ENGLISH RACING

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 75, 21 December 1935, Page 19

ENGLISH RACING

Jockey Club Active The English Jockey Club, ever keen to adopt or to alter principles for the benefit of the sport, is fully alive to the need lor measures which will ensure the maximum efficiency in riding. The club can be relied on to have the v .‘fare of the apprentice at heart, and enaole the juniors to fill the ranks or their seniors appropriately with time No effort will be spared to bring about that cherished end. Apart from the siiggestions which are receiving the Jockey Club’s attention in this respect, a writer in “Sporting Life” expresses the idea that an extension in the handicap range would promote progress among junior horsemen. Range of Handicaps. The days when horses competed in handicaps carrying five stone and under can never return, as a consequence of educational laws which prevent boys pursuing their calling until nature has fully equipped them. While in these circumstances _it is necessary to limit the minimum impost,

there is no reason to limit the expansion upward to any reasonable weight. Continuing the subject, the English writer has the following:— Not everyone will agree that 10 stone, shall we say, is a fair racing weight, yet 1 find, supported by statistics, no cause to believe otherwise. I am firmly of the opinion that a handicapper, in taking a three stone range of Ost. 71b.-(Lt. 71l>. is at a loss to give every entry a fair chance, particularly among the bottom divisions. That being so, the winner all too frequently comes from among the topweights, which means that the lightweight jockeys do not obtain a fair share of successes. This factor must have a restricting influence on nominations, since the owners and tjainers of moderate animals are conscious of flic probability of not receiving equitable treatment. Junior jockeys are thus at a disadvantage with their seniors in having to compete on unfavourable terms in the matter of handicapping. Weight-for-agc. Another matter which might engage the attention of the Jockey Club is a further revision of the weight-for-agc scale. The work was founded and revised in 1873 by Admiral Rous, and has since been modified and revised by the authorities. While the Jockey Club has made it clear that the scale is not intended to be imperative, I suggest that the data could be further improved. Records suggest that the scale does not permit a sufficiently large allowance to three-year-olds from the older horses in the early part of the season. Contrariwise, three-year-olds competing against their ciders at the back-end on terms laid down by the scale invariably appear to have the advantage. This is explained in matters akin to the laws of nature. Second season animals, as a rule, are out of sorts in the spring and early summer, whereas they then thrive to such extent as to be at the apex of their racing career in the late autumn. In the process they not only conflict the present weight-for-age scale, but often the handicappers also, as is proved by the big proportion of victories in back-end handicaps. By way of contrast, it is exceptional to find three-year-olds defeating their elders in weight-for-age events and handicaps in the early part of the season. YEARLING SALES Catalogues for the tenth national thoroughbred yearling sales are now available from the auctioneers, Wright, Stephenson and Co., Ltd., and Pyne, Gould, Guinness Ltd., Christchurch, who will again conduct the sales in conjunction with the Sydney firm of bloodstock salesmen, Win. Inglis and Son, Ltd. The sales are to be field at Trentham on Thursday, January 23. The large studs are .all strongly represented and there is a most representative collection of highly bred yearlings, twenty-nine different sires having youngsters to represent them. There will: be a separate sale of brood maree, stallions, racehorses in training and untried stock.