FENCES REMOVED

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 112, 13 May 1937, Page 13

FENCES REMOVED

AMAZING HAWERA ERROR

(Special From "Hurry On.") NEW PLYMOUTH, This Day After the field had gone a mile in the Egmont Steeplechase at Hawera yesterd!y, the crowd, greatly thrilled by the fine contest and splendid jumping, were just preparing to enjoy the exhilarating spectacle of the horses taking the double brush in front of the stands the second time, when, to their amazement, men were seen to be industriously removing the remnants of the two obstacles. The riders were obviously nonplussed, but were vigorously signalled to proceed to the inside of the track. One or two seemed rather doubtful whether they should proceed without having taken the jump. However, they were soon off at top again for the final round of one of the best steeplechases seen on the Hawera racecourse.

As soon as t;v i d was over speculation was '•' . as to possible action that might r , taken as a result of the horses not .aving jumped the double brush the second time. A meeting of the judicial committee was held and it was decided that no action was necessary, as the conditions of the race stated that it was a steeplechase, to be run over two and a half miles, with no mention of the number of fences to be jumped. The error of the grounds staff was certainly unfortunate, but Don Erma won so well and jumped so splendidly that an extra couple of fences would not have worried him. In fact, it is probable that he suffered more than most of the others, as he was leading down the straight the second time, and his rider, sorely puzzled, eased him up quite perceptibly. A rather similar incident occurred at Levin in a hurdle race some years ago when the Hawera-trained horse Tenacre was successful. On that occasion a hurdle in the straight had been removed and the horses jumped only five flights instead of the advertised six. No action was taken in that case, even though the incident was much discussed.