RACEHORSE KILLED

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 117, 13 November 1929, Page 8

RACEHORSE KILLED

CLAiM AGAINST MOTORIST

ESTIMATES OP VALUE

(By-Telegraph.)

(Special to "The Evening Post.")

AUCKLAND, This Day. The racehorse Welkne figured in a c l a j m for damages heard before .his Honour Mr. Justice Herdinan, in the Supreme Court yesterday. The plaintiff was Bernard Goldwater (Mr. Northcroft), the owner of the horse, who claimed firom Albert Schubert,, builder's foreman (Mr. West) £528 3s damages, of which £525 was the value he placed on the horse, and £3 3s veterinary expenses. The horse was killed in p. collision with a motor-car owned by the defendant on 25th September, in Great South road. The plaintiff alleged that the car was driven into the horse with violence. The defendant alleged in y answer that the horse was not under proper control, and that it had been frightened by steam from a neighbouring factory, so that it became unmanageable, and swerved suddenly on to the defendant's car.

William Fergus, horse trainer, who was in charge of Welkne at the time of the accident, said that his charge.was usually quiet and not troublesome. A blast of steam from the glassworks near Penrose c used the horse to whip round and try to run away. He continued to jump round, aud.a bus came along and stopped Witness called out "Stop" to a motorcar that was coming on, but it did not stop until it hit the horse on the rump. The horse's feet were knocked from under it, and it fell, and afterwards had to be destroyed. Witness fell on the concrete, and was somewhat dazed.

A similar account of the accident was given by Benjamin John Bowden, a railway employee, and a passenger in the bus.

Arthur Wellington said the horse was practically stationary when the car hit him. The car was going between 15 and 20 miles an hour. A QUIET HORSE. Evidence that Welkne was a quiet horse used to traffic was given b^ John Thorpe, trainer the horse. Welkne was imported from Australia by Mr. Wilfred Stead, and was a six-year-old. Mr. Goldwater bought him for £300 about two years ago,'with a view to maturing him as a hurdler. He had raced six or seven times, and won a race at the Ellerslie June Meeting. Witness valued him as a fiat horse at 500 guineas, and he promised very well' as a hurdler.

Answering Mr. West, witness . said \\ elkne had ten starts and had won one race. He had cost £470 or more for riding fees, shoeing, entries, nominations, and acceptances.' '

Mr. West: "It is pretty well known that at the time he won at Ellerslie the owner did not have anything on him?" Witness: "The first I knew of it." Mr. West: "Well, did the. owner back him?"—" Yes, he backed him on my instructions.":

Mr. West: "How did you know he was going to win after nine failures?"—" How did I know? I. only thought." In answer to further questions, witness said: "You would have been a winner if you-had backed him every time." Dr. William Charles Ring, veterinary surgeon, valued'Welkne at £525. He said the hoi'se was valued at what an owner might reasonably, expect to win with him in the next twelve months.

Albert Charles Hill, manager for the Auckland Racing Club at Ellerslie, said Welkilc was thoroughly sound, and was well worth £500.

Harvey Nicholson, retired farmer aud racehorse owner, described Welkne as "a fine big horse, with a lot of pace, just coming to his best." He should be worth easily between £500 and £600. FOR THE DEFENCE. Mr. West, opening his case, said the defence would say that the very thing the driver did not try to do was to pass the horse. The horse suddenly moved out on' tho road, and backed until it practically sat down on the front of the car. Counsel described the claim as the owner's last gambhe on his horse.

The defendant said the horse had given no indication that it was going to spring out on to the road. When witness was six feet away the horse shied on to the concrete. His car was practically stopped when the horse fell with its rump on the radiator, and slipped on to the concrete. His brakes were good, and he had pulled up. The rider admitted that the steam had frightened the horse, and that he had been watching the bus in the opposite direction. The horse would have been hit on the legs and not on the rump if his car had run into it.

The hearing was adjourned.