SOME ANOMALIES

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 13, 15 July 1936, Page 15

SOME ANOMALIES

TRENTHAM PRIZES

LOWLY-ENDOWED EVENTS

~-. Alter ,the successful season that the 'Wellington, Eacing Club has enjoyed this term, with regularly increased turnovers on figures that, last year were also good'improvements on the previous year, the' club will be able to continue raising the stakes again riext season. ' In the last three seasons the club has mainly aimed at bringing the minor1 stakes up to the £200 mark, an object that has now been achieved, and in the coming season the stewards will require to consider .what events'shall enjoy the future additions. ■ The moment appears opportune to remove one or two apparent anomalies, and also to give status to certain races,' notably the • open sprints. ' ■ Afthe recent meeting there was one striking apparent , anomaly. When the programme was drawn up for the winter fixture no increase was made to.the stake for the Whyte Handicap on'.the first day, but the Stewards' Handicap on the same day and the Winter Oats Handicap on the last day were each raised £50. ■• The result was that the final day's flat mile carried a prize of £350, whereas the Whyte.Handicap prize was only £300. •an amount thai also attached to the Stewards'Handicap. : "PttINCIPAL" Ft AT MILE. The Whyte Handicap is the race .that has ~ become recognised as the principal .flat mile at the Winter Meeting, indeed' it is doubtful if in the view of-.the: racing public it is not even -a, nior.e important.race now than the much older Parliamentary Handicap on the second day. / Yet the Winter Oats; on the final day has been allowed to become a more valuable stake to win! •■■'■■ .The first' point that shall be considered, is the question of policy. Is it really in harmony .with the spirit of the sport that the better stake should ?•?, septsept lock>4 .UP in the cupboard till the concluding day? From a financial aspect owners must naturally now prefer their horse to win on the last day rather than on the first day, providing both stakes cannot be won. The practice of so reserving the larger stake puts a premium on honesty, and racing club executives should be loath to permit this, except in very exceptional circumstances, • when framing programmes. If the first day's form is to work out satisfactorily, and this is'what. investors' desire to happen, then the tempting prize , should be offered. at - once and the remaining prizes made more in the nature of consolation rewards. .

It is quite probable that the Wellington stewards had in mind when increasing the stake for' the "Winter Oats this year'that. the final day is .the day on which thfe biggest attendance and consequenly the .largest turnover are to be expected. • But meetings .are better viewed, as:single" units, irrespective of the individual,days, arid the aim should therefore be .to, assxire a successful outcome to the ;\yhple.meeting, not to any particular day: It is obviously dangerous,policy ; to provide, larger prizes oh a nnal.-r.day than on, .a first : day. This point arose quite recently at the New Year, when 'the Stratford Racing Club, interchanged its two main events i leaving .the Stratford Cup till. the.final aay. Not only. many owners but several, -leading officials of the New Zealand. Eacmg Conference1 deplored this move; and it was suggested at the ■time-that th^club,,£ho.uld/.^vjew; its policy when.fraifiing the programme for the next meeting. /BET^EIa Whyte stake.

With the opportunity of further increasing its stakes' during the coming season, thefstewards of-the-Wellington Bacing Club might well -consider. the advisability .of improving. '. the, status of, the ne^f Whyte Handicap. ~[, This race could be lifted to a plane comparable with -that of the Winter -Gup-at Riccarton simply by a rise Jn stakes. The Winter Cup-now carries' A prize of £600, and there, seems no reason— with.the-mihpr races already well endowed at Trentham—why the next Whyte Handicap should" not have a

stake of at least;? £500.: -It ■Was'some-what--incongruous that-the novice -per* Jormßrs at-Trenthahvwere able, to win

prizes of £200, .while the. prize for the Whyte .Handicap -field was -only ,£3off;;;.■■.-.. ■-.:, .*..:,:..- . . , ;

It may be: noted that- this has been' the first year in which - the - Whyte Handicap, .which was* established in 1925 (first as the. Members' Handicap and for the next three years as the Whyte Memorial Handicap), has so suffered in comparison with other events on the programme. In 1925 the prize: was £500, with the Parliamentary Handicap carrying the same stake and the Winter Oats only £400. In 1929 the Winter Oats was also lifted to £500. In 1931 all three races were dropped to £400, and the next year the tworailes were further cut to £250, withVthe Parliamentary reduced to £300. In 1934,the "mile events were raised to £300;'and then this year the Whiter Oats was rajsed to £350 and the Parliamentary to: £400; while the Whyte stake was.left as-it was. The Whyte Handicap' had never prior to this year had. 4 less stake than the Winter, Oats. : .

If was evidently the intention of the club's stewards when ■■ the Whyte Handicap was- first established that it should v be at vleast of joint first importance with any''other flat race on the winter-programme.' and certainly a more valuable-mile than the Winter Oats. The, hope then was probably to make the Whyte Handicap foremost ampng the 'winter handicaps in the D6mirtiori< ' H this was the aspiration of the stewards.«?f a decade ago it has been quite lost sight of in the years during-which the club, in common with other clubs, was passing through the throes of the depression. LOWLY SPRINT STAXUS.

The."Whyte Handicap is therefore.one race, and without much doubt it is the first race, that should benefit in any increases given in next season's stakeoffering at Trentham. There are, however, at least two other races, and possibly four, whose status might be improved with considerable advantage to the club. ..',■:.■■ -The two-races principally referred to are the open sprints at the Summer and Autumn- Meetings, the Telegraph and the: Railway Handicaps. It is- another anomaly that the;stake attached to the Telegraph Handicap on Wellington Cup Day should be only £300, £50 less than for the open sprints at the Spring and Autumn Meetings, and only the same as the stake for last week's Stewards' Handicap. The club desires and.expects the crack sprinters in the Dominion- to compete at its Cup Meeting; .a" stake that would draw the best horses in this category should therefore be provided. The. biff sprints on New Zealand Cup: Day (Stewards' Handicap) and on Auckland Cup Day (Railway Handicap) are important events, second in note onlytothe big Cups, the Railway carrying, a prize this season of- £750 and the Stewards' one of £500. The Wellington Telegraph might be made a name to conjure with just, as the Stewards' and the Railway have always been; at least it should be the most valuable sprint of the season at Trentham.. . The: Railway Handicap at the Wellington Autumn Meeting, when all the stai?-sprinters are still in active training, might also be made a much more attractive race than it is at present. It: fe second fiddle that day to the Thompson Handicap, but there are many class horses who do not shine beyond six furlongs, and it is doubtful- if a- more valuable sprint in the autumn than at present would seriously reduce the dimensions of the Thompson field, which has always drawn sufficient, arid sometimes more than sufficient, runners to provide a highThe first-day sprints at the club's standard contest.