FARCICAL RACE AT BIRMINGHAM

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25878, 10 August 1949, Page 4

FARCICAL RACE AT BIRMINGHAM

GO-SLOW TACTICS BY JOCKEYS (N.Z.P.A. —Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, August 8. The Midland St. Trial Stakes at Birmingham to-day was one of the most farcical races seen in England. When the tapes rose, neither Ridgewood, the odds on favourite, nor Courier, the other starter, made a move. The crowd was puzzled. There was amazement when the starter’s assistant went behind the horses with his long whip to touch them off. When they began to move at a walking pace, it became clear that neither was being allowed to set the pace. Their progress was so slow that the time recorded for a furlong was Imin 24sec. The crowd cheered ironically as the horses moved past the stands in a walk. There was no acceleration of pace until -6ix furlongs from home, when Courier was sent to the front and turned into the straight a length or two in front of Ridgewood. Gordon Richards challenged on the favourite, three furlongs out, and quickly mastered Courier to win by three lengths. The time for the 13 furlongs was smin 13 4-ssec.

Hostile Reception There was booing on all sides as the horses returned to the unsaddling enclosure.

The trainers of botn horses later confirmed that their jockeys had been given waiting orders. The jockeys, Richard* and Tommy Lowrey, were called before the stewards after the two-horse slow-motion race. It is understood that the jockeys’ explanation about the way the race was run was accepted by the stewards. Noel Murless, trainer of Ridgewood, said: t “No rule was broken—they can take as long as they like.” The last famous slow-motion “race” was In 1933, when Gordon Richards on* Colorado Kid and Michael Baery on Nitsichin crawled around two miles and two furlongs of the Doncaster Cup course. Richards won that race, too.