AUSTRALIAN RACING

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7865, 29 July 1911, Page 16

AUSTRALIAN RACING

RETURNED TRAINER’S VIEWS PINE RACECOURSES AND CLEAN SPOET. j SPECIAL TO THE " TIMES." ] AUCKLAND. July 26. ' Tho well-known Ellerslio trainer, Mr F. MeManemin, returned from a six weeks’ visit to Australia by the AVirumor a on Sunday. A keen observer of racing, there was very little iu connection with tho spo/t that escaped the Aucklander, and in conversation with the writer ho gave a lot of interesting information about racing in Australia generally. Ho said that Australians generally—tho hand mappers included—had formed rather an exalted opinion of New Zealand horses, and they were mostly judged by the standard of Soultline, Maniapoto, Solution and tho horses owned by tho late Air G. G. Stead, which swept tho board at tho A.J.C. spring meeting a few years ago. This greatly affected the weights allotted Now Zealand horses in the handicaps, and there was very little use taking over a moderate performer. The jumping horses were ahead of ours, and we had no hurdle horses of the stamp of Obi, Sparkle, The Beckoning or Arquehuse; although Paisano, if ho could reproduce his form of last year, might hold his own. Tho steeplechasers were also a good lot, Grafnax and Confide especially being high-class. Tho fences at Floraingtou were much stiffer than ours, and had to be jumped. There was no chancing them, as is often done here; in fact, during tho three days' racing ho did not see a fenco ivith a gap in it —so clean was the fencing. EIDEES COMPAKED. Tho riders did not strike him as being ahead of our best, and Gray, Deeley, Olliver, Whittaker, Young, Julian and others were quite on a par with their leading horsemen. F. Burn, tho crosscountry'crack, was an exceptionally lino rider, and showed n lot of judgment in a race. Tho ex-Aucklander, J. JlcGregor, was also riding well, as was S. Howie. One thing that struck him was that the general run of the horsemen did, not finish as vigorously as ours, and it ■ was very rarely the whip was drawn—which was alp very well at times, but there was no doubt races were lost through the whip not being used. REMARKS ON STARTING. The starting at tho -various courses is as nearly perfect as it is possible to get. A bad horse was given a chance, but if he failed to come up after one trial no notice was taken of him, and there is no such thing as delaying a field in order to get one horse away. There was practically no delay at the post; iu fact, the starts could not bo delayed. Tho courses were better, larger and much ahead of Ellerslie, although, from a spectator’s point of view. X think Ellerslio would more than hold its own, for every stage of a race could bo seen easily. 'Flemington was a bit too largo iu this resjiect, and Randwick was much better. Of course tho appointments of the former were easily the best, but Randwick was • improving yearly; at the present time a now stand costing A‘20,000 was being erected, and was to be ready fot the spring meeting. POWERFUL CONTROLLING BODY. Tho "V.J.C. was a very powerful body, and those iu a position to know Informed me that it would probably be found that the stakes would be double what they aro at present iu another live or seven years. A commission had been set up by the Government to go into the powers of the A.J.C., and it had occasioned a lot of talk. The general opinion amongst tho bettor class of racing men was that it would bo a bad day for racing if their powers were curtailed. The A.J.G. stood For all that was clean in sport, aid it did everything possible to encourage breeders to breed the best class of horse. STIPENDIARY STEWARDS. lam awfully sorry to see that tho New Zealand Racing Conference threw out the motion for their appointment. They have made a wonderful difference to racing in Australia, and X can confidently say that during the thirteen ■days’ racing I witnessed there was not one non-tryer' I could detect, although 1 watched pretty closely. Tho racing is very clean and is well under the control of the professional stewards, who do their w-ork thoroughly. Their appointment in New Zealand would be a distinct advantage.