TROTTING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21976, 10 June 1933, Page 17

TROTTING

By Sentinel.

If Olson shapes satisfactorily at the Ashburton meeting he may be taken north for the Auckland Trotting Club’s meeting. . The Hawke’s Bay Trotting Club is bringing up a remit with the object of getting two hack flat races included on a trotting programme. The Metropolitan Trotting Club has: a remit that desires a universal system of signalling the closing of the totalisator and notice of the balancing of the “ machine.”

The following remit has been framed by the Stipendiary Stewards’ Committee of the Trotting Conference: —■“The Stipendiary Stewards’ Committee shall have power to select and appoint one or more persons to act as handicapper or handicappers for races, on _ such,. terms, with such powers and subject to such conditions as the committee may prescribe. In the event of no handicapper, being available to handicap for any races a substitute handicapper may be appointed by the committee or its chairman to act for such races. The committee shall determine the remuneration to be paid to the handicappers for their services, and the amount required for this purpose in order to carry this rule into effect shall be provided by the totalisator clubs by payment to the conference of a levy not exceeding J per cent, on the gross amounts received, by them respectively by way of investments on the totalisator during the preceding year, with regard, as far as the committee may find expedient, to any change in the number of days on which the totalisator is used by any club in the current year, but in no case shall the levy to ( be paid by any club be less than £7 7s* for each day's racing held by the club.” Although Lindbergh is on the 48yds mark in the Birthday Handicap at Ashburton and his task from there appears to be very difficult, it will be remembered- (says an exchange) that he has always raced well on the course. Together with winning the Ashburton Cup, he has run a number of excellent races, and he holds the track record for a mile and a-half, registered when he finished second to Nelson’s Victory in April in the Durbar Handicap, of a mile and a-half, in which race he registered Smin 13 l-ssec, which also constitutes an Australian and New Zealand record for the distance. In that race he was beaten by only a head in a very good-class field, and his mark (48yds) was the same as Saturday’s, but on Saturday he will be more favoured by the extra half-mile of the race. Lindbergh is regarded more as a stayer than as a sprinter, although he has some very good sprint performances to his credit, including his second to Roi I’Or in the concluding event at. the Easter meeting at Addington; when 2min 40 2-ssec in the race in which Roi TOr established his new mile and a-quarter figures. What appears to be the strongest field that has ever faced the starter for the New Zealand Sapling Stakes, of SoOsovs, will line up' to-day at ,Ashburton. The field contains youngsters with smart performances to their credit in the South Island, but this has not deterred a candidate from Auckland in the shape of Chancellor, who also has some good form to bis' credit. The plucky venture of the Auckland owners will no doubt be taken as a tip to support Chancellor, but even the best of the exposed form may not prove good enough to win. Some of the youngsters may have been specially set for the rich stake, and, in consequence, would not be fully tuned up to race in minor events in which they went for experience rather than success. A great deal of patience and care has to be exercised in the handling of young horses, which may be ruined if injudiciously sent a hard race when not ready. Many a good horse has been ruined in the making, and those most easily spoilt are the brilliant sorts whose trainers become too inquisitive in a search for early speed. The sluggish youngsters generally take some stirring up without suffering damage. In other words, it is easier to ruin a fast youngster than a slow one. The Ashburton Trotting Club is worthy of congratulation on,, the continued success of the Sapling Stakes, as it is a race providing a great incentive to breed stock of the highest possible class and place the lightharness sport on a plane not possible of attainment under ordinary handicap racing conditions. Under handicap conditions common sense dictates that a horse should be run to the best advantage from slow class to gradual improvement in public form, but in such races as the Sapling Stakes the gauntlet is thrown down to the best in the country, and they have to do their best to win.