. It will, 9f course, take just as big a majority to undo what was done in 1937. Subsequent discussions have proved that some clubs who voted for the standing start in 1937 have now altered their opinions. This will not avail them much unless they can get practically all the other clubs in New Zealand into line, and there does not seem to be much hope of that. Advocates of the walk-in start have been trying to get it back ever since. Two years ago the Manawatu Racing Club moved that the old rule, giving absolute discretion to the starter, should be reverted to. The motion was lost on the voices. Leading opponent was George Beatson, of Hawke's Bay, who went further than merely advocating a flat-footed start. He alleged that the rule was not being carried out, and he was right. He said that definite instructions should be given to starters to carry out the rule, which was flouted ■ by a large number of starters at : present. It was necessary that we . should have one thing or the other, . and we were not getting it. The same proposal came up again ; last week from the same club, and • Mr. Beatson again jumned into the , breach. He again asked that the rule

30(1 his work in remedying abuses , tj)*t thin existed was monumental. Sir George Clifford was undoubtedly {he Admiral Rous of the New Zealand turf. The father of the Racing Conference Is Mr, W. T. Hazlett, of Dunwho has been a member for 20 years. He is one of JJalwarts in opposing what he ? r ® t0 & e needless changes in "tuP 1 '® 8 ' When he said last week: m ore we tinker with these mi 1 untess there is very good reafn?i- r amendment, the more conwe will create," he was probbJL ex P. re ?sing the opinion of a mfls. ma J or^y the delegates. The ,PP?nents Of change are well enSl °, n t ' le conference benches. IhL ® whole this may be a good Racin S is different from else, and while it enouw be administered in a spirit Utmost fair play, it is neces«y that it should be controlled with a very steady hand.

U the Rule Flouted? is n °t intended to imply pnrl Proceedings of the confermi?n«? r 4 e barren of result. All it intitS? at if a club wishes to ahhfu ean innovation, it will proborriL. £ necessar y to have it on the hpfnL®?R e t for two or three years atto«fL begins to attract much nm<7 „ Several reforms that are hp«i r eco ßnised as beneficial have on]v K?, r ?u through in recent years j ?, Persistence of those who to a ? S them. And that brings us annoJi J ect which now has every Deronl? n i Ce becoming a hardy deha?Pi refer to the much Sing. matter of the method of

tirVfiJL * the starter had prache ° discretion as to how two ® et horses away. Only Firsti,, £ s y ere required of him. RatP had to use a starting semndi. . a PP r ovecl pattern; ana he had to draw the horses Pronep if? Practicable, in their Anirl c Positions before the start, to TOt ;u 0m this, his sole duty was as eveni, em °? as expeditiously and to wau^v, 38 ® could. If he liked let them into the barrier, and Walkhf? ®°, w hile they were still start?&.t S0 g as he got a good ia * that was his own affair. held of the conference reaching July ' 1937 > a very farRiade ®m^ en drnent to the rule was add*i- «f» . Showing words were stahpp shall be the duty of the sverv «-♦ _ mars hal the horses in to a str»tJv^ e n as nearl y as possible shall rStIS? ne > so that the race start n?3?,??i en , ce , a standing and sLr? i, that in hurdle races shall H ??. es a standing start not be obligatory.

should be strictly adhered to, and said that starters were available who were willing and able to carry it out if the clubs would only look round for them. He instanced the good work being done by "Snow" Morris in Hawke's Bay. "Snow" has had some fair-sized fields to deal with lately, and it is nice to know that he is doing so wen. But, on the average, they are nothing like as big as the fields to be met with in parts of the Auckland Province. Mr. H. R. Chalmers, who is the vice-president of the conference, and represents the Wellington Racing Club, gave it as his opinion that the starter should be allowed to use his own discretion. This appears to indicate a change of mind on the part of the W.R.C. since 1937. Perhaps the big fields are becoming a nightmare to them also. Size of Fields Frankly, the question seems to be mainly a territorial one. In the North, where the fields are abnormally large, we favour a walk-in start. In Hawke's Bay and the South, where the fields are generally small, the standing start is looked upon as the ideal. The one exception to the small fields in the South is the Canterbury Jockey Club, but in Paddy McNab the C.J.C. has had a most exceptional starter. Now that he has retired, they may be found later on lining up with the advocates of a moving start.

The position to-day is that the rule is not observed, and nothing tends to weaken authority so much as a rule which is flouted by those who are expected to carry it out. In the opinion of this writer, the nonobservance of the rule in the vast majority of cases is due to the lmpossibility of carrying it out with the huge fields of inexperienced horses and riders that are often encountered in the North.

Cases occur over and over again in which a satisfactory standing start is a flat impossibility. The complaint that "Rafferty rules _ prevail can only be overcome by giving more discretion to the_ starter, insistence on the existing rule has ruined what would have been many a perfect start. If only we had tlie new American electric stall starting gate—well . . .

Too Long at the Post But it is a mistake to imagine that the whole time of the conference was taken up by methods of starting For instance, there was a remit calculated to cause Perturbation in certain circles not often referred to which required a horse to be scratched an hour before starting time instead of half an hour. The motion was lost.