Australian bias blamed for rejection of series

Press, 6 August 1987, Page 37

Australian bias blamed for rejection of series

PA Wellington The leading Cambridge horseman, Ken Browne, believes Australian bias is behind the decision to reject a New ZealandAustralia jump series he proposed to the Sydney Turf Club.

Browne points the finger at Victorian official John Adams whose views on the prospects of the series were sought by the Sydney Turf club. “His object would be to keep it for the Australian trainers and not the New Zealanders,” Browne said. “He knows it would be so much harder with the New Zealanders coming over, but I suppose he is only doing his job looking after his own.” John Nicholson, racing manager of the Sydney Turf Club, said this week that Adams suggested a downfall of the series could be that the smaller Australian hurdles j£ould

prevent a strong New Zealand representation. “He said hurdling over different fences takes time to adjust to and he believed it wouldn’t suit the New Zealanders,” Nicholson said. Browne said he had heard the same comment. “It makes me laugh. New Zealand horses would be competitive over the smaller fences. Look at Doctor Sam, he can beat anything in Victoria.” The proposal was to have qualifying races in both New Zealand and Australia and the final at the Sydney Turf Club’s Rosehill track on November 14.

Rosehill would have been considered neutral ground as the strength of jumpers in Australia lies in the southern states. The Sydney Turf Club has staged the only two hurdles races in Sydney in the last 40 years. The ideal was to have

five New Zealand horses racing against the same number of Australians in the final, but Nicholson said another argument Adams raised was that one outstanding New Zealand jumper could scare off any further representation from this side of the Tasman.

Nicholson said it would be difficult to imagine four other horses going all the way to Sydney to race against a top flight New Zealand hurdler they knew would be hard to beat.

Browne refutes that claim. \

“They would be falling over themselves to go over. We would have no trouble getting a team of five,” he said.

This year’s race in Sydney is worth sAust4o,ooo and run over 2400 m. "That’s what a number of trainers are looking for at Hie end of the jumping sejkon,” Browne said.