HOUR BEHIND TIME

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 74, 25 September 1934, Page 6

HOUR BEHIND TIME

FOXTON'S SERIOUS LAPSE

LESSON FOR SMALL CLUBS

Recently it has been possible to eulogise the manner ih which, most racing and trotting club- officials have kept their programmes right up to the time mark, find had there been only a.' minor lapse at Foxton oil -'Saturday.'no note need have been taken of the offence; but the J) oxton stewards so completely ' ignored the schedule they • had marked out for the meeting that the:breach cannot be overlooked.- Had only-20 minutes or bo been lost during the day it might : not have been so- bad, but it. is, a-totally different mat: ter.when the. last-race is not set off on its way till over, ah .hour late.... . .; Time was persistently v given.,away from the very first;race, which "was. rim' about ten minutes late, and no palpable effort was made to recover the-' leeway at r.ny point; ■ By- i-lie'' time the' Cvp1 , came along half an hour had' been' lost; and in the succeeding .laces the' schedule :lagged more md more. '.The- fifth .race - was' run 35 minutes behind time,; and : the ; seventh nearly 45-,minntes, already past the hour when the last, race should, have been over and the public-collecting, their dividends or. on their way-home.'. . .Just 55 minutes after schedule the totalizator was'closed on the last race, and a few minutes later the sitn s'et'behirid pine' trees on a rise at the western corner of the course. : More minute's- passed as the pools were being balanced, and it was just over an honr late when the starter received' his -signal.- The Oast race was scheduled .-to be •run 4,50 p.m.-, without the latitude of an ."about";,it actually started-at just .on.-5.55. p.m.

PATRONS dECEIVEa

'There was "a particularly good attendance, drawn- materially from Palmerston North, with-a-spattering of racegoers from ;js far afield, as-the Capital.. City. .Fortuuately they were i.n high humour for.the main part, arid' not many cqmpliiiuts were ■ voiced on course, but doubtlessly many of the club's Saturday's patrons will tiave 'since "viewed things■-in :a different light, ' • .•■;■• ■_•:.■

It;is hardly necessary to-comment on tfie, inconvenience to which many racegoers must have been put. Those who have attended meetings run.so late will know them well enough. It is no-argument that' patrons were at-liberty.to-leave when they chose. Many gp -toI the- meetings -obliged to see out the programme to the last race, arid /their.- position., becomes: most .irritating, when-they,find .that/the, one obliga? tion,is'.going to .preclu.de the..fulfilment, of others. It. should, be one of the keenest Slims of the stewards to" see that patrons are completely satisfied, so that they may 6ecome ijo'teiifial -patrons1 for' future meetFrigs. The' stewards, however, cannot hope to give satisfaction by leading their patrons'on to.a- false scent/ as- the J'o^ ■ton officials did on Saturday. •'■■

Tlfe causa, of the .delay at Foxton lay .obviously in the fact that the totalisator could not take, the.betting on. offer in the time it was supposed' to remaiu.,opeu, and also in the long time that it often took to balance the pools: The club uiust have anticipated,a substantial increase in turnover, for the-, fields were' the' best, both •from point/ of"■'class and ■'size', that it had had for' many years, and it is reasonable to assume"I'that:."arrangements' to~ put through the expected pool were made beforehand. Yet, with 'betting ■ prolonged the best pa-rt of- an- horn-1, .the increase was only -£1-767- -in-, a . £SG9S. . turnover., without much doubt less than the stewards had hoped for when the ■day's racing began.

Much larger stakes -were provided and the club'had to, gain an increase to make the meeting pay financially. ' It: is unfortunate that in. order to' do so the time schodule. had " to. be" so' completely jettisoned. One may concede the difficulties 'of the stewards,' but one cannot .pardon the way they took to ensure that the turnover was increased; ■ ■ ■ .

•• 'The mistake the:clubundoubtedly made was to revert-to'the wiri-and^place ' system of .betting with, makeshift facilities for operating the method. Win-and-place, as has .often been, pointed oiit, cannot be successfully' conducted" by ■: the ■ smaller .clubs at present.. Any increase that is ob■'tamed is gained "at the expense' of breaking other" obligations,- This" has been •'shown time"and again ..'during the- hist ■twelve or eighteen -imon^h'ij. . - ■

■■'• With theisingle-pool-.operating last Sat'rtrday the;■ Foxton - Club '.could.: have kept ■its programme- to time, and yet still, without much- room, for-, doubt, have enjoyed ' a i'ery. similar increase. Win-and-plaeo had to bfi: squeezed.to its very limit .to bring jn .the ...improvement in turnover it did,' and the.experience of Foxton should be .a lesson to be heeded by •any .other., sljiall clubs that have ideas 'about going back to-wih-and-i)lace with inferior equipment. " """. ' .': Win-and-place is-a", good • system, when 'properly.ope.rtitecLi-biit-.it is a dangerous tool with- only-, makeshift facilities. Lot -the big clubs -work out the destiny o£ win-and-place in the Dominion. . For the (•mailer clubs, at present the single : pool -.{s .the only satisfactory method.

ANTIQUATED MACHINE.

■It may- ; ba noted in : passing that the win indicator-at-Foxton.on.Saturday was such an antiquated machine .that one had to be" right under it tD.i:qa.d the. figures, or else avail oneself of a pair of binoculars. The majority of the public could watch the progress" of the betting only cm the place index and assume that the state of betting was somewhat similar on the win machine. Hence possibly arose the anomalous position that S3'mcdny was a shade better supported than Legatee on the place machine, but was not half as well backed on the win machine.

i'Jie public as a whole must always remain dissatisfied with the dual-pool .system while-facilities are- patchwork, and ■those concerned in bringing about increased popularity for the system would for,the present'do best by'attempting to .educate the public -at the bigger, meetings/ where there .can bo fairly '.completes equipment; and then, as opportunity arises, extending ' the facilities to the principal of the.smaller glubs. ....... '.Under the Rules, of Racing there is strictly no regulation as* to the'time at which race meetings must be ended at this period of.. the. year. There is a. .yule that says that. .the. .starting time of.' the lastrace ■ shall, be fixed for' a time not later than.2o minutes before sunset when meetings fall between' May 7 and August 31, but even this is a rule only of schedule time, and clubs are.'left at liberty actually to start a race nt'any • time after wards. The rules more or less hand over the -general control of meetings to the stewards' of the club concerned. In cases such asFoxton, and recently such ns the C.J.C. Grand National Meeting and (he Combined limits' Meeting at New "Plymouth, it is the stewards only who ■enn be blamed when the time schedule has not been kept, or even approached.

In contrast to those meetings may be mentioned':S.ueh as the;.recent Wellington Hacing Club and Wellington Trotting Club and also the Wanganni Jockey Club's Meeting," where the racing was conducted approximately at least \o time. Indeed at/the Wellington Trots not even ,t minute was lost on the day, tlibngh this clearly wiust have meaiit. the turningdown of a fairly big sum in potential investments. The' Wellington Trotting people are determined to run their ■inretjr.gs always to time in future, and the puh"c have already been shown unequivocally what is expected-from-them at IFutt Park.

if the Foxton stewards still think tliat it was only the'chango back to win-and-plnee that saved 'their mooting- financially, lot them consider the Geraldine Meeting held at the same time. The Gornlelinc Club had reverted ..to the singlepool, 'and yet, without anything like the improvement in quality of fields that the Foxton Club enjoyed, it received £10,310 10s investments for the two days, as against £14.523 under win-and-place last year! It is not the system but the public purse that'mainly regulates the: turnovers at race meetings. ■ •