WEIGHTS IT LEVIN

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 118, 15 November 1934, Page 10

WEIGHTS IT LEVIN

A HANDICAPPER'S DILEMMA

home surprise hab been expre -ed dt the handicapping of the hor3es entered foi the Weraroa Hack Handicap at the Lcvm Meeting, especially the appaieutly high scale, and the sotting of Whetmm a win nei to date on'y o£ a soht irj maiden i ice, at the top of the list Ihe mark at which the lilndicap has] been staitcd, hbwevei, is oohgdtory undei the Rules ot Racing, rule 2(w (4) stating that "L\cept in races foi two year old-, ■ the top weight allotted m any handicap I flat race shull not be less thin 9 stone Ihe scale, extending down to 8 6, on which | half the held are placed, follow s as a con . sequence, because there is so little differ ] enco m merit among the nineteen horse , "entered foi the lace, as many a twelve ot them being still maiden* As to the other point, whether Whetuma deserved to be on top, theie is room tor a difference of opinion Whetuma may \ have been unlucky on occa&ions, but still in numerous starts he has only once/been | a winner. At his 1-u.t start (at Otaki) he carried a stone aho\e the bottom weight, I and he finished fourth with Dick Whit tmgton, in receipt of 71b, finishing second Dick Whittmgton has now been weighted 811 at Levin, an appioach of 4lb iJicK Whittmgton, with only one win and one dead heat in his complete lecoid, has I nevertheless been no more fortunate m his race career than Whetuma I Then there is Ebeum, on 812 rbeimi has won four races at least and his record all round appears rather better than wnc tuma's. Possibly he would have been a fairer topweight than Whetuma Ihe thr£yea?-old e ßalbus, on 811, has won only once and has raced pooily thi reason Otauru King, Sunee and Round Scoie, on 88, are still maidens Lapel, on 8 7 may have escaped the handicappei b e\ , es. but he could not have been topweight. Perhaps the horse most generously treated la | Bay Area, on the same mark as Lapel, tor she won three races last season and has raced only once 80 far this term. In 'all the handicapper had a rather unenviable task to weight this field, for the form is so poor, but he possibly erred, | in equity,at least, in starting off with Whetuma. It will be interesting now to i see whether Whetuma accepts, and if he does whether he wins The weight be-1 tween top and bottom after all is only sio.