TROTTING Conference Head Rebukes Vendors

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31727, 10 July 1968, Page 5

TROTTING Conference Head Rebukes Vendors

A warning to vendors that unless horses were presented in reasonable condition an export certificate could be refused, was issued by the president (Mr A» J. Nicoll) in his address to the annual meeting of the New Zealand Trotting Conference in Christchurch yesterday.

On a recent flight to America, the shipping agents, Department of Agriculture officials and veterinary surgeons who supervised the loading, were appalled at the condition of some of the horses, said Mr Nicoll. Covered in mud, with twine halters, they were no credit to New Zealand and were in striking contrast with a thoroughbred mare on the same flight. The steady flow of horses from New Zealand was continuing unabated. Some 88 horses have been exported to the United States during the season, and more than 30 to Australia. Those figures do not include non-winners or broodmares. The excellent performances of New Zealand horses in America, where they won more than 51.500.000 in stakes last year, has created a de-1 mand which appeared hard to; satisfy. Although at first only the better-class horses were ; wanted, some mediocre performers have been sold dur-; ing the last 12 months. “We still have an ample, number of horses for all our slower classes, but some problems could arise in certain with regard to filling the faster classes,” said Mr Nicoll. "The situation is being closely watched by the handicapping committee and every endeavour will be made to expedite the flow of horses through the classes and to assist clubs in overcoming this problem. The framing of programmes will have to be closely watched by club committees." Other points from Mr Nicoll’s address were:— PERMITS The 1969-70 season will see the end of the five-year span which the Government appears to have adopted between the issue of new totalisator licences. Applications for new permits may be called before the end of that season.

The conference has been assured by the Minister of In-1 ternal Affairs (Mr Seath) that, In the allocation of new per-'

' mits the loss of trotting events from racing club programmes would be taken into account. LIP TATTOOING Although no help could be obtained from the Thoroughbred Protective Bureau in the I United States, the difficult ‘ task of developing the tech--1 nical side of lip tattooing has been achieved. A group of 50 horses are now being tattooed with their permanent registration numbers. The executive hopes that the coming season’s crop of year- ; lings will all be positively identified before the season closes. BETTING In spite of the change to decimal currency and the economic position in New Zealand, off-course betting on trotting meetings declined very little—slightly more than .5 per cent to $19,672,493, against $19,790,181. On-course the total was $15,351,138.50. compared with $16,394,703. This was not considered serious. Bad weather, combined with rising costs, had all had their effect on turnover. STATISTICS Mr R. A. McKenzie, of Wellington, was the leading owner for the season, his horses winning $46,800. Since succeeding his father in the 195556 season, Mr McKenzie’s horses have won more than $400,000. C. S. Hunter was . the leading trainer with 35 wins. Last season, when training in conjunction with his father, Mr J. S. Hunter, he was also leading trainer. P. T. Wolfenden, with 54 wins, was the leading reinsman for the second successive year. In a comparatively short career he has driven 416 winners in New Zealand. WINTER RACING

The executive is doubtful whether the extension of the season to allow for winter racing would be to the benefit of the greatest number. The claim that the public lost interest during the winter break was not borne out by betting figures which showed higher betting per person at the start of the season than later on. Leading professional trainers in the North Island have said that they are quite satis-

fied with things as they are. The break enables trainers to spell their horses and prepare young stock for the new season. The position could be reviewed when new permits are issued. T.A.B. A drop of $3.3m, or 4.3 per cent, is expected in turnover of the T.A.B. for the year ending July 31. Most of this decrease was suffered by racing clubs. As a result of the decline and increased costs, the surplus for distribution will be well below that of last year.

A survey of agencies which operated at a loss was made. The board’s proposal to close 55 of the 82 uneconomic agencies raised such a storm of protest from Parliament that the decision had to be reversed.

A complete system of cost control is Operated and all expenditure was closely examined by internal auditors. About 70 per cent of the board’s costs was tied to wages, which are fixed by arbitration and everything possible was being done to keep costs down.