A RACECOURSE STORY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 404, 13 January 1909, Page 4

A RACECOURSE STORY.

i :;!:v , ; ; (By "Anawj.")■:. "■■;■•" \>;-i': '' n,'"f Or a y sV n l i? t - aT ? .tricks' thftt-jiro^vam','. , Bjet HarteVHeathen Chinee ■would starve if placed in-competition with somo of the geniuses who operate." on not a fwof the Maonland racecpurses, -What is here 1 to be told happened at a small unregistered meeting where'every resident of' any co'risequcnce.ran'a horse, arid tried his wits'againstthe übiquitous "bookie", and certain persons of no social importance, all of whom may in ono respect,.be likened to the Assyrians of old. - .Amongst the , horses in one race, were and. B. Barring -accidents, it was considered'that A. was certain to win, withß. second; but.when A. had been backed down to an odds,on chance, the owners'of A, and B. put their heads together, the .result of Which was that they, in sporting parlance, agrood to "ban;" the favourite. . In sporting phraseology "bag"!also means "to stiffon," ,'takei a hold of/', "detain," B. then came into the betting. If the queer . Maoriland betting law allowed/one might say that.B. was backed down to even money, but'as this , last piece of■ .legislation .-. prevents, tho publication of odds, and allows the "bookie" to run wild when and wherever he will, the reader must rest satisfied with'the fact that B. started second favourite. Backers of A, were suspicious, but their fears wore calmed by the statement of the owner that his horse was 'after it." "After it" is another classical phrase meaning, well—just what if seems to mean. The course was twice round, with hills and hollows of a fair! magnitude.' At tho end of the first mile, A.'s rider was nearly breaking his reins in his efforts to keep his horse from rushing into the lead, which was neld by, B- by several lengths. A large crowd of A. s backers were now more than auspicious,' and they congregated in a deep hollow of the course, and waited with big sticks. One man, held half a slip-pano] of fencing. When A. came into the hollow at this part of the course, he was not far behind, 8., and his owner tugged on the reins as if he were pulling in a boat race. This state of things exasperated: A.'s backers congregated there, and they violently assaulted A,, so much that' ho went to the front, However, his rider managed to control him sufficiently at the next liill, and B. won easily. There was a demonstration by-the public, and others who had, backed A,, while the supporters of B. sat tight and smiled, - .Their smiles were turned to. wrath, however, when they found that B.'s rider.could not draw his weight.. He had lost his lead bag. There was a wild and excited search for the missing weights, in tho middle of which, A.'s backers forced the rider of that hofsoj very, unwillingly, on to the scales. His weight was but a protest was entered against him on the grounds" that "at one time' duririg'the race he did not ride as if he wanted to win." The stewards considered this protest for some time, but dismissed it reluctantly. A ; sanguinary threat from A.'s backers,if they '.'acted un-British" possibly had something to do with this decision. It was a mystery to many how B. had lostihis lead bag, but it turned out next day that an .obliging backer' of A.'had relieved him of the weight as he was pushing his way to the soales after rhe race, and the bits of lead were then quickly distributed beyond hope of immediate collection. . .