TROTTING GRAND COUNCIL TO CONTROL CARNIVALS

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31151, 30 August 1966, Page 4

TROTTING GRAND COUNCIL TO CONTROL CARNIVALS

A grand council, consisting of one representative of each member of the Inter-Dominion Trotting Conference, will exercise general supervision of regulations governing the conduct of all future Inter-Dominion Championship meetings.

This was decided at a meeting of the In-ter-Dominion Trotting Conference held in Melbourne in June. New Zealand was represented at the meeting by the president of the Trotting Conferenc (Mr A. J. Nicoll) of Ashburton.

The Inter-Dominion Conference will appoint the grand council, which will work for the duration of the championship carnival. Where the grand council reaches a decision in connexion with the regulations approved at Melbourne, the host club will agree to accept and endorse any such decision.

i The regulations are aimed at preventing a recurrence of many of the difficulties which have arisen from time to time when the host clubs have framed their own conditions. The dates and venue of the championship carnival shall be approved by the controlling body of the State or Dominion allotted the series and they shall in future be announced at the latest by April 1 in the year preceding the carnival.

Future pacing series shall consist of three qualifying divisions, each of which may be divided into as many he. ts as may be deemed reasonable, the host club having complete discretion in selecting the horses to start in such heats. When the series was last held in Auckland in 1955 only two sets of qualifying heats were run.

The Grand Final shall be run over a distance of not less than 12J furlongs and the qualifying divisions shall be conducted over varying distances providing for a sprint division, a middle distance division and a division of about two miles. Where there is less than a week between the third set of heats and the final, the distance of the third set of heats shall not be the longest provided for in the qualifying divisions. Rehaudicaps Nominations for the carnival must not be closed more than three months before the running of the first set of qualifying heats. Handicaps for the series should, where possible, be declared by December 25. No rehandicaps will be declared unless a horse wins a race exceeding 10,000 dollars to the winner and then it will be within the power of the handicapper to use discretion about whether a penalty may be imposed. No horse which has been balloted out or otherwise rejected from the list of horses to compete in the series shall be eligible to start in any event unless it is reinstated before the running of the first set of qualifying heats. The host club may stipulate the number of horses gaining the . greatest number of points in the qualifying heats permitted to start in the final, but the grand council may and to the advertised number if special circumstances warrant.

In the event of two or more horses each scoring the same number of points entitling them to be eligible for the final, the grand council will decide which of such horses shall start in the final, using as a determining factor the fastest average times recorded in the qualifying heats by the horses affected.

The regulations confirm the decision made in 1965 that ' the series shall be run in New Zealand every third year, but upon the entry of Tasmania or Queensland into the series, the rotation of the championships shall be reviewed. The championships will be held next in New Zealand in 1968. Under the new regulations the venue and dates will have to be decided before April 1 next. Back In Work Stewart Hanover, one of last season’s top two-year-old pacers, is back in work with R. W. Stockdale at Templeton. He probably will be given a run or two at trials before resuming racing towards the end of next month. Stewart Hanover’s main spring mission will be the (New Zealand Derby Stakes. Eighth Landlord was omitted from the list of unplaced horses in the Wildwood Handicap at Addington Raceway published yesterday. Landlord, the 2/3 favourite after an unlucky run a week earlier, was never properly in the clear and looked a shade unlucky once more. Landlord looks ready to

I win at short notice, but unfortunately he is unsound. Colours Owner-trainer-drivers with one horse engaged at a meeting will in future be able to have their colours checked in the stall area at Addington Raceway. In the past all colours had to be checked in the drivers’ room. The new system will start at the New Brighton Trotting Club’s spring meeting on Saturday. The change has been made after representations from owners and breeders were considered. Wee Herb Wee Herb has been left in Christchurch and will race in Canterbury during the next week or two. His stablemate, Coinsman, has returned north and will race at the Wellington meeting, which will open on Saturday week. Wee Herb paced two splendid races at the national meeting, finishing fifth and sixth against strong opposition. He is well forward and could gain a win before returning north. Coinsman raced rather disappointingly at Addington Raceway, although he went quite well when he finished eighth behind Hal’s Delight on Saturday. His racing should have brought him well forward for his engagements on his home track.