Accidental switch of two pacers

Press, 20 January 1981, Page 19

Accidental switch of two pacers

I Whether charges will be ilaid following the discovery of a switch of the horses, Alec Peterson and True Peterson, will be decided bv' the executive of the Trotting Conference at a meeting to be held in Auckland on February 6. The two horses were purchased from Mr Clarrie Rhodes, of Christchurch by the Cambridge trainer, Kevin Holmes. It has now been discovered that the two horses were accidentally switched while being transported from Christchurch to Cambridge. Alec Peterson raced as True Peterson and won at Hutt Park and Wanganui in early December, as w'ell as finishing second at Wanganui, earning some $4OOO in stakes. He had four subsequent starts as True Peterson, but failed to reach a place. True Peterson, racing as

Alec Peterson, had one unplaced start before being flown to the United States, where both horses are now domiciled. Inquiries by the TrottingConference had disclosed that Holmes completed the purchase of both horses while he was in the United States on business.

Holmes, at present in California, is to be asked to submit his explanation about the switch for consideration by the executive. “At this stage it looks as though a genuine mistake has been made,” said the conference’s public relations officer (Mr John May). It appears as though the mistake was discovered w’hen staff members of the conference w r ere checking the markings of the two horses included on the papers presented when they were exported to the United States.