HANKEY-PANKEY HANDICAPPING

NZ Truth, Issue 483, 19 September 1914, Page 7

HANKEY-PANKEY HANDICAPPING

Handlcappers arc notorious for their eccentricities, and, llko Pr<3vldonco, move In a' mysterious way their wonders to perform. The reckless manner In which, at times, they slosh weigh ta around provides mirth for tho thoughtless, but makes tho judicious grlovo. Under the hondlcappers' rulo, an avoriage owner never knows whether *hlB horse is going: to bo rated as a champion or a duffer. Honest public form repeatedly mioscn tho attontion of handlcappers, while back- yard gossip,

or suspicion, or some unknown factor, apparently takes its place. This is tough on owners, whose only consolation is that their horses are just as likely to be thrown m as crushed out of a race.. In the former case, only too often "a waiter" comes to* the rescue, and saves the handicapper from being practically proved as silly as the work shows him to be. In the latter case the owner, being asked to by the unfair weight allotted to his horse, runs a bye, and waits for the weight worrier to recover his normal Intelligence. That repeatedly the slipshod work of handicapperg alone is responsible for byes being run Is undisputable. Thus, not only do handicappers become the actual cause of crooked running, but they provoke much profanity on the part of owners.) They also become a costly luxury to the unfortunate owner, who has to pay dearly m nominations and mounts, to convince stubborn handlcappers that their horses are not so good as the handicapper kids himself they are, A favorite, method of certain bandicappers is, Immediately a horse runs into a place, to crucify it with weight for fear it might win a race. An excellent example . of ' this occurred m a recent race, when a horse, well backed ran third in>a Maiden, and was bumped up 101 b for so doing. What the second horse and winner would have got' had they been entered common-sense shudders to think.