PURIFYING THE TURF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9496, 27 April 1894, Page 4

PURIFYING THE TURF.

We have received a letter from " Fair Play," referring to what the writer calls " dishonest running," and mentioning several instances lately which he contends come under this category. We know that newspapers exist to keep tilings straight that tend to go crooked, and that they must labour to purify politics, society, and even the turf. But to operate upon the lastmentioned department is somewhat too formidable a task, and besides it is the most dangerous of all. With a reasonable amount of racing, such as might legitimately be expected in such a community as this, we might have the events fairly and squarely carried out. But with a race meeting or a trotting meeting almost every Saturday, racing becomes a business and a dissipation, Apparently a number of people assemble, each one thinking he can outwit the other. The Victorian Club disqualified a jockey, and the Australasian approved of the action, and made some remarks upon the lad. He thereupon brought an action, upon which the jury were unable to agree. The cost to the newspaper will be very great, and it is doubtful if it will be able to reflect that after all it has done any good. The fact is, that all idea of sport or amusement is becoming banished from a race meeting. These gatherings are assuming quite a different aspect from what they once presented. Newspapers, by-and-by, will take up the position that they must not be expected to attempt to purify the turf. It is becoming too bad to do anything with in the way of reform. We find, for instance, that persons write to us complaining that they put their money on a certain horse which would, have won had it not been arranged by some I interested parties that it should lose, those interested parties being strong enough to get their desires carried out. But we never hear from those who happened to put their money on horses which were made to win. And only people who bet and lose have any complaint to make. On a racecourse it is " diamond cut diamond." Nobody seems to be able to tell whether the best horse really wins. We would propose one reform which would go to the root of the matter, and which would indeed " purify the turf," and that is, that all betting should be abolished ; that there should be no bookmakers and no totalisators; and that people should attend race meetings for the genuine pleasure of seeing good horses run. But complaints about the turf have now resolved themselves into squabbles between different sets of gamblers, and newspapers will begin to question whether in these it is worth their while to interfere.