DEAD HEATS.

NZ Truth, Issue 72, 3 November 1906, Page 2

DEAD HEATS.

Objections concerning dead heats are very rare m turf history;, and therefore the case m which the New Zealand jockey, P. D. Jones, was a principal is of considerable interest. At the Kempton Park Meeting m August, Jones had the mount on Country Girl, a six-year-old mare, m the Teddington Selling Welter Handicap. Country Girl is qwned by Mr G. Edwards, and is. trained at Osbourne, where Noctujform is stabled. Country Girl started favorite, and after a bumping finish with the three-year-old Ready Wit, the judge declared a dead-heat,. Jones, who is still called the "Australian" jockey by the English sporting papers, made desperate efforts to keep his mount straight, and many people thought there was good ground for the objection lodged by the trainer, of Ready Wit. I n the course of comment, on the case, the "Special Commissioner" of the- "Sporting Life" wrote :- The acting stewards were m due course called upon to adjudicate, and, m accordance with the , customary practice! Droceeded to examine witnesses. They were compelled to resort to this plan because they were not m a position to see for themselves what occurred. ' Now, if there had been a stewards' stand close to the rails, like the one, at Newbury— which is; a fac-simile bl'thdse m. almost; £e-nerali' use m Australia— Lord Mairws Beresifqrd and his' two colleagues would have been able to settle the matter submitted to' them m two minutes. If there "really were grounds for an objection, they would themselves have taken the initiative: Indeed, the advantages accruing from these .stewards' stands are -so great and so palpable, that it is really astdunding racecourse executives are so alow m, following ( the Sxceljent example that has been set' them at> Newbury..,. Is. this reluctance due to the siipiVosHiph that the gentlemen who officiate as stewards would not care to , make.-.- themselves so prominent ? If so, ;the' sooner we have stipendiary stewards .the, better; But, really, that objection ,' imaginary or 'actual, is so trivial'-. , and •; childish that one can scarcely conceive it to be a factor m the situation.- I ani quite certain that all stewards are : . not "so squeamish. At Newbury they avaii themselves of the facilities placed m their way, ami there is every reason for believine: that they would, use the, rail-side stand if it were provided elsewhere. I am impelled to write- an -'this strain, because the better part of an hour was occupied . by the stewards m arriving at a decision "concerning the objection to Country; Girl, The protest was overruled— no doubt quite correctly, -although I was ! assured by one m a better positio'ri for seeing what occurred than the majority of the spectators t-hat Ready Wit was, as a mattter of' fact, bumped more than once. Piquancy, was added to this objection, because it arose m connection with a dead-heat. I can recall no oarallcl' to this case, nor could anybody I. questioned yesterday. After the objection had been disposed of, a "run-off" was practically inevitable, for it was hardly likely that the parties concerned would be-in a frame of mind to agree to a division of the spoils. • Then came, another imusual development , for fresh, jpekeys were encaged for both.' horses. - It was generally known /early 'tba.t. Higgs would have the moi^ttt. on Qountry but many people were, taken by surprise when Randall's name, appeared m the frame as the rider of . Ready Wit.. Splendid a9' the horsemanship shown by Piper had been, m 'the first* Instance, it ,would have been try ins: him rather highly to set him to ride a. match against an experienced artist 'like Higgs, and so the substitution of Randall was a wise precaution, air though it meant that Ready Wit had to carry* sft more than he did when he dead-heated, for, . of course, Piper claims the apprentice allowance. This time slight odds were laid bn Country Girl. Inasmuch as she is twice the age •of Ready; Wit, "she was m ore likely to be equals to a second race than her opponent,- and so it proved. The struggle was Very. close and excitinir until it reached the distance, hut the favorite then began to draw away and eventually won rather comfortably by a length and a half. At the subsequent auction Country Girl was sola to Mr .1. Wigan fcfc 270 guineas; and so ended an affair that occupied our attention for more than an hour and a half. . .