AUCKLAND MEETING

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31378, 25 May 1967, Page 4

AUCKLAND MEETING

Conference Criticised (N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND. The Auckland Trotting Club’s meeting on June 24 would have been held on June 17 if a request for the earlier date had been granted by the New Zealand Trotting Conference. This was stated yesterday by the president of the club, Mr P. B. Bridgens.

“We were informed by the conference that permission to hold the meeting on June 17 was withheld mainly because it clashed with a meeting of the Rangiora Trotting Club,” he said.

“How a meeting in Auckland could affect one at Rangiora—except from a T.A.B. angle—l do not know. Certainly, no Auckland trainers are likely to take horses to Rangiora.”

He said he was disappointed at the conference’s attitude because it meant that the meeting at Alexandra Park probably now would have to be held at night There was a big Rugby match in Auckland on June 24. It was likely to be a formidable counter-attraction to a day meeting, he said. Mr Rowley, In a telephone interview, said that a clash with the Rangiora meeting was not the only reason the confernece had allocated June 24 to Auckland.

“The Auckland club applied for either June 17 or 24,” he said. In making its decision, the executive - took into consideration the following points: There was no trotting meeting anywhere else in the Dominion on June 24: the Kumeu matinee on June 17 would serve as a lead-up to the Auckland meeting; both the Rangiora and Auckland clubs, would have better T.A.B. turn-overs if they did not clash, and there are already four race meetings on June 17, against three on June 24.