OUR GLORIOUS LAND

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 126, 23 November 1935, Page 26

OUR GLORIOUS LAND

RACING IN NO DECLINE

INSTRUCTIVE COMPARISONS

"During the last few years we have heard so much about New Zealand's suffering through our horses going to Australia, and it has been so often asserted that facing is on the down grade in our glorious country, that I would ■ like to see in print exactly how the stakes and' other figures for the two countries compare," writes1 a correspondent ("H.N."). I suggest you give the figures for the Meioourne Cup Meeting, on the one hand, and for the New Zealand Cup and Auckland Cup Meetings, on the other hand, and then one could Icontrast the stakes and sucli for the principal fixtures of the year in both countries. Roughly I shoul-i think the Melbourne stakes are four times those given for the same number of days, at Riccarton, and perhaps three times those provided at EllersJie." . it is indeed an interesting study to compare these sets of figures, for not only has; the comparison a general value, but it must also be enlightening for owners who still have visions of a successful raid on Australian spoils, despite the many costly trips across the Tasman that have been made during the last three or four months. Some- of the Australian prizes, but only a few of them, do look tempting; but, with competition from the best horses of the two countries; they are very, very elusive. COMPARISON OF STAKES. Before dealing analytically with the figures for the meetings referred to, the amount of the stake-offerings for this year's fixtures may be tabulated together, as follows:— Day. ' Y.R.C. C.J.C. A.R.C. £ £ S First. 10,900 3,275 4,525 Second 10,900 ' 2.87 D 2,750 Third 5,000 : 2,475 3,900 Fourth ;..... 4,050 2,500 2,850 Totals ..' £31,450 £10,"925 £14,023 It will first be observed that the stakes given over the four days of the Meloourne Cup Meeting are not so many multiples in excess of the ,New Zealand figures as the correspondent suspected tney might be. They arc just over double tne Auckland figures and less than three times at great as the Canterbury figures. Yet the Mcl bourne' Cup Meeting is rightly famed as the greatest annual racing fixture in the world outside of England; foi jt draws its horses and its attendance from over a tremendous range, whereas, in contrast, the New Zealand meetings are dependent' purely on their own comparatively local support. The highwater mark1 of* the year in England is set x by the Royal Ascot Meeting, a four-day fixture too held in June. The stakes won by horses competing there this year totalled £62,285, but much of that was the contribution of owners in. sweepstakes, the actual sum added by the executive being only £43,400 —the most munifi-cently-endowed meeting of the world providing stakes only three times as great as Auckland can do at ever so much less expense to competing owners! MORE COSTLX RACING. The leading events)in Victoria naturally are very much more valuable to win than they are in the Dominion, but it costs £55 to start a horse in the Melbourne Cup, whereas the total fees for starting in the New Zealand Cup are only £12, and in the Auckland Cup £11. Starters in the Ascot Cup have to contribute £50 each in sweepstakes alone, besides which the forfeits are high, the final forfeit being £25. The stake for this year's Melbourne Cup was £8000. For the New Zealand Cup it was £1275, and for the Auckland Cup it will be £1500. The V.R.C. Derby stake was £5000. the New Zealand Derby stake was £1000, and the G.N. Derby will be £1250. The big Victorian prizes are obviously much larger than the corresponding Dominion events. But how much more difficult they are to win! The prizes for the, minor events at Flemington (outside of; the 'Oaks and the Cantala Stakes, in addition to the Cup and Derby) are relatively not so very mucii greater than those provided for the better-class events at Riccarton and Ellerslie. HORSES AND TURNOVERS. It is also of interest to consider the number of horses drawn to these "various meetings, and the turnovers handled by (the totalisators'. For those who do nost yet realise that racing in the Dominion is not so very seriously suffering from the frequent departure of .teams for Australia, it will be somewhkt surprising to learn that the average number of starters in events at Flemington this month was less than lone greater than at Riccarton. During the four days at Flemington there were 320 runners in the 24 events, (and at Riccarton there were 409 runners, in the 32 events. At Ellerslie at Christmas the average~"may be even slightly higher than at Riccarton, for the hack events there usually draw such large • fields. The general class of the horses racing in theiDominion at present is also of a high.'Standard, higher than many critics aoe willing to concede. Cuddle is the ec/jual of any mare in the Antipodes; Vintage, as the weights he was given in Australian events show, is ranked among the greatest handicappers of the day; and Kinnoull may be better than any Australian three-year-old. Good horses went across to Australia in the spring, but, with Sporting Blood one of the few to strike form, as a means of comparison, they have not been proved by results to have been better than the best of those •who have remained here. It is only natural that a country like the Dominion, with its relatively small and distributed population, should not be able to approach England or Australia,in the matter of totalisator turnovers, despife the statutory "monopoly' the machine has here. The C.J.C., for instance, depends mainly upon the population of Canterbury for its patronage; Melbourne itself has almost the population of the whole Dominion, and Ascot draws on London's eight millions. ■ Yet they are splendid turnovers here ■when all factors are considered. At the recent C.J.C. Meeting the investments amounts to £141,195. and in between days at the Metropolitan Trots the public found another £103,390 10s, a week's total of nearly a quar-ter-million. At the Melbourne Cuu Meeting this year there was a record turnover of £227,157; and at Ascot another record, £339,685 14s. The bookmakers have a lawful status at Flemington and Ascot, and of course a large portion of the investments there, is placed in the "ring"; but one can nevertheless hardly fail to realise from these figures that the New Zealand public is as liberal in its monetary support of the racing clubs as in the Australian or the English, and possibly even a great deal more liberal in the relative sense. So long as a week's racing can draw a quarter of a million pounds in totalisator investments in a single centre in the Dominion thers need be little fear that the spiritl- of racing is iri any imminent danger of decline, immediate or future.