NOT POPULAR

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 50, 27 August 1930, Page 6

NOT POPULAR

NEW ZEALANDERS NOT IN

FAVOUR

With. a. certain section in Australia horses and sportsmen from New Zealand are not popular. Probably the successes of our representatives have something to do ■with'"that attitude. Typical of its class is the : following letter, signed by "Fairplay," in a Sydney daily:—

Now. that Limerick has been brought across the Tasman once again to compete against our best w.f.a. horses at the spring meetings, we are sure' to hear a I superabundance of the "done-to-dcath" heel business from that irresponsible section of New Zealanders here, more especially should he be beaten in any of his races. Good as he has been in the past, Maorilanders will try and make us believe, that he would never have been defeated in any of his contests only that this much-discussed and over-exaggerated hoof trouble came against him at the crucial moment. No credit, of course, is given by these Islanders to our horses in his defeat. Most, that I have come in contact with are suffering acutely from "New Zealanditis," yet they never seem to land a decent sum from their investments.: They appear to be afraid to back up their opinions in cash, depending mostly on bluff and bombast to pull them through their arguments. Just let an Australian living in Windy Wellington or other of their towns open his mouth to the detriment (iii comparison) of- anything New Zealand, and he will immediately be hung, drawn, and quartered. These braggarts are intolerable, and have a tendency to mar—if listened to—all good, clean, sportsmanlike contests on the Turf. Should Limerick open up his account with a win, good luck to him, but should it be the reverse, then we will have to go through all. the agony of the heel trouble once more. Whichever way one looks at it, there is- a stirring time coming to us from their point of view. It is to be regretted that Rampion—always a masterwent amiss, and had to be retired from the Turf so young. The sporting editor of the "Labour Daily" replies: It is difficult to define the mentality of some of Sydney's pavement sports. They see no good in the products of other countries. The fact that unusual prominence has been given to the doings of New Zealand racehorses in Sydney is because this paper caters for all sections of the sporting community, and not alono for the pony devotee. The primary function of a daily journal is, of course, to supply news. It is important news to the sporting world to chronicle the training and stable gossip of at least one hundred Dominion horses now in Sydney preparing for the great spring events, the .two Cups, the Epsom, and the Metropolitan. Tn saj", as "Fairplay" docs, that 'Jfew

Zealanders never seem to land a decent sum from their investments," is quite contrary to fact, as witness the successes on the Australian Turf of Gloaming, Limerick, Desert Gold, The Hawk, Solution, Sasanof, Noctuiform, Pilliewinkle, Star Stranger, Ballymena, Rapine, Arch Marella, Estland, Aborigine, Cupidon, Paquito, Soultline, Broadsword, The Monk, to say nothing at all of those two great champions, Nightmarch and Phar Lap. Also there happens to have been Carbine, Gladsome, Bobrikoff, Golden Slipper, Sun God, Advance, Machine Gun—but, why go on? It is recalled that at one A.J.O. meetin" the late G. G. Stead "swept the board" with his New Zealand team. Surely it an epidemic of "New Zealanditis' then broke out among the followers of the Yaldhurst stable, no one would deny them their justifiable'elation. As to the relative merits of Limerick and Rampion, that is a matter for followers of racing .themselves to decide—it all depends on the viewpoint. When "Fairplay" can take an international outlook on sport, as well as on lite generally, then will be the time to treat his criticism of New Zealanders and their racehorses seriously.