RACING NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22834, 19 March 1936, Page 15

RACING NEWS

By Sentinel.

The Otago Hunt The annual meeting of members of the Otago Hunt Club will be held on Tuesday, March 24. , Strands and Starting The six-strand barrier is easily the best method of conti-olling a field, but 16 strands do not make a starter. Timaru An excellent list of nominations has been received for the South Canterbury Jockey Club's meeting. Oamaru The Oamaru Jockey Club's autumn meeting takes place on Saturday and Monday next Chile The Limond gelding Chile, who won at Trentham, cost 600 guineas as a yearling, and was bought by his present owner at 50 guineas. J. M. Cameron Mr "Jack" Cameron, who won the Champion Hack Cup Handicap' with Maine, was once associated with racing at Forbury Park. Small Fields Two of the smallest fields seen out at Trentham on the conceding day of the .autumn meeting were identified with bad starts. Te Ahuarangi Prior to the summer meeting at Wingatui Te Ahuarangi gave a lot of weight and a beating to Golden King in a gallop and also repeated the performance. Since then anything seems able to beat • him. Suspended P. Atkins has been suspended for three months for causing the mishap which led ' id the fall and death of Gay Chief during the running of the Two-year-old Handicap on the first day at Trentham. P. Burgess . the rider of Gay Chief, is still in the hospital. A Continuous Complaint The one great evil attached to the racing at the Wellington autumn meeting ; consisted of the fact that fractious horses were allowed to hold up starts on the last as well as the first and second days of the programme. The stewards of a ■ club should not allow such an intolerable state of affairs to continue, and if it is allowed to continue then owners should make a combined protest against it ana take serious steps to enforce the objection; Thi a does not apply solely to Trentham. but'to almost every racing club in the country. ■ The Late Roy Reed The late Roy Reed was an ornament to his profession. He had a quiet and most unassuming manner and was a very popular figure in sporting circles. Proof ot his popularity found evidence shortly before the last race run at the recent Trentham meeting. Shortly before the field lined up it was announced by the broadcaster that the latest report from the hospital was to the effect that the ,; unfortunate, rider had shown sighs of recovery. A round of applause ran through . the crowd on the course as an appreciation of the apparent good news. It was, however, only a flash in the pan. as shortly afterwards it was announced that Roy Reed had had his last ride. The general sadness and regret seen and expressed gave marked evidence of the very high • regard in which he was held by everyone, even those who only kriew him as a jocKey. 'the deceased was one of the best known 'horsemen in New Zealand and a master in his profession. He won most of the principal events in New Zealand, including the New Zealand Cup on Nightmareh and ScioD. the Auckland Cup on Depredation and Rapine, Great Northern Derby on Gasbag and Star Stranger, A.K.U Easter Handicap on Bright Glow and Golden Wings, Canterbury Cup on Rapine and Nightmarch. Winter Cup on Knhio, and the Wellington Cup on Compris, btar Stranger Rapine, and Maioha. He also dead-heated on Rewi Poto with Red Ribbou. Reed also rode with success in Australia, and in 1926 won the A.J.C. Metropolitan Handicap on Star Stranger, and the Melbourne Cup in 1929 on Nightmarch. • icHe was a brother to Ashley Reed, now riding with success m Australia,, and Con Reed, who also died from injuries received in a similar way in a race at Taumarunui some years ago.

Wanted a Remedy There must be something radically wrong in the general style of riding winch leads to so many cases of interference, and fatal accidents so called, Successful riders must have more than ordinary intelligence, and yet reports of almost every race meeting include reference to cases of interference during the running ot a race. There may be cases of deliberate interference, but they are very rare indeed, and hence the great majority are unintentional. Still the fact remains that, they are all too frequent,'• and yet' the racing authorities appear to look b»»"lly. on and are open to be charged with the fact because no really serious effort has been made towards effecting a remedy. This is undeniably true, and it becomes -imperative that a strong protest should be made against the existence, of such a most unsatisfactory state of affairs. At the present time in Australia some of the leading riders are standing down for offences based on interference which seems inseparable from racing on., a circular course of small circumference, but still should be preventable. It would be most unfair to charge a really capable rider Avith deliberate interference because a real danger becomes created for the originator as well as for...those who may suffer. No punishment could be too severe for those guilty of deliberate" interference: It is not at all likely that a rider would court trouble for himself and so endanger his own life. How then do so many cases of interference arise? Are they due to general ignorance of the risks of race-riding or to a style of riding that almost inevitably leads to trouble? At different times in many years past the writer has claimed that the originating cause of nearly all the trouble arises from what is really a stupid seat in the saddle. It is stupid because half 01 those adopting it do not know why they do so. The novice apprentice whose leg cannot span a saddle flap makes his seat still more insecure by using, in such a case, a ridiculously short leather, and so shortens the grip of a naturally too short leg. The crouch is stupidly used because the same seat is seen in a race, at slow work, and when a horse is being ridden at walking exercise. It is ridiculously uncomfortable to the rider when used on a horse at walking exercise. In slow work it makes most riders stand up- in the irons and so spoil a horse's mouth by riding on the reins and creating the callous hard-mouthed puller. It is stupid and unnecessarily dangerous in a race, because riders do not seem to know where Ihey are going or how dangerously near their mount mav be striding to another. We have at the present moment one of the leadiris riders, and one with lengthy experience, standing down for three months as a result of being charged with interference, and now there is the most lamentable death of Roy Reed, one of the most canable riders that could be seen in a saddle. It is quite safe to predict that Reed's-most unfortunate death will be found due to an accident. It will be one of those most unfortunate accidents which seem to be inseparable from racing in New Zealand and Australia, :but which are comparatively rare in England. The far too frequent occurrence of <mch accidents suggests that a contributing cause should not be difficult to locate. Tf that is so, it is more than high time that stewards of racing clubs were aroused

from supine control to the alertness which endeavours to find a remedy for an easilyrecognised evil. It is necessary to ride with a fairly short leather in order to obtain a grip, but the short leather should not be used or seen with short intelligence on the part of all concerned.