Racing Home Turn At Rangiora To Be Improved

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29232, 16 June 1960, Page 4

Racing Home Turn At Rangiora To Be Improved

A start will be made soon on banking work to the home turn on the Rangiora racecourse, where a jockey was injured in a fall in the Okuku Hack Handicap at the North Canterbury Racing Club's meeting last Saturday.

Mr E. D. R. Smith, president of the North Canterbury club, announced this yesterday.

The Riccarton jockey, P. J. Kempton, is in hospital with rib injuries from a fall at Rangiora last Saturday. Kempton was riding Golden Rhapsody, which collided with Navarone as they rounded the home turn. Navarone lost his balance on the home turn and when Golden Rhapsody collided with him both horses came down. Navarone’s rider. L. McGuire, was not injured. Mr Smith said yesterday that his club some time ago had called in Messrs H. B. Lorigan and P. D. McNab to inspect the track and recommend any improvements they felt should be made. It was recommended that the home turn could be improved by altering the angle of the running rail, and that was done before last Saturday’s meeting, Mr Smith said yesterday. Other alterations had also been made to the track before the recent meeting, said Mr Smith. “It is difficult to know what else needs to be done, but banking work of the home turn will be started straight away,” he said yesterday. > ‘"Worst In South Island” “Most of the jockeys are anything but happy about the Rangiora track—l think it is the worst I have ridden on in the South Island, and I have ridden on all but two of them,” said the Riccarton jockey, A. J. Stokes, yesterday. “Three horses fell at Rangiora last Saturday, but that number could have been at least 13,” said Stokes, who is president of the

New Zealand Jockeys’ Association. “They had nine runners in one race at Rangiora, 14 in another, and no more than seven in the other six races, yet there were falls and near-falls all day,” Stokes said. “That shouldn’t happen on a nine-furlong track. It doesn’t on six-furlong tracks at Greymouth, even when they have fields much bigger than they did at Rangiora.” Stokes said that Kempton had told him he was lucky not to go down twice in the race before Golden Rhapsody collided with Navarone. Horses in other races had run wide on the home turn, Stokes said. He did not care to imagine what would have happened if the fields had been big. “The jockeys don’t like riding at Rangiora the way the track is shaped at present,” Stokes said. “No nine-furlong track with four straights can be a good one, in my opinion.”

The home turn at Rangiora was criticised by another jockey, D. N. Hadfield, last year. Hadfield was giving evidence at the inquest into the death of the apprentice jockey. K. W. Berry, who died from injuries received in a race fall on the course last Labour Day.