TROTTING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21647, 18 May 1932, Page 5

TROTTING

By Sentinel. It is understood that some of Wrack’s young stock now in hand at Ashburton ara showing great promise. Apparently, the sire, like wine, is improving with age. Since the Oamaru Trotting Club’s meeting various opinions have been expressed about the one-two-three dividends. The real value of the system will only be arrived at when a few hot favourites run either first or second at the present percentage of splitting the pool. At the last meeting of the Tasmanian Trotting Association it was made compulsory for the owner of any trotting horse to notify the death of such animal within 12 hours. The idea is to give the authorities an opportunity to view the body prior to disposal. After winning the Advance Handicap with Chenwood at the Oamaru meeting. W. J. Tomkinson effected the purchase of the three-year-old from Mr S. Hawthorne, who also raced Sashwood, the dam of Chenwood. Sashwood was a very useful mare herself, having won over all distances, but most of her successes were scored at a mile and a-quarter, and she has a winning record of 2min 47sec for that distance. She was by Underwood (Wildwood —Linton, by . Bundoora, a thoroughbred) from a Satinwood (Wild-wood-Black Belle) mare. Chenwood is by Peter" Chenault, now dead. In the meantime he is to remain in charge of his recent owner, at Kurow. While the success which attended the last two meetings of the Oamaru T.C. is a strong argument in favour of the three dividend plan adopted by that club it cannot be said that the innovation is not meeting with adverse criticism. The plan is not generally popular with owners (says the Press), their contention being that the winner’s percentage suffers too much at the expense of too liberal allotment to the horses finishing in the minor places. They argue that if the proportions were fixed'so as to correspond more truly with the merit of the horses’ performances, say 70 per cent., 20 per cent., and 10 per cent., to- the first, second, and third horses respectively, the three dividend plan would be likely to meet with wider approval. The late Dr T. B. Ball, a Tasmanianborn dentist"-, who imported a number of highly-bred trotters, heard from a brother of the wonders of the bicycle sulky. A sketch of style as then used in America was sent to him, and from it he commissioned a friend, then a prominent bicycle builder in Sydney, to convert a high-wheeled sulkv into a vehicle with bicycle wheels. The doctor tried it out on his private track at Longford, and, crude as it was (says a writer in the Sydney Referee), he found that any horse placed in it knocked spots off any time it could do with the high wheels. He kept the information to himself. The first time the doctor came out on a race track with his horse Flyaway in the odd-looking vehicle witli small wheels alongside the sulkies with the high wheels, a yell of derision went up, but it changed when Flyaway won, with the greatest ease, by 10 lengths from the second horse. New ideas recommended by the Victorian Trotting Breeders’ and Owners’ Association in connection with the handicapping system may be adopted by the Victorian Trotting and Racing Association. Since the present system was first introduced, in 1928, several amendments have been made, with the purpose of attaining perfection, and (says “ Backmarker ” in the Melbourne Globe), owners are somewhat bewildered as to how matters stand. Until now a horse could come up one second (12 yards) three months from the date of a win, providing he had three unsuccessful starts in the meantime. He could win on, say, March 1, have three starts at the next meeting (if eligible for the classes), and then, without again competing, claim 12 yards at the end of the three months. Under the proposed new rules it will be compulsory for a horse to start at four different meetings before the 12 yards can be claimed, anc| he will have to wait four (instead of three) months from the date of win. In the past it was possible to get minor placings in the meantime, and still be eligible to claim three months from the date of the win, but the new rules will Lit this concession on the head. Horses will not come up till four months after being placed first, second or third._ This rule will not penalise a horse getting a minor placing off the , limit‘mark as he, of course, cannot further improve his mark. On the other hand, if a horse runs second or third from 24 yards behind he will not be able to get up on the 12 yards mark until four months from the date of the placing, provided, of course, that he has had his four runs at four different meetings. Horses winning races without improving their handicap marks will not be on such a “good wicket” in the future. It will be no longer possible for a 2.20 horse winning in slower time to again get that mark after three unsuccessful runs. Three months will have to elapse, and if a minor place is obtained in the meantime, another three months (and another three unsuccessful runs) will be necessary before the 2.20 mark is .again obtained. Trotting men generally do not appear in favour of the idea, and at the committee meeting of the Trotting League of Victoria on Thursday night a motion was unanimously carried condemning the continual tinkering with the automatic system. Individual owners have also strongly expressed their disapproval. The idea behind the move is the allegation that the running for minor places hag become too general, and this is an effort to force the hands of those suspected of these practices.