HANDICAPPER TO RETIRE

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24874, 14 May 1946, Page 6

HANDICAPPER TO RETIRE

RACING

MR H. COYLE’S DECISION LONG ASSOCIATION WITH SPORT " The Press ” Special Service WELLINGTON, May 13. Mr H. Coyle, handicapper for 21 racing clubs in the North Island, has decided to retire, and is notifying the clubs for which he acts that he desires to be relieved when they are able to make suitable arrangements for a successor. Mr Coyle has been handicapping for racing clubs for 46 years. His first appointment in 1900 was with the Ohmgaiti Racing Club, a non-totalisator body, registered under the Wanganui Jockey Club. Five years later Mr Coyle was appointed by the Hawke’s Bay Jockey Club, and about this time the Napier Park and Poverty Bay clubs also availed themselves of his services. , , It was in 1914 that Mr Coyle was asked to deputise for Mr W. H. Pollock as handicapper for a Wellington winter meeting. Mr Pollock retired owing to ill-health and Mr Coyle has continued to serve the Wellington Club as handicapper ever since. Among the other clubs for which Mr Coyle has been handicapper are Taranaki, Wanganui, Marton, Manawatu, Rangitikei. Waverley, Woodville, Masterton, and Otaki. As handicapper to the Wellington Racing Club for 32 years, Mr Coyle’s work set a high standard. Trentham is the most central metropolitan course in the Dominion, drawing its competitors from all centres, and the high-class racing which is seen there has been largely contributed to by Mr Coyle’s keen judgment and assessment of form values.