IT MUST BE WIPED OUT

NZ Truth, Issue 1168, 19 April 1928, Page 9

IT MUST BE WIPED OUT

Insobriety Among Few Jockeys Is Too Glaring Wine and racehorses will not mix— many, many have endeavored to make a successful blending* of the combination and failed.

IN the "good old days" it was common to see — or be told of — parties that were held during the progress of race meetings, but m these civilized^ days such happenings are rare. Tighter control by the Conference over jockeys and trainers had this effect. But, of course, there has to be the exception to every rule and after attending the Hokitika and Greymouth gatherings last week "N.Z. Truth" can only lay charges of insobriety against a few of the horsemen who assisted m those meetings. There was far too much drinking going on m a certain quarter and the practice will have to be wiped out — and wiped out quickly. When a trainer or an owner engages and pays a boy to ride a horse, he has every reason to expect that boy to fulfil his part of the contract. But when a few jockeys indulge m a drinking bout on the night prior to the meeting it can hardly be said that he is fulfilling his end. A jockey needs to b"e m the best of condition to do his job, but after a night out on gin, whisky or beer — whatever happens to be his hobby — he is m anything but a fit conditioneither physically or mentally. "Truth," of course, recognizes that the task of eradicating this night drinking is very difficult for the officials to handle. But when it comes to drinking on 1 the course, drinking to excess, and then endeavoring to ride, the time has arrived for immediate and . drastic action. There were two such cases down the Coast.

i One rider was absolutely under the influence, yet he was permitted to have rides. He was so full that he could Just sit on the horse's back and m the actual running he was as useful as a sack of potatoes. That such a state of affairs should be allowed to prevail does not speak highly of the ability of the stipendiary steward m control, but there Is the charge. Drunken jockeys are a menace to all concerned with racing and they must not be allowed to continue to hold licenses. Round the saucery courses down the Coast, with their bad turns and bends, it is necessary to have all your wits about you. Drink-sodden riders cannot be on the alert. Just where the few jockeys who are the culprits expect to end, they alone know. Surely they have had enough examples set them m days gone by of what an over-indulgence m liquor will bring m its wake. The leading horsemen of to-day— ' take the brothers Morris, Heed, Barry, JEllis, Emerson and Green, for example — have no need to resort to the bottle. If they did they would not be where they are. Nobody wants riders to sign the pledge, but everybody demands a fair thing. Drunken riders are not wanted m the scheme of things at all and the sooner the perpetrators of the occurrences noted last week are gone and forgotten, so much the better.