TWO SIDES TO A QUESTION.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8332, 8 April 1889, Page 2

TWO SIDES TO A QUESTION.

Sir, — in these days of strict *' puritanical ■ morality "we hardly ever take up a ' journal printed here or elsewhere that is uot brimming over with a lot of twaddling goody-goody rubbish printed for the good of the public and to protect the interests of those who try by all manner of means to earn an honest pound or two easily oa i- the much • talked and written - about 3 . "totalisator machine." Now, Mr Editor, c I think you and any onp with the least grain of perception will agree with me c when I say that there is never a race run n and won on any racecourse, no matter whether won by the public favorite or not as the caso may be, that there are nob deep "growls" uttered, although they may not be very demonstrative, by some of the public whose interests there is so much written and talked about protectV ing. If a horse happens to win a race 1 and ho is not hackett hy the public the air is rent asunder by bowls of in- . dignation hurled at the head of the i, owner and trainer by a disappointed :o multitude who did not back the winnor. Ie We are all very wise in our own estima- , tion and know the horse who shonld have won, and really did win, after the numbers and red hall go up. Again, Mr Editor, A I don't think you or anyone else ever a heard anyone who had a small share in a ir ticket on the horse who won "growl" about the winner's previous running, however in-and-out ie may have been. It is only when our pockets are touched that we have such a horror of anything "shady 1, and dishonest.'' I firmly maintain that c the very loudest in their marks of disapprobation towards Jet d'Eau and his L owner at the Napier Park meeting, if themselves tried in the balance, would be 1 found a long way short, yet it is wonder--1 ful how when another owner's horse runs a c little better than his previous form, the owner is jumped upon by those who would __ on no account try to gull the innocent E ublic in a race with their own orse. They are the essence of honesty . nnd straightforwardness, having been . born without guile, yet I still think and maintain that if the loudest in their marks of disapprobation had had three and fourpence on Jet d'Eau there would not have been so much unsightly tumult on his winning. Now a word or two regarding in-and-out running of horses. We have horses here who never 1 run up to their trial form when they race _■ inpublic. These horses will do a trial in private before a race meeting that causes their owners and trainers to hack them up to the handle, as the saying is, and in the race will cut up. the sorriest duffers imaginable, ranch to the digust of owner and trainer. I myself know a horse here ' that is trained by one of our most astute and qualified trainers. The herse in his trials always gave promise of doing something wonderful. Well, ou the day he would be wanted, being heavily backed by both owner and trainer, he would signally fail to obtain a place. The same has not happened once or twice, but many times. Well, the same horse starts in a race after the trainer has begged the owner to take bim away nnd turn him out, and wins easily from start to finish, without a shilling of owner or stable money being on hun in the race, another horse from the same stable carrying all the money and getting shamefully beaten by the supposed disappointer. Again, we have horses who will never race so well as when they have the silk up and in company. The fact is the racehorse and his doings are as hard to be got at as the mysteries and miseries of the rat trap. Now lot us try a little to protect the public who would like to make an honest pound on tbe machine with another man's horae. An owner will give 500 guineas for a colfc as a yearling, he (the owner) running all risks of tbe colt turning out a good and fast one. Well, after going to expense with the colt, which an outsider has not the least conception of, to get the colt fit to face the starter in a race, tbe colt is nominated, and starts in a race. The outside public knowing the said colb is a grandly bred one, and bas been all the time of his preparation in the hands of a ■ thoroughly competent trainer, rush the colt on the machine in the race be starts ' for. Well; if he should happen to win he pays out four or five. shillings on each poubd. invested on him, so it must be a really good thing for the owner if he puts twenty pounds on his colt in the machine. The owner gets a.fiver. back. Lot hs not torget that the owner stood, a chance to. lose his twenty .invested by his colt not winning. The public that want so much protecting don't take into consideration the risk the owner runs of his colt getting smashed prcrippled, or any of the hundred things that may happen to make .the colt only fit for dog's meat. Racing and ' backing horses is only a lottery, and as -•"' one of our greatestauthorities on racing " ! \ 7in New Zealand— that is the veteran - * sporteman,' Aft -Redwood— says, there is '•.'-■■ only one radehorse in every hnndred foals. .7 If that is the case, there is not so much in being the owner of racehorses. ... '■ AA. AA-J---7ln conclusion, I Bay that racing forthe ' yVjy sport, of thf .'thing,' if it.ever was the case, ' T* ; 7._ wbiehll<Vmtfoh < *donbt t -i-'likQ,t_e'd_yß~6f:' r Y-Y*'<* theinifaicles. a>tfiing of the pastj '"and*' jf ■A, y| the*pnW|p»|iQ^^^^|B^Kt \ttjy^ fAA^Y j*yA 'YAf^AfAAAMBg

Zanzibar, April 0.

.hem "grin and bear it.' Now, we all -race for self and the almighty dollar. The •public don't pay an owner's out bill. Thanking you, Mr Editor, for your trainable spaoe.— l am, &c., Outsider. -Hastings, April 5, 1889.