Perfect result achieved

Press, 6 February 1989, Page 22

Perfect result achieved

By DAVID MCCARTHY The Canterbury Jockey Club handicapper, Rex Johnston, achieved a perfect result for one of his profession in the Halswell Handicap at Riccarton on Saturday.

Nine horses went to the post and finished in the exact order they appeared in the racecard as weighted by Mr Johnston.

The topweight, Reykjavik, won the race and bottom weight Isle Of Arrhn, finished last. The odds against such an occurrence in a handicap are thousands to one and no other instance could be recalled by Mr Johnston in his own experience of 26 years as a handicapper. “Sometimes there

would be instances of horses finishing in the same order they appear in the book in small fields and/or where all are carrying the same weight but it has not happened to me in a handicap race of this size before. I suppose it’s a good result as far as the handicapper is concerned,” Mr Johnston said yesterday. However the pinnacle for Mr Johnston as a judge would be to weight a race which resulted in a triple dead-heat. “They had one at the Westport trots in the mid 19605. I remember it because I was the course commentator that day. The speaker system went on the blink during the

race so I was never able to get a recording of the race. There hasn’t been one in racing down here, though one or two fields I’ve handicapped have produced finishes very close to it,” Mr Johnston said.

The odds against Saturday’s result may be best illustrated by the fact that Mr Johnston is now the handicapper for all South Island clubs and assesses over 900 races a year. He began his present role in 1962, on the West Coast, taking over from the late Jack O’Donnell, senior, when he retired. “Mr O’Donnell was a fine old gentleman and helped me a lot in the first few months,” Mr Johnston said.

The handicapper took over duties at the C.J.C. in 1976. As the absolute for a handicapper, in his job of assessing each horse and weighting to give every horse a winning chance, means multiple deadheats are the ultimate results, a race finishing in exact weighting order is rare enough to have Saturday’s event one to test the most avid statistician.

Mr Johnston’s predecessor, Harry Spicer, the handicapper at Riccarton for many years cannot recall a similar instance either.

“I suppose it has happened but I can’t recall it with a field of that size in my time,” Mr Spicer said.