H. GRAY EXPLAINS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 21, 25 January 1940, Page 15

H. GRAY EXPLAINS

THAMES DEMONSTRATION

After his victory in the President's Handicap, the chief event on the final day of the Thames Meeting on Monday, there was a demonstration against the winner. Namara, who had finished -well back in the Goldfields Cup on Saturday. It continued for some minutes, but the judicial committee decided, after consulting the stipendiary steward, Mr. B. N. Sandilands, that there was no need to hold an inquiry.

After the Cup on the first day, Mr. Sandilands stated, he went to H. Gray, the trainer of Namara, and he was satisfied from his explanation that the horse was run on his merits. , ;

A further statement has been handed to the Press by Gray, as follows:—: "The reference published in the Press concerning the demonstration,, as far as it goes, is quite correct, but it does not go far enough, and I feel that in the absence of an explanation a wrong impression may be created. On the first day my instructions as trainer to the jockey were not to be further back than second if possible. The horse, usually a good beginner, was slow away and the jockey, in carrying o\xi my instructions, let him run up to a handy position early, and this appears to have left him without a finishing run. On the second day my instructions were exactly the same, but the horse got away well and after a punishing finish just won. Further, the track conditions were entirely different on the second day from those on the first. Many officials of the Thames Jockey Club expressed disapproval of the conduct of the crowd, and the stipendiary steward, Mr. B. N. Sandilands, was satisfied that Namara was run on his merits. He also expressed sympathy when he learned that one of those who demonstrated went to the limit and struck me in the eye."