TROTTING EVENTS AT RACES

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27112, 7 August 1953, Page 4

TROTTING EVENTS AT RACES

VIEWS OF OWNERS AND TRAINERS

SUGGESTIONS TO BE SENT TO CONFERENCE

“Since our last annual meeting, we have not had a great deal of success in the matter of deleting trotting events from racing programmes, and I think it is time we stopped taking things lying down,” said the retiring president of the Canterbury Owners, Breeders, and Trainers’ Association (Mr. A. Syme) at the anual meeting on Wednesday evening. "It’s like flogging a dead horse,” said Mr J. A. Randle, delegate to the NeW Zealand executive. "I have brought the matter up time and again at executive meetings, but nothing comes of it. Our Conference is not courageous enough to stand up to the trotting authorities and demand its rights.” He recommended that the association ask the executive to take the matter up again with Mr 11. R. Chalmers, president of the Racing Conference, and “see that it is carried to a successful end.”

Mr. Syme said he took strong exception to the attitude of the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr W. A. Bodkin) on the matter. According to a report, Mr Bodkin had stated that recommendations from the Racing Conference did not influence him. Mr E. Goulden (president of the New Zealand Owners, Breeders, and Trainers’ Association) pointed out that Mr Bodkin had allowed clubs to decide for themselves on the deletion of trotting events, and had advised the Wyndham Club to retain its trotting events. ’What we should do is to . make strong recommendations to the conference, pointing out that trotting clubs have been granted additional permits and we are thus entitled to have full programmes of galloping events,” he said. In the 16 years he had been connected with the association, it had got no further ahead with the matter, said Mr Syme.

Mr Goulden said clubs in Otago. Nelson, and Blenheim had done away with trotting events. “We have gained quite a bit of ground.” Mr Syme: Those clubs down south couldn’t get rid of the trots quickly enough. They were losing money on them. But in Canterbury clubs are not so happy to lose the trots. There is a real stalemate here. Mr Goulden: The truth is that the Trotting Conference is more alive to the needs of trotting people, than the Racing Conference is alive to the needs of racing owners. “Boycotted?” Mr E. McCullough, president of the Banks Peninsula Racing Club, asked if the association could explain why his club had been down £2OO on nominations and acceptances for its latest meeting. “My club is as much as being boycotted,” he said. “We have gained on the trotting events, and if we don’t get support from you people, we may even have to put on more trotting on our programme.” Mr Randle: Last year we circularised all members to support your club: so you cannot say you are being boycotted. Rather, the boycott is coming from your club, if you are threatening to turn over to trots. The South Canterbury Club gives the lie to any suggestion that the deletion of trots will have an adverse effect. That club hafi never looked back since it dropped its trotting events. Mr C. t C. Bateman said the answer to the problem was to flood clubs with nominations and acceptances. Mr E. J. Jennings said that Timaru was meeting with success because it had framed its programmes well. He thought that if the Banks Penisula Club did the same, it would meet with more success. Mr Goulden: The Nelson and Blenheim clubs wrote to the owners and trainers asking for suggestions on how the programmes should be framed. This resulted in successful meetings. Mr Osborne: Mr McCullough voices the general feeling of many clubs in Canterbury. Clubs have one object in view—to pay their way. I think we had better just leave it as it is. Trotting in Canterbury is going ahead; there is no doubt about that. The more this association gets up against its own clubs, the more we are injuring ourselves. Mr Randle asked if the Banks Peninsula Club would be pleased to run a full galloping programme if it could be sure the meeting would be successful. Mr McCullough: You wouldn’t get the public there. I’ve been connected with my club for years, and I can tell you that if it wasn’t for trotting, we wouldn’t be where we are today. If the Conference can’t see its way clear to take the events off, I don’t see how you are going to get the clubs to do it Investments on Events

Members discussed the amount of investments on trotting events at racing meetings. Mr McCullough said his club had changed the trotting event from the seventh race’ on the programme to the last “It was the best thing we ever did.” Mr Syme said there was always a good turnover on the last event at a meeting, whether it was a trotting or a galloping race. He considered that it was not fair that clubs should give larger stakes for trotting events than for hurdle races. Mr Goulden: That is a matter that we could take up with the Conference. The clubs have no say It is mandatory that the stake for a trotting event on a racing programme should be equal to the average of the stakes for all the other events on the programme with the exception of the main race. Mr A. Qutts: This association has no mandatory powers. All we can do is put suggestions to the Racing Conference. It seems to me that our first job is to get the chairman of. the Racing Conference and the Minister of Internal Affairs to change their views. The meeting decided that the sugges-

tions arising from the discussion be forwarded to the Conference.

Referring to the small attendance Mr Randle said he was appalled at the apathy, of members of the association. “We have a duty to try and impress on all members the importance of attending to the active affairs of the association,” he said. • The new president (Mr C. G. Humphries) paid tribute to Mr Syme’s good service to the association. Messrs Syme, Cutts, H. Nurse, and F. Holmes were appointed honorary life members. Officers elected were: president, Mr Humphries; vice-president, Mr Bateman; committee. Messrs G. S. Barr, L. J. Coulter, L. J. Ellis, Jennings, R. E. Johnstone. Randle, K. J Thomson, B. O. Priddis, and H. S. Williams.