LURE OF THE TURF

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 27, 1 February 1929, Page 5

LURE OF THE TURF

DEWAR ON RACING

EXPERIENCE AS OWNER

NOTHING IS CERTAIN

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 29th November. After dealing at length with the subject' of the totalisator in his speech at the historic Gimcrack Dinner, Lord Dewar proceeded to philosophise generally on the joys and sorrows of thu turf!

"Bloodstock breeding is irresistibly attractive," said Lord Dewar. "I know of no greater joy, no higher human felicity than watching the young foal gambolling by the side of ita dam in the paddock. You anxiously wait to see if, as a yearling, it is growing in the right dimensions, and you endeavour to trace a trait of some forbear in it. Then you will be told your soil is wrong, and that you will never breed a winner. Blood will tell; breed is stronger than pasture. "If you have a sire that lias never won -classic honours," ho said, "you will be reminded that such sires have ruined more studs than anything else, and the quickest way out of that trouble is to shoot the animal. I havo been told that by an expert in the presence of and within hearing of my horse Abbot's Trace. Horses arc such agreeable friends that they ask no questions, they pass no criticism. To console the horse I then said, 'Don't work. As Disraeli said in the House of Commons, "A day will come when you will hear me." ' He gave three nods of approval, j "My apology for referring to this matter is that I have to thank the son of that horse for the honoured position I find myself in now. ETHICS OF GAMBLING. "Someone stated recently," ho said, "that gambling was immoral because it was getting money for nothing. I shall make a confession; confessions may be good for the soul, but bad for the reputation. The last bet I had was on my own horse in the Derby—in that case I gave money for nothing. An owner could not be classed as a gambler by having a small bet on his own horse in the Derby, because I know ho could get absolution from the Elders of the Scottish Presbyterian Kirk. They consider that no sin.

"A Scotch lady asked her minister, 'Would it bo a sin if I felt pleased if a gentleman called me pretty?' The minister looked up and down at tho somewhat homely-looking example of womanhood, and said: 'No sin could* be imputed to you, but a grave responsibility would rest with tho gentleman.'

"In racing you should be born under the astrological sign that indicates great hopefulness. When I first started, hope sprang buoyant. The first horse I over had won for mo the first time out, the Hyde Park Plate, over thirty years ago. I then imagined I had tho following year's Derby safely in my pocket, but no; for years my experience was a record of racing catastrophes. ' Counsel said to a witness in court, 'Did you see the catastrophe?' Tho witness replied, "I am the catastrophe. ' "I never had to go to the expense of cm; .. a ing detectives to sleep with any of my horses," said Lord Dewar. "On tho Turf, to him that hath shall be given tho experience of losing. Lucky is the man who does not believe in luck. If you wait for a stroke of good fortuno, you may wait until you got a stroke of paralysis.

"Nothing is certain in racing except its uncertainty, and thcro is nothing so uncertain as a 'suro thing.' When you hear a man say, 'Accidents will liapen,' you may bo pretty certain ho has been doing something he ought not to havo done. Why is it that some husbands tremble when the wifo says in a soft voice, 'I want to say something to you?' No wifo can euduro a gambling husband unless ho is a steady winner. Racing is made up of unlucky happenings. CHEAP BLOODSTOCK. "Cast your bread on tho bloodstock sales, and you will bo protty lucky if you over sco it again," ho said. "Nobody really values a thing till somebody else wants it. There is always somebody eagerly trying to divo into something that somebody else is frantically striving to scramblo out of. Cheap bloodstock is much too choap. "Disappointment," said Lord Dcwar, "is the offspring of expectation. Your two-year-old may bo n hero, and, as a three-year-old, a zero. On the Turf nothing so rapidly recedes as success.

"In racing stables the trainer gives tho horses a carrot at the end of the day—tlint is moro than some owners get at the ond of the season. "It is a wise horso that knows its own starting price, and it's v wiso owner that knows moro than tho racing prophets. Owners," ho said, "liltc tolling their friends all about tho chances of their horses in :i race, but it is n great responsibility, for when you givo a tip it is like lending money; it is better for both parties to arrnngo some constructive policy of protection against loss of friendship. It is more blessed to give than to lend, nnd it costs about tho same. If you want to know tho valuo of money, try to I orrow some."