TUFTS OF TURF.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 9812, 23 August 1897, Page 2

TUFTS OF TURF.

[By the Editorial Scissors.]

Tiic Australasian says :—Another peculiar racing case has cropped up in Tasmania. At the Carrick races, it rained heavily while the Steeplechase was being run. When Barrington, the winner, returned to scale, he was found to be l_lb over the declared weight. The stewards thought they were justified in assuming that this extra weight was due to rain and mud, and they took advantage of the rule which gives them discretion in such cases, and awarded the race to Barrington. Then came an appeal to the T.T.C., and the Carrick decision was reversed. The Carrick people applied to know why they had been over-ruled. In answer, they were invited to inspoct the evidence on which the T.T.C. decision w«i3 based. This, I presume, moans that the T.'i'.C. think the Carrick stewards were not justified in assuming that the excess weight was "caused by wet." The English rule giving stewards power to pass an overweight horse where they believe the extra poundage to be due to rain was applied in Aclelaide as far back as 1880. Banter won the Birthday Cup, and when John Kilduff went to weigh-in he was about 31b over. It rained heavily all the afternoon, and Kilduff was out in the straight for some time before the start without an overcoat, while nearly all the other jockeys remained under the sheds until the last moment. When it was first found that Banter was overweight it looked as though he must be disqualified, but fortunately for Mr C. L. Macdonald a case of the kind had not long before occurred in England. This was turned up, and as there could not be the slightest doubt as to the cause of the overweight, the stewards followed the English ruling, and decided in favour of Banter. Joe Thompson was very indignant over this decision, and tried hard to get Mr Martin Loughlin to go to law with the club -, but the owner of Lord Harry (who ran second) was not on. Thompson nob only made a book for Lord Harry, but he laid Mr Savill £1000 to £100 against Banter. It wa3 over this Birthday Cup that Thompson and Branch fell out, and they never made it up again.

A racing man in a neighbouring colony (says "Javelin") had drifted into linancial trouble, which, however, was not generally known, and with more than an ordinary share of sagacity and a naturally buoyant flow of spirits, he was not the man to " give himself away." It was only to a very intimate chum, who had enjoyed his hospitality at a slap up dinner party, that he unbosomed himself. Said the chum— " By Jove, old chap, that was a stunning feed you gave us ; those English soles were not too bad, and what price the imported pheasants ? You're a lucky fellow to be able to run men servants to wait at table these times ?" Unable to keep a good joke to himself the other replied—" Well, I'm satis6ed, for if you didn't tumble I'm certain none of the others would. The two flunkeys were bailiffs in possession. I slung 'em a soy. each, and a big bottle between 'cut in the kitchen, to let mc rig 'em up for the occasion!"

Apropos of the feeling in connection with the legalisation of the totalisator in Victoria, the following reference to the V.R.C. committee election may be quoted from the Leader: —The feature of the election was, however, the drop experienced by Mr Frank Madden, who from third place came down with a run to sixth, and scraped into the last seat by a very short head, only beating Mr Menzies by five votes. It is especially worthy of remark, that while Mr Maddens former fellow committeemen, Messrs Miller, Croker, and Leonard, all E oiled heavier than they have ever done efore, he secured forty-six votes less than when he was last elected. Mr Madden being a man commanding a lot of social influence, and a prominent member of the legal profession, whose valuable services, like those of Mr Croker, have always been cheerfully given to the club in connection with the revision of rules and so on, th»» very scanty majority by which he secim A the last seat may be taken as gratifying proof that members of rhe club have awakened to the desirability of agitating for the legalisation of the totalisator, of which Mr Madden is an openly proclaimed and unyielding opponent. • . . . Writing of the trial of the starting machine at Newmarket, the " Special Commissioner " of the London Sportsman says •—Now, it is, of course, as ridiculous to expect horses to jump off the first time under such novel circumstances as to expect them to walk into a horse-box the first time without nervousness, or to allow a man to ride them without being broken, but it was somewhat astonishing, especially to those who vowed that no English horses would go near the gate, to see them lined up there, close on it, without showing any tendency to shy away. And, what is more, when the gate went up, though some flinched back, there was no squandering over the course, as was anticipated ; indeed, had the boys on the horses been really

determined to get away then and there, j instead ox gaping at the machine, they could , have made a very fair start the first time. Two cr three more trials followed, and each time the horses got away better, showing little or no fear, but being naturally new to the business. Any one of those horses in about three days would' thoroughly understand what it all means, and thoro are scores of good sportsmen at present in England who can, from practical experience, assure all who are not wilfully deaf and blind, that after a brief schooUn ' horses will set themselves at the gate just :>.•: ; i 100 yard's runner does for his start, and • e y:i- away li-ie a flash the instant it goes up. The immense advantage of having no false starts can hardly be over-estimated in the interests of owners, trainers, or the public, and if we had not the Australian, American, and Indian experience to go on I should none the less expect any practical horseman, who saw the trial to-day and retained in his mind that horses are clever animals, but do nothing without some sort of education, to regard the machine wilh no slight favour. I know, as a matt or of fact, that not a few, such as Mr James Lowther, for instance, were more or less agreeably surprised, and as the machine will be allowed to stay up and Mr Slingsby will remain in charge of it, we may soon see a start under it with horses that know what they are about. If Mr Jersey would lend Merman and Maiuma, and these were reenfovced by Paris and Acmena, a fair show would be given, but in any case a few days' schooling is all that is required. Mr Apcar, who has seen a lot of racing in India, tells mc that no one was more prejudiced than himself against the machine at tho outset, but that he now regards his period of prejudice as one of most benighted ignorance, for the advantage of the machine system is so crushing!}* obvious that no man who has ever had experience of it in actual racing would dream- in his wildest moments of reverting to our primitive method. Mr W. R. Wilson, Mr W. Cooper, Mr W. T. •Jones, Mr G. G. Stead, and many other leading owners in Australia are at present in England, and, if I may venture to suggest, a conference with them would prove useful, for no one can be so sceptical as to reject the hard facts which any one of these gentlemen can adduce.

. . . . « The starting machine is looked upon from varying standpoints in America. Thus a writer in the Spirit of the Times says : — "The starting, so far this season, has been in the main very bad, and although Mr Pettingill lacks the promptness necessary to make a satisfactory starter, he is not altogether responsible ; the machine and the rules and regulations in connection with its working being impractical. The idea of expecting a field of horses, especially a field of high-strungt»vo-year-olds,tolineupallatonce with their heads facing a string of dangling weeping willows is altogether too absurd to think of. To start a lot of old cavalry chargers such an apparatus might be all right ; but ithas been demonstrated this season that as an arrangement to worry and upset a field of raee-horse3 and kill 'heir chances at the starting post, the starting machiue could not be improved on ; and a return to the old method for starting for just one week would, I feel certain, consign the seeping willow arrangement to everlasting oblivion—as it ought to be. It cannot be denied that in England the starting is the most satisfactory in the world, and that is the old system of the horses coming up to the starter on a walk."