Trotters unpopular

Press, 26 March 1980, Page 23

Trotters unpopular

From G. K. YULE in Sydney A roughly-run Inter-Domi-nion Trotting Championship Grand Final last Friday, a ’• race of rather mixed quality! ■ at Fairfield on Monday and! ■ insufficient horses available for a free-for-all this Friday; have all played their part in delaying, if not preventing,; i the reintroduction of races for this gait at Harold Park. The free-for-all planned ■ for Friday was abandoned' on Monday evening when it 1 became obvious that in- | sufficient horses were available. |

In fact, New South Wales Trotting Club officials said that the best they could hope for wa-3 a field of five. This was because of a high casualty rate among the trotters racing at the carnival and the failure of others

|to find form sufficiently 'good to justify another start. ■ “The public just don’t like, them,” said the chief execu- j I tive officer (Mr Len Smith). | l “They get pretty sour if' they don’t get a run for ; their money. We haven’t the; i depth of class of trotter! i comparable with that available in New Zealand.”

The president of the club (Mr Bill Treuer) expressed similar views. “I like the trotter myself, but the public don’t and we’ve got to cater for them.” he said. The chairman of the N.S.W. Trotting Authority (Judge Alf Goran) is the chief advocate for the trotter and feels it will be a long-term project.

He agreed at Fairfield on Monday evening that the over-all standard of racing among the four major events

for trotters in the last 10 days had been a shade disappointing. “I don’t think the trotter is a lost cause and feel that 'by encouraging young horses, trotters will be accepted again at Harold Park in the not too distant future,” he said.